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Few Mediterranean holiday spots are as often and as unfairly maligned as MALLORCA . The island is commonly perceived as little more than sun, sex, booze and high-rise hotels - so much so that there's a long-standing Spanish joke about a mythical fifth Balearic island called Majorca (the English spelling), inhabited by an estimated eight million tourists a year. However, this image, spawned by the helter-skelter development of the 1960s, takes no account of Mallorca's beguiling diversity. It's true that there are sections of coast where high-rise hotels and shopping centres are continuous, wedged beside and upon one another and broken only by a dual carriageway down to more of the same. But the spread of development, even after 50 years, is surprisingly limited, essentially confined to the Badia de Palma (Bay of Palma), a thirty-kilometre strip flanking the island capital, and a handful of mega-resorts notching the east coast. Elsewhere, things are very different. Palma itself, the Balearics' one real city, is a bustling, historic place whose grand mansions and magnificent Gothic cathedral defy the expectations of many visitors. And so does the northwest coast, where the rearing peaks of the rugged Serra de Tramuntana harbour beautiful cove beaches, a pair of intriguing monasteries at Valldemossa and Lluc, and a string of delightful old towns - Deia, Soller and Pollenca - as well as the picturesque villages of Biniaraix and Fornalutx. There's a startling variety and physical beauty to the land, too, which, along with the mildness of the climate, has drawn tourists to visit and well-heeled expatriates to settle here since the nineteenth century, including artists and writers of many descriptions, from Robert Graves to Roger McGough.
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