CONDITIONED GREENWAY

A route that runs inland and near the coast of the Llevant region of Mallorca, following the path of the now disused Inca-Artà railway LOCATION   Between the towns of Manacor and Artà, situated in the east of the isle of Mallorca. BALEARIC ISLANDS   Municipalities: Manacor, Sant Llorenç des Cardassar, Son Servera and Artà   Length: 29 Km   Users:     Accessibility level: no information Type of surface:  Gravel and compacted earth Natural landscape:
The greenway runs through alternating landscapes of cereal crop fields, orchards and market gardens, and plantations of carob, orange, olive, hackberry, fig and almond trees. But it also passes by Mediterranean forests of wild olive, Aleppo pine, mastic and rosemary; the typical landscape of the Serres de Llevant mountains. All along the greenway major reforestation work has been carried out; 4,800 trees (pine, holm oak, wild olive, tamarind, plane and mulberry) and over 15,000 shrubs have been planted. The greenway passes very close to the beaches of San Llorenç des Cardassar (S´Illot, Sa Coma and Cala Millor) and Son Servera (Cala Millor, Cala Bona and Costa de los Pinos), the Punta N’Amer natural reserve, which is a Natural Area of Special Interest (Spanish acronym: ANEI) and a Site of Community Importance (SCI), the Serra de Sant Jordi, and the Península de Llevant Natural Park. Other natural areas of interest: Manacor:Beaches of S´Estany des Mas, and the calas (coves) of Anguila, Mendía, Mallorca, S´Illot, Porto Cristo and Murada. Artà: Natural reserves of Cap de Ferrutx and Cap des Freu, and the Llevant marine reserve. Cultural heritage: Manacor:Historical town centre (known as Ses Dames) featuring the Mare de Déu dels Dolors church, the Palau tower, the convent of Sant Visenç Ferrer, and the Ses Puntes tower. Nearby you can visit the Dels Enagistes tower (home to a history museum), the Talaiotic settlement S’Hospitalet Vell, and the paleochristian basilica at Son Peretó (200 m from the greenway). Also worth visiting are the Drach caves and the Hams caves (hams means fish hooks in the local language). Sant Llorenç des Cardassar:A rustic town, the Sant Llorenç church, and the Ranxo de Ses Sitges historic charcoal production site. On the coast we find the castle of Punta N’Amer. Son Carrió: San Miguel church. Son Servera: Església Nova (a church designed by a disciple of Gaudí), Talaiotic remains at Es Puig, Pula and Ca S'Hereu, Sant Joan Baptista church, public washhouse, market, Cala Bona port and Costa des Pins viewpoint. Artà:Talaiotic remains at Ses Païsses and Son Real, San Salvador fortified sanctuary, Miquel Barceló documentation centre, regional museum, stately homes at Marqués, Cardaix and Sureda, Betlem Chapel, the fishing port and hatcheries at Colònia de Sant Pere, the Santa María de Bellpuig monastery, and the Aina María Lliteras Foundation at Can Cardaix. Infrastructure: Greenway. 3 tunnels and 4 stations   Infrastructure Equipments: 7 rest areas with benches, tables, bike racks and waste bins. Information panels showing places of interest an information on the local flora and fauna. 15 video surveillance cameras.   Equipment in stations: Sant Llorenç Station: Parking area, kiddies’ play area, café and cultural centre. San Miguel (Son Carrió) Station: Tourism Information, Parking area and urban park. Son Servera: Bike rental  Artà Station: The station building is used as a handicraft centre and another building is home to a bar-pub. All the stations will soon be restored for various purposes. Bike rental. How to get there: By car: If you come by car, these are the main access points: Access no.1.Manacor.Start of the Greenway. On a bend in Passeig del Ferrocarril street, to the east of the city (next to a hypermarket car park). Access no.2.Sant Llorenç des Cardassar: Disused railway station. Direct access from the PMV-4022, the road into Sant Llorenç from the roundabout on the MA-15. Access no.3. Son Carrió:Disused railway station. Along the road to the cemetery (Carrer de l´Estació). Access no.4. Son Servera: The greenway crosses over the Carrer de Formentera street. The reference point is the bike lane that drops down from Son Servera to the beach area where it coincides with the greenway for a short distance. A small park and the health circuit let us know that we’re on the right track. Access no.5. Artà: Disused railway station (end of the greenway). Parallel to the crossing with the MA-15 (Avinguda de Costa i Llobera), to the south of the town.   By bus: Transportes de las Islas Baleares (TIB). Consorcio de Transportes de Mallorca. Customer care office (Palma transport hub). Tel. 971 177 777 www.tib.org Bus to Manacor, Sant Llorenç  and Artà: Line 411 (Palma-Cala Ratjada), Bus to Manacor, Cala Millor and Son Servera: Line 412 (Palma-Costa de los Pinos)   By train: Servicios Ferroviarios de Mallorca. Manacor Station. Line T3: Palma de Mallorca-Empalme (Enllaç)-Manacor. Tel. 871 930 000. www.tib.org/portal/web/ctm/train/linia/T3 Transportes de las Islas Baleares (TIB). Consorcio de Transportes de Mallorca. Customer care office (Palma transport hub). Tel. 971 177 777 www.tib.org   Connections: Palma de Mallorca: 53 km to Manacor and 75 km to Arta.   Managing entity of the Greenway: Servicios Ferroviarios de Mallorca Tel. 871 930 000 comunicacio@trensfm.com www.trensfm.com

Km. 0 / Km. 7´8 / Km. 11´4 / Km. 18 / Km. 29 

Km 0

There is no transition; the greenway immediately leaves the town behind, passing below the tall slim tower of the Mare de Déu dels Dolors chapel before venturing out between agricultural fields dotted with rustic stone houses.

One of the many places of interest is also to be found in this first section: the paleochristian basilica at Peretó. A detour to the left takes us onto the MA-15 road running parallel to the trail. The remains of the basilica’s foundations are on the far side of the road, very close. Be careful crossing the busy road!

 

A magnificent viewpoint overlooking Sant Llorenç des Cardassar marks the end of this series of long straights. It takes the form of a high embankment looking over the terracotta coloured town. After the viewpoint comes the short, straight Sa Cova tunnel (59 m), short enough to provide ample visibility between its rock hewn walls.

After the tunnel comes Sant LLorenç station (Km 7.8), although the station name board says San Lorenzo. This is the first of a number of stations built in the same style. Rectangular buildings with stonework walls, pitched roof with terracotta tiles, and a pleasant modernist feel thanks to the stonework details that adorn roofs and facades. All the stations of the greenway have been refurbished and converted into establishments open to the public, from restaurants to socio-cultural and sports centres. This one offers a café and municipal cultural centre.

 

Sant Llorenç station comprises a station building, a goods warehouse and some toilets, while the platforms have become an exceptional viewpoint, from where we can see down to the Torrent de Ses Planes stream and the town dominated by the church, with a backdrop of far off pine-clad mountains. Alongside the station there is a kiddies’ play area and a good sized car park reached by the tarmacked road between the station and the town. This access is the best one for those arriving by bike or persons of restricted mobility, while walkers and hikers have the option of using a more direct access via some steep steps (in March 2015 a planned ramp was still uncompleted but may be in place by the time this is published).

 

We leave Sant Llorenç between fields of carob, orange and almond trees to embark on a very attractive stretch. Half way to Son Carrió the landscape becomes more rugged due to some low hills covered by patches of Mediterranean forest. The greenway takes a curve and on either side mastic, wild olive, tall Aleppo pine, holm oak and carob line the route.

 

Back on the straight, the old railway line passes over the Torrent de Ses Planes stream. The bridge is remarkable; it has some splendid overhanging “balconies” (designed originally to act as refuges from passing trains for railway workers)

 

Further down the line we find a modern industrial building fronted by a generous concourse. This building would have served as engine and coach sheds for the ill-fated Manacor-Artà tram-train project. There are future plans for the building to house a railway museum, which would feature the train that is now parked unused to one side of it. This train, which has been vandalized and covered in graffiti, is still impressive; all the more so when you realize that it was abandoned due to an accident, the evidence of which can be seen on one side. The concourse, which in its day would have served as a rail yard, has been planted with a large number of trees in order to create a screen of vegetation to hide the building from view.

 

 

Km 11´4

The stretch of greenway between Son Carrió and Son Servera is the flattest and most maritime part of the route. It doesn’t quite reach the actual beach, but it does pass very close to the sea. The old railway line used to run parallel to the coast a short way inland, affording views of sweeping seascapes from the beaches at S´Illot to the Costa de los Pinos.

 

The greenway leaves Son Carrió behind along a straight embankment high above fields of orange and almond trees, giving us a last magnificent view of the village and its church. Shortly afterwards, the former railway makes a sweeping curve to skirt around the Atalayas hills, the seaward side of which slopes gently down to the coast, covered in trees and shrubs. The area is dotted with houses built in a charmingly traditional style.

The greenway once again makes a broad turn, this time to skirt around Na Penyal, a very interesting mountain that rises up close to the sea, with spectacular rock walls emerging from dense, green woodland. Interestingly, it was near here that a provisional station was set up during the Spanish civil war to serve a coastal battery of four guns emplaced on Na Penyal.

 

The detour around Na Penyal provides us with magnificent views of Cala Millor, this being where the greenway runs closest to the beach. The former railway line, now surrounded by urban developments, crosses a number of tarmacked access roads that drop down to the road to Porto Cristo and the coast. The temptation to leave the greenway in search of the beach is hard to resist, especially after such a rapid descent, but the best way to get to the beach is to use the bike lane that we will reach later in Son Servera.

 

After passing through a long cutting, we reach a straight section leading into Son Servera, where we are once again rewarded with some magnificent views. Now we can get a good look at Cala Bona and Costa de los Pinos, where the Sierra de Sant Jordi mountain range reaches the sea.

On entering Son Servera our trail joins a bike lane with a red-painted surface which runs from the town to the beach at Cala Millor. The greenway continues to our left while to our right the bike lane runs alongside the MA-4026 to Cala Millor, 2.5 km away, where it links up with another bike lane which runs the full length of the seafront promenade of Son Servera bay (from Punta N´Amer to Costa de los Pinos). If you wish to go down to the beach, this is the most convenient and safest way to reach the sea. But be warned: to get back to the greenway you will face a hard uphill climb.

 

Continuing along the bike lane and the greenway towards the left we reach a park with tables, a health circuit, a kiddies’ play area, and a working water fountain situated at the entrance to the town of Son Servera.A few metres further on there is a roundabout where once again we are faced with two choices; to continue along the bike lane or to leave it and carry on down the greenway. The bike lane ends up in the town centre of Son Servera, where we can enjoy the local gastronomy or pay a recommended visit to the architecturally interesting Església Nova (New Church). 

 

Meanwhile the greenway crosses over the road towards our right, making use of a purpose-built bridge. Once across this road the greenway embarks on a long straight that runs around the eastern perimeter of the town until it reaches Son Servera station (Km 19). The station complex, built in the same style as all the others, comprises a station building, a warehouse, and some men’s toilets. And from 2016 a place to rent bikes.

 

We leave behind the silhouette of the church and the mountainous crest of the Puig de Sa Font above the town of Son Servera. After a long time on the flat, the greenway drops down on an embankment above farmland and the outskirts of the town of Son Servera. This suburban setting ends with the Son Sureda tunnel which bores through the Puig de Son Sard, a hill whose shrubland takes on a yellow hue in the spring. This tunnel, cut through living rock and lined in places with stone, is the longest on our route (80 m); it curves towards the left, but there is plenty of visibility throughout its length.

 

Once through the tunnel we set off along a long uphill stretch through a very attractive landscape. The greenway passes through an area of fruit trees (orange, carob and almond) and golf courses, dotted with hills covered with the surviving vestiges of Mediterranean forest and shrubland, where we are treated to a succession of different and magnificent views of the pined covered Sierra de Sant Jordi range of hills. Just after crossing over the MA-4041 (Km 24.6) the greenway makes a sweeping turn to the left to avoid Son Catiu, a densely wooded hill at the foot of which there is a rest area for weary travellers (Km 25.2).

 

The greenway now approaches Artà through a wide open and flat landscape of cereal crop fields, orchards, grazing land, vegetable gardens and scattered rustic stone houses. The final part of the greenway runs through an easy terrain where the former rail bed climbs slightly, heading towards a horizon on which we can see the Sant Salvador sanctuary and the parish church above the rooftops of Artà.

As we enter Artà we cross the path leading to the Talaiotic settlement of Ses Païsses and a street which you can still see the old level crossing barrier and an engine shed, now home to a pub/café.

Finally we arrive at Artà station (km 29), situated at the foot of a labyrinth of narrow serpentine streets making up the town centre. The station complex is the most important of the ones we have seen up to now. It boasts a two storey main station building (which has been refurbished and converted into an art and crafts and information centre), a goods warehouse, toilets, a coal bunker and a water tank, among other railway installations. And from 2016 a place to rent bikes. 

The history of the railway in Mallorca dates back to 1875 with the opening of the line between the capital, Palma de Mallorca, and the largest town in the centre of the island, Inca. This first line was later extended to Manacor. In 1876 a viability study was published and three years later, in 1879, the train reached the capital of Llevant region. Next came plans to extend it further, to Artà, passing through the municipalities of Sant Llorenç des Cardassar and Son Servera. In 1913, Rafel Blanes, a lawyer in Artà, promoted the works that would take five years to complete. The first steam train rolled into Artà in 1921.

Mallorca’s railway network reached its height in the nineteen thirties, with 10 lines, 40 stations and 250 km of track (proportionally double the size of the network on the mainland). However, from then on road transport began to take precedence and the railway went into decline. In 1964 the first line (Mallorca-Santañí) was closed down.

After years of steady deterioration of the Mallorcan railway network, a plan was put in place to revive it. But the Inca-Artà line was deemed unprofitable and so was left out of the renewal process. In 1977 an accident hastened the closure of the stretch from Empalme (Enllaç in Catalan)-Manacor; a Ferrostaal train collided with a car on a level crossing. The Mallorcan railway company, Ferrocarriles de Mallorca, did not have the capital to fund the required modifications to the line and the government decided to close the line down.

With the closure of the Empalme-Manacor stretch the extension to Artà was also forced to call a halt to operations after 56 years of service.

It was not until 1999 that the Balearic Islands government set in motion a plan to revive the island’s railway network. In 2003 the Inca-Manacor line was reopened with modern diesel railcars, but the prolongation to Artà remained dormant. In 2009, the Balearic Islands government started work on reopening the Manacor-Artà stretch as a tram-train line. However, work was soon halted due to environmental and economic viability issues.

It was then decided to put the infrastructure to another use to at least take advantage of the work already done. So the old railway route started to be developed as a greenway by the company Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca, who would also be in charge of its subsequent management and maintenance. In 2015 the Manacor-Artà Greenway was opened, following the route formerly covered by steam trains. It is the first greenway in the Balearic Islands.