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Los Banos Arabes, Palma de Mallorca
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| Most
people who go to Mallorca only see two parts of the island - the airport
and the resort to which they are heading. If that resort is west of
Palma, the island's capital, then they may view the capital's imposing
cathedral from the bus window en route to the resort. But in the maze
of cobbled streets behind the cathedral is one of Palma's best kept
secrets - the small garden of 'Los Banos Arabes'. Although I have
visited the garden many times, each time I go I almost stumble across
it by accident. The interlocking streets and signs that could point
a number of ways ensure that when you finally arrive, the surprise
is even more welcome.
'Los
Banos Arabes' or 'The Arab Baths' is one of the few remnants of
the Moorish settlers, and date from the tenth century AD. The building
itself is a small domed room supported by pillars with capitals
plundered from earlier Roman buildings on the site.
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Plan of Los Banos Arabes showing the bath
house. The garden starts outside the wall in the lower right hand
part of the photograph.
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Looking
out to the gardens through the Moorish doorway of the domed bath
house.
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| Outside
the baths, the small formal garden, lined with limestone pillars and
dominated by a huge palm, is an oasis in the middle of the surrounding
buildings. Beds surrounded by low clipped hedging hold a range of
annual and perennial plants, while in a corner jasmine clothes a pergola
and ensures welcome scented shade from the midday sun. Visit in April
when the foliage is at its freshest and the smell of orange blossom
is everywhere. This is the place to spend an hour away from the vibrant
bustling life of Palma, to relax and savour a small, simple and well-designed
garden.
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A formal arrangement of pots lines the wall
outside the baths.
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An avenue of pillars surmounted by stone
and terracotta pots bisects the garden and leads the eye to a stone
bench. The pillars are all different and this adds to the appeal of
the garden.
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Looking towards the centre of the garden
from the side of the bath house, with the trunk of the massive palm
visible left of centre.
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Looking out from beneath the jasmine covered
pergola. Restful shade and another formal display of planters at the
far end of the garden.
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