Page 53 - traveling73 eng

NATURE TOURISM
Islet in the Ses Salines Natural Park
to the colder, damper north-facing slopes.
They shelter places of infinite beauty, such
as the Ariant Valley in Pollença, where Hei-
di Gildemeister created a marvellous bota-
nical garden integrated into nature, using
only species from Mediterranean climates
around the world: California, Chile, South
Africa, Australia, and the Mediterranean
coasts.
The old farmhouse on this agricultural
estate has been turned into a traditional
lodging, where the journey into the past
begins with the need to light candles for
illumination, although it does have running
water. The project to recover the popu-
lation of the black vulture—unique in the
world on an island territory—has managed
to increase the number of breeding pairs.
Now it is possible to see them gliding
among the limestone peaks that surround
and isolate this valley and, exceptionally,
to see them soaring over the sea.
The Sierra de la Tramontana was declared
a World Heritage Site as a cultural landsca-
pe due to the historic water management
in the area, preserving irrigation channels,
snow wells or water deposits, and mills.
On the other hand, it is also recognised for
its terraced walls, fences, and dry-stone
paths. Stone upon stone, without mortar.
Crops in the Sierra de la Tramontana
In the Balearic Islands, time seems to have
stood still between the murmur of the sea
and the scent of the pine groves; a land
where stone, light and history draw an im-
mortal landscape that still breathes to the
rhythm of the Mediterranean.
- 53