Holiday Heaven 2011
Campos is a small town in the southeast corner of Majorca, in the Migjorn region between Llucmajor and Santanyi. In the typical Majorcan manner the town was founded a few miles inland to protect it against pirate attacks, and the nearby coastal towns of Sa Rapita and Ses Covetes once served as important links in a chain of watch-fire stations that relayed news of approaching pirate ships to the capital Palma. Today Sa Rapita and Ses Covetes have become seaside resorts and are among the most popular parts of the island with local and expatriate property buyers. The region has escaped the sort of package-holiday hotel development found along the coastline closer to the capital, and most visitors here are independent travellers.
Campos itself remains is today a residential town and agricultural market centre, with few concessions to the tourist industry. The 13th Century parish church of St Julia is its most striking building, and houses a famed painting of Christ by the 17th Century Spanish artist Bartolome Esteban Murillo. The surrounding countryside is famous for windmills - once used to pump water for agriculture - and its traditional dairy farms: in May each year the town hosts Majorca's Friesian cattle festival, the "Feria Ramadera", and several local delicacies also reflect this dairy heritage, including traditional cheeses cured in a mix of brine and paprika.
The coastal town of Sa Rapita has become popular with expatriate residents and Majorcan people seeking a second-home by the sea. Despite the inevitable development of recent decades it retains much of its original charm, and many of its oldest buildings house bars and restaurants along the main street. The town is at the head of a wide bay that has has provided shelter to visiting ships for centuries, and today it remains a popular anchorage for yachts from all over the Mediterranean. Sa Rapita's beach is a beautiful mile-long stretch of white sand and shallow clear blue water. It is patrolled by lifeguards in the summer months, and is perfect for children and inexperienced swimmers. Windsurfers and pedalos are available for hire at the end of the beach near the town, and there is a single beach-bar about half way along.
Ses Covetes beach starts at the south end of Sa Rapita beach and continues to the village of Ses Covetes itself, which is built on a small rocky point. The point once held a number of small caves that gave the village its name, but they were quarried in the Middle Ages to provide stone for the defensive walls at Palma, and no longer exist. There are no hotels at Ses Covetes, but several houses in the village can be hired for self-catering holidays and the area is very popular with day trippers. The beach of Es Trenc on the south side of the point is renowned as one of the most beautiful and unspoiled coastlines in this part of Majorca, and part of its two-mile stretch of white-sand is protected as a nature reserve. A channel beside Es Trenc beach connects the sea to the Es Salobrar de Campos salt lagoon, one of the largest wetland reserves on Majorca and a popular site for birdwatching.