Qualla: Alaró https://qualla.com/alaro en-us © 2026 Bendyline Thu, 20 Aug 2026 16:39:03 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/1/c/alaro-wk/hero-small.webp Qualla: Alaró https://qualla.com/alaro Alaró: Introduction https://qualla.com/alaro/ Photo credit Antoni Sureda, CC BY-SA 3.0. A commuter train from Palma, a change of buses at Consell, a climb on foot up a rough mountain track — and then, on a crag above the valley, the ruins of one of Mallorca's most stubborn fortresses. Alaró is an unassuming town of about 6,100 people in the island's Raiguer region, close enough to the capital that many of its residents work there and sleep here. But it is the mountain above it that draws visitors: the Castell d'Alaró, perched on a sheer outcrop of the Serra de Tramuntana, a stronghold so well sited that armies broke themselves against it for centuries.

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Image: Antoni Sureda | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/1/c/alaro-wk/sp1c-alar-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Alaró: The Fortress on the Crag https://qualla.com/alaro/ Photo credit Joan Gené, CC0. The castle's advantage is the mountain itself. The Puig d'Alaró rises in near-vertical cliffs, and whoever held its summit could watch the approaches and defy almost any attacker below. People grasped this early: the fortress is first documented in the Moorish period, when Arabic...

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Image: Joan Gené | CC0

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/1/c/alaro-wk/sp1c-alar-the-fortress-on-the-crag.mp3 0:06 2 full Alaró: Cabrit and Bassa https://qualla.com/alaro/ Photo credit Bocachete, Public domain. The castle's most enduring story is also its cruelest. In 1285, as the forces of Alfonso III of Aragon overran Mallorca, two local men — Guillem Cabrit and Guillem Bassa — refused to surrender the stronghold, holding it in the name of the king to whom they had sworn loyalty. Lege...

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Image: Bocachete | Public domain

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/1/c/alaro-wk/sp1c-alar-cabrit-and-bassa.mp3 0:06 3 full Alaró: Down in the Town https://qualla.com/alaro/ Photo credit Ccgraetz, CC BY-SA 4.0. Life in Alaró itself moves at an easier pace. The parish church of Sant Bartomeu anchors the main square, the Plaça de la Vila; parts of it reach back to the fourteenth century, though most of what stands is a baroque rebuilding from the eighteenth. The square is the town's livin...

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Image: Ccgraetz | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/1/c/alaro-wk/sp1c-alar-down-in-the-town.mp3 0:06 4 full Alaró: Vines and the Valley https://qualla.com/alaro/ Photo credit AxelBoldt, CC0. Alaró sits in the Raiguer, Mallorca's inland wine country, and the vineyards spread out below the castle's crag. The nearest bodega, Oloron, lies just a kilometre west of town, and the region's reds and whites reward anyone who lingers after the descent. Getting here is part of t...

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Image: AxelBoldt | CC0

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/1/c/alaro-wk/sp1c-alar-vines-and-the-valley.mp3 0:06 5 full