Qualla: Santa Ponsa https://qualla.com/santa-ponsa 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/b/santa-ponsa-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Santa Ponsa https://qualla.com/santa-ponsa Santa Ponsa: Introduction https://qualla.com/santa-ponsa/ Photo credit RodgeGers2017, CC BY-SA 4.0. A stone cross stands at the mouth of the marina, easy to walk past on the way to a sun-lounger. It marks the spot where, on 12 September 1229, King James I of Aragon waded ashore and began the conquest that would end more than three centuries of Muslim rule on Mallorca. Santa Ponsa has never forgotten it. Each September the town restages the landing on its own beach — a mock battle of Moors and Christians, followed by a pop concert and fireworks, stretched across two weeks of festival. The rest of the year this small Calvià resort, eighteen kilometres from Palma, trades history for sunshine.

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Image: RodgeGers2017 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/1/b/santa-ponsa-wp/sp1b-santa-ponsa-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Santa Ponsa: Rushes, Not a Roman Villa https://qualla.com/santa-ponsa/ Photo credit Antoni Ribas (Q55946052), Public domain. For a long time the townspeople told themselves the name came from Rome — from a villa supposedly called Santa Ponctia, a tidy classical pedigree. The truth is humbler and older. 'Santa Ponsa' descends from the Arabic Sanat Busa, meaning a place of rush bushes, a reminder that fo...

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Image: Antoni Ribas (Q55946052) | Public domain

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/1/b/santa-ponsa-wp/sp1b-santa-ponsa-rushes-not-a-roman-villa.mp3 0:06 2 full Santa Ponsa: The King Who Waded Ashore https://qualla.com/santa-ponsa/ Photo credit Sergei Gussev, CC BY 2.0. James I of Aragon — Jaume, to Catalans — was still in his early twenties when he chose this beach for his invasion in the autumn of 1229. His landing succeeded, the island fell, and Mallorca passed into the Crown of Aragon, and in time into the Monarchy of Spain; the shape of the...

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Image: Sergei Gussev | CC BY 2.0

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/1/b/santa-ponsa-wp/sp1b-santa-ponsa-the-king-who-waded-ashore.mp3 0:06 3 full Santa Ponsa: The Package-Holiday Coast https://qualla.com/santa-ponsa/ Photo credit Mr.Burner, CC0. For most of its visitors, though, Santa Ponsa is simply a beach. From May to October it fills with sun-seekers from the colder corners of Europe — Germans, Dutch, Irish, and Britons chief among them — and the hills on either side of the bay have sprouted villas and apartments bou...

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Image: Mr.Burner | CC0

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/1/b/santa-ponsa-wp/sp1b-santa-ponsa-the-package-holiday-coast.mp3 0:06 4 full Santa Ponsa: Fairways, Yachts, and a Cable to the Mainland https://qualla.com/santa-ponsa/ Photo credit Ingo Kirschnereit, CC BY 3.0. Behind the beach lies a town well stocked with the machinery of leisure. Santa Ponsa has three golf courses, and one of them, Santa Ponsa II, has hosted a PGA European Tour event; its members-only eighteenth green is cut in the shape of Majorca itself, an island of turf marooned ...

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Image: Ingo Kirschnereit | CC BY 3.0

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/1/b/santa-ponsa-wp/sp1b-santa-ponsa-fairways-yachts-and-a-cable-to-the-mainland.mp3 0:06 5 full