Sóller curiosities

1. The name. It is attributed to an Arabic origin and usually translated as "golden valley" or "golden bowl", after the orange groves. That is a popular explanation, not a settled etymology. What is certain: the town's coat of arms carries a sun, a pun on the first syllable of the name.
2. An isolated valley. The Serra de Tramuntana separated it from Palma, so fruit left through the Port for France. How that trade worked, and why oranges matter so much, is covered in the guide to Sóller oranges and local produce.
3. Sóller and France. In the late 19th century an agricultural crisis hit the valley's orange production. Many locals went first to the Languedoc and then to other parts of France; others emigrated to Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Puerto Rico. Many came back in the mid-20th century. French politicians with roots in Sóller still exist, such as Christophe Castaner.
4. 11 May 1561. A fleet of about 22 galleons of Algerian corsairs attacked the coast: part of the force landed near the Port and another attacked the town from the north. Afterwards the Torre Picada and the Port castle were built.
5. Es Firó. That battle is re-enacted in May in four fights, at Platja d'en Generós, Platja d'en Repic, Pont d'en Barona and the town square. Dates and details are in the guide to what to see in Sóller.
6. An industrial town. During industrialisation it had up to twelve factories, mostly textile, exporting to Mallorca and France.
7. Fornalutx, the separated sibling. It shared a municipality with Sóller for a long time and became independent for good in 1837. It is still in the same valley and belongs to the association of the Most Beautiful Villages of Spain.

8. A train built by the locals. To end the isolation, the people of Sóller financed a railway with a long tunnel under the mountains. The first train arrived on 30 September 1911 and the Palma - Sóller line opened in 1912. It is 27.3 km long and keeps its original 914 mm gauge. It is one of the few private railways in Spain. Full details are in the Sóller Train guide.
9. The tram to the port. It opened on 4 October 1913 and runs 4.9 km. More on the route in the Sóller Tram guide.
10. Nearly closed in 1973. The company asked the state to close it because of money problems; tourism ended up saving the line, which has carried over a million passengers a year since 2019.
11. The road tunnel. The Palma - Sóller road tunnel opened in 1997. The toll disappeared at the end of 2017. Before that, the classic route was the Coll de Sóller pass, today the detour when the tunnel closes: see the 2026 night closure.

12. A bank funded by emigrants. The Banc de Sóller was founded in 1889 with capital from emigrants who came home wealthy. The current building (1909 to 1912) is by Joan Rubió i Bellver, a pupil of Gaudí, and has been a Bien de Interés Cultural since 2000.
13. A church of three eras. Sant Bartomeu existed before 1236. Its interior is mostly Baroque (1688 to 1733) and the modernist, neo-Gothic façade dates from 1904, also by Rubió.
14. Can Prunera. A modernist house built between 1909 and 1911 by the merchant Joan Magraner, "Joan Prunera", turned into a museum in 2009. Its architect is not documented with certainty: Rubió is suggested, but some historians dispute it.
15. Gran Hotel Sóller. A 19th-century building in the centre, designed by Joaquín Pavía Birmingham according to the hotel itself. More in historic hotels.

To see it on foot in 20 minutes, use the mini route in the article on Les Journées du Modernisme.

16. World Heritage. UNESCO inscribed the cultural landscape of the Serra de Tramuntana in 2011 for its farming terraces, water systems and dry-stone buildings. It covers 30,745 hectares, under criteria (ii), (iv) and (v). Routes are in hiking in Sóller.
17. A garden born from a house. The Jardí Botànic de Sóller was created in 1985 in the old garden of the Camp d'en Prohom house (1900) and opened to the public in 1992. It covers about one hectare and conserves endemic Balearic flora and plants from other Mediterranean islands.
18. A museum inside the garden. The Museu Balear de Ciències Naturals opened on 9 May 1992 and has five rooms on the natural heritage of the Balearics. In the Port, the Museu de la Mar occupies the former Santa Caterina oratory; see the Port de Sóller guide.

19. The Canoneta and the Fira de la Taronja. The local orange has its own brand and every spring the valley dedicates a fair to it in the square. It is all in local produce, and fresh produce is at the Saturday market.
20. Sa Mostra and the patron saint festival. Since 1980 the Mostra Internacional Folklòrica takes place in July, started by the group Aires Sollerics. The patron saint is Sant Bartomeu, celebrated in August with a correfoc.

Speech. People in Sóller speak Catalan with their own accent, the parlar de Sóller, shaped by emigration and by many French loanwords. As elsewhere in Mallorca, the salat article is used: es and sa instead of el and la, and ses in the plural. Hence names such as plaça de sa Constitució, carrer de sa Lluna or Es Firó.

Well-known people. Born in Sóller or with roots there: the painter Gregorio Bausá (1590 to 1656), Bishop Mateu Colom (1879 to 1933), the philologist Albert Hauf (b. 1938), the musician Joan Miquel Oliver (b. 1974) of Antònia Font, and the footballer Tuni (b. 1982). Joan Marqués Arbona (1861 to 1955) founded the weekly Sóller.

• Banc, Sant Bartomeu, Can Prunera, botanical garden, natural sciences museum: what to see in Sóller.
• Train and tram: Sóller Train and Sóller Tram.
• Torre Picada, Museu de la Mar and the Es Firó sites at the port: Port de Sóller.
• Oranges and the Fira de la Taronja: local produce.
• Tramuntana: hiking.