Manacor Travel Guide

The most important building in Manacor's modern history, is the convent of Sant Vicenç Ferrer (1576). It´s cloister was constructed in the seventeenth century and passed into the hands of the municipality in 1835.

Located on Plaza del Rector Rubí, is the only vestige that remains of the palace James II ordered to be built at the beginning of the fourteenth century as the temporary residence for the kings of Mallorca.

I was a little bit confused trying to find it. Is right behind the church. U´ll see a bar and in the right, an entrance to a interior yard...and there it is, hidden for the eyes of the tourist. Nowdays is under reconstruction.

Old Manacor offers a few interesting old buildings worth a visit. The Nostra Senyora Verge dels Dolores at the Rector Rubi square is unexpectedly large church (for a small town like Manacor). Its bell tower called the Torre Rubi, is the highest building in Manacor (75m). The Nostra Senyora is a typical Neo-Gothic church with a big beautiful rose window (open 8:30AM – 12:30PM and 5:30 – 8:00PM). The architect Bennaser Moner built it in the 19th century on the place of an earlier church. Some scholars claim that the first church on the site was built during the reign of the King Jaume II in 1232 on the foundation of the Arabic mosque. On the same dusty Placa Rector Rubi you will find the Palace Tower – Torre del Palau. This box-like building is all that left from the Royal Palace. For the brief time, Palacio de los Reyes de Mallorca, as it officially was called, served as a residence for the King Jaume II. The Festival of Sant Jaume is celebrated in Manacor on July 25th.

More attractive than the Palace Tower is the Convent Sant Vicenc Ferrer on the Convent square. It has beautiful arcaded cloister and rectory. The convent was founded by the Order of Preachers in the 16th century but the present buildings date from the 17th century. The cloister was declared as a Spanish National Monument in 1919. It is open to visitors 8:00AM to 2:00PM (free).

Right behind the church, at the Constitucio square, you will find covered market. Local farmers come to this colorful place to sell fresh vegetables and fruits and prefer to call it Plaça de les Verdures - “the vegetables square” (open daily). Around the square you will find some historic buildings from the 18th, 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. There is another market – on the Placa Ramon Llul, but it runs only on Monday. Tourist Information Office is on the same square, open 10AM – 1PM.

The factory was our main reason to visit Manacor. We booked an island tour and a few days later arrived here. The factory was already open (free, Mon – Fri 9AM – 1PM, 2PM – 7PM, Sat – Sun 10AM – 1PM). Next to the entrance, a statue depicted rather somber local woman with a string of pearls – and who would be happy sitting here all day long under the hot Malloca sun.

Our factory guide started excursion with brief historic intro. The 1st attempts to produce man-made pearls go back to 1890s, but the factory was founded in 1902. The business was rather small-scale until the breakthrough in 1952 when they developed new kind of pearl called Majorica.
At this moment our leader guided us to the 1st room where several dozens of women worked. From our catwalk above the desks we could see little but pearls and some small tools. Meanwhile our guide continued: the 1st stage in the pearl manufacturing includes preparation of the substance made from the marine species. The content is the factory’s know-how, the guide could say only that it involves a solution made from the scales of a million fish. During the next stage, craftsman (well, craftswomen) create a nucleus of high density glass on a revolving wire thread; other employees cover it with enamel to simulate a real pearl (we moved to another room). The glass nucleus is bathed on this secret compound, then dried by heated rotating wheel. They repeat the process many times, adding layer upon layer. Finally, quality control people check every pearl .

After the excursion, we crossed the parking lot and entered huge showroom – the Pearl Superstore. Here every group splits into 3 streams: men go to the bar, children – to WC, while the most difficult task is undertaken by the women meeting tons of the pearl jewelry and army of the salespersons. We found that prices here are higher than in Palma and returned to the coach empty-handed like majority of our group. By this time, the parking lot was full to its capacity and the woman-statue looked like she was about to faint.

Different ancestral traditions connected to music and dance can be seen in the municipality's popular fiestas. The winter fiesta cycle begins on January 16 and 17 with the Beneïdes de Sant Antoni Abat or blessings over the animals. Masked devils come out on the streets playing cowbells and dancing to the rhythm of traditional music.

At night, bonfires are lit which burn until dawn and the villagers congregate around them to eat botifarrons or blood sausages. A procession and the traditional blessings over animals take place the following day.

The Fiesta of Sa Ximbomba, an unusual percussion instrument that uses friction to produce sound, takes place in Son Macià on Carnival Saturday. The village's patron saint's day celebrations are held on August 15, la Mare de Déu d'Agost.

The arrival of spring is celebrated in Manacor during the last week of May and the first week of June. In addition to the country fair, the most striking folklore event in these fiestas is the dance of the Cossiers, of Arab influence, one of the municipality's most important folk dances. The Cossiers, written reference to whom dates from the seventeenth century, perform on the first day of the Spring Fiestas, as well as during the Fiesta of Sant Crist.

The dance of los moretons, documented since 1854, is performed during the fiesta of the convent of Sant Domènec, which takes place in Manacor on May 24. Six children are the protagonists of the celebration, which also has other traditional elements: el Alicorn (unicorn) and giant statues with enormous heads.

Manacor also celebrates a popular fiesta in the Fartàritx quarter on the second Sunday in May and the patron saint's day fiesta of Sant Jaume on July 25th.

Porto Cristo, as well as the rest of the island's coastal villages, celebrates the patron saint's day fiestas of la Mare de Déu del Carme with a maritime procession on July 16.

You will find this amazing place on the outskirts of Manacor, at Carretera Palma-Manacor. First thing you notice here is a group of giant dinosaurs on the square next to the store. It remains mystery to me what the dinosaurs have in common with olive wood; I guess that people who carved the beasts simply tried to catch visitors’ attention. And it works perfect.
Inside, it’s half-museum, half-store with tons of fantastic items – all made from the olive wood (the factory itself is on the backyard). Variety is awesome– from toys, to furniture, to cutlery, to pens, to frames – you got the idea. Some articles are expensive, but most of them are reasonably priced, and all are very interesting. As you enter Olive Art Exposition , on the corner on your right you will find some of antique machinery once used in the factory – if you don’t want to browse countless stalls then you can spend some time here. Olive Art Exposition is a great place to buy a toy for kids or souvenir for the friends back home – original and light.