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Mallorca’s past is littered with invasion attempts – from pirates to 20th century armies – all determined to conquer or plunder the Mediterranean island, and even today Mallorca is a popular destination for outsiders. Mind you, today’s invaders want to get onto the beaches, whereas past visitors would have preferred to get away from such a vulnerable position, swimming and tanning not being high on their to do lists – conquest, robbery, slavery and plunder were more their line.

With so many landing places for attackers to choose from, Mallorca’s resident population realised long ago that “fighting them on the beaches” was not a viable option and settlements from as far back as 1000 BC were prudently located a few kilometres inland. Over time, many inland towns such as Sóller, Alcúdia, and Andratx developed ports nearby as bases for fishing and trade, but which could be readily abandoned if necessary. Another development was the creation of lookout towers to give early warning of hostile craft – a notable example is the Mirador de ses Ànimes, built in 1579, which has amazing views along Mallorca’s mountainous north western coast.

None of this stopped the constant stream of arrivals and over the centuries Mallorca has been attacked or occupied by Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Moors, various kingdoms of the then unified mainland of Spain, and raiding parties from North Africa and the Ottoman empire including the notorious pirate, Barbarossa. The most recent military invasion took place on Mallorca’s east coast in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War when Republican forces landed at Porto Cristo – unfortunately, it seems they had no idea what to do after the successful landing, and retreated back to the mainland after counter attacks by the Falangists, supported by the Italian Air Force.

Apart from the occasional boatload of illegal immigrants from Africa, the latest invasions have been by tourists and happily, today’s visitors (and residents) don’t have warlike intent. Vast numbers of tourists come to Mallorca on package holidays and find themselves in major resorts such as Palma in the south, Cala Millor in the east, and Pollença in the north. All of these well-known Mallorca resorts have large sweeping beaches of soft sand, safe bathing, and loads of attractions, all backed up by every facility and modern convenience, but any beach near a city or town will usually be rather crowded in the summer months.

The only remaining large natural beach on Mallorca (it’s protected from further development) is Es Trenc, to the west of Colonia de Sant Jordi in the south east of the island. Four kilometres of extensive dunes and soft sandy beaches which slope gently into the turquoise Mediterranean are backed by salt flats which support a vast variety of resident and migrating birdlife.

The character of the most of the beaches along Mallorca’s east coast is very different – these are tiny jewels, tucked away between sandstone and limestone cliffs, and fringed by shady Aleppo pine trees. The easier these gems are to get to, the more crowded they can be, but there are several which call for a long and hot walk, or can only be approached by boat. There are no facilities in these places – the price of peace!

When it comes to facilities, many of Mallorcas beaches, and certainly the more popular ones, are provided with lifeguard stations and first aid stations, with clearly marked and protected swimming areas. Folks with accessibility difficulties are catered for on 63 beaches, according to the Balearic Tourist Authority.

All those past invaders would certainly have appreciated the level of detailed information available to today’s traveller.