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With a series of video portraits, TV journalist Sibylle Tiessen takes us on a captivating journey into a world full of exciting projects, cultural diversity and authentic stories on Mallorca. Supported by TUI, the TUI Care Foundation and Majorca Daily Bulletin, viewers learn more about the island from a whole new perspective, from inspiring stories of locals to social, artistic, ecological, scientific and political aspects.
Episode 3: On the track with Mallorca’s “Red Lightning”
All aboard, please! The Soller train station in Palma is bustling. Families, young couples and groups queue up to get the best seats by the window. For many tourists, the ride on the historic ‘Tren de Sóller’ train is truly a highlight during their holiday in Mallorca.
Amador Bernat Poquet is at the wheel. The Mallorcan has been working as an engine driver on the ‘Red Lightning’, as the train is also called, for eleven years. “My work makes people happy,” he says.
If you are on holiday in the northwest of Mallorca, you won’t want to miss a ride on the traditional wooden railway. The 28-kilometre route from Palma to Soller takes an hour, passing orange and lemon groves, olive trees and flocks of sheep. The journey through the almost three-kilometre-long Alfàbia tunnel is also an experience. The passenger gets an insight into authentic Mallorcan village life in the village of Bunyola. For the construction of the Soller railway in 1912, various tunnels had to be made. One of them is just behind the station. There is also a stop with a bar, older trees and a view of the Tramuntana Mountains. Incidentally, because of the tunnel near the station, a local resident named his herbal liqueur distillery ‘Túnel’. It is today a very famous company in Mallorca, but the production facility is no longer in Bunyola; it was relocated to an industrial estate.
Between six and eight times a day during the high season, the train runs between Palma and the Tramuntana Mountains. The highest point of the train route is in the 2876-metre-long crest tunnel. Immediately afterwards, the train stops at the Mirador del Pujol d’en Banya viewpoint above Soller.
Even though there are fewer tourists on the island during the winter, there is still a demand for trips on the Soller train in the cooler months of the year. Between November and February, however, the ‘Red Lightning’ takes a break. Then it is not only quieter on the island, but also on the tracks. And this is a time when Amador Bernat can take a holiday.
Find out more in our video below:
