Grove Koger

On our 2010 visit to Palma, the capital of the Spanish island of Mallorca, Maggie and I made a point of hiking a mile or so up a path to visit famous Bellver Castle, which overlooks the city (and its magnificent cathedral) and the broad Bay of Palma.

The castle’s name is derived from the Latin phrase bellum verum, meaning “beautiful view,” and it’s that and more.

Bellver is the only round castle in Mallorca, and one of the few in Europe. It was built for King Jaume II of Aragon and Mallorca (r. 1276–1311), and while it served him and several of his royal descendants as a residence, it eventually became a prison. As Mary Stuart Boyd mentions in her book The Fortunate Isles: Life and Travel in Majorca, Minorca and Iviza (Methuen,1911), Bellver had “frowned on many tragic sights,” but Maggie I were visiting on a sunny day, and it so happens that I’m writing about it on another, equally sunny day, so I’ll leave it to you to read up on those events if you care to. I think I’ll just enjoy the view …

Our photo at the top of today’s post shows the castle’s donjon, the fortified tower to which the castle’s occupants could retreat if the castle were under attack. Besides living quarters, it featured a well and ample room for food, so that, if necessary, the occupants could survive almost indefinitely. The sketches are by Boyd’s husband, A.S. Boyd, and the Spanish stamp dates from 1970.

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