Sóller is known as one of the most beautiful villages of Mallorca. It is located on the northwest coast of the island, surrounded by the Sierra de Tramontana and by what was for centuries its only entrance: the Mediterranean Sea. It is precisely the fact that it was isolated until relatively recently that makes Sóller a unique village in Mallorca with its own traditions, customs and gastronomy. For a time, Sóller was better connected to Marseille than to the rest of the island.
The Arabs called this place Sulyar (golden valley) because of its good olive oil. They brought much of the agriculture and endowed this basin with terraces and irrigation channels that still irrigate its orchards.
Sóller is something apart within Mallorca and was almost always difficult to access, which is why it took Jaume I a year to conquer it in 1213.
Although bitter oranges had already existed since Muslim times, it was through the Silk Route and in the 16th century that the sweet orange trees from India were planted in Sóller, which became the basis of its wealth over the centuries.
Every year in Sóller and Port de Sóller they commemorate the invasion of the Algerian corsairs on 11th May 1561, who tried to attack Mallorca but were repelled by the Sollerics. This is why some houses are decorated with Moorish and Christian flags.
Everyone knows when the orange blight happened. It was in 1865. It left the people of Sóller ruined and made them emigrate until they returned to build Modernist mansions and Indian estates and continue trading with Marseilles.
Designed by Pere Garau, the Palma-Sóller railway line was completed in 1912 and a year later the tramway was built, almost touching the chairs on the terraces, the route to Port de Sóller.
In 1997, the road tunnel under the Sierra de la Alfabia was completed.
