Valldemossa — the lanes above the charterhouse

Valldemossa is the Tramuntana village everyone has seen without knowing its name: honey-coloured stone houses stacked up a slope, green shutters, cobbles, and pots of geraniums on the steps. At its centre is the Carthusian monastery where Chopin and George Sand spent the winter of 1838, and beside many doors you will find a small painted tile of Santa Catalina Thomàs, who was born here.

The lanes above the monastery are the material. They are narrow and stepped, so a single frame holds stone, flowers, a doorway and the mountain behind; the whitewash and pale stone bounce light back into faces, which flatters portraits without any extra kit. Walk five minutes out of the village for the wider view of the roofs against the ridge.

Go before ten in the morning or after five in the afternoon. Between those hours the coaches are parked and the main street is a queue; outside them the village is nearly empty. Because Valldemossa sits in a fold of the mountains, the sun arrives late and leaves early — in winter the shade comes in by mid-afternoon, which is soft and even but cold.

It is around half an hour from Palma on a winding road. Cars stay outside the old core, so use the paid parking at the entrance and walk in. The monastery itself is ticketed with seasonal hours — check them if you want the cloister in the session.