Deià
Deià is a small coastal village in the northern ridge of the Spanish island of Majorca. It is located about 10 miles north of Valldemossa, and is mainly famous for its literary and musical inhabitants.
Its idyllic landscapes of orange and olive groves on steep cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean served as refuge for English and American expatriates after the First World War. English poet, novelist and scholar Robert Graves was one of the first foreigners to settle in the village, where he collaborated with Laura Riding, with whom he set up the Seizin Press. Graves returned after the war and remained in Deià until his death, using the town as the setting for many of his stories, including the historical novel Hercules my Shipmate. Anaïs Nin visited the village in the 1920s, and wrote a short story set on the village's beach, and the Spanish writer Carmen Naranjo recently wrote a short story about that one. The town is also the unnamed setting of Uruguayan novelist Cristina Peri Rossi's "The Ship of Fools" (La nave de los locos). Nicaraguan poet and novelist Claribel Alegría is also one of the current residents of the town.
In recent decades, the stars of literature have been eclipsed by the stars of rock and roll. Virgin Records mogul Richard Branson has a luxury residence in the town and his label's stars have often visited the village and sometimes jammed at the local bar 'Sa Fonda'. Deià was home to several Canterbury scene musicians over the years including Kevin Ayers, Robert Wyatt and Daevid Allen. Mick Jagger, guitarist Mark Knopfler and European music icon Mike Oldfield played there often in the late 1980s; and Caroline Corr.
The small village has today around 20 restaurants and bars which are popular amongst visitors from all over the world.
External links
- Deia-Mallorca oficial website of Deià (ES)
- The English section of www.deia.info
- Deià by MallorcaWeb
