The Postcard
A tarjeta postal that was published by A. Zekowitz of Barcelona. The image is a glossy real photograph.
The card was posted in Mallorca on Friday the 20th. May 1955 to:
Mrs. H. Parkes,
Green Acre,
Green Lane,
Chilworth,
Southampton,
England.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"20. 5. 55.
We came up here yesterday
and saw this girl dancing.
This is a very nice part of the
island, but rather a hectic
journey to get here - 33
hairpin bends!!!
Don't worry about lunch on
Thursday, we shall eat on
the way down from London.
Hope all is well with you.
Love to Ellen & yourself,
and "Little Man."
Joan Wilson."
Valldemossa
Valldemossa is a village on the island of Majorca, part of the Spanish autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. It is famous for the Royal Charterhouse of Valldemossa, a Carthusian Monastery built at the beginning of the 14th. century, when the mystic and philosopher Ramon Llull lived in this area of Majorca. It can be seen in the background of the photograph.
Since the 19th. century Valldemossa has been promoted internationally as a place of outstanding beauty, largely as a result of the affection of distinguished traveller and cultural writer, the Austrian Archduke Ludwig Salvator. Valldemossa is also popular because it has many examples of early Spanish culture.
Actors Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones have a coastal estate near Valldemossa.
In the 1830's the Spanish government confiscated monasteries, and the historic estate was sold to private owners, who have since hosted some prominent guests. These have included the Polish composer Frédéric Chopin and his lover the pioneering French writer Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin, better known by her pseudonym George Sand. She wrote a notable account called 'A Winter in Majorca', describing their 1838–39 visit, and praising the island's natural beauty, but criticising what she perceived as the prejudice and vices of the natives.
Later the Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío was guest of the Sureda y Montaner families who own the Chartreuse estate. To fight his own nightmares Rubén Dario would sleep in monk habits, however his drinking habits caused a rift with his private hosts, and thus his departure from the former monastery and from Majorca.
Jorge Luis Borges lived in the town with his parents and his sister Norah after the Great War. Borges' passionate friendship with the young artist Jacobo Sureda Montaner, son of the painter Pilar Montaner, was decisive for Borges writing mainly in Spanish.
In 1956 British composer Joseph Horovitz visited the island with his wife Anna on their honeymoon, and later named a clarinet piece, based on Spanish folk-tunes he had heard there, after the village.
Until the elections of 2007 the town's mayor was the only one in the democratic Kingdom of Spain to remain in office from the times of the Francoist dictatorship, which legally disappeared as the current Spanish Constitution of 1978 was passed.
Chopin and Sand in Valldemossa
In October 1836, Chopin met the French writer George Sand at Liszt's house. In the summer of 1838, Sand and Chopin became lovers. They spent the following winter from the 8th. November 1838 to the 11th. February 1839 together with Sand’s two children in Mallorca. At first, they stayed in Palma de Mallorca and then at the Charterhouse in Valldemossa.
Already after a month, Chopin was writing about Valldemossa in rather sad tones, complaining about the weather and local cuisine. The Mediterranean climate generally agreed with the composer; however, that year’s winter was particularly rainy, and Chopin caught a cold.
On top of that, the piano that was being imported from Europe especially for him, was lost as it was being transported. After the piano was found, it waited for weeks at the port at Palma for the duty to be paid.
During this time, Chopin was forced to play on a poor Majorcan piano. Despite the difficulties, he worked on his next pieces. It was in Mallorca that Chopin completed his collection of 24 preludes (including the prelude in D-flat major nicknamed "Raindrop").
Little furniture remains from the stay of the two lovers. The locals, afraid of tuberculosis, burnt most of the furniture of the rooms in which Chopin and Sand had lived.
A museum dedicated to the famous couple is located within the monastery in cells 2 and 4. Memorabilia collected there includes letters and manuscripts, portraits and sketches.
Also on display are Chopin's death mask and a lock of his hair, preserved in one of George Sand's books. The museum is private, and was founded in 1929 by Anne-Marie Boutroux de Ferrà and her husband Bartomeu Ferrà i Juan.
Chopin's Piano
In cell 4, visitors can see the Pleyel piano that had been ordered by the composer in Paris. It arrived in Valldemossa three weeks before his departure. When Chopin and Sand were leaving, they did not want to pay a high duty for the second time, and left the piano to the director of the bank where Sand had opened an account.
The piano, not yet fully paid off, was probably a form of a settlement. The piano was passed on in the banker’s family from one generation to another. Its current owners are the heirs of the bank director, the Quetglas brothers, who administer Chopin’s and G. Sand’s cell. The instrument is the greatest pride of their Chopin museum.
The Chopin Festival
The Chopin Festival organised by Festivals Chopin de Valldemossa has been held since 1930 in August at the Carthusian monastery.
Francisca Cortés Picazo
So what else happened on the day that Joan posted the card?
Well, the 20th. May 1955 marked the birth of Francisca Cortés Picazo.
Francisca, more commonly known as "La Paca", is a Spanish drug lord, and matriarch of the Romani drug clan known as the "La Paca" clan.
The clan operated out of the predominantly Romani neighbourhood of Son Banya on the island of Majorca, dealing heroin and cocaine.
La Paca was arrested on the 2nd. July 2008 in Son Banya, along with 19 others, by the Civil Guard in an operation dubbed Operation Kabul.
She was convicted for unlawful detainment and money laundering and was sentenced to 22 years in prison where she currently (2022) resides.
Prior to her incarceration she married Francisco Pulet Rodríguez "El Tarta" and had a son named Francisco Fernández Cortés "El Chirri."
