HFeet click on stone slabs, warm wind moves holm oaks and pine trees. Two donkeys run up a mountain in serpentines, meter by meter. Mare Tita and stallion Damià march to the castle of Castell d’Alaró on a Saturday morning. It is located in the middle of the Spanish island of Mallorca. The donkeys don’t transport vacationers on their backs, but carry two white boxes tied with ribbons on their sides. Each of them contains 30 kilos of food: olive jars, cake boxes, oranges, red wine bottles, pasta, cola, straw for the animals themselves.
All this must be high at 825 meters. There, guests stay in a hostel and look forward to paella. The Castell d’Alaró is a rock castle on the edge of the Tramuntana mountains. It was built around the year 900 and was fought over by Arabs and Catalans, today it is a tourist destination. From here, hikers can look as far as Palma Cathedral and the highest mountain on the island, Puig Major, almost 1500 meters high. The castle can only be reached on foot, via stone steps and archways. The Castell d’Alaró is home to the donkeys Damià and Tita, both 15 years old. They live here all year round. Damià belongs to the local Ase Balear breed. 323 animals of this species live in the Balearic Islands, 80 stallions, 243 mares. They are spread over Mallorca and Menorca, on Ibiza and Formentera there are no purebred animals. The population is declining.