Cartoixa de Valldemossa
Originally built as a palace in 1309, the monastery was founded in 1399, but after the monks were expelled in 1835 it acquired a new lease on life by offering apartments to travelers. The most famous lodgers were Frédéric Chopin and his lover, the Baroness Amandine Dupin, the French novelist better known by her pseudonym, George Sand. The two spent three difficult months here in the cold, damp winter of 1838–39.
In the church, note the frescoes above the nave—Goya's brother-in-law was the monk who painted them. The pharmacy, made by the monks in 1723, is almost entirely preserved. A long corridor leads to the apartments, furnished in period style, occupied by Chopin and Sand (the piano is original). Nearby, another set of flats houses the local museum, with mementos of Archduke Luis Salvador and a collection of old printing blocks. From here, you return to the ornately furnished King Sancho's palace, a group of rooms initially built by King Jaume II for his son. The tourist office sells tickets for the monastery's attractions in Valldemossa's central plaza.
