It’s early evening as I weave my motorbike through the sharp switchbacks along the eastern coast of Mallorca. Arriving in the town of Deià, where sandstone homes stacked upon one another rise up from the rugged coastline, the lapis expanse of the Mediterranean frames my view to the right.

As the island’s long-time creative hub, this rural village offers something distinct from the cosmopolitan capital of Palma. It’s here, among the narrow streets lined with Bronze Age dry-stone walls, that Mallorca’s ancient heritage and modern reality most visibly collide.

While I’m always grateful to find myself on a Balearic island in June, peering over turquoise calas and surrounded by pine forests that perfume the air, I’m not here solely to delight in the island’s offerings. Rather, I’ve come to

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