I’m always amazed when small Mallorcan pueblos pride themselves of more than one Catholic church. Petra for instance has two very formidable churches, the església de Sant Bernardí de Sena as well as the església de Sant Pere. In addition to these two, Petra also houses the convent of Sant Francesc d’Asís and the Santuari de la Mare de Déu de Bonany, on the outskirts of the village.

The church shown here seems to be the main one really; it is the església parroquial de Sant Pere which dates back to the 16th century. The town’s hero, the venerable Fray Junípero Serra (Miquel Josep Serra i Ferrer), was baptized in this very church on December 24th, 1713. Some 36 years later, the Franciscan monk Serra embarked on his journey to New Spain (today’s Mexico) and later, in 1769, from there to California, where he set up a string of missionary stations. The rest is history (you can ask Arnold Schwarzenegger).

Petra, a village of some 2,500 inhabitants, also sports the island’s smallest hotel, affording but three bedrooms (Hotel Sa Plaça).

The photo was taken in Petra, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: June 27th, 2009. The time was 13:50:32.