Tourists force Cala Deia checkpoint to be reached by car

He saidIt’s a recurring event: tourists break through the barrier that limits access to Cala de Deia; they get out of their car, lift it up with their hands and drive past. When they do, the automatic system is switched off and stops working. “It’s only been active for a month and a half and the technician has had to come several times,” say the local police. For her part, Deia councillor Gabrielle Marianne Poppelreuter considers these uncivilised acts to be the result of “the poor education of many visitors”. “This cannot be tolerated in any way,” she says.

Cala Dea is a place particularly affected by tourism. For this reason, two years ago the city council installed an automatic barrier that limits access for cars to non-residents, but it did not start working until this year: “The barrier was installed at the end of the summer of 2016. “2022; we did not launch it last year, but this year, it lasted for almost a month,” explains Poppelreuter. Its goal is to avoid vehicle saturation at the entrance to the small bay that is visited like this, because until now “very big traffic jams have formed, and in the event of an accident or a fire, the professionals are not there and can reach it,” points out the councilor. The small car park has space for 75 cars, and even if the barrier was in operation, 400 cars were demolished in a single day.

“full” in red

At around 12:00 noon, the capacity is usually full and the barrier is closed to prevent vehicles from continuing to get off. The information board warns with the word “full” in red. But, despite all the signs – which are clear and very visible – visitors who want to reach Cala Deia by car do not turn back and wait in the middle of the road until the barrier opens again. One by one, the cars stop there until they form a queue that, according to the local police, “reaches the village many times”. “They even ask you if they can stay in the middle of the road to wait”, says a municipal agent. “These queues in the middle of the road are dangerous for everyone”, warns the neighbors. In addition, “they prevent the people of Deia from moving, because they have to invade the opposite lane to continue the journey”, says a resident of Deia. “This happens every day, from Monday to Sunday, from May to October”, admits the police officer who controls the barrier during the busiest hours of the day.

The residents of Dienen admit that they are tired of the overcrowding of the bay: “With all this crowding, we have lost the desire to go there; it is full of people,” says Luke, a resident of the town. “I don’t go there all summer,” he admits.