Petra Mallorca   

This sleepy town of sand colored houses would be completely on the tourist map if it were not the birthplace of Mallorca's most famous son, Fray Junipero Serra. Born in 1713, he became a priest in 1730 and worked as a missionary in Mexico from 1749 to 1763. At the age of 54 he was sent to California; the missions he established there grew into some of the USA's largest cities, including San Diego and San Francisco.

You can visit the house where Serra's parents lived, a museum devoted to his life and work, the font where he was baptlsed (in the church of Sant Perel and a plaque, outside the same church, describing him as 'explorer, missionary, hero, civiliser' Anyone walking down the street leading to his birthplace, decorated with majolica tiles depicting him baptising Native Americans, might be Inclined to disagree, but by the standards of his day he was certainly a hero.