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Food was uniformly good to excellent everywhere we ate. You'd have to live in Mallorca to eat your way through all the various restaurants. My favorite foods were: Tapas (assorted appetizers); Aioli (a very garlicky mayonnaise); Tumbet (a ratatouille-type dish made with eggplant, zucchini, onions, tomatoes and potatoes); Grilled Calamari (or Squid); and Almond Cake.
The group's farewell dinner took place at Tiberi where most ordered a set 19 Euro menu which included huge plates of fried calamari, prawns in a roquefort sauce, fried vegetables, huge salads, pasta - then came an assortment of entrees....AND an assortment of desserts, followed by a "peachy" tasting liquor. Practically had to crawl away from the table, stuffed to the extreme.
Wine - Never had a bad one. All the reds, "vino tino" were good. Even the 2 Euros glasses we tried (about $2.40 U.S. including all taxes and tip) were very good.
Continue reading "Food, Wine and Villas -- Adios, Mallorca!" »
Biking? If you like to bicycle, there are many groups that lead on- and off-road biking tours. Or grab a map and do it yourself.
We were sitting outside after breakfast in Port Soller when a woman bicyclist, dressed all in pink, struck my eye. Not only was she dressed all in pink, but her water bottles, panniers and sunglasses were in pink. And, riding shotgun on the back of her bike was this great stuffed moose (wearing a "live strong" bracelet and sunglasses). I had to take a photo of that! When we started chatting (her name is Allison from Oakland, CA), Allison told us she was finishing up biking around Mallorca THEN doing ferries over to Siciliy to meet up with a biking group AND bike around Sicily. Her stuffed moose is aptly named "Moosie" (from Glacier National Park) and, women, her husband was at home babysitting their cat!
Allison and mascot "Moosie"
Moosie is ready for his close-up
It is inspirational meeting someone like Allison, alone on the road, living life to its fullest. Come on Ladies, you can do it too!
Continue reading "Biking, Golfing and Transportation in Mallorca" »
The Hotel Daina has a bontiful buffet breakfast. Eggs, bacon, many kinds of rolls, bread, toast, pastries, fresh and dried fruit, yoghurt, watermelon, ham, cheese, sausages, the English staple - baked beans - and, decent coffee. Today is sunny, and hot in Porto Pollensa.
one of the squares
We decided to take a public bus and visit Alcudia (1 Euro/person). The buses run every 15-30 minutes throughout the day, and they stop one block from our hotel.
Alcudia is a historic old city with Moorish-style medieval walls surrounding most of it. The walls were built during the 14th century for dual protection - to protect the townspeople, and as a stronghold against attacks from outsiders. There are still two gates remaining: one connected Alcudia to the royal road to Palma with a restored moat and two towers which have openings where stones and boiling water could be dropped on enemies; and the other, located on the opposite side of town has two towers joined by a gatehouse.
Continue reading "Alcudia - Wandering Around" »
Our suitcases will be bused to Pollenca while we finish the last section of the GR 221.
Breakfast was better than in Port Soller: hot rolls, freshly made croissants, ham and cheese. The coffee in Port Soller was strong and muddy enough to use as grouting material. The Monastery's coffee tastes like instant dishwaster cut with chlorine. Most of our coffee-drinking group agree..."Juan Valdez", we need you!
It is raining outside...no, not raining...a downpour. The Monastery is filled with walkers, hikers and bikers and I don't know which of us has it worse. There is no choice but to put on the waterproofs and head out. The only good thing to say about the day, is a relatively short hike, 4-1/2 hours. Without rain, it would have been beautiful. Through piney forests, lots of ferns, extremely green, but lacking sun.
rain had finally stopped
wildflowers - the only spot of color
Continue reading "Lluc to Puerto Pollenca/Port Pollensa" »
Suitcases packed and ready for their busride to the Monestery at Lluc. The driver will drop us off at Cuba, and we head in a different direction towards Guia de Lluc. It isn't as crowded on the trail today now that the 3-day weekend is over for the Spanish.
eyeballing today's route
The first part of the hike was relatively easy. Along an old water trough from the 1800's, used for irrigation. Uphill, through gorgeous bushes of wild rosemary blooming everywhere.
wild Rosemary
A stop at the top of the pass for lunch, View image and to enjoy the views.
Continue reading "Lluc - The Monastery" »
The different portion of the GR 221 today . Our private bus drove us up to Cuba (by the Dam) and let us off to walk down to Soller in a different direction. Each section of the GR had a map detailing the walk. Hikers were usually gathered around soaking in the details, lengthening poles, and getting ready for the day's excursion. If you wonder why hiking poles are used, there are sesveral very good reasons. First, they absorb a good deal of the impact on your knees; second, act like an extra pair of legs; and third, help your balance in tricky spots. Once you get used to them, it's impossible to hike without those extra "legs."
Off we started around the perimeter of the lake, created by the dam. It was very sunny, hot and easy going for a while.
Not a difficult climb to the pass, then literally downhill all the way. Most people don't realize that downhills are much harder on your knees than uphills because of the impact.
heading on up
Again, tremendous amounts of different nationalities out on the trail...hiking and walking in all directions. Young, old, families...wearing heavy-duty hiking boots, running shoes, flip-flops. Mountain bikers, blowing past us on the downhills. Ex-Marine really enjoys talking to people and tried out his approximately 15 words of Spanish on everyone he passed. (He also has a five-word German vocabulary including the all important "Guten Tag".) When he passed a women on her cell, he immediately struck up a five-word conversation..."Hola, Senora...telephono....pizzeria...grande."
Continue reading "On The GR 221 in Mallorca" »
After a mediocre breakfast at Hotel Marina - the usual selection of rolls, jams, yoghurt,, orange "Tang"-type juice (with 1,000's of orange groves around, some freshly squeezed would have been nice), etc. And, the worst coffee of the entire trip.
Hint #3 - Throw an old washcloth in your suitcase and toss it at the end of the trip. It is extremely rare to find a washcloth in a hotel....towels...but never a washcloth in sight.
Port Soller
It was time to actually start hiking. The group took a public bus to Deia, another charming small town. It was a beautiful, clear, sunny day and masses of tourist were visiting Deia as well as hiking parts of the GR 221. "Barefoot" Mark and I both have GPS's (we're both rather anal) by Garmin - his an E-trex, mine a Fore-trex. We synchronized and ready to go. The trail ran along the coast at the beginning, and as I've mentioned before, the English are notoriously fit and fast hikers (ramblers). Believe me, nothing even resembles a "ramble" with them. Ex-Marine and I were always at the back of the pack.
People were coming from all directions, but there was always a GR sign to show the way.
At one point along the trail, a picturesque restaurant made apple and lemon meringue pies - a "tea" break toward the end. After walking along the coast, we headed through olive groves (all terraced), farms of more lemon and orange trees. The fragrance was delicious. The hike ended back in Soller and the group took the tram back down to Port Soller, after 7.2 miles of walking. Mark's and my Garmins agreed to the mile. Ex-Marine did something to one knee a month ago, but gutted it out in true Corps fashion! What a guy.
Continue reading "Port Soller - On The Way" »
After an extremely hearty breakfast, it was time to roam around Palma. The Port is very active - Cruise Ships coming and going, ferries to Ibiza and Barcelona, and pleasure boats all over the Bay.
The Gothic Cathedral is the most important part of Palma. The main gate is from the late Renaissance, finished in 1601. The facade is Neo-Gothic, other parts date from the 14th through 15th century. It is massive with sepulchres of the Kings of Mallorca. Antoni Gaudi did some renovation work, and renovation is still going on.
Gothic Cathedral
It was time to meet our Explore group arriving from the U.K. Tom is the leader, and he has already led nine groups this season. We total 16, all ages, four couples, and an even mix of women and men. The medical profession is well represented by a Radiologist, Pathologist, Dentist, Gerontologist and Dietician. (That should cover all the bases.) The Radiologist is Mark, a member of "The Society for Barefoot Living." His worldwide Society members go barefoot whenever (and wherever) they can, and throughout the year. One member has even hiked the entire Appalachian Trail - Barefoot! Extremely impressive since I am always stepping on something, and here is Mark, walking over rocky trails in bare feet.
Tom led the group on another wander through Palma while our bags were transported to Port Soller. View image Past the Cathedral, through the old city, including a stop to gawk at a 1,000 year old Olive Tree in one of the squares. View image
old courtyard
It's the weekend (as well as a Bank Holiday) so Palma is extremely crowded. In the Plaza Mayor, there are mimes, entertainers, and a mini-flea market.
mime
Continue reading "Discovering Palma and Port Soller" »
It is always difficult traveling, arriving in a strange country, jet-lagged with no clue where to go and what to do. And when you arrive and find out that (once again) United/Lufthansa/Spanair managed to lose our bags, you just wonder why bother going anywhere. (The airlines manage to "misplace" 3,000,000 bags per year but this makes twice in a row for us!)
However, it was impossible to stay depressed on the 15-minute ride into Palma. The massive Gothic Cathedral stood out against a perfectly blue sky, palm trees, greenery, flowers waving in the wind, the beautiful Bay of Palma, a clear azure blue with resorts/beach hotels in the distance.
We stayed at Hotel Almundaina, in the center of town, on Jaime III Street, right in the middle of all the action. The resort areas are on the outskirts of Palma, but we prefer the old city - ancient buildings, narrow streets, restuarants and boutiques. Thanks to the Hotel Almundaina staff, Paola and Daniel, their phone calls to Spanair paid off and six hours later, there they were....OUR SUITCASES! Ole....clean clothes!
Hotel Almudaina serves a buffet breakfast, usually included in your rate. Eggs, bacon, ham, salami, meats, cheese, yoghurt, juice, doughnuts, a form of crullers, different kinds of breads and rolls including my favorite dark bread with lots of little grains and sunflowers seeds - more than enough to stoke up on.
typical street in Palma
Continue reading "Palma, Mallorca" »
We chose the "Tramuntana Traverse", an 8 day/7 night walking trip that starts and ends in Palma, Mallorca. (You can look at the entire dossier on the Adventure Center website. This includes: Guide, hotels, breakfast, walks (there is always the option to ride with the vehicle to the next location if you don't walk to walk), inter-island transportation and most tours.
Air? Many different airlines to Mallorca from Europe. I've used flycheapo quite often to help find a discount carrier. Visit BookingBuddy.com for discounts on airfare, hotels, car rentals and more! . You can also go on the individual websites of Thomson Flights , easyJet, Lufthansa, and many others. Please remember, some of the discount airlines will not help you out if something goes wrong - delays, etc. You are on your own, but it is still worth flying them. When our last flight on easyJet was delayed (and possibly going to be cancelled), they told us "oh, get on the computer and rebook yourself."
Land? We decided on the Adventure Center-Explore Package, but Sherpa Expeditions is another operator that we have used many times, and are very reliable. They have a marvelous catalog filled with escorted and self-guided trips.
Hotel? Going two days early to spend some time in Palma. We just used Orbitz to find a hotel, centrally located.
General Information? Mallorca World-Guides is a good site, and since we are going to meet our group in Soller, transport information was available on Tramuntana Transport. There are numerous sites to help you.
Continue reading "Mallorca, We are Going!" »
We frequently travel to Europe, but have never visited Mallorca.
Mallorca, is a Balaeric Island in the Mediterranean (off the Spanish coast). View image Most tourists are Europeans, who pack the island during the Summer to work on their tans and party. My skin is already destroyed from sun-bathing (all those years of iodine mixed with baby oil), and we fall asleep too early for the party scene. However, we read that Mallorca also has rugged mountains and historic, cobblestone-street towns loaded with charm. A reputation for good food, and wine, helped convince us to plan a trip there (during the "un-party" season)...the end of April.
Continue reading "Mallorca - Planning a Trip" »
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