Blogs from Majorca, Balearic Islands, Spain, Europe - page 3

We awake to cloudy skies and the sound of a howling hurricane blowing outside. We briefly consider setting up shop under an umbrella next to the pool, but I think if we try to put an umbrella up in this gale it would quickly end up somewhere in Africa. The wind is directly on-shore and the waves are pounding in. The red flags are up declaring the beach unsafe for swimming, but a few waves and a Category Four Cyclone are apparently not nearly enough to discourage the average European tourist from lying by the shore. We decide to go local and join them. There’s not much sun so most people are sitting on the sand rather than under the umbrellas. The umbrellas are thatch on a solid timber frame, and the fact that most of ... read more

Today we have a longish day of travelling to Majorca. The train ride from Avila to Madrid takes us through some very harsh and barren looking country, with scattered shrubs and a few small trees sitting in amongst a lot of parched earth strewn with granite boulders. It reminds us both of parts of our Aussie homeland. As we pass through the small village of El Escorial we spot a massive castle up on the hillside. This is apparently the Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial. It’s a bit hard to miss, and completely dwarfs everything around it. We read that it’s a 16th century historical residence of the Kings of Spain, and most of the Spanish kings from the last five centuries are buried here. It’s apparently a very popular tourist attraction visited ... read more

There's no rest for the wicked as when our next weekend rolls around, it is the turn of Greg's mum and dad to visit us for a few days. The timing has worked out well as we finish on a Monday day shift and are not back again until the Thursday afternoon. It means we can pick them up from the airport and after a quick hello to Nacho at the flat (who is mega excited) we head down into Santa Ponsa to stop off for a drink and for Archie and Margaret to get something to eat. The place is absolutely buzzing as it is San Juan, the night of the bonfires. We are working the first day Margaret and Archie arrive, so we have to spend an hour or two with Nacho after work ... read more

It feels like only 5 minutes since my mum and dad left when i'm heading to the airport to pick up the next lot of visitors in the shape of my sister and her partner Brian. By the time they've got all their belongings (standing at the wrong belt for 20 minutes, doh) and then headed to the shops to pick up supplies its already lunchtime. They check into their apartment (which is actually lovely and i'm thinking maybe me and Greg could just squat there after they have checked out as it is so nice…) and we take them up to say hello to nacho before heading out to get some lunch. Brian has been saying for a while he is looking forward to taking the boy out whilst he is here, but I am ... read more

We're starting to feel a lot more comfortable in our new roles at work now we've been here a week or so and are more familiar with the lay of the land. I've also helped out a few customers so feeling more integrated and actually involved rather than just standing back and watching and letting others do the hard work. The summer season hasn't quite kicked in yet so it will be interesting to see how different it will be then! On our day off this week we decided to head to Palma Nova and then walk to Portal Nous as Greg had read about it somewhere online. But unfortunately you can't walk along the coast as there are lots of very nice, big houses and hotels in the way, but the pathway is still very ... read more