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Published: October 23rd 2007
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After boarding the ship in Tunis we enjoyed afternoon tea and we were off for the Island of Mallorca - one of three that make up the Balearic Islands! It was the only time we left port early enough to get some really great shots of the Mediterranean and we didn't waste that opportunity. We arrived in Palma de Mallorca and made a bee line for the bus station - NO WAY were we going to stay in the hustling-bustling city - too much chaos for us!
We got to the train station after locating every tourists' savior - the Tourist Information Office. Gus had done some reasearch on Mallorca and read about a charming village in the mountains called Valldemossa. What the book failed to mention is that Valldemossa is a small slice of heaven on earth - when you are there, you feel like you have stepped into someone's fairy tale. I will attempt to describe it, but I guarantee, it will only be a feeble attempt as you really must go there to experience the feeling yourself.
We board the bus and wind our way out of Palma, which is just like every other big city,
and we are glad to leave it behind. Soon enough we are surrounded by sheep farms, olive orchards and farmhouses. The bus winds it's way up the hillsides and we get some peeks at what we are in for. The rolling hills give way to evergreen mountains and the clouds hang just above. It must have rained the day before we got there because when we stepped off the bus you could smell that "village-in-the-mountains freshness" that really can't be duplicated. But I know we could make a killing if we could bottle it. The leaves had started to fall from the trees and the ground was still damp. It felt like fall. Thankfully, there was no chance of rain for us as the sky was perfectly blue and dotted here and there with wispy white clouds. There was a gentle breeze that made all your cares disappear. The feeling was as if you were weightless and being moved around on a cloud. I really can't describe it well - I think it was just...heaven. Really. You just felt this blanket of old-world charm, warmth, friendliness and being very welcomed.
Do you want to visit yet?
We started
walking through the stone streets which have been there for centuries. Like most ancient European villages, the streets wind and intersect in odd places and as you think you are heading in one direction, you are taken in another. And who needs a map? It's not like you can get lost...the center of town is always marked by the church...so just listen for the bells. We took HUNDREDS of pictures of Valldemossa in our attempt to capture it's essence. There were bakeries selling treats typical to Spain and the Balearic Islands, gift shops, jewelry stores, cafes serving heavenly-smelling cappuccinos and these beautiful hand-painted tiles marked every doorway with the prayer "Beata, pray for us."
We walked through the church gardens and meadered through the streets all afternoon. When we got hungry - who, me, get hungry?! - we popped into a little bakery and lo and behold, all that Spanish I took in high school came flooding back and I was able to handle the entire transaction - from "What is in this?" to "Thank you very much, your town is lovely" - in SPANISH! Unbelievable! Gus was duly impressed. I told him that he could return the favor
when we got to France. 😊 We had the BEST lunch. We ordered these calzone-ish items stuffed with Spanish ham (a gift from God himself), Spanish cheeses, tomatoes and sprinkled with oregano salt, and garlic. We sat out on the stoop of the bakery and tried to not inhale our tasty treats. We must have been a good advertisement, because as we sat there "oohing" and "aahing" over our lunch people would take one look at what we were eating and make a bee line for the front door of the shop. We contemplated asking for a small advertising stipend, but we were too drunk with good food to care.
We hiked back down the highway a bit to try to get a shot of the whole village, but the sun was setting and it was hard to get the shot. Ah, well, you can't have everything, I guess. We decided that we would walk down some very adorable narrow streets to find some great photo opportunities, and boy-oh-boy did we find them! And after wandering around for about 30 minutes we somehow, miraculously, ended up in the center of town! I tell you, all roads lead to Valldemossa!
We even found the original spring that was the towns water supply back in the day.
We spent the rest of the afternoon just wandering around, enjoying this opportunity. We even found some Mallorcan kitties chilling out at the cafes. I mean, what do they have to worry about after all?
As the town began to close up for the night, we caught our bus back to Palma and got to watch the sun set over Valldemossa, heaven on earth. We will be back.
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