Magnificent Mallorca

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Geo: 39.6078, 3.01197

Wow Mallorca, what an awesome place!!

Its difficult to think of what it didn't have to offer. What did it have to offer? Beautiful mountain and coastal scenery, fabulous food, great beaches, historical market squares and ancient architecture, quaint and quiet villages and farms, friendly people. Sure there were alot of tourists in some parts and some of the most picturesque bays were crowded beyond belief with English holidaymakers. So its not perfect by any means but we certainly enjoyed our time there and could definitely have stayed longer.

Admittedly it didn't go that well at the start. Our flight was delayed by well over an hour leaving Prague so we didn't land at Palma until about 10pm. Our bags took about another half an hour to appear on the carousel. At this point we decided it was a wise decision not to have hired a car and attempted to find our farm stay in the dark. But then the taxi option didn't work out so well either as our taxi driver told us it was "impossible" to find where we were staying. Despite the language barrier we eventually convinced the taxi driver to phone the property and he arranged for someone to meet us in the town so we could be driven to out to the farm. A friendly elderly man (who spoke mainly French and turned out to be the father of the lady who ran the establishment) picked us up and drove us through several of the narrowest country lanes I have ever seen in my life We eventually arrived at our little country apartment just after midnight.

By the next morning we were feeling a bit bewildered as to how we were going to find our way around and arrange to hire a car. There was very little English spoken at the farm and my French and my Spanish are both somewhat limited. Even though we were only about a kilometre from the village and less than 20 kilometres from Palma it felt like we were quite isolated where we were, with little or no information available from any source to help us find our way. In the end we managed to find our way to the village on foot and eventually located the train station. We boarded an open air train that had been in service for over 100 years. The train rattled its way slowly along the single lane track and eventually got us to Palma where we caught a taxi to the airport and found ourselves a good cheap hire car. The smaller the better in Mallorca as the town streets as well as the country roads can become unbelievably narrow.

By far the most scenic feature of the island was the Serra de Trauntana which is world heritage listed. The mountain range runs across about half the island on the western side. It can be quite barren in parts consisting of massive limestone peaks towering over endless miles of intricately terraced farmland supporting mostly olive orchards but also oranges and other fruits. Fortunately we travelled this area over the weekend so were lucky enough to come across dozens of bikes out for a ride in the sunshine on the forever winding mountain roads. We used these roads a few times choosing to dine in the evening at Port Soller on the west coast. There was the tunnel option but we did go the long way once finding a road consisting of about 100 hairpin bends in the space of 11 kilometres, many of which were so narrow we could barely get around them when the car steering was in full lock.

In only three days we certainly didn't get time to see everything the island had to offer but what we did see very much impressed us. We also very much enjoyed the food and the wine and the hospitality of the island. The farm where we stayed was run by a family who were very friendly and kind. Although it was sometimes difficult to communicate it was clear the sentiment was there. The breakfasts on the terrace were lovely and featured interesting treats such as Spanish omlette, eggplant bruschetta, strawberry & cream pastries and candied orange cake. Just beautiful! We were lucky enough to enjoy a home cooked meal there on one evening and tasted the traditional Mallorcan aperitif called Tunel which was made from several different herbs. A bit like Ouzo only much more potent. Deadly!! We would certainly be keen to return to Mallorca again one day if the opportunity ever presented itself.

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