The Island of Mallorca, Spain

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Geo: 39.5695, 2.65002

October 1, 2009 ~ The Island of Mallorca, Spain

Well, if you read yesterday's blog then you know we had a wonderful, long day yesterday, ate dinner, and slept from ~8pm until ~5am. We both woke-up refreshed and hungry ~ we are used to our 1am or 2am room service meals. Ha! So, we took showers and hung-out watching our ship slowly arrive into the port of Palma on the Island of Mallorca, Spain (home of Michael Douglas and Katherine Zeta Jones ~ whom we did not see today, however). It was foggy and beautiful. The restaurants began serving breakfast at 7am so we ate and came back to the room waiting for the ship to finish docking. There was a small group of early risers eating at the tables, watching us slowly drift into port, and there was a feeling of awe in the room as we all watched this beautiful island wake-up. It was an indescribable experience I will forever remember. I laid-down and fell back asleep until nearly 8:30am. I was sleepy and didn't want to go onto the island ~ everything I had read online about the island, prior to this trip, was that it was controlled by the mafia, there were bag snatchers everywhere, and the island was ugly with nothing to see. One post I read said the mafia presence was so heavy, in fact, that the few stores which refused to pay the mafia a stipend required local policia guards at their door in order to stay in business. I explained all this to Hubby however, he insisted we at least get off the ship and see the island. (In retrospect, I find this hilarious.) So, I was a good wifey and did not complain but put on comfy clothes and away we did go.

The ship's shuttle bus drove us from the port to a drop-off point near a beautiful cathedral. On the way, they said overhead "Be careful today. They know you are here. Keep your bags, your cameras, and your wife close to you or they will be snatched away." Seriously. They said that. I was watching all the passengers and I assure you, bags, cameras, and wives were kept very closely today. Kinda funny now, I think.

So, we get off the bus and it was again, beautiful weather ~ high 60s, sunny, breezy. Nice. We walked to the beautiful cathedral and were amazed at the stonework. We walked into the town and felt safe. We found a local supermarcada (supermarket) and bought a big container of real Spanish olives ~ something Hubby had been wanting. We paid just under 3 Euro for these and yet later, at a souvenir shop, we saw tiny containers of these same olives for 4 Euros. This is why we always find a supermarcada. We checked out other prices just for grins ~ we saw Sony TVs were very reasonable ~ 46 inch TV for 255 Euro ~ and notebooks for kids/school were outrageous ~ 3 little notebooks for 8.50 Euro. Yowza!

Because we saw NO other option... we went to McDonald's to get drinks with.... heilo prounounced yellow, also known as ice... because none of the restaurants in Europe ever serve anything with ice ~ Europeans don't like it as much as us apparently ~ so we are always looking for an American place to get ice. Anyway, I took a picture at McD's cuz they had these funky-looking red bottles of something on display and I thought it was strange, for a McDonald's. I also had a Coca-Lite aka Diet Coke. It was awesome. I sucked it down super fast ~ it was the first soda I'd had since we left the states. For some reason, it hit the spot. Anyway, we continued walking around this place and we actually did feel “watched” by lots of “business-looking-men” however, we basically felt safe. I did see one clothing store with a policia guard so maybe they don't contribute to the mafia. Later, when we were walking everywhere on this absolutely beautiful island ~ and nothing had been snatched ~ Hubby mentioned that maybe because we were in the mafia's neighborhood is why we were safe ~ that maybe they don't allow petty thieves around them ~ and only if we had went to the castle on the hill or in the old neighborhood, would we have been in danger? Regardless, the reviews I read were wrong and this place was beautiful with very friendly people. I would return in a minute!

In the middle of the day, we were standing in some gardens taking pictures with a Canadian couple when all the sudden it started raining ~ and pouring ~ it was sorta funny. I had packed an umbrella so we were okay however, everyone else ~ including our Canadian friends ~ had to huddle under whatever shelter they could find. The rain quickly passed and we saw our way to several souvenir shops where Hubby bought the one thing he has been looking for this entire trip ~ a hat. Purchasing a hat on every big vacation he takes has become “his thing” ~ he likes to wear it to work and amuse the boys (and to Ramey's and everywhere else he can get away with). Today, he purchased a black felt Mafia hat. Appropriate, I believe. He also purchased me another beautiful ring ~ however, this one is just a silly ring that I fell in love with and thought it would be outrageously appropriate for tomorrow night at formal night when I am wearing a kelly-green dress ~ it is green and white pearls and huge and offensive and I love it! Ha

So, with several purchases in hand and a feeling of goodness about this island that we had previously been warned about, we slowly walked back to the cathedral, took several pictures, and we were going to leave when we saw a small outside café serving Sangria ~ and I am a new Sangria fan ~ so, we ordered a pitcher and it was awesome! Hubby smoked, I drank most of the Sangria, our day ended-well. We got back on the ship starving and tired so we went to a “specialty” restaurant here on the ship ~ it actually costs $4.95 a person but it had raving reviews from our British friends so we decided to check it out. It's called Johnny Rockets, it's based on the 50s or 60s with the booths and the jukeboxes and etc ~ the kind of place you expect The Fonz to walk into. We had fries and onion rings, I had a huge Coca-Lite (again, wonderful!), plus we had big cheeseburgers and I had an oreo fudge shake! We were STUFFED!! It was awesome! We left and came back and went to sleep. HA! We slept until 6:15pm when the alarm went off. We were too full for dinner in the dining room so we skipped it. We ordered iced tea and coffee to wake-up. By 8pm we felt woke-up. We dressed-alike (cuz we're nerds) and went all over the ship taking “casual portraits” ~ they take these pictures for free and IF you like them, you buy them. Good deal, actually. Hubby also bought me a beautiful ring in-between the picture-taking which I wore in some of the pics ~ it is gold and black and really quite original and pretty. I love it!

By 9:15pm, we were hungry (a little bit) so we went to the upper dining room (it was casual dress night) and waited in line for seating. Our dining time is 6:45pm but we have the option to do “my time dining” which means you wait in line until they have a table ready. It was awesome tonight. We got two great waiters and we both had nice, lighter meals. I had Ceasar salad and grilled chicken breast with asparagus and carrots with a sugar-free coconut-zucchini cake for desert. Hubby had gazpacho soup which is basically a cold tomato and cucumber soup which he had extra vinegar too ~ I liked it but wouldn't have been able to eat an entire bowl. He also had salmon and veggies. Our waiter gave us a bottle of wine and some fruit to bring back to the room. It was wonderful! We sat on the balcony and I drank the wine and Hubby read. Nice. Every day of our honeymoon seems to get nicer and nicer. It is good, very good.

Tomorrow, we are going to another island, only we are back to Italy ~ to the island of Sardinia. It will be our last day at port so we plan to wake early and walk all day and get our fill! We are enjoying ourselves and I know we aren't going to a lot of “big attraction-type” places but it is the atmosphere, the people, the food, the noises, etc that is making our experiences in Europe so great ~ not some cathedral or some big stone building ~ but the Debbie Gibson look-alikes and the prostitutes are the flavor of our days!

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