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Published: August 7th 2016
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After a hectic five days in the UK catching up with old friends and attending Steve and Lucy's lovely wedding in Garra Rock, South Devon, we boarded a plane bound for the largest of the Balearic Islands in Spain, Majorca. It is so unlike us to ever book a package holiday but the offer was too good to pass up, costing us only $1,600 for both of us for return flights, seven nights accommodation and all food and yes alcohol included in a four star resort....we were sucked in to the hole that thousands of Britts every year get sucked into and you can definently see why.
Not wishing to be a part of the masses that just spend the whole week by the pool on a lounge only to break three times day for the all you can eat buffet, we opted to get out and about on the first day in search of a beach not too overcrowded, yeah right! We were staying on the east coast of the island, Cales De Mallorca, and at the front of the purpose built resorts lays a long winding path at the top of a jagged cliff face and in both
directions will take you to beaches that in other areas of the world would be hidden gems but unfortunately here, not so hidden and people flock to them, you can't blame them though, the Mediterranean ocean in these parts is a bright blue turquoise and so inviting.
We wandered up to the local shops to organise a hire car so we could get out and about and search the island for our own hidden gems. We ended up with a manual Peugeot little run about that luckily had built in GPS as we are all aware of my ability to read maps and navigate! Sam jumped in the drivers seat on the first day, everything on the opposite side of the car as we were driving on the right over there, it was a challenge for both of us to get used to, changing gears on the right and managing not to veer over to the left. Our first mission was to try to find a wee bit of sand not taken up by a deck chair, we set off for the town of Alcudia up on the north east of the island, and just out of the town
we were staying in we drove through another small town called Manacor, the birth place of tennis champ Rafael Nadal (he is also in the process of building a sprawling sports centre here which we also passed a few times coming in and out of town). We had seen pics of the beach at Alcudia and it did indeed seem inviting and being the longest beach on the island (all 11km of it) we thought we would have a pretty good chance of scoring a spot. To our disgust, the place was like Phuket beach all over again. It seemed that 80% of the island were here so definently wasn't an ideal place to enjoy.
Our next port of call was further north at Port due Pollenca, and although the beach was still busy it was nowhere near the hectic buzz of Alcudia and the whole beach thankfully was not covered up by deck chairs. The water was pretty cool but as still as a bath and so finally we got to dip our toes into the Mediterranean and get a bit of a base tan established! After some time on the sand and a lovely lunch overlooking the
beach we headed up to the very north of the island, Cap de Formentor. Stopping at a lookout on the way up to the lighthouse the views were breathtaking. Steep jagged cliffs that jut out in some places and drop straight down in others, you would lose your stomach looking out and offer some of them and Sam with his vertigo couldn't get very close at all, the pics we took will speak for themselves and I think captured the beauty of this place pretty well. We never made it all the way up to the lighthouse, satisfied with the views we already enjoyed we then headed into the town of Pollenca to book a kayaking and snorkeling adventure the following day. Pollenca was like a rabbit warren of one way streets, pokey and narrow and Sam did well to get us around in there accident free. Managing to finally find a park we ventured into the centre of town, some of the roads being cobblestone it was very similar to some of the streets we trekked in Italy and Sicily many years ago. We found the place to book our tour (of course we arrived in town when it
was siesta so had to kill an hour having a drink until the shop reopened - life is tough!). The snorkelling part of the tour took place in some blue caves that we had to kayak to but it was all weather dependent.
No sleep in for the next day as we had to be up early and at the north side of the island in a small bay called Cala de Sant Vincen. It was cold and extremely windy and upon our arrival we found the conditions were not ideal for snorkelling the caves, snorkeling the caves was all I really wanted to do, kayaking in the cold wind against white cap water was not my idea of a good time so I decided to pull and so Sam did the same and we were lucky enough to get a refund on the trip back in Pollenca. After that we set off to experience a road that made the top 25 road trips to drive in the world according to the lads of Top Gear many years ago. Sa Calobra is situated up on the northwest coast of the island right in the guts of the Traumuntana mountain
range. The road was designed by an Italian engineer and features many hairpin bends and a spiral bridge and in some parts, massive rocks were cut to make way for the road, unbelievable in some parts. Its 9.5km in length all up and is littered with cyclists as well as tour buses which made it a little more difficult to navigate but it was definently worth a visit/drive. No doubt they closed the road off for the Top Gear crew that fanged down it in some sporty fast number. Sa Calobra beach is a part pebble/part sand beach situated at the end of a gorge at the end of the drive, it is one of the most famous spots in Majorca and has been the inspiration for artists past and present and it was easy to see why. It was also a mission to visit one of the many wineries and on our way home that day we dropped into the Miquel Oliver vineyard, sampled some vino and of course purchased a lovely bottle of red, a mixture of cab sauv, merlot & syrah (shriraz) yummo!
Our final day with the car we headed over to the the Platja
de Palma or Palma beach. Pretty crowded still but big enough to find our own spot and chill for an hour or so. After having some lunch again with a view of the ocean we headed over to Magaluf (commonly known as shagaluf amongst the Britts). The place is nuts and is pretty much like Kuta, somewhere abroad for those that just want sun and a good time, no culture here. We passed a guy trying to coax a young couple into one of the bars with a 'shot till you drop' offer, ha ha! nuff said.
Our last day on the island luckily in the morning was really nice so we packed for the beach after brekky and headed over a couple of bays away for a relaxing swim and bake on the beach. Again it was too crowded for our liking (hate to see this place in the height of season) but as it was getting close to lunch many people dispersed and it calmed down for a bit which was nice. The wind picked up and the sky darkened suddenly and sunny Spain it was no more! We got back to the unit just in time
as the heavens opened and the holiday makers by the pool cleared out, it was an afternoon of movies (and a nap for me of course). The bad weather lasted few hours and then as quick as it closed in on us it cleared up again. The great thing about the northern hemisphere is that it doesn't get dark until about 9pm so there was plenty of daylight still after the storm had passed to enjoy our last night in Majorca having a drink an taking in those views just one last time.
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