The Island Life

Last Thursday after my final private lesson of the evening, I went straight to the bus station and started my journey to Palma de Mallorca.  A friend was really nice to let me crash at her apartment so that I didn't have to find a hostel or a pension to stay in.

I HAD to get a picture with the touristy "Palma"

Friday morning after having breakfast in a cafe, watching people cross the Acera de Darro, thinking about how much I love Granada and how happy I am that I had the opportunity to go back many times just to visit, I went to the airport and took off for Palma.

Inside the Mallorca Cathedral

I was really excited to have a chance to go to the island because I really wanted to see another new city in Spain.  I have a friend who chose to live in the Baleric Islands this year after having a cold year in Baza.  She was nice enough to spend the weekend sight-seeing with me and showing me around.  On the first day we went to the city center to see the important sites.  The most impressive thing I saw was the Cathedral.  I have ben to many cathedrals in Spain and they are all really beautiful in their own way, but this one really stuck out to me.  The first thing you notice when you walk through the door are the stunning stained glass windows.  Then as you walk around, you see the beautiful chapels, when you stumble upon a chapel that was completely designed by Gaudí.  The interesting thing about Gaudí 's work, is that it's totally distinct.  His influences come from nature and he never uses any straight lines.  I was pleased to stumble upon that unexpected piece of work.

Cafes con leche & Ensaimadas

Later in the afternoon, Marissa and I went out to a famous, but very well hidden, Mallorcan place called "Can Joan de S’Aigo" to have ensaimadas.  These are very well known pastries from the island that are made of flour, water, sugar, eggs, mother dough & pork lard.  We both got them with cream on top of them and they were absolutely to die for.  They were so sweet and so rich that we savored every bite and had to agree that this was not something you could order frequently, but it was definitely a special treat that is worth a try.  Then we went out for dinner with her housemates that evening and got some more delicious, typical Mallorcan food.

The next day our goal was to hike from one town to another.  We got up early and took a bus to our starting point which was a monastery in the mountain town of Lluc.  It is nestled high up in the mountains and has a beautiful view.  After we checked out the monastery, we started our trek downhill.  The hike ended up taking us about four hours overall to get from the town of Lluc to the town of Pollença.  The interesting part about our hike is that there was a trail race going on at the same time, so as we were making our way down walking, there were people passing us that had run up the mountain and were on their way down to their destination, which was the same as ours.  As they went by we would cheer them on because we knew that they were doing a really intense race and could use the motivation from random strangers.

"We're about to walk from here to there."

We were greatly rewarded and our hard work had paid off when we got to our final destination.  Pollença was having their yearly wine festival.  We got to the festival and each paid 10 euros for our goodie bag containing a wine glass, a booklet of restaurants in town, a guide to all of the 40 wineries participating in the festival and a pencil to take notes.  We stayed at the festival for about two hours trying different wines; red, white, sweet, rosé.... and snacking on crackers that they provided at each table.  It was a very enjoyable experience!

Fira del Vi 2013
(Wine fair in Catalan)

The last day was spent lying on the beautiful beach all day.  Mallorcan beaches are unlike any beaches that I have ever seen.  There are a bunch of beaches hidden in all of these little coves with the clearest, blue water I have ever seen.  They sure beat Hampton by a long run!

I really enjoyed my weekend in Palma!  I enjoyed it so much that I almost didn't want to come back to Almería.  I really like the vibe of the island, it seems like life was a little more laid back and the people seemed a bit nicer than the people on the mainland.  I really liked listening to their accent, but was thrown off every time someone spoke to me in Catalan (or Mallorquín).  I think I would definitely consider going back their one day to see the rest of the island and to possibly explore the others as well.  Thanks to Marissa for hosting me last weekend!  I think I saw and ate everything there was to see and eat if you are only on the island for two and a half days!

Thankyouthankyouthankyou!