Orbe Hostal Palma

We woke up this morning to find ourselves just coming into Palma de Mallorca. Mallorca is the largest of the four Ballearic Islands – part of Spain and Palma is the capital. Very pretty little city and extremely well organized cruise ship dock – with ramps like at an Airport that you use to get yourselves into a covered walkway that takes you to the exit where you can pick up taxis or a bus into the town – ...

And at long last we are on our way ... can't quite believe we are actually starting this journey after all the work, planning, talking .... And we know we've been to San Telmo many times before but this time it is different!! And so good to have Simon's old friends Max & Linsey onboard - after all they were really the people responsible for him ending up in Port d'Andratx to begin with.

We arrived in Cala de Calobra around 5:30. We anchored in the small bay and took a tender to shore. The little village has a small pier along one side of a steep hill and the village is crowded on the hillside raising between two much larger and steeper hills. The whole thing looks like some Hollywood set because of its idyllic setting on the small bay. There are several bars and restaurants where we got drinks and ate an early dinner.

Just south of the town of Portocristo are the Cuevas del Drach, which are really four caves all connected to each other. This cave however has a large lake in it, called Martel Lake. It's large enough to ride a boat in and to see all the stalactites hanging from the ceiling. It’s a beautiful place ...

... away from the small coastal town of Colònia de Sant Jordi. This beach was rated the second best bare beach in the world and I can see why. Only six of us could go to the beach since the yacht would continue on towards Minorca and we would have to return on the heli. I didn’t even think we would have six people since no one had fully recovered from last night. We took a tender to shore where the crew ...

I take a bus to the other side of Palma where there are some small, pretty beaches. Finding them is a little tricky but they are pretty, for city beaches and have a much more Spanish orientation. Some really nice beaches are supposed to be available but I lack the time to work them in (it is large island with slow transit).

My roommate and I go out for the night in Palm central. We walk around and find a little place on a side street ...

... up at me and stare. I ask in Spanish if anyone is working there. No reply. My Spanish can’t be that bad. Someone finally shows me a buzzer at the entrance. It turns out that there is a large group of mentally challenged people from France. The person working at the hostel says that there is a bed available. Yeah! It is $22 including breakfast. It is also 2 blocks from the beach in the main beach area, Playa de Palma.

There is only 1 guy in the room during my stay ...

... where there was an extra male in the group. When everybody paired up to dance one male was, of course, without a partner. So they gave him a broom with which to dance. He would dance with the broom, occasionally whacking one of the other men in the bottom with it when their backs were turned to him. After a while, he would cut in to a dancing couple, present the broom to the male and take his partner. The new male would then be the one to dance with the broom. At ...

... two days later and soaked in more culture. On the last two days of our trip we had a bit of crazy weather. A really strong storm blew through (you can see the video in my album here) and the remnants of the storm left showers and unsettled thunderstorms in the area. We braved the last day by renting a trolley bike thing, but ended up riding part of it in the rain. Luckily we dried off before we needed to fly home...

... up to 1800 people. The drive through the area was beautiful. We walked through trees and inhaled the fresh air. Then through gates and in to the courtyard. The staff poured Mediera wine and served cheese, olives and veggie pizza squares. Then out to the grilling area, 4 pigs roasting on the spit. And our chef starting to prepare Paella for us. Rabbit, pork, mussels, shrimp, vegies, rice, garlic, saffron and ...