Palau Ca Sa Galesa Palma

... of local wine and a tankard of beer at a street café overlooking the ocean and yacht basin – some of the boats in the 100 foot and up length. Then we walked down the road along the harbour until we found a bus stop and made our way back to the ship. On the way, we found a duty free shop and bought bottles of wine and champagne. Liquor on board the ship is not included and we thought we couldn’t even bring ...

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.

... 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 ...

... from Germany. Good music, dancing starts up. We leave at 1:30 to catch the last bus. I am relying on my roommate who is totally confident about the schedule. Well, we wait with others but find out the last bus left awhile back. We need to find a cab which is difficult since everyone is trying to get to a bar/club somewhere. We finally get one. A late night by my standards but just starting to get going. My back could not take any more.

Breakfast is provided at the hostel. Coffee, juice, toast and cereal (cornflakes or cocoa puffs). It serves the purpose.

I go to the Palma city center (20 minutes by bus). The historic area is OK. Cathedral is beautiful and there is a Moorish castle. Most of the city lacks character. So, this is pretty much a beach island although I understand there are some nice hikes in its more remote hills.

A ...

... SpanAir, an airline that I have no familiarity. I was able to get a $100 fair from Scandinavia to Spain during peak vacation season. The flight is fine but they charge for everything, sodas and even water. While on the flight, my PC crashed. On the reboot it asked for bootable media. Yikes! A little panic but on the next reboot, it started up fine. I am backing up photos every few days but my PC has been key for my communication, my blog, photos, info collecting … Later in ...

... end of the Romanian performance the dancers came off the stage to dance in the plaza with members of the crowd. A few of them had a scarf that they would hold by opposite corners then, holding on to both corners, throw it around the neck of another person, drawing that person toward them. They would both then go to the center of the dancing group where the scarf would be spread on the ground. Both people would kneel so they were both kneeling on the scarf then touch ...

Letter written Feb. 20 Hola Amigos! ¿Que Tal? I am doing well! Besides the fact that I have a never ending ear infection and am becoming good friends with the University doctor. But it is going away. Last week the other foreign students arrived. I´ve made friends from many different countries including Mexico, Peru, Argentina, France, Italy, Germany, Romania, Austria, and Russia. Yesterday was the official beginning of ...

... spices. Voila! Paella was ready. We returned to the home, went upstairs to beautiful room set with wine glasses and place settings. First a large plate of paella, then salad, then roast pork and oven roasted potatoes. We were stuffed. Out came dessert: delicious lemon cake. Coffee champagne and more red or white wine. We slept all the way to the ship. Tomorrow Barcelona and flight to Paris. Good night. Cruisin' Karen