Salpi 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 ...

... speak no English. We have a great dinner and some nice (and inexpensive) wine. The owners are from Argentina so I discuss my trip to South America with them.

We head out to the main bar/club street. My back is killing me. Every step is painful but I try to put it out of my mind. The area along the harbor has a good café crowd but the bars are empty. We finally go into one at 12. Within 30 minutes there is a good crowd. Almost all ...

... afternoon at the beach back in Playa de Palma. It is so nice to have warm weather with sun. Quite a contrast from Scandinavia. This is an area full of German tourists. Mostly Spring break atmosphere. Apparently it is dominated by package deals. I have seen very few other nationalities here. As an indication, at the airport, Air Berlin dominated the airlines (even though this is Spain it is not Iberia or SpanAir).

... of Spanish. For a novice, this throws me off quite a bit. Luckily they all speak English but reading can be difficult although many places will have both languages represented.

By the time I am done settling in, I have just enough time for a quick walk along the beach. It is a long beach, 2km or so. It is reasonably pretty with palm trees. The street along the beach is full of bars, restaurants and tourist stores. Every block is a cookie cutter of the next. I crash early.

... in for two weeks would be ready. After finding a little spot on the street where I could shoehorn in my little rental car I walked to the hotel, checked in, showered, shaved and brushed my teeth. Now I feel like a human being again. With no specific plans, I drove out to Palma to wander a little, eat, and take some pictures of the mandatory tourist stops. There's no way any picture can do justice to the massiveness of the ...

... take classes in Spanish at the Universiy and live with Mallorquin families. I spoke a decent spanish from having studied it and travelled to Costa Rica and Peru. But I, of course, id not know what to expect. Now that the semester is over, i can look back and see how much I have seen, learned, people I have met from all over the world, and how much I have changed as well. To find out, read the rest of my story!