Samos Calvia

... proceeded to win the playoffs on the second round. Our prizes – a Noordam coffee mug and a Noordam water bottle – these are referred to colloquially as a Dam Mug and a Dam Jug respectively.

We set off at around 6 p.m. for Tunis – although we do have tomorrow at sea as it takes longer than overnight to get there. There was a wild thunderstorm – actually the weather hasn’t been great ...

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.

... waded around in the surf or fell back to sleep on the beach. It was good to get rehydrated after all the alcohol and dancing from last night. It was a nice relaxing afternoon with a beautiful beach view with several other yachts in the bay and a parade of nude or topless people walking by.

One of the girls met a guy on the beach. They spent a few hours chatting and getting to know each other. It was ...

... 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 ...

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 ...

... 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 ...

Neben dem spanischen Festland sind es vor allem die Inseln Mallorca oder Ibiza, auf denen man vor allem das hiesige Nachtleben voll auskosten kann. Menorca, aber auch Fuerteventura sind Inseln, die sich hervorragend für Familien mit Kindern eignen. Aber auch Lanzarote oder Gran Canaria offerieren einen optimalen Aufenthalt mit ihren wunderschönen und einmaligen Landschaften und der ...

... making my way out of the airport I counted at least 6 flights due to arrive in the next couple of hours from different cities in Germany. After a couple of days lounging around the hotel pool and beach I took a city bus into the capital city of Palma to have a look around at the castle, royal palace, and impressive cathedral. To make things easy for me I decided to take a hop-on hop-off city sightseeing bus to take me around. While there ...

... gehen. Aber erstens finden wir den Strand und das Meer nicht sonderlich sauber (zu viel Algen und anderes Zeug) und zweitens muss sich gerade jetzt die Sonne hinter einer riesigen Wolke verstecken. Naja, im Salzwasser baden geht an Deck ja genauso gut.

Wir laufen noch ein bisschen durch die Gassen, bevor es wieder zurückzumShuttelbus geht. Vorher kaufe ichaber noch Briefmarken. Komischerweise versteht ...