Mallorca

Sitting on our veranda at the Timor Portales in Calvia, on the island of Mallorca with the seaport is in the distance we feel at peace. This is a feeling I want to remember and try to incorporate into my daily life. We had breakfast with Pooh; just doing one thing - having breakfast - not looking at our phones or trying to figure out what to do with our day - just having breakfast. Since we didn't have our phones with us, we didn't even get a picture of it, but it was wonderful. I'm really getting into European breakfasts, wonderful breads, croissants, fruits, juice, coffee, and then throw on an egg and some vegetables -- YUM! Since we need to check out by 11 am I made a baguette sandwich with meat and cheese to take with us.

Backing up a few days:

Our travel day (Thursday) started out good. We slept in and then we had a wonderful breakfast at the3 hotel in Valencia. The rest of the morning we relaxed and packed for our trip toMallorca. At 1 pm we checked out, stored our luggage and spent the next hour in the spa.

Then we headed to the Metro and down to the Valencia city of Arts and Culture to find our May 25 hotel. It’s a beautiful part of Valencia and we enjoyed a unique Italian meal. And we were able to store our luggage so we just took backpacks on the ferry to Mallorca.

THEN: we got a taxi to the ferry but he dropped us off at the wrong port. They pointed us in the right direction and we began walking. After a two mile walk we finally found the right port. (17350 steps so far today). Very different than expected. It’s a 7 hour ferry trip and we had a sleeping berth.  We got on the ferry at 10:30 pm exhausted. Fortunately our berth was nice and we went right to sleep, waking ups at 4 am because we docked at 5:15 am. We were able to get a taxi to our hotel, but our room wasn't ready. They did offer us a free breakfast which was once again delicious. After breakfast we stored our backpacks and took a taxi to the city of Palma. We were able to get on the HOP on/off bus and were able to enjoy. We met a couple from the UK that retired in Spain 20 years ago.

After going the whole circle on the bus, we hopped off and walked by the Palace and the Cathedral and followed the crowds along the main shopping street. I can see that we will enjoy this island.

Then back to the hotel to check in and sit by the pool, walk the promenade, dinner and then a restful night.

The next day we headed back to Palma where we caught a ride on the Tren de Soller. It's a vintage train that has been covering the route through the marvelous "Serra de Tramontana" from Palma to Soller since 1912. Then we took Mallorca's first, and still only, electrical tram and enjoyed the sights of the charming Soller valley with its orange tree orchards ending at the Port of Soller..

It was a beautiful, relaxing ride and a fun port city to explore.

Unfortunately, the tram broke down and we had to take a bus back to catch the train, which meant a lot of walking (running) to make it back in time to catch the train back to Palma. But another experience to remember. We were tired enough to just relax the rest of the night, and take our time checking out on the 25th, getting to the airport in time to fly out at 5:20 pm. Yes, we ditched the 7 hour ferry ride for a 1 hour plane trip. We will spend the night in Valencia and then fly to the southern coast in Malaga. We are planning to camp there for 5 days, rent a car and do some day trips and the ????