Beautiful Mallorca

As I mentioned somewhere before, Mallorca really has it all. On quite a small island you have an amazing variety of landscapes and things to do.

The Tramontana mountains you will cross most probably when you are heading to the West of Mallorca. Great views (hey, I think we had that before, right?), sometimes a stunning silence when you are out there on your very own, and sometimes you meet bikers and bicyclists winding their way up and down the endless curves.

Then of course there is Palma. When you arrive out of the quietness of the mountains you are overwhelmed by the hussle and bustle of this busy city. It is a big and often loud city - for me no difference to other big and crowded cities in the world, no place I would want to LIVE - but it is definately worth a day trip or two. We spent a day there and thinking back it was a day to remember, I absolutely would go there again for sightseeing next time. But I would never want to book an appartment there - there are many better and more quiet places where you would want to stay while on holiday.

Here you have the famous cathedral of Palma - definately a must-see when you are there.

Lots of things to see in Palma, for example the Arabian Baths and other places. But in case you want to take it easy, then just do a bit of shopping. There are many specialities you can get here. I especially recommend the Almond cake!

And of course this is what Palma is famous for, and what you also find here: The Jetset and their boats...

When you turn down to the South you find a more quiet area of "the island". Not so many hotels, not so much tourism, again you drive on quiet lanes in the middle of nowhere, and you have to be really careful not to miss one of the most important excavation sites on the island: Capocorb Vell. Here you see some of the mysterious Talaiots - stone piles (pyramids? houses?) - which are the ruins of a settlement from 2000 years b.c. When you are coming from Llucmajor down to Cap Blanc you should be able to find it - and you will enjoy the "vory stroinge" air of the Signora guarding the place. I hope she has solved her marriage problems.... Anyway, being Indiana Jones Jr. I really loved the place.

Even further down South there is Cala Pi - a place just to sit high above the waves and stare at the deep blue sea around you. Hardly anybody there, maybe because there is just a tiny beach and a very rocky and steap shoreline. Definately my place.

Another place you might want to go there is Es Trenc, one of the beaches down there they tell you about as a "secret spot" which hardly anybody goes to because there is almost no infrastructure. Yes, there is almost no infrastructure, but it also was the place I met the most people. So this little "hideaway" is no hideaway anymore. I would settle for Cala Pi any time instead, but never mind Es Trenc was still beautiful.

So it is bye-bye island, bye-bye beaches - so many things left to do and see next time....

Mallorca - the East

Travelling distances are not very far on the island. We came with US distances in mind, prepared to drive for many hours but nothing ever is really far away. So you can cover a lot of places in the course of a day or simply stroll along by car, taking it as it comes. I recommend to split up your daily tours into North, South, East and West, all of the directions having their own special flair, sights and landscape.

Artá is a little village in the East with a keep of the same name. We stayed there for a while and strolled around, there is a cafe were we had a typical Spanish "cortado" - just ignore the host, he was very sulky and this probably is his usual attitude.

As we moved on we went into Cala Rajada where we fell into the weekly market and later headed up to the Far the Capdepera. You find a lot of lighthouses on the island due to its prominent position in the Mediterranian Sea.

Guys, now we talk "caves". Forget the caves you have seen until now, most probably the better ones are here on Mallorca. We went to the Coves d´Artá, smaller ones, less kitschy and you are allowed to take photos - but when we took a tour inside it was like "wow, wow, wow".  There are caves everywhere, the most famous ones being the "Coves de Drac", but they are obviously extremely kitschy, with colours and lights, an orchestra playing on the lake when they take you around by boat and whatever. I definately recommend the Coves d´Artá, it was one of these typical surprise things, you expect nothing and get a huge load of everything.

The evening took us to Porto Pollenca, my favorite town on the island.It is occupied by the British and enjoys this nice 70s flair with boardwalks, half-board hotels and a little dusty charme - I fell in love with it instantly. From Alcudia you drive up alongside the beach taking in nice views everywhere, this evening we saw many kite surfers doing their hillarious jumps and races on the waves.

In Porto Pollenca we dined at the famous STAY which is situated directly at the harbour.

Excellent choice - try the tasting menue, it comes with four courses and coffee and liquors and and and... A big thumbs up, when we are in town we will definately go there again. We really, really enjoyed this evening...

Mallorca - Formentor and Alcudia

Welcome back, it definately has been a while! Life has been too full and busy to blog, but now we are back again. I hope you are all doing fine and enjoy a great Summer!

This June we went to Mallorca, and I can hear you thinking, "Oh no, this island of constant drinking and noise, no way I want to go there." But instead we found a beautiful, charming island with plenty of opportunities for things to do and see, and I assure you, the "Ballermann" (with all the drinking and noise) is just one party mile outside Palma, you can absolutely ignore it like we did and spend some great quality time on "the island" (as it is called by its inhabitants).

Vistas like this you find everywhere on Mallorca - this here is on the way to Cape Formentor, one of the must-sees when you are there. The way to get there is an experience itself, full of beautiful views, and you go "oooh!" and "aaaah!" all the time. The end of the road is the lighthouse or "faro", with, you might have guessed it, a gorgeous view! (In fact after a while on the island you might even get a little bit tired of all the beautiful views and might say "oh well, another beautiful vista..." *shrug*) No, serious now: It is unbelievable how much beauty you can find in one single place!

On our way to Formentor at a scenic point. My suggestion: If you find a sign for "scenic point" then stop there and use the opportunity, it is usually worth it. And if you are lucky you meet another traveller who takes a photo of you and your hubby!

We took so many photos and it was so hard to decide which ones to post - I just hope you get a small drift of the beautiful scenery there is to be explored. We also did not meet many people, but this is because we left for Formentor with our rental car very early (before 9.00 a.m. and we stayed in Alcudia, which is just a short drive away) - we were told that if you try to get there later there sometimes are so many busses that they queue up to the Faro. I only recall the place as being nice and quiet, just us and Mother Nature...

As I said, we stayed in Alcudia, about 50 minutes from Palma, a small place with a very nice old town but lots of rental appartments in the outskirts. Renting is an easy thing on the island anyway, you get all sorts of appartments, houses, studios.... For us the appartment was perfect, recently I am not so fond of 5*-hotels, the big crowd of tourists and the 24hrs-buffets you get there all the time.

Alcudia has many things to offer, and it is definately worth it to take a stroll there one afternoon. I agree, there are so many other things to see and do, but if you are in the area take a look at the old town of Alcudia.

Besides you can really do some great shopping if you are interested. I have never seen so many nice tourist shops with quality things to buy! Paintings, high-quality decoration, high-quality clothing .... but it is also quite dear. So no trash shopping on the island!

In the evenings, when we did not go out, we returned to our appartment, Stefan jumped into the pool and I - poor, good me - was cooking. But cooking was usually not an issue, some seafood or some patata which you could easily shove into the oven, and of course a good bottle of wine! Here on the photo is is Sangria, but it turned out to be too sweet so we settled back for white wine later.

The lake in front of our appartment. Relaxing on the balcony after a long exciting day, watching the sun set...

Meierei im Stadtpark

To celebrate the end of a lovely Christmas holiday my suggestion was to go for a stroll downtown and have a glass of Sekt and a little something. Hasi picked this idea up, thought for a little while, made a secret phone call and got very mysterious.

Then we set off to the City centre for our little stroll, discovering that Vienna still is a tiny bit christmassy.

And I suddenly found myself in the "Meierei im Stadtpark". What a nice surprise! This restaurant is a branch of Vienna´s famous "Steirereck am Stadtpark", an extremely expensive top-restaurant which has absolutely overwhelming food, but also overwhelming prices. For a 4 course menue with wine you pay around Euro 200,- per person which is really breathtaking and might be something for a special SPECIAL celebration - but not for something you do on the fly and just because you feel like a glass of Sekt! The Meierei is different, it is in the same house as its "Big Brother", the prices are rather decent, they serve typical Viennese cooking (in "Steirereck"-style) and they specialize in cheese. If you are interested you may want to check  http://www.steirereck.at/.

I finally got my glass of Sekt! Followed by Cray soup for starter and Gulasch as main course.

To finish our pampering we made the terrible, terrible mistake to order the small cheese plate twice. When we asked if it would be big, because we felt quite full already, he said, "Oh no!" and we believed him. Bad, bad.... When he came with our order I first thought this would be the cheese from which to chose, but then he said, "I gave you a bit more, so you can have a nice taste." And this is what he came with...

While we were quiet in shock he told us how to proceed: Start at six o´clock and work your way up clockwise, then make a right into the center and end with the "Kracher" right in the middle. Let me just say we only made it up to 12 o´clock.

Anyway, the lovely relaxed staff allowed us a doggy bag, and we staggered out with the last few kilos of cheese which our inspired waiter called "a nice dinner tonight". Yes, for the next month or so....

Summary: Great place, great service. And lessons learned! If you like cheese then forget the main course and let the starter be followed by one of the hillarious cheese platters. We will go again and I recommend you to hit the place when you are in the area! But book a table in advance!