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...