Wednesday, September 12, 2012

World Tour: part 1, Mallorca

After many urgings and requests from my father to write another entry, I have finally relented. This is for you father!! Feel special.

The entire month of July, I had off. Paid off :). So my loving sister took advantage of the fact that I live in Europe and came to visit me! From Switzerland we took a plane to Mallorca. I had never heard of Mallorca before but hey, adventure time! After doing some research I found out that Mallorca was known as the Cancun of Europe... however, I decided to opt for a quieter and less developed side of the island in a village known as Colonia Sant Jordi. 

Holy take my breath away! However, my first impression of this dry Mediterranean Island was quite the opposite. Example: upon landing in Palma and taking the bus (6 Euros for 45 minutes, smart and economical!) we said above pulled down sunglasses, "This? Is Mallorca?" 

However, we soon learned we were near to paradise as we took our first spontaneous dip in the topaz colored water. 


We stayed in a hotel right on the beach with half board. The employees probably thought we were very mysterious being that we both looked like teenagers and were staying in this kind of place alone. Haha. I do believe we were the only Americans on the entire island.We felt pretty exotic. 

Our days consisted of waking up late, eating, beach fun, return for afternoon siesta, then get ready for the evening. Spain comes alive after about 9 pm. However a couple of the days we did excursions. One day we went to Palma, got lost in the ghetto, and finally admitted to one another how scared we were AFTER we found our way out. 


After getting harassed by young Spanien Ruffians telling us we had nice "culos" I finally decided to stop pretending like I didn't understand them and asked them how to get to the Gaudi Cathedral. They actually helped! So at last we finally found ourselves in the biggest old town of Europe. It was a incredible combination of Arabic architecture and Spanish influence. Really, one of a kind. 


On another day we decided to splurge and take a boat excursion to the Isle of Cabrera. Apparently only 200 people are allowed on this uninhabited archipelago island a day. However, that doesn't mean that it was always people-less!! It was a pirates hideout until the Spanish built a fortress to protect it. However, at one point the fortress became a prison for French soldiers who were then abandoned. El Capitan from our ship (Quite the colorful character) told me about what happened after that... In my own words though... "They finally broke out of the fortress for they were starving and desperate. However, there was no where to go and many of them began to disappear. There was one fat guy on the island who everyone wanted to be friends with because apparently (since he was so fat) he was finding food somehow. He lived in a cave. Many years later bones were found int his cave... with gnaw marks.. CANNIBALISM!!!" 

Real life deserted beach. 
Chateau to protect against pirates and then prison to forget about French soldiers.

On the same day this same ship took us to the "Cova Blava"  which is said to rival the "blue Grotto" on Capri. (I can personally say that it does rival it. I went to the blue grotto as well!) It was incredibly blue. And you're in the water... which is really blue! There's not a whole much more to say about it other than that it was a cool experience. 

Another day we decided to walk to an ostrich farm... haha yup. So we got a flyer, took a bus to as far as it could take us, and began to trek! And trek... and trek. Mind you, we are now somewhere in the dessert of Mallorca, on the side of  a road, looking i'm sure like quite the scene. After about an hour of walking thank goodness we passed a farm with an adorable little spanish lady standing outside in her Mumu. "Hola??" we hesitantly say... then a "Uhhhh no sabemos donde estamos..." (we don't know where we are.) She repeated it... smiled/laughed, and then asked us where we wanted to go. We said the ostrich farm! To which again, she laughed. Then told us we were only about 10 minutes down the road from it. Hooray!! After about 15 minutes walking, I spied with my little eye a giant bird that can't fly... We had made it! Then we toured an Ostrich Farm, fed them, played with the little babies, and watched one hatch right before our very eyes. Biggest regret? Not riding one. 


Cleopatra
Who wants to kiss me NOW!

3 more weeks of the vacation will be coming to a blogspot near you soon. Hasta luego, CIAO!

4 comments:

  1. och, Hi! nice to hear from you :)
    I cannot believe you've never heard about Mallorca, seriously? and Ibiza? never?
    btw, lovely pics!
    Ciao!

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    1. i had heard of ibiza but never mallorca :-) and thank you! Did you end up coming to switzerland?

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  2. Such great stories...we'll have to look into these places as we plan our itinerary for next summer. LOVE LOVE LOVE your blog. Keep it up. Way to go Layne for getting your girls to do this. Am I going to get to see you in March/April, Dianne??
    Love ya - Shari

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  3. Shari!! Ask me anything! i'd love to help you plan your european tour of your own :-) andthe father didn't get us to do this, we got ourselves to do this! :-P I think that I will be gone by April, but we'll see :-) love ya back - dianne

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