Day 8: Cala Pi

One week after we arrived we decided it was time to slow down and spend some time lying about on the beach. We drove out to one of our favorite places in the world, the beach at Cala Pi.

The beach sits at the end of a long inlet with low cliffs on both sides.  A long stairway cut into the rock brings one down to a small beach.  But the warm clear water and fine white sand and the beauty of the surroundings makes this a magic place.

Looking toward the Mediterranean

The Beach

Cliff with hut built into a cave.

Looking down from the stairs.

After we were done drinking pina coladas and lying about V decided she liked the place so much that she wanted to possess it.  So in the spirit of 2000 years of Mallorcan history she launched what was in the end an unsuccessful raid.

V attacking the watchtower at Cala Pi.

Run Away!

Fresh from her defeat we decided to retreat inland toward the town of Llucmajor.

Once through Llucmajor we decided to get really rural.

The road to the right looks fun.



The road gets narrower...no shoulder!

Chickens.

Passed some old buildings along the way:

In the central agricultural region there are hundreds of old windmills used to bring water up from the aquifer.

 

When we finally made it back to Palma I snapped this picture of the Cathedral as we drove by.

Day 7: Palma de Mallorca

We took a cab in to the city today, getting out at the Real Club Nautico. This is the club that hosts the King's Cup regatta, and also where my grandmother would take me to swim while she had drinks with her friends.

Crossing the Paseo Maritimo, we walk up through a new park, pausing to admire the reckless attitude toward playground safety, demonstrated by the Mallorcan playground equipment.

This area is the Palma of my childhood, the streets that I used to wander in the stifling heat, absorbing the "ancienteness" of it all, imagining myself as a princess, an heiress, sometimes a nun, whatever form my fancy took that day. You can see how easy it would be to enter another time here...

Twisting alleys are the most common thoroughfare in this part of the city.

The past is always watching. . .

and so is the church.

The old apartments can stay fairly cool if they are shaded--the walls are thick and the floors are tile.

We went over to the Banys Arab, which housed, of course, the old baths of the city.

 

We sat in the garden, inhaling the scent of exotic trees and flowers, and spotted one of the islands famous salamanders.

Above the Paseo Maritimo sits the Catedral. The sea waters used to come all the way up to it's walls, so that it rose out of the water.  Now there is land below, a lovely modern park and further along the continuation of the Paseo, shooting out of town along the water, continuing on to the popular beaches outside of the city.

There was a wedding in the Catedral, so we went in to admire the interior. The rose window is one of the largest in the world, and we caught it just as the light was coming in, so that it cast its colors over the whole ceiling!

After sitting at a cafe, having a cool drink and people-watching we were ready to meet my parents and some friends for dinner at Ca'n Eduardo. This restaurant has been here for ages--it is right on the docks where the fishermen bring in their catch, so you know the food is fresh! But on the way we had to make one more stop to see the dancers and musicians in full Mallorcan costume.

Does every culture have some sort of bagpipes?

Day 6: Jardins d'Alfabia and Es Vergers

In the mountains that run the length of Mallorca between Andratx and the Cap de Formentor are many old monasteries, and some fabulous old houses.  The Gardens of Alfabia surround the former estate of a 12th Century Moorish governor, and has been the home of a succession of noble families.  

Entrance through outer wall to the inner courtyard.

Across the courtyard is a large manor house with several rooms open to the public including period rooms, and a library with hundreds of really old books.

 The back of the house has a long terrace that overlooks the gardens.

Balcony.  The old library is the room straight ahead.

The gardens have seen better days but are still beautiful and have numerous fountains that are fed by an ingenious irrigation system, much of which is hidden under ground.  All water flows from a large cistern where water is fed into stone channels, some of which line the paths that run through the gardens.

Cistern.

Here are a few additional photos of the Jardins d'Alfabia:

Olives are a major crop on Mallorca and olive trees live for a very long time.  And as they age they get become twisted and gnarled--no two look alike.

Old gnarled olive tree.

After a few hours at the Garden, our next goal was to find and explore the ruins of an old moorish fortress, the Castell d'Alaro. We failed...but a great time at it!

First we drove through the town of Bunyola.  Photos included because it is a typical Mallorcan town, with impossibly narrow streets--on which cars drive really fast--and the ubiquitous green shutters.

Street in Bunyola.

Another street in Bunyola.

After Bunyola we drove into the mountains toward the town of Orient.  The mountains are thickly forested and the road winds back and forth up the steep slopes.

Into the mountains.

Hairpin turn.  One of a long continuous string of them.

Along the way we passed many mountainsides lined with stone terraces. You see these all over the island.

Terraced mountainside.

The ruins of the Castell d'Alaro turned out to lie atop a very tall and steep-sided mountain.  The easiest way to get there is to drive three kilometers up to a parking lot and hike an hour up the ruins.  Of all the insanely twisted roads I've driven on this island the road up the mountain was the worst (or the best depending on your perspective). Many of the hairpins on this road are completely blind and slope to the downhill side of the curve.  The roadbed itself is gravelly and riddled with potholes and other hazards that one shouldn't have to think about when trying not to slide, roll, or otherwise careen into the abyss. OK I'm exaggerating for effect...but not by much!

Ginormous boulder beside the road.

When we got to the end of the road and saw the faint outline of the ruins a thousand feet above us we realized it couldn't be done in the time we had left that. Luckily for us there is, quite surprisingly, a restaurant called Es Vergens at the end of the road...and there were at least twenty others who'd apparently driven up just for dinner.

Es Vergens.

The food was really good and the beer was timely!

Day 5: Caves, Calas, and Cliffs

We took a long hike through the amazing landscape around Portals Vells, the Cap de Cala Figueroa, and Cala Rafeubetx.

We started our hike a mile or so above Portals Vells, a small seaside resort village with steep hillsides descending on a beautiful cala (cove).  Among the interesting features is an old quarry which supplied rock for the building of Mallorca's majestic Cathedral de Sa Seu in Palma, so the quarry dates from the 14th century.  In this photo you can see the three openings to the quarry, which is really a huge cave dug out of the living rock.  

Just inside the quarry is a chapel, again carved out of the rock. See V in red to the right for scale.

To her left the wall is carved and there is place set into the wall for a statue or icon. The carving is probably 15 feet tall.

Here is another cool image from inside the quarry:

We then hiked up to the top of the cliffs above Portals Vells and walked toward the Cap de Cala Figueroa.  Here are two views, one looking forward and one looking back toward Portals Vells.

At first the walk along the cliff top was hot, dry, and flat.  A mile later things got interesting as the trail became turned to hardened lava with pits and bubbles and jagged edges...falling on one's face (which I almost did) would have been ill-advised.  Though the walk was mostly pretty easy, good hiking shoes with sturdy soles are a must if you ever hike this trail.

After working up a real sweat we descended into the Cala de Figueroa, with its tiny beach:  a small hidden piece of paradise where we took a dip and dreamed.

Some people have the life...

The view from the beach:

Then up a set of stairs cut into the rock and through an abandoned military base, with reinforced bunkers and gun placements, concrete trenches, and more:

Part of the base included a crumbling Moorish watchtower.  There are dozens of these around the coast and on key highpoints around the islands.  Mallorca was continually raided by pirates and armies, and was conquered, and re-conquered many times.  If the soldiers who manned these towers spotted the bad guys on the horizon, they'd light a bonfire on the top to signal the men in the next tower, who'd light a bonfire...

 
After the abandoned base we continued north around the peninsula, and, still walking along the rim of the cliff, we traversed the most beautiful and stunning scenery I've ever hiked through.  The following photos only approximate the magnificence of the scenery, but for perspective, the path where we took these photos was several hundred feet above the water.

Then we got lost, were hot, cranky, and thirsty, found the road, and drove to Magaluf where we had a pitcher of sangria!