I have been dormant on the writing part for a while now, but the travels haven't stopped. So, I decided to choose a different, more factual attempt at writing about my travels that can help others plan their trips better and have quite a variety in the things they do where they go. I will try to go in the reverse order, i.e. backwards from my most recent travels. So, here we go with Mallorca, the Spanish island to which you can almost always find cheap flights from Germany (or maybe other places too). Though I am here for 8 days, I would say 7 days are enough to cover some of the best Mallorca has to offer. I would recommend renting a car as many parts of the island do not have frequent bus service, and it is especially worse in off-season (winters) which is when we went there. We made Palma our home base and made day trips to different parts. But you can stay in the area as you drive to them and make a round back to Palma. Anyway, this was our itinerary for Mallorca.
Day 1: Palma
We landed early in the morning and after checking into our Airbnb apartment, left to explore the city. Parking is a big hassle in Palma with swarm of cars parked by the sides of the street. So taking the car about the city is probably not a good idea. A walk to the center or a bus ride incase you are staying far away, is a better option. Use the car for the day trips.The city center is a myriad of beautiful alleys with historic buildings and restaurants all along. The cathedral is obviously a must-see and the Palace of La Almudaina by its side is worth a visit too. Their view from the port is breathtaking whether at morning or night. You can stroll around that area and spend a leisurely afternoon in the numerous gardens around. Coming from Berlin, I would say food is more expensive with most places having a multiple courses instead of a la carte on special days like Christmas or new year. However, Churros! Oh, there's a ton of stalls on the streets where you can buy Churros with hot chocolate and many other sweet treats. We found one near a public parking lot here that had the best freshly made Churros as compared to others near the center.
Day 2: Pollença, Cap de Formentor
To the northeast of the island, is Cap de Formentor known for its lighthouse and beautiful views. We first drove to Pollença, a little town near it, nestled among the mountains. It has some charming cafes, a church and is good to stroll around for an hour or so before driving up to the lighthouse. The winding road leading to the top of the mountains, has lot of viewpoints and observation decks on the way. One such viewpoint is Mirador Es Colomer which has stunning views of the sea and the cliffs. We decide to climb up a small cliff instead of following the crowds to the conventional observation deck, only to be rewarded with beautiful views that stretched for miles and miles. If you have the time, I would also recommend stopping by the beaches Platja de Formentor and Cala Figuera. The views from the lighthouse itself, are pretty amazing and the winding roads just add that much more to scene.
Day 3: Sa Calobra, Torrent de Pareis, Fornalutx
This day, we decided to to a hike and reading up on all the hikes, the one through Torrent de Pareis seemed like a challenging one. The problem with this hike is that it starts at Escora and ends at Sa Calobra which are at 2 different points and the bus to take you back to the start point, doesn't run in winter. Because of this and as it gets dark around 6pm in winter, we decided to start from the end of the hike (Sa Calobra) inwards and come back the same way when it starts to get dark. The roads to Sa Calobra and winding are narrow and as you keep going up, it gets foggy. Hence, I would recommend to at least cover the narrow road from Sa Calobra to the highway Ma-2141 before it gets dark. Again, lot of nice viewpoints on the way to Sa Calobra, so enjoy!
Now, the hike itself. It was one of the best hikes for me so far. The "trail" is between two mountains and is not really a path as such. There are just huge rocks that you boulder and climb through to keep moving forward. Sa Calobra starts off with a small pebbled beach and goes into the gorge. Sometimes the gorge is flooded, you might have to get your feet wet. We kept climbing and scraping till we reached a huge rock with a rope to climb over it which according to the maps, is 40% of the hike. After climbing up that rock and back down the rope, we continued our way back to Sa Calobra. All of this was probably 2-3 hours. On our drive back, we stopped by the little town of Fornalutx, which looks like a tiered cake because of terrace farming and swarmed with its beautiful lemon and orange trees. After strolling around the town till the sun went down completely, we started back 'home'.
Day 4: Es Trenc, Mondrago Natural Park
After the day of strenuous hike, we deserved some beach time. So, we headed to the best beach in Mallorca according to our Airbnb host - Es Trenc. And it was indeed spectacular. Sand stretching for miles, far beyond our eyes could see and the blue waters on the sunny day, was a perfect setup for picnic. We stopped by a supermarket on the highway, loaded up the car trunk with breads, spreads, chips and dips and headed to Es Trenc. Before taking the narrow street leading up to the beach, we found ourselves at a salt mine with mountains of salt in the backdrop of blue waters. After relaxing for hours at the beach and stuffing ourselves up, we decided to head to Mondrago Natural Park. There, we did a small hike to the beach and saw the sign for an even longer hike. So, we took that path and somewhere in the way, went off the trail to walk by the rocks and cliffs that surrounded the beach. The blue waters and red skies were astonishing. Close to sundown, we somehow reached a second beach and the hike trail that was in the dark forest was unknown to us. We somehow made it to someone's private property by the beach and seeing no way out, climbed over the fence to get back to the main road. Then a quick walk to the car and back to Palma!
Day 5: Hike in Sant Elm
Sant Elm is a pretty town about 37 km from Palma and we decided to visit it and hike around there. This town is by the waters and has a direct view to the island of Sa Dragonera whose name is courtesy to its shape that resembles a sleeping dragon's head. We started a hike in the forest at the edge of Sant Elm with a nice view of the island. We hiked first on the marked path, but that got boring soon, so we just started walking in the forest, through the bushes, wherever we could put our feet. This way, we walked towards the beach, Cala en basset. After getting there through some steep paths and shrubs, the view that rewarded us was splendid. We enjoyed the view from atop a part of the cliff that had fallen off it and headed back when the sky threatened with roaring winds and clouds. After chilling a while in a cafe and eating some ice-cream, we drove back.
Day 6: Banyalbufar, Valldemossa, Deia, Soller, Port de Soller
This day, we dedicated to the take-me-back-in-time towns along the mountains of Serra de Tramuntana. There are so many of them and they are all pretty, so we had a tough time choosing between them. But we narrowed it down to the 5 listed above and they were a delight. Starting off with Banyalbufar, we stopped right before it, to take in the terrace structure of the town and enjoy it from a higher altitude. Next was Valldemossa, which is probably my favorite town among this bunch. It has nice little shops, beautiful gardens and of course we found a path to walk up to a secluded, broken church overlooking the town. The walk was through a forest of lush green and I could hear goats in a distance. It was near Jardins Rei Joan Carles and a small street off Ma-1130.
After Valldemossa, we headed to Deia. This town looks fantastic from outside. We didn't go inside this town, but stopped before to enjoy the views and pluck some lemons. Next was Soller, which is bigger than the others before it and more crowded.We were quite hungry and fortunately found a really great bakery where a nice woman made fresh warm empanadas. We took some to go and ate them at the center. They were so good that we went back to try some more with different fillings and then hung out in a cafe with some good pastries and coffee. The bakery is Forn Es Pa Pagés located here and the cafe is right beside it.
Lastly, we stopped by Port de Soller where the sunset views were quite exquisite with the stacked houses of the town and the beach as the backdrop. We spent some time here and then went back.
Day 7: Arta, Hike in Llevant National park
If you don't have to lazy bums dragging alongside you when you are in Mallorca, then you should spend on day hiking in Llevant National Park. I really wanted to do this, but my travel mates were not so keen on waking up early this day. So, we spent it exploring and eating around Palma. But if you have the energy and are up for it, the beautiful town of Arta and this hike should be on the list as this side shows yet another landscape of Mallorca that is much different from the south, west and north west parts of it that the other days cover already.
Have fun!
