Majorca and the incident of a Loose Screw

Majorca and the incident of a Loose Screw

The trip to Spain started out with the inevitable Ryan Air debacle. Boarded the aircraft in Bournemouth on time and then as we were all getting ready for takeoff, the pilot announced that a sharp eyed ground staff had found a loose screw. They were just waiting for the engineer to inspect it and then hopefully fix it. We should just relax they will let us know when it has been screwed in and hopefully the aircraft would be air worthy. Empty promises.

One and a half hours later, they regretted to announce that there was no engineer in Bournemouth but there was one at Stanford Airport, a mere 5 hours away, and could we all disembark as the expected time of departure would now be 11 pm. 7 hours after we were meant to depart. 

Now I could say a few words on how helpful the staff were, but there are none. What I will say is that the Captain and the ground staff are the stupidest bunch of individuals I have had the misfortune to have been associated with. They would have known within 10 minutes that Bournemouth did not have an engineer qualified to inspect and fix the problem, so why keep us on the plane for one and a half hours and only then let us off?

Susan and I decided it was time to go home, and Gary was kind enough to come and fetch us as we had rebooked to fly the next morning at 11 am.

Cala Sant Vicenc

Take Two. Success, plane left at 11 am and landed at 2 pm local time. Palma Airport is big and you have a fair walk, but other than a very grumpy border control person, we were greeted by our transfer to Cala Sant Vicenc by a lovely driver in a Mercedes Vito people carrier, who said nothing the whole way. 

The hotel is what it says on the tin, a boutique hotel, 2 minutes walk from the beach. It has a pool, a private veranda for each room with a beautiful view of the beach and mountains on your left and right. Apart from everyone driving on the right-hand side of the road, it is a lovely little seaside town.

Great little beach, and within minutes of our arrival, we were in the water. As the town is not that big, we were able to see most of it by the time we were ready for our trip to the adjoining town for dinner. There are cats everywhere, so many cats, but I have only seen two small dogs and heard one bark in the distance. I would say the Spanish love their cats. Susan found a Cat Restaurant on one of our walks. We were actually walking to a monument, but I got bored and went back. Susan did find a nature reserve area with three caves, not sure if that is what is called a monument there, but the photos look interesting. 

Verandas are everywhere. Makes sense as this is the Mediterranean and does get hot in summer. The beauty of these verandas is that they are not entirely outside but not entirely inside, a halfway area that is cool and functional, even if it rains.

The first thing that I noticed when we arrived was the colour of most of the houses. They are a light brown clay, with small windows and with a sandy coloured, half-round tiled roof. After some research, I have found that the main rock on the island is limestone. It has two variants: calcite, whitish in colour; and dolomite, darker in colour. Given that this mineral is very abundant in this region, it will be the one that will be used to make the cement, and thus most places have a light red clay colour. Styles vary from country to country, and if you think of Greece, everything seems to be white with bright coloured doors and windows. Here, everything has a red, sandy colour with the vast majority of windows covered with bright shutters.

Food is good and not that expensive, well, I have not paid for any of the dinner bills, so it might be too early to comment. Breakfast this morning was rather tasty. My breakfasts at home normally consist of Swiss Muesli and oat milk. I ordered a cheese Omelette and Bacon. Susan ordered a tomato and cheese omelette and bacon. We both received the exact same omelettes and bacon. Seems the omelettes are made one way.

After chatting to the chef, who explained the making of an omelette.

First, heat a little olive oil in a pan, add tomato, ham, and red pepper fry quickly. Add two eggs and the cheese, scramble all together until the eggs are cooked, and serve. Great tasting, but it looks like scrambled eggs, so it is scrambled eggs or a Spanish omelette? The photographic evidence is attached. The coffee was very good.

Highlights Wednesday 

Coffee on the balcony at Michael’s hotel. The view was something I cannot describe, oceans of sea and jagged mountains framing the bay. 

Dinner at the hotel where Michael was staying, excellent food, good service, and it was quite inexpensive, 40€ each. I had four small plates of food. Essentially, I approached this meal with one thing in mind: taste everything that looks good in small portions. The buffet started with the traditional soup section and then moved onto the antipasto and breads. Then the pasta and salad bar was packed with many Italian dishes, too many for me to try them all, so I limited myself to 3 different pastas. Moved on to the casserole area and had a beef and mushroom dish, swimming in a lovely garlic and mushroom sauce. Finally, io approached the main buffet with caution, should I have fish or steak, decisions had to be made. The roast lamb looked well worth a try, and the pork joint was, to the eye, perfectly cooked. I went for the lamb, cauliflower with a mild cheese sauce and roast baby potatoes. Dessert looked just as good, but by now, I had to call it a day. Sorry, but this is one of those occasions when I can’t find a fault with either the food or the service, but, yes there is a but, the wine did not meet my expectations, too dry and even though they do have good wines in Spain, this one was not worth drinking. Overall, well worth the price, and we then listened to a very good lady singing live, before turning in for the night.

Thursday 17th

Good night sleep, I always find I need two nights to get used to the foreign bed, woke refreshed, and the sun was burning away the last of yesterday's clouds, coolish breeze, but we had a lovely swim.

Susan is meeting Michael in the closest big town to hire a car for the day. Where this takes us we will find out later. Robert did remark that everything has to be done at breakneck speed; it is as if they have ants in their pants. I am with Robert on this one, it is a holiday, so take it easy.

Cap de Formentor.

The next part of our adventure was a trip to the lighthouse at Formentor, a 45-minute drive. We all piled into the hired car, a Renault Espace; we needed a 6-seater. Michael organised it and drove. Lauren and Michael had hired bicycles and had cycled to the lighthouse earlier in the day, and after their rave reviews, we all decided to see what all the fuss was about. 

The road to the lighthouse was a feat of brilliant engineering. It took us through a series of tall mountains with very steep slopes. The road was cut out of the sides, and as the slopes were so steep, you zigzag your way up or down with impressive switchbacks. Looking straight down into the sea for most of the way. The photos we took do not really do it justice, but we were quite in awe at Michael and Lauren, who had cycled it some 5 hours earlier.

Spain is a cycling country, and our speed was determined by the fitness and ability of the cyclists going up. As the road was narrow, you climbed the long, steep parts at about 10 kmh, but going down, we kept holding them up. 

The views were amazing as we drove behind a series of Lycra-clad girls, straining every muscle to get to the top. Every turn a new delight, and the view of the sea and valleys also breathtaking. As Lauren said, you do not stop and push, too much shame in that, the odd stop to take a photo is not frowned upon. They cycled there and back, just over two hours, only stopping for a coffee at the top. By car, it took the same amount of time, but without the thrill and sense of achievement. To be fair, Lauren’s bicycle was worth about £15,000, but it was her legs that propelled it, and they did not stop and we can only admire their strength and fitness. Oh, to be young again.

We stopped on the trip back to have a swim at a beautiful beach called Playa de Formentor. Well, we intended to, but after one of our party was stung by a jellyfish, we gave it a miss.

We took the hire car back and found a quaint street food restaurant in Port de Pollença, called Tirano Street Food. Add images. Laid back, tasty food, well worth it.

Interesting observation; my tobacco costs £22.00 for 50 g in Poole, in Spain it costs 8 euros (£6.85). Seems a little excessive. Another, Bells Whisky 1 ltr in Sapin is  £11.45, Tesco Poole £24.50. 

A little note for the bin men on strike in Birmingham, the bin lorries here only have a driver, he gets out and empties the bins into the truck, why do you need to have 4 people per lorry? Oh, I forgot, you need a driver, two bin collectors and a Health and Safety officer, how could I forget something so basic?

Cala Sant Vicenç has a slightly famous artist, Lorenzo Cerdá Bisbal, born in 1862 and sadly passed away in 1955. A statue graces the promenade to the beach. He painted the Majorcan landscape, especially the northern part of Majorca, using a highly academic style. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Palma de Mallorca. In Italy, he also painted the prize-winning work entitled Foners Balearic, now on display at the Edinburgh Museum.

Would I go back there? The town is built in a valley with steep, high, rugged, rocky mountains surrounding it. The sea is crystal clear and has lovely turquoise and dark blue water, making it very inviting to just spend time in. The people are all very friendly and laid back. Yes, a definite revisit is called for and as Susan said, May or September would be better, weather-wise. We did the sightseeing, lots of beach and swimming, ate out every night and were never disappointed. We felt we were relaxing, and I suppose we were, mornings were more about swimming, a late breakfast and then we ventured out to explore. Afternoon, more swimming and then more food adventuring. I would recommend the wines made on the island. We drank many a bottle of Musho Mas, It is a rich wine with fruity punch, leaving a slight sweetness behind.

The roads are smooth, well-maintained, with no potholes or road works, started and then left halve done. I believe the biggest problem in the UK is a lack of planning, no pride in what they do and really shoddy workmanship. 

To sum up. 

Not sure if I love travel, it is the whole thing, airport queues and flying in a seat fit for a midget. People always say it is going to be this transformative experience. Go to the new exotic place, meet the exotic you. But you get there and you're not new or exotic, you just you. Someone said the point of travel is to make us modest, show us the time and place we occupy in the world.

Then we see the turquoise sea, open beaches and the straw umbrellas, and it is new and exotic, well maybe a little.