Friday, 14th June - Driving around
Another good night's sleep, but woken again at around 7.45 a.m. by noisy neighbours. Weather disappointing - grey skies, very windy and only about 18 degrees.
After consultation with the front desk, we got the car out and headed initially in a westerly direction for a look around. First place of any significance was Port d'Andratx - very picturesque, but even if we'd wanted to stay, hopes were dashed by the complete lack of parking. Anyway, it was too cold.....
Fortunately, the car has a very decent satnav, and the voiceover was English!
Next up, travelling vaguely northward, was a small village called Estellencs, and the road required all my concentration as it was very twisty - lots of hairpin bends. Pretty place again, but absolutely no parking - again. Lovely country to drive through, though - very rugged and craggy. Lots of warnings about rock falls.
On we went through similar terrain - quite stressful at times as the roads were narrow and the traffic coming from the opposite direction often seemed to be very near, or over, the centre of the road.
Next place, which had been recommended by our front desk informant, was Banyalbufar. This did indeed seem very attractive but, yet again, nowhere to park. The situation was made a lot worse by a large coach trying to thread its way through the very narrow streets. A real bottleneck, as the coach's way forward was blocked by traffic backing up in the opposite direction, not helped by an elderly gent who had got his car into the wrong position. He had to back away and, as we finally managed to pass, I caught a glimpse of his face. Mega-stressed, poor devil.
Sooooo - on we went again to a rather larger town called Valldemossa. Here we finally managed to park, albeit some half a mile away from the centre. Still grey, cloudy, windy and relatively chilly.
Valldemossa, however, turned out to be a real delight. We found a tourist information place, which provided us with a map, then we dived into a cafe for a much-needed coffee/hot chocolate/croissant. We then spent the next hour or so wandering around this very picturesque and historic town.
We alighted upon a large church dedicated to Santa Catarina Thomas of whom I have never heard, but hopefully the Wikipedia entry at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Palma will throw some light. It didn't look too promising from the outside, but the inside was a different matter altogether. I am in no way religious, but the inside of some churches is awe-inspiring. This was definitely one such.
Extraordinary.
On we went on our wander.
I'd seen some references to the composer Frederic Chopin, but had no idea of the connection with Valldemossa. Another most enjoyable perambulation brought us to a garden outside of the old monastery, and who should be depicted via a bust but the aforesaid. Another delightful spot.
The link between Chopin and Valldemossa is explained briefly at http://www.visitvalldemossa.com/en/frederic-chopin/. Interesting stuff, even to me.
By this stage, even though it was still windy, the clouds had begun to lift and it was getting warmer. Time to leave, so we wended our way back to the car. Given the stress factor of the drive on the way up here, I chose the flatter, main road route. 40 minutes later, far less stressed, we were back at our hotel.
It was now warm enough for us to repair to our favourite spot - the piano bar terrace - for our final dose of sunshine before we depart tomorrow for our next hotel. Alcohol was partaken of, to no-one's surprise.
After suitable preparations for dinner (i.e. I put a pair of long trousers on) we headed for the Seaside Grill within the hotel complex. We decided on sharing a turbot, which was duly served with some ceremony and was absolutely delicious. A decent bottle of Sauvignon Blanc plus a very nice creme brulee rounded off a great experience.
Oh, well - all good things come to an end. Time for packing and moving on to our next experience up in the mountains of north Majorca tomorrow.
After consultation with the front desk, we got the car out and headed initially in a westerly direction for a look around. First place of any significance was Port d'Andratx - very picturesque, but even if we'd wanted to stay, hopes were dashed by the complete lack of parking. Anyway, it was too cold.....
Fortunately, the car has a very decent satnav, and the voiceover was English!
Next up, travelling vaguely northward, was a small village called Estellencs, and the road required all my concentration as it was very twisty - lots of hairpin bends. Pretty place again, but absolutely no parking - again. Lovely country to drive through, though - very rugged and craggy. Lots of warnings about rock falls.
On we went through similar terrain - quite stressful at times as the roads were narrow and the traffic coming from the opposite direction often seemed to be very near, or over, the centre of the road.
Next place, which had been recommended by our front desk informant, was Banyalbufar. This did indeed seem very attractive but, yet again, nowhere to park. The situation was made a lot worse by a large coach trying to thread its way through the very narrow streets. A real bottleneck, as the coach's way forward was blocked by traffic backing up in the opposite direction, not helped by an elderly gent who had got his car into the wrong position. He had to back away and, as we finally managed to pass, I caught a glimpse of his face. Mega-stressed, poor devil.
Sooooo - on we went again to a rather larger town called Valldemossa. Here we finally managed to park, albeit some half a mile away from the centre. Still grey, cloudy, windy and relatively chilly.
Valldemossa, however, turned out to be a real delight. We found a tourist information place, which provided us with a map, then we dived into a cafe for a much-needed coffee/hot chocolate/croissant. We then spent the next hour or so wandering around this very picturesque and historic town.
We alighted upon a large church dedicated to Santa Catarina Thomas of whom I have never heard, but hopefully the Wikipedia entry at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Palma will throw some light. It didn't look too promising from the outside, but the inside was a different matter altogether. I am in no way religious, but the inside of some churches is awe-inspiring. This was definitely one such.
Extraordinary.
On we went on our wander.
I'd seen some references to the composer Frederic Chopin, but had no idea of the connection with Valldemossa. Another most enjoyable perambulation brought us to a garden outside of the old monastery, and who should be depicted via a bust but the aforesaid. Another delightful spot.
The link between Chopin and Valldemossa is explained briefly at http://www.visitvalldemossa.com/en/frederic-chopin/. Interesting stuff, even to me.
By this stage, even though it was still windy, the clouds had begun to lift and it was getting warmer. Time to leave, so we wended our way back to the car. Given the stress factor of the drive on the way up here, I chose the flatter, main road route. 40 minutes later, far less stressed, we were back at our hotel.
It was now warm enough for us to repair to our favourite spot - the piano bar terrace - for our final dose of sunshine before we depart tomorrow for our next hotel. Alcohol was partaken of, to no-one's surprise.
After suitable preparations for dinner (i.e. I put a pair of long trousers on) we headed for the Seaside Grill within the hotel complex. We decided on sharing a turbot, which was duly served with some ceremony and was absolutely delicious. A decent bottle of Sauvignon Blanc plus a very nice creme brulee rounded off a great experience.
Oh, well - all good things come to an end. Time for packing and moving on to our next experience up in the mountains of north Majorca tomorrow.
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