Wednesday, 19th June - Soller/Palma/Port de Soller
Oh, no! ANOTHER glorious cloudless warm day! :)
Good night's sleep again, though Jean not quite firing on all cylinders.
Drove to Soller, as was the plan, and took the extremely twisty road up over the Coll de Soller and down the other side rather than pay the toll. Take a gander at the car satnav image!
Having done the recce earlier in the week, we knew exactly where to park for free before walking into town. Worked beautifully. Thence to the ticket office to buy our return tickets for the celebrated vintage Soller-Palma train - we knew we had to be there half an hour before the train was scheduled to leave (12:15).
Only a handful of people preceded us in the queue and the ticket office opened at around 11:55. Spanish time operating, obviously. Parted with 50 € cash for two return tickets and was expecting a huge rush of people to board the train when it arrived at the platform. Didn't happen.
We sat ourselves in the very front carriage and there were never more than about half a dozen people all the way down. Surprising, as all the journeys we'd seen up until this point had been rammed.
Nice scenery to start with, and the train rattled along at a much faster rate than I had been expecting.
It is also a major engineering feat. We went through one tunnel which must have lasted five minutes or more.
The terrain got flatter and less interesting as we descended to Palma, and after a stop at a small village called Bunyola, we ran into the outskirts of Palma half an hour later. Very industrial and ugly. The train actually runs through the streets of North Palma - at times it felt more like a bus than a train.
Once disembarked at Palma, we headed straight to the cathedral, about 15 minutes' walk away. Eventually found the queue to enter it, and paid 7 € each as a fee. I was expecting to pay 8 €, so maybe the girl at the till had us down as oldies......
The cathedral is vast and awe-inspiring. It follows the same principle as the cathedral in Soller, but on an even grander scale.
Mission accomplished.
We didn't have very much time left in Palma, as we had to catch the 15:10 train back to Soller, so we wandered back to the station via a couple of swift beers.
Journey back was uneventful, but a lot more crowded than on the way down. Tried to get into the very front carriage again, but it was locked. It transpired that it had been reserved for a group, led by an English gentleman holding a lollipop with the legend "MSC 9" on it. I assume this had something to do with the dirty great cruise ship in Palma harbour.
The train trip was quite fun, and is one of those touristic boxes which we have now ticked, but really not sure it was worth 50 €.
Back to Soller to collect a very hot car, and decided to take the quick trip down to Port de Soller, as we had heard that this was a nice spot. After a spot of bother with the parking, during which my card was nearly permanently eaten by the parking ticket machine, we sauntered down to the bay area.
It certainly is a nice spot:
Found a nice bar with a nice cold white wine, then headed back to the hotel. Being a bit of a skinflint, I avoided paying the toll and was once again "rewarded" with the twistiest road yet - and we have been on some very twisty roads this break. Having so far managed to avoid any bumps and scrapes with the car, I managed to bottom the front guard on a particularly savage right-hander. Oops! Don't think I've done to much damage, though (he said hopefully).
Got back about half an hour before dinner, then settled down to the four-course menu of the day. Very nice it was, too - the food here has been great.
Plan tomorrow is for a nice, lazy day to start with, then possibly drive up to the castle atop a hill above the local village of Alaro, where the food comes very highly recommended. There is apparently a very nice view also.
See tomorrow's exciting instalment!
Good night's sleep again, though Jean not quite firing on all cylinders.
Drove to Soller, as was the plan, and took the extremely twisty road up over the Coll de Soller and down the other side rather than pay the toll. Take a gander at the car satnav image!
Having done the recce earlier in the week, we knew exactly where to park for free before walking into town. Worked beautifully. Thence to the ticket office to buy our return tickets for the celebrated vintage Soller-Palma train - we knew we had to be there half an hour before the train was scheduled to leave (12:15).
Only a handful of people preceded us in the queue and the ticket office opened at around 11:55. Spanish time operating, obviously. Parted with 50 € cash for two return tickets and was expecting a huge rush of people to board the train when it arrived at the platform. Didn't happen.
We sat ourselves in the very front carriage and there were never more than about half a dozen people all the way down. Surprising, as all the journeys we'd seen up until this point had been rammed.
Nice scenery to start with, and the train rattled along at a much faster rate than I had been expecting.
It is also a major engineering feat. We went through one tunnel which must have lasted five minutes or more.
The terrain got flatter and less interesting as we descended to Palma, and after a stop at a small village called Bunyola, we ran into the outskirts of Palma half an hour later. Very industrial and ugly. The train actually runs through the streets of North Palma - at times it felt more like a bus than a train.
Once disembarked at Palma, we headed straight to the cathedral, about 15 minutes' walk away. Eventually found the queue to enter it, and paid 7 € each as a fee. I was expecting to pay 8 €, so maybe the girl at the till had us down as oldies......
The cathedral is vast and awe-inspiring. It follows the same principle as the cathedral in Soller, but on an even grander scale.
Mission accomplished.
We didn't have very much time left in Palma, as we had to catch the 15:10 train back to Soller, so we wandered back to the station via a couple of swift beers.
Journey back was uneventful, but a lot more crowded than on the way down. Tried to get into the very front carriage again, but it was locked. It transpired that it had been reserved for a group, led by an English gentleman holding a lollipop with the legend "MSC 9" on it. I assume this had something to do with the dirty great cruise ship in Palma harbour.
The train trip was quite fun, and is one of those touristic boxes which we have now ticked, but really not sure it was worth 50 €.
Back to Soller to collect a very hot car, and decided to take the quick trip down to Port de Soller, as we had heard that this was a nice spot. After a spot of bother with the parking, during which my card was nearly permanently eaten by the parking ticket machine, we sauntered down to the bay area.
It certainly is a nice spot:
Found a nice bar with a nice cold white wine, then headed back to the hotel. Being a bit of a skinflint, I avoided paying the toll and was once again "rewarded" with the twistiest road yet - and we have been on some very twisty roads this break. Having so far managed to avoid any bumps and scrapes with the car, I managed to bottom the front guard on a particularly savage right-hander. Oops! Don't think I've done to much damage, though (he said hopefully).
Got back about half an hour before dinner, then settled down to the four-course menu of the day. Very nice it was, too - the food here has been great.
Plan tomorrow is for a nice, lazy day to start with, then possibly drive up to the castle atop a hill above the local village of Alaro, where the food comes very highly recommended. There is apparently a very nice view also.
See tomorrow's exciting instalment!
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