Final Days - Palma - Soller- Palma

Today we are taking a train and vintage trolley to Soller, a scenic area located on the north western coast. 

Joining us are a couple we met at the wedding. 

                 First class accommodation 

                                    Tourist class

Travelling through one of the many mountain tunnels. 

Arriving Soller 

      At the station we spotted some pieces of art 

 The trolley took us through the streets

 

Arriving at the coast - we lunched overlooking the bay, returned to the station for the 17:30, boarding the lady return train to Palma. 

Arriving back in Palma, there was a statue to honour the Knights Templar. Passing through the historic quarter, we arrived 

at the cathedral (too large to photo its entirety) at sunset 

                      The Town Hall

Overlooking the bay

We returned to the hotel via the narrow streets 

to the hotel, which was an old building, very sympathetically restored 

                           The lounge 

A view from the second floor all in stone 

Next day, we took a 15 minute drive and arrived at the airport - a great week - an island worth visiting 

Alcudia Day 2

After breakfast, we went to visit Pollentia- ciutat Romana - the remains of a Roman Settlement outside the town walls. 

There was also a theatre

We quitted Alcúdia and drove north to Pollenca. We arrived at the port, which is a modern tourist resort as is Port d’Alcúdia. The towns were built inland to avoid pirate raids! 

Miles and miles of golden beaches - very quiet on this Autumn day. We continued to the town of Pollenca. We lunched in its vast square 

and later I climbed Calvari  - an infinite number of steps to a church at the summit. 

                    Two thirds up - more to go!!

          A view from the church atop Calvari 

 

I returned to the square and we set off for Palma, the beautiful Mallorca capital. 

We are staying in      within the city walls. We had fun and games trying to locate the hotel as Sat Nav threw in the towel!!  After circling the area four times, we finally reached  the hotel. 

Exhausted, we dined at a wonderful local restaurant nearby!! 

Inca to Alcudia

The island is only 100km by 70km and Inca is situated in the middle of the island, a mere 29 minute drive north to Alcúdia and a similar distance south to the capital, Palma. 

We arrived in Alcúdia, a Roman Town. On arrival, we had no idea of the location of the hotel as it was within the medieval walls and we had to park outside. We parked and walked through one the medieval gates, 

eventually locating the hotel at the opposite side of the town. There had been a festival in town that weekend and the tidy up and dismantling were taking place. Some of the streets were closed. When they reopened we were able to park our car nearer the hotel. Checking in, we were allocated a room across the road - no amenities but it didn’t bother us as we were staying only one night. 

As we entered the room the heavens opened and it deluged for about an hour!! 

                 A view from our balcony 

The Romans located the town a little inland to reduce the risk of pirate attack. In the 14th century walls were constructed to protect the city. 

The rain having ceased we set out to walk the walls 

From here we had a view of the Tramuntana mountains which traverse the north of the island. 

Returning to ground level we walked the narrow medieval streets. We saw the Town Hall under renovation 

Passed the Place de la  Constitució - the central square 

 passed the artisan quarter 

down towards the hotel, passing a number of 16 and 17th century Casals, Renaissance stately homes with their ornate windows

We came to the Church of Sant Jaume ( James) closed at this time 

and back to the hotel. 

We are nearby ....until tomorrow 

Before, The Day and the After

The night before the wedding, we taxied to a restaurant in Sencelles, about a 15 minutes driver from Inca. We joined the oldies on both sides and later the younger brigade up the road where they had dined. 

The wedding day dawned.  We arrived at Finca Miranda at 14:00 in preparation for the bride’s arrival. 

It was a 10 minute walk to the venue so refreshments were provided at the half way mark. There we met a lovely couple from the bride’s side.We arrived at the venue and were seated under the shade of the mulberry tree. The bride arrived resplendent in a gorgeous white gown and the bridesmaids in a fresh yellow and white dresses. The groom looked dashing in his light blue jacket, shirt and white trousers while his groomsmen wore similar outfits with a darker shade of blue jacket. A beautiful humanist ceremony followed. 

A half an hour later, we were drinking champagne and eating canapés. As the sun went down, we were seated   

at long tables and the meal was served with copious wine to booth. 

We later adjourned to the dancing area by the pool where a terrific Blues band played the night away. Cocktails were served and not normally a cocktail lover, I more than warmed to Coffee Expressos. We taxied home at 02:00! A great day was had by all. 

The following day, we then adjourned to Finca La Miranda at 16:00 for paella and drinks. We returned to base a little earlier!! 

Mallorca - Inca

We’re here for Ronan’s wedding. We arrived on an Aer Lingus flight at 14:05 local time, having left Dublin at 10:35 local time. Check in was a bit of a nightmare as  the carrousel would not accept my tagged bag at the drop bag area and I had to queue to have it accepted at the check-in.  Added to that was the fact that Aer Lingus have this new app called VeriFLY. It is supposed to speed the process of check-in, whereby in addition to checking in on line, one completes the App with one’s personal details, a locator and health form for the Spanish and scans one’s Covid cert.  However,  the App is not fit for purpose. Each member of the. wedding party spent a number of hours trying to complete the forms - even the young techies!! 

At the airport, when I attempted to check in my bag after the ‘drop bag’code was not recognised, there was a separate queue for the VeriFLY group. However, one would have been faster in the general queue. And when we got to the gate, again a separate queue for VeriFLY which though smaller was slower than the general queue!!! The App is not fit for purpose and it has had very poor reviews.  I won’t be using it again!! 

Surprisingly, the flight was full, but everyone was very respectful and wore their masks. 

We had hired a car from Goldcar. We normally take out an annual excess insurance but Goldcar wouldn’t  accept it unless we lodged €1,100 against our Visa. From previous experience, we knew that there would be multiple examples of ‘damage’ when we returned the car!! We paid the extra €200. The car rental sector should be regulated - many of the firms operate very sharp practices!! 

We got the car and left Palma airport, heading for Inca, where we were to stay. A hundred metres from the hotel at a roundabout a young local ran into the back of us. We pulled in by the side of the road. He apologised, gave us all his details and then suggested we go to a car park down the road, where we could fill in the accident form. He gave us his phone as collateral. And so the form was filled in, the car company informed and we crossed the road to the hotel!  Ringing Goldcar again, they seemed unperturbed and as the car appears to have little damage, just asked is to drop in the accident form when we returned the car. Though it was quite a bang, there appears to be little damage - so hopefully for the young man’s sake that is the case. 

The hotel is exceptional - Sa Vinya des Convent. It is situated in an Olive and winery 

The interior was spectacular 

A former convent I believe!!!

We checked in and later met my son and his girlfriend for dinner at 

It was a typical traditional restaurant recommended by our hotel. It didn’t disappoint as the owner explained the various local dishes -among our choices were  calamari stuffed with pork - delicious and very unusual, a lamb stew oven cooked for 2 hours and some delicious lamb cutlets. It was a truly a memorable meal served in a restaurant 50 years in existence. 

We retired - exhausted after a difficult day.