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.