Yesterday we did a catamaran tour of the island which was totally peaceful and relaxing. Laid under the sun, music playing in the background, waves rocking etc. The playlist on the boat went from Enya to FloRida, songs from Silent Night to Cee Lo´s unedited F-You song. A little random? What continues to surprise me is how much Europeans love hip hop. I´ve never listened to so much hip hop in my life. Unfortunately there are only so many pictures you can post of mountains and coastline, so I´ll spare you the pics from the boat.
Then in the evening we wandered around Palma – went to the Cathedral, saw a bit of a concert with dancing. Today Michael left to go home, and I´m on my way to meet up with my friend Azish. We´re going to spend the next two weeks getting our hands dirty on a farm. We arranged it through WWOOF – which if you haven´t heard of it stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. The farm that we are staying on is outside Alicante. And with that….have to run and catch the bus. I´m not sure what my internet access will be like while I´m there, but will write more about it as soon as I can!
We got to Mallorca Thursday, and are staying in Palma. The area feels more like a small city with Indian Restaurants and a Chinese Grocery Store, so we decided to rent a car and get out to see the island. After getting lost we ended up going the long along the West coast to a couple of smaller towns.
The view on the drive made it worth it! In that part of the island it’s all dramatic cliffs, pine trees, steppes, and stone houses with green or blue shutters.
First stop – Valldemossa. Gorgeous old town in between mountains and the ocean, with stone buildings and a beautiful monastery. We kept seeing pictures of Chopin, and weren’t really understanding the connection. From what we could piece together apparently he and George Sand spent a winter here during their steamy affair. (Mental note to read more about that…..who doesn’t love a good scandal?) Also excellent ice cream.
Next stop – Deia. This little town is much quieter with fewer tourists. We wandered around, explored the church and a cemetery overlooking the ocean.
On the way out of Deia Michael saw a sign pointing to a restaurant down a dusty narrow road so we decided to check it out. The road stretched on and on around hairpin curves, and had us both cringing as we barely skimmed by other cars coming in the opposite direction. We parked and kept walking down, hoping for something great but not really knowing what to expect. We were not disappointed….. We had lunch practically on top of the water at a small restaurant on the beach called Ca’s Patro March. Definitely one of those moments where you can’t believe you could be so lucky.
Last stop – Soller. More beautiful buildings and churches!
Our last day in Formentera and spending the day lounging on the beach at Gecko Beach Club. This place is amazing. It´s a luxury hotel and beach club in Formentera. Chill music playing, sun chairs on the lawn, beautiful blue blue water stretching out in front. Adding video.
Thought I would look up and share a little background on Formentera. It´s only 12 miles long, and parts of it have been declared a UNESCO world heritage sight. They make a point not to overly develop the island. As I mentioned no airport, also no high rise buildings, quite a lot of the island is natural parks, and apparently there is some kind of ban on new beachside construction. From what I had read before I came the island has a hippie/bohemian background, but I didn´t see much of it. Where we´re staying in Es Pujols it feels pretty upscale with great restaurants, hotels, gorgeous tan Italians etc – but still a laid back and beachy feeling. Aside from the naked people sprinkled around on the beaches, what it did NOT feel like was hippie. Until last night that is. We went to this place called Blue Bar. It´s right on the beach and was in fact blue, had little alien statues, a night sky mocked up on the roof inside the bar and peace signs sprinkled around. What the deal is with the aliens I´m not quite sure but they´ re funny. I wish I´d taken pictures! Pasting from the internet to give you an idea.
Then today we REALLY found the hippie in Formentera. We heard about a ¨hippie market¨ in La Mola which is another small town up on a cliff. It´s a much quieter town with a couple of cute restaurants and shops – and the famed hippie market every Weds and Sunday. Great food, leather crafts, jewelry, a guy singing, dreadlocks….. Lots of very clean hippies with things to sell.
First post!! 2 days into my trip, and so far so good! It was a mad rush the last couple of days before I left, trying to get everything done. I literally didn’t sleep at all the night before I left, and was preparing for my trip right up until very the last minute. By the time I got to Barcelona (first stop) the only sleep I had gotten in the last 48 hours was sitting upright in my airplane seat.
I have the good luck of starting my trip off with my good friend Michael for a 10 day island vacation. I met up with him in Barcelona where we over nighted and flew out the next morning. My time in Barcelona was pretty much a blur since I was so tired I couldn’t even see straight. Every time I was sitting down for an extended period of time I fell asleep. At the pool, in every cab ride…. almost fell asleep at dinner over a glass of wine. Sorry Michael!
Anyway, we flew out the next morning to Formentera. Formentera is a small island near Ibiza with gorgeous beaches, and clean beautiful water. There is no airport on Formentera so we flew into Ibiza and took a 45 min ferry ride over. We are staying in a little beach town called Es Pujols. Strangely almost everyone in this beach area is Italian. Yes, in Spain, but everyone here is Italian. Very weird.
This part of my trip is pretty much a luxury vacation, and is likely the last bit of luxury I’ll have for a while so I plan to enjoy it! Slept late, spent the day on the beach, and went for a run. Not a bad view for a run eh?
whereoutthere 