The Mallorca trip

Mallorca is the largest island in a group of Balearic islands, where you can among others also find Menorca and Ibiza. Return flights there from Madrid were really cheap, so I decided to go for it. I also wanted to visit Morocco, but unfortunately I did not manage so that is something to see next time. I went there in November and I stayed for three nights, because I had obligatory classes and I could not stay there longer.

Day 1: arrival

I had an early flight at 8am but it worked out just fine as I was able to get to the airport by metro with my monthly Public transport card. I only took my backpack and that is why I did not need to check-in my luggage. I did not reserve my seat and I ended up in the middle one which was a bit uncomfortable, but the flight was not really long. I remember seeing this awesome view from the plane window with grass and mountains and super small houses. When we arrived at the airport, I took a shuttle bus to the center which was not difficult to find. But it was quite expensive: 5 € and it only took us 20 minutes to get to the center. But that is something quite normal for those buses.

When I exited, I decided to first drop off my luggage at the hostel. It was a little bit far, but still walking distance away. I wanted to try Couchsurfing but there were not really many hosts available. On my way there I saw Mercadona (supermarket) so it was great to know where I will buy some food and drink. I came to the reception, got my bed in a 6-bed bedroom and checked the bathroom with a bit unpractical showers as there was no shelf for you to put your clothes and towel on.

Before leaving the hostel, I tried to plan my first trip a bit. I got the map of the main city: Palma and the whole island. I decided to see two of the most known villages on the island. Firstly I thought I could take the bus to the first one and then walk to the other but it seemed a bit far so I changed my mind. After that I was thinking of seeing Palma, which is the largest city there.

Bus trip to Valdemossa and Port de Soller

The bus departed at 11am. I remember running in order to catch it as I was late and luckily for me, it worked out. I noticed a lot of german tourists that came there to hike - there is a lot of nice trails around the island. We were driving by narrow and twisted street where oftentimes cars had to move back in order to enable the bus to continue its trip. The view was really astounding.

When we arrived to Valdemossa it was raining a bit at first. I took a map at the tourist office and walked around to see all of them in 30 minutes. It really was a small place with not much to do. Later, the clouds disappeared and the village suddenly became nicer and friendlier. There was a lot of narrow stone streets with houses built in the old style and on/by every house you could see green plants. There was also a church with turquise roof and a smaller garden just next to it.

I finished the Valdemossa tour rather fast. Because the bus schedule was not the friendliest one (a bus came every 1 or 2 hours) and I had 1.5 hour till the next one, I decided to hitchhike. Trust me - it was not the best idea as not many cars were driving by. Actually, neither are the buses so I suggest you to rent a car if you can. I did not because I was not really too sure of my driving abilities. So, I tried hitchhiking and after around 20 minutes someone finally stopped ... and took me to a bar 1 km ahead because that was supposedly place with more traffic. But really, it was the same. So I ended up walking back to the bus station and waiting for the next bus.

When the bus finally came, I continued my trip and on the way there we went through another village called Deià. I also read about it before as it was a place where supposedly many artists and writers came to find inspiration. Small houses were trashed among hills seemingly without any real order. The view was so picturesque that I almost ended up leaving the bus at the station. Continuing the trip, we were driving by the river, some small mountains covered in forests and near the stone wall. First, we came to Soller and after that we continued to Port de Soller, but only two of us went to the last station.

Port de Soller is a small town by the port (like one can see from its name). It has some sandy beaches but I did not bathe because the sea was quite cold at that time of the year. The whole island is a bit hilly and this part is no exception. Houses and mostly empty hotels were placed there. Also, there was a musician playing Bruce Springsteen's ''I'm on fire'' in one restaurant. But the thing that invites most tourists is the old tram going from Soller to that place and back. I did not go because it was quite expensive: 8 or 9€. It was a lovely and peaceful place which as I believe comes more to life during the summer. I took the same way going back to Palma and taking a bit of a rest in the hostel.

Getting to know Palma

The main city Palma de Mallorca is, as one could expect, located by the port. Getting to the center led me through the streets filled with clothing stores and restaurants. I only took a two-hour tour around as it was already quite late and I was a bit tired because I woke up so early. I went to the sea but there it was polluted by oil and the nearest beach was a bit far. I got a basic view of the city and decided to leave the real sightseeing for the third day. The atmosphere was nice, there were many young people mixed with some tourists looking for a souvenir to bring back tome.

After that I went back to hostel, took a shower and started talking to 3 other girls in the bedroom. They were from Mexico and Dominican Republic. They met each other when they were on Erasmus and decided to go for a trip to Mallorca together. We quickly became friends and spent the evening playing cards, drinking, eating chips and listening to music in the living room below. They invited me to join them the next evening as they were planning to go out. So, it was a deal.

Day 2

Trip to Fortmentor gone bad

I decided to do another trip the next day. I saw that there were several other nice places, but the pictures of Fortmentor - viewpoint convinced me to try to go there. I would first have to get to Port de Pollenca and then I was thinking of walking the rest of the trip. On Google maps it did not look so far so I decided to do it as I had the whole day. Luckily for me, it was sunny that day.

I noticed that the price of the bus ticket is the same if I decide to make a stop in Inca and continue from there or take the direct tour. So, naturally, I stopped there. Looking at the pictures, the place did not look very special but I decided to give it a try. I was disappointed as there was nothing really interesting to see there. The place was filled with ugly decaying houses and not many people were around. The one thing that was the most interesting of them all (but still, not really), was the main square with the church and the crocodile statue in front of it. So, if you really do not have anything smarter to do, you can visit it but otherwise you will not miss anything if you skip it.

In order to continue my trip I had to find a different bus station as the bus to Pollenca departed from a different station. I had to get to the hospital where the station was located and since there were no pavement by the road to get there, I just walked by the road and got some ''friendly'' beeps. I finally got there not knowing when the bus arrives (as the schedule was not very reliable). It finally came and I was able to continue the trip, this time on the large bus with two seats on each side, not those small ones I was using before.

Port de Pollenca has a small port on one part and then continues in a series of piers where people fish and bathe during the summer. The coast there looked quite nice and at the end the metal fence forbid people to continue because there was a military zone. And there were some funny goats walking freely by the coast and trying to reach the leaves of one bush. The smaller ones had some real problems. I asked one man that was working in his garden what is the best way to reach Fortmentor. And he said that there is a bus driving there but not at this time of the year. I explained that I want to walk there and he advised me not to as it is 11km far (on Google maps, it said it is much closer).

Being me, I had to try it anyway. I started walking by the road that started twisting in the hill. In many places, there was not a lot of macadam by the road so I had to use the road directly. There were not many cars crossing and my hitchhiking turned out to be unsuccessful once again. But it was a bit dangerous walking there as cars did not expect to see the pedestrian there and they were driving quite fast. It was quite hot and I started to get tired. I reached the military fence and did a little bit of hiking to the rocks from where I saw the view you can see below. Then I gave up on my plan and went back to the main city.

The irish pub

I rested a bit from the trip and in the evening I went out with my new friends. We were walking around for a while trying to find a good place and then one of them remembered that one guy that they asked told them that there is an irish bar with live music that night. So we went there. We arrived a bit earlier when there were not so many people yet, but we managed to get the seats. We drank some ciders and were listening to the old rock music playing on the screen, like ''Don't leave me this way'' by the Communards. A bit later a rock band came and they started to play known old rock songs. Even though we were probably the youngest in the bar, the atmosphere was unbeliavable.

Afterwards, we decided to check another place which was not that interesting. We drank something more and decided to go back. On the way there some locals stopped their car and started inviting me to go with them while at the same time they were insulting my friends just because they were from Latin America. It was so awful to see how badly they treated them and it made me think. When we came back, we went directly sleeping.

Day 3: Palma

I woke up the next day at 11.15 with a bad hangover. I wanted to sleep more so badly but I had to check out by noon. Slowly, I prepared myself and said goodbye to my friends. I returned the card to the reception one minute before noon and went to Mercadona to buy already tested after-hangover goods: a large bottle of water and ''barra de pan con aceite de oliva'' - baguette with an olive oil. I wanted to find a nice place for breakfast so I forced myself to walk by the main streets to the place with palmas andbenches overlooking at the artificial pool with a view of the sea behind it. I slowly ate it and started to recover. I decided to have an easy day.

I started walking around with my backpack that got a bit heavy after a while. Just next to my after-hangover resting place stands a magnificent cathedral. I was walking around and slowly discovering the small old charming streets. Continuing the trip by keeping the view of the sea, I could notice why the place is named Palma de Mallorca: you can see them all around the city, especially on one pedestrian part where they are planted on both sides. There were several other interesting buildings and some windmills. Also, there were orange trees planted as a decoration. Having to try, I can tell you that they are very sour and leave the shaggy taste in yor mouth for quite some time. So better leave them alone!

My flight departed the next morning at 6.40 so the plan was to spend the night at the airport and take a shuttle there around midnight. But around 5pm I realized that I do not have that much more to see there. I did not feel like making a trip somewhere, especially because the local buses turned out to be so unreliable. I went to see the arabic baths, supposedly really famous but the place is very small and not really that interesting. After that I just sat for a while on a bench ever once in a while and saw the city enlightened by the street lights when it got darker.

Night at the airport and returning to Madrid

I took a shuttle to the airport a bit before midnight, being the only passenger. When I came to the airport there was only one other guy there, a guard and a cleaning lady. I quickly realized that it is a long night ahead of me as the place looked so cold and lifeless. First, I tried to get some sleep at the waiting chairs, but they were so uncomfortable. Then I went to the upper floor when I started talking to a guy from Venezuela. We had interesting conversation in spanish about his sons, wife and life in Venezuela. He told me how unbearable it is to see how the army gathers food and the locals have to starve for days at times.

I got really tired so I went back to the ground floor and took a chair with filling from one guy that just left it. It was slightly more comfortable but I really do not know why there were no couches or beds or at least more comfortable seats anywhere. I did not really sleep, I was more resting while listening to music. So if you have the opportunity to get a place to stay and take a taxi to the airport and get at least a bit sleep, do it. Slowly, the amount of people increased and I went through the check-in. I flew back to Madrid and slept through the whole morning and most of the afternoon.

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