Trip to Majorca

We're off to the Balearic Islands! Today I'm going to tell you about a trip I made to Majorca last summer with a group of friends from university. To take advantage of the fact that we had passed all our exams in June, in the middle of the month we took a trip for a week to welcome in the summertime and bid farewell to the academic year.

To avoid headaches, and mostly because this trip was a very last-minute idea, we decided to book it through a travel agency. We paid 400 euros each, which included return flights from Madrid to Majorca, an airport transfer to our hotel and an all-inclusive stay at Hotel Caribbean Bay.

We flew from Madrid, which is obviously well-connected to other Spanish cities, there being buses which take you directly to Madrid airport. I travelled there from Valladolid and the bus took me about three and a half hours. Since we were going for a week, we needed to take suitcases with us, and so needed to be at the airport two hours before our flight left. The journey only took an hour and a half, so the time between getting on the plane and getting off just flew by (not my joke... ). In Palma de Mallorca airport we were met by the bus driver who put our suitcases onto the bus and took us to the hotel (us along with other people who were going to different hotels on the island, so we did a little tour through the hotel complex in El Arenal).

The hotel where we stayed, called Caribbean Bay, is in the El Arenal area, located between Palma de Mallorca and a town named Lluchmayor. Since it's an area close to Palma and to the airport, it's one full of tourists. The hotel is 300 metres away from the beach, so it took 5 minutes to walk there. When we arrived at the hotel, the reception staff explained the rules and services of the hotel to us and recommended tourists routes we could take. Since we had paid for an all-inclusive stay, they gave us each a red wristband so that we could help ourselves to 'free' food and drink until 11pm. The drinks included were fizzy drinks, slushies and beers served in party cups, and the food (not including the buffet) was paté, ham or lettuce with tomato sandwiches. Pretty basic, then, but it was something. We were a group of four, Kike, Make, Javi and I, and we had booked two double rooms which were quite nice, with air conditioning, private bathrooms, a tv and a large balcony from which we could see the sea in the distance and one of the hotel's swimming pools. Although it was only a 3 star hotel, it had two swimming pools: one on the ground floor and one on the rooftop terrace, which was smaller and better since it was less busy.

In terms of food, the buffet restaurant served a good variety, taking foreign guests into consideration too (with baked beans and sausages on offer at breakfast). In my opinion, everything tasted fantastic, but I don't know if that's because I came back each day after sight-seeing or being at the beach feeling like I could eat a horse and ate as if it were my last day on Earth. However, what was a little bit annoying was how the buffet hours were aimed to fit the 'foreign' schedule of mealtimes, so lunch ended at 1pm and dinner at 8pm.

In general, the hotel seemed good value for money to me, and the truth is I arrived with very low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. The staff were very friendly, the facilities were good and the food very nice. There are also disadvantages though, especially the fact that the hotel was full of drunken English and Germans, who became unbearable and unpleasant since they spent 24 hours a day drunk. We also went at a time which coincided with lots of Spanish students finishing their PAUs (university entrance exams). My conclusion is that this is a hotel for staying in with friends for a week without expecting peace and quiet, and so I'd not recommend it as a place for families or couples.

Our stay in Majorca was packed full, since we did a bit of everything: visiting touristy places, going to the beach and partying. On the day we arrived, we decided to spend the day relaxing in the hotel and at the beach and planning the rest of our week. To do this, we visited various places which offered tourist trips and car and bike rental (we'd need both of these during the week).

Sineu Market, Formentor and Puerto Pollença

The following day, we went on our first day trip which cost us 35 euros each, and we booked it in the hotel. On the days where we didn't eat in the hotel, we made ourselves a picnic: paté sandwiches, fruit and a bottle of water. It wasn't a great picnic, which is why what I recommend doing (although it's not really allowed) is making some sandwiches at breakfast and then sneaking them out of the breakfast room when nobody's watching.

The bus picked us and some other tourists up at 10am outside the hotel. The bus was full and the air conditioning was broken, so the first part of the journey was pretty hellish. After an hour on the bus, we arrived at the Sineu Market. It's one of the oldest markets in Majorca and has a broad range of things on offer: animals, vegetables, fruit, livestock, clothes, shoes, appliances, etc. In summary, it was a very typical Majorcan market, and in my opinion not really a must-see since there are more important things in this beautiful city. It was also boiling hot, and the place was packed full of people. After spending an hour wandering from stall to stall, we went back to the bus to head off to the Puerto de Alcudia.

During the journey, the guide told us (in various languages) about the history of the places we passed by. When we arrived at Puerto de Alcudia, they had organised for us to go on a boat trip, and so we set off on a tour around the north coast of Majorca. On the way to Formentor, we admired the coastal landscape of Alcudia bay, the islet of Aucanada, and the Cabopinar coves, passing through Pollença bay until we reached Playa de Formentor, a unspoiled beach considered one of the most beautiful in Majorca. We stopped for a two hour break on this beach to enjoy its crystal waters and to eat. The landscape of this beach surrounded by mountains is spectacular, and you feel like you're actually in the Caribbean there.

After this relaxing stop, we continued our journey by bus to the El Colomer viewpoint. This viewpoint is located on the northeast side of the island atop an enormous rock more than 200 metres high, and has a stairway leading to the top with several viewpoints along the way. The road which took us to the El Colomer was full of twists and turns and, combined with the landscape of this area and views which weren't suitable for those with a fear of heights, it felt like we were going to go tumbling down the mountain at every turn. Despite this, the landscape we could see from the top was very worth the climb and the journey: the disadvantage was that we didn't get to spend much time there, since after half an hour we had to get back on the bus.

So, this was the first day trip we made and which was, in my opinion, pretty good value for money.

Valldemosa, Soller, La Calobra - Torrent de Pareis

For our next day trip, we made the decision to do something that was more our kind of thing and cheaper, so we decided to rent a car between the four of us. We had to take into account that only people over the age of 24 are allowed to rent a car, since this is the minimum age to be covered by the accident insurance. Luckily, one of us was old enough. Renting a basic car from 10am to 8pm cost us 40 euros between the four of us (quite cheap). After we'd had breakfast, we prepared a good picnic and, having planned our route, set off in the direction of our first destination: Valldemosa.

This town is located on the Sierra de Tramuntana and is famous for its elegant beauty and steep and narrow paved streets which are filled with flowers and diverse plants. On the day we visited, the place was full of tourists from all over the world, and I suppose it's like that every day. The main attraction is La Cartuja, which was inhabited by nuns for over four centuries and even at one point by Chopin, accompanied by the writer George Sand, where he composed some of his works.

We visited the historic Old Town in Valldemosa and also numerous monuments which we found out about at the tourist information office. What really grabbed my attention was the facades of the houses, which had been carefully decorated with a wide variety of plants and flowers and which made the streets seem as if they had been plucked right out of a fairy tale.

From Valldemosa, we drove on to Soller, since it was nearby and we were looking for a place to eat before heading off to La Calobra. Because of this, we only stopped in Soller for a short time. After finding somewhere to park, which took some time, we looked for somewhere to eat, and found somewhere right next to the San Bartomeu Church, declared a Bien de Interés Cultural a few years ago. It was a shame to only see it from the outside, since it looked fantastic, but since we didn't have very much time left we couldn't go inside.

After filling our stomachs, we started out on our great adventure to La Calobra, a cove which belongs to the municipality of Escorca. This cove is where the mouth of the Torrent de Pareis is located, formed by boulders and one of the few places with access to the sea in the Sierra de Tramontana. The riverbed of this stream was excavated so that it now flows into the sea. The difference is height is so great that the cove is surrounded by huge cliffs. Both friends and strangers had warned us about the peculiar road which leads up to the top of the cove, and told us that we wouldn't be able to make it to the top since we'd be too scared, though we did well to not pay any attention to them. We all thought they had been exaggerating, but as we approached we realised that the road leading to the cove may well have been the road to hell...! It's a 14 kilometre long road, with 800 bends! The views are spectacular but, again, not suitable for people who are afraid of heights or who tend to get dizzy from them, since the bends are very sharp and you feel like you could tumble down at any point. After more than an hour in the car (just to drive 14 kilometres! ) and after dodging about twenty wild sheep, we arrived at the top and parked. It was still a fair walk from the car park to the cove through paths tunneled into the rock. Finally, we arrived at the cove, which was very small and full of rocks (the moment we arrived, the sky had become overcast). The landscape was impressive, a mix of pure mountains and beach. The water was a beautiful turquoise colour, but it was freezing! We spent just over an hour there as time was running out and we needed to return the car pretty soon. The effort and stress that it took to get to the cove wasn't worth it to just say there for an hour, so if you go yourselves, spend the whole day there.

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