After a rental car line that took longer than the actual flight, we checked into the Hotel Son Caliu Spa Oasis, a lovely resort with awesome amenities. From there we cabbed to the Daiquiri Palace, to see my buddy Sean!
His dad Gil has run the Daiq here on the island for many years and for as many years I’ve heard “None of my friends come to Mallorca, you won’t do it,” well you’re freaking wrong now brother!
Dinner with Sean, his pops, and his manager Nicola brought us to a restaurant called Europe/Europa just down the street, which had some amazing pulpo y patatas (octopus and potatoes) and even better local grilled peppers. I polished off a land and sea platter which was a bit too fishy for my taste but still pretty good.
The next day, Laura and I woke up early to canvas the north side of the island. A word of warning to the visitor – get the smallest car you possibly can for Palma! We were “upgraded” after our wait and this was a downgrade in truth.
The drive through the Serra de Tramuntana mountain range is magnificent. Rolling hills grow into craggy, imposing mountains dusted by clouds. Orange and olive groves line either side of the highway, providing a scenic view of the beautiful island. It kind of reminded me of driving into Yosemite from Fresno, or even driving in the country in Valle del Cauca in Colombia.
We began in Sóller, which has a wonderful weekend market and even more magnificent cathedral. Also home to a lovely tram that we did not use, but I understand can take you down to Port de Sóller. We drove through Deià and down to Cala Deià, which is a nice cove but not quite a beach, nor anywhere I’d personally want to swim. A lot of winding roads meant we left the rental close to the top of the hill so it was a pretty hot walk too.
After we awayed to Valldemossa, easily the most popular of the three. An absolutely beautiful village tucked into the mountains, flanked by pure white birch or sycamore trees, unfortunately I’m not an arborist. We opted for some shopping and a quick cafe stop at Barbaflorida, right outside the Carthusian Monastery Valldemossa dedicated to Chopin, which we notably did not enter!
We followed this up with some window shopping and tapas at QuitaPenas Valldemossa, which consisted of some absolutely delicious pamboli, which literally translates to “bread with oil” but in this case boasted Jamón Ibérico, Mahón (Minorcan) cheese, and a variety of other pork meats. Extremely delicious, but a little crunchy, and if you know me… I hate crunchy.
We made a beeline from Valdemossa to (once again) the Daiquiri Palace, where we enjoyed some more time with Sean and Gil, tanning on the Playa del Magaluf and enjoying some absolutely delicious daiquiris. Laura and I got the rare chance to pull the lever, Kronk! and serve ourselves some daiquiris. Absolutely love this place, it is very charming in Magaluf, a very built-up part of the island.
Laura and I finished up the night back at the Restaurante HANGZHOU, a Chinese restaurant down the block from the hotel. Absolutely delicious, if only proving that Laura and I are not eating on theme as much as we should be. After such a long day, my beloved and I were ready to rest.
