Mallorca- July 23

Palma de Mallorca, Spain was an interesting place. We awoke to a beautiful sunrise. Jim and I had breakfast in our cabin and we prepared for a shore excursion. Our guide Juan told us all about the yacht clubs and we saw once again the most amazing mass of boats. He laughed and told us the marinas on the right- filled with huge boats- belonged to the tourists and the oats on the left- much more modest bats- belonged to the locals.

All 6 of us went on this trip to visit the rugged Costa Nord (Mallorca's North

Coast) to the town of Valldemosa. The North Coast is a 40-mile long mass of limestone rock that has formed a wall against winds and invasions. The charming town of Valldemosa must be a big tourist destination for tourists for the big buses came and went with a very smooth system. The trip included a visit to the Costa Nord Foundation, established to promote the culture and landscape of the Tramuntana mountain range. The group saw a documentary made by Michael Douglas, who has made his home here for 20 years. The hillsides were covered in olive, fig, almond, carob, and orange trees.

We then drove up a very narrow and steep road to get to San Bosch for our wine tasting. We had a close encounter with a three-wheeled delivery truck followed closely by a bicycle….and then we met another bus- very exciting.

Along the way Juan talked about a number of interesting facts. We spotted a car with a large “L” on the back. This is a Driver’s Ed vehicle. Young people must take at least 30 weeks of lessons, pass a test and still drive with an “L” on their car for 2 years so people will know “they might do something wrong.”

There are about 900,000 residents of the islands and during the season about 9 million tourists come here for the warm weather and the beautiful beaches.

Mallorca “my YOR kuh” is the largest of the Balearic Islands. The archipelago consists of 5 main islands listed in order of size: Mallorca, Minorca, Ibiza, Formentera, and Cabrera. And is administered fro the capital as a self-governing Spanish province. Palma, where we docked, is the administrative center and its largest city with 450,000 residents.

Palma’s gothic Seo Cathedral is beautiful and huge. Begun in the 13^th century, it took 300 years to complete. It is the final resting place of Mallorcan kings and was partially designed by Gaudí.

Mallorca Pearls are known worldwide as almost perfect man-made pearls. We learned some interesting pearl facts- Pearls were a favored jewel of wealthy Romans. Wealthy women often wore their pearls to bed so they could be reminded of their wealth immediately on awakening. Cleopatra allegedly swallowed a pearl to prove her limitless extravagance. In the 13^th and 14^th centuries only nobles could wear pearls

As we drove he pointed out the many areas where the underbrush was brittle, dry and brown. He said brush fires were a big danger and people who three a cigarette out the window could lose 4 of their 12 drivers points plus pay a big fine. Talking on a cell phone also involves a big fine.

At the vineyard we tasted wine in the courtyard of a 750-year-old building that had once been home to the Bishop of Barcelona. A young brother and sister from the wine producing family talked about the property and the wine. We tasted four kinds of wine and all was great! Mallorcan wine is so popular they have no US distributors – it all sells right on the island. We had great olives and olive oil with some yummy bread.

Was a very hot trip but we had fun!