Colónia de Sant Jordí

Friday 8 June 2007
I plan to go to the island of Cabrera today. My alarm went off at 0600. I got up promptly and was on my way to the bus staton at 0615. The station was not open, but I found that I could pay the fare on the bus. It took me a while to find the right place to wait for the bus, but I boarded it shortly after it pulled into the station, and was on my way to Colónia de Sant Jordí at 0700 for an hour long ride across Ses Plau, the flat plain of Mallorca.

There are lots of olive, fig, and almond orchards, and dilapidated wooden windmills on one to two story high stone foundations are a common sight. Some of the windmills have been restored. Many if not all of the restored windmills are made of steel, painted in white, and either blue or red. The government is paying people to restore their windmills. There are also grain fields, alfalfa, round hay bales stand in some fields, and there are a few carob orchards and an occasional vineyard or vegetable garden. The plain is not entirely flat. There is an occasional hill and a few pine forests.

I was unable to get on the boat to Cabrera, because it was full of school children. I spent a couple of hours in a German restaurant. The owners moved from Germany and purchased the restaurant only 3 months ago. They have renamed the restaurant Cafe Strandkorb and almost all of their customers are German. They are located directly across the street from an interpretive center that is under construction. They have a son who is a doctor in Norway.

I ordered a cortado and ensaimada from the owner of the restaurant. He was struggling with Spanish almost as much as I, so he sent his wife out to speak English with me. She spoke perfect English as she grew up in Germany near an English speaking community. After a bit I ordered Spanish ham, a kind of German cheese that turned out to be sour cream with garlic and chives. The breakfast came with two kinds of fresh warm bread, one like the biscuits we make in California, and the other a whole wheat quick bread with flax and sunflower seeds. It would have been very good with coffee, but I had already had enough coffee, so I drank fresh squeezed orange juice from Mallorcan oranges.

I finished my breakfast at 1200, found the bus stop and began hiking east on the beach. The beaches here are of fine, white sand. The beaches closest to town are densely populated. Many of the people sunning themselves are lying on lounge chairs under umbrellas. The farther I got from town the more thinly populated the beaches. Rocky headlands separate the beaches, and stone boat houses are built on some of these rocky headlands. I walked about 3 kilometers before going for a swim. I swam to an island about a kilometer offshore, and could see the bottom the entire way. The water was quite comfortable, probably 20 to 22 degrees C. I walked back to Café Strandkorp for a caña, a small draft beer before catching he bus back to Palma at 1520.

I arrived back at Angel´s condo at 1630, showered, shaved, went to the store, and cooked some ribs Angel wants to take to a party at Ana and David´s in a couple of days. I added to this blog while the ribs simmered on the stove, and went to bed at 2330.

Palma

Thursday 7 June 2007
I stayed in Palma today to take care of necessities. I washed clothes and dishes, sent some email, wrote about events of the past few days, and called Betty. I also did some shopping. I looked for someone that could help me get the photos off of my SD card, bought some batteries and a new SD card for my Pentax camera. A clerk at W Mega computer store on 31 Deciembre was very helpful, but unable to get the photos off my SD card. I paid less there for a 2GB SD card than I paid at Costo in California two weeks ago. He sent me to Foto Ruano on OMS street for batteries. Foto Ruano is an excellent camera shop with very knowledgeable and helpful clerks. I bought 2 batteries because I will need them on the kayak trip around Menorca. Back in Angel´s condo, I went to SanDisk´s web site and found that there is software that will recover photos from a malfunctioning SD card. They will also recover the fotos for me if I mail them the SD card. I took a 2 hour nap in the afternoon. Angel returned from work at 1910. We heated up the oriental chicken for dinner. Angel cooked some rice and I made a salad. We washed the dishes and watched television for a while. I went to bed at 2230 and Angel went out for a drink.

Sa Calobra

Wednesday 6 June 2007
I went for a hike in a beautiful canyon today, but before I tell you about the hike I must tell you about my adventure getting there. I got up at 0645, late for me, but an ungodly hour for the Spanish, and the earliest I have gotten up since I have been in Mallorca. I left Angel´s condo at 0720. It was sprinkling a bit but not enough to get me very wet. I got on the train to Sóller before 0800. The train arrived in Sóller shortly before 0900. I considered walking around town a bit and maybe going to the natural history museum and the botanical gardens before getting on the tram to Port Sóller, but decided to give Sa Calobra the highest priority.

I was on the tram just a few minutes after arriving in Sóller and arrived in Port Sóller just before 0930. The boat to Sa Calobra would not leave until 1000. I did not believe I had enough time for coffee or breakfast given the relaxed service in Mallorca, so I walked around the harbor. I was amazed at the number of Monterey style boats in the harbor. They are called Lluts here. The word llut is related to the word lute, and the Arabic word for the same musical instrument, al ud, because the musical instrument and the boat's hull have a similar shape. There were probably 50. Some of them were of fiberglass and appeared to be recently made. I don´t believe they are made in California any more. There were lots of them in Monterey when I moved there in 1970. I took a few pictures. It was then that I noticed that I no longer had my cell phone. The tram that I rode to Port Sóller was gone, and I thought I had lost it on the tram.

I decided to go ahead and get on the boat to Sa Calobra. The boat left at 1000. It was a very pleasant ride. The sea was calm, less than a 5 knot breeze, and less than a 1 foot swell. After a stop at Mola de Tuent, a nude beach popular with the French, we arrived in Sa Calobra at 1100. I headed for Torrent de Pareis taking photos along the way. The path to Torent de Pareis is paved with flat stones, and goes through tunnels cut into the limestone sea cliffs. The views are magnificent. I arrived at Torrent de Pareis before 1200. Most people stop at the cobble beach here and spend the day sunning and swimming. Several luxury yachts are anchored nearby and their passengers are swimming between the yachts and the beach.

I began to hike up the torrent. A torrent is a raging river during storms, and a dry streambed at other times. On this day it was a dry streambed with pools of fresh water here and there. Some of the pools were 10 to 20 meters across. Although they had some green algae growing in them, they were not stagnant, indicating that there was a lot of water moving through the gravel beneath the surface of the streambed. The pools were like mirrors at times reflecting images of the sky and cliffs on which the sun shown. The farther I walked the fewer people I saw going my way. I occasionally saw people coming down the torrent, returning to the beach. At first some were speaking Spanish and even English, but after about an hour of hiking, I heard only German.

The gravel stream bed was now interrupted frequently by a pile of large boulders requiring some climbing skill to get over. At one difficult spot a German family of 4 caught up with me. They did speak some English. I told the father to go ahead, because I might not be able to get up. He went ahead and climbed up the spot I was having trouble with. His daughter of about 9 years of age was following him, and unable to get across a long step from one foot hold to another. I helped her across, and her father helped her, her younger brother, his wife, and finally me up the slick travertine. I walked with them until I got tired of trying to keep up with them, and the canyon opened up and wasn't quite as spectacular as it had been. While I was along for a while I saw a long, dark mammal that looked like a large weasel about 50 meters up the torrent from me. The animal saw me too and began walking away from me and disappeared into the rocks. I suspect that it might have been a civet cat.

I started back down the torrent. I was going quite slowly, being very careful to not risk injury. Two German girls caught up with me at a spot I was afraid to go down alone. They told me they had begun hiking at 0800 at a monastery near Lluc. They asked me to show them the route I had taken on my way up the torrent. I left my pack with them and went first. They handed me their packs, and I told them where to put their feet. We repeated this process at several tight spots. We met several groups of Germans on their way up, and the girls visited with them. When we came to a group of Germans swimming in one of the pools, I stayed to swim as I was very hot and soaking wet with sweat. I swam with my shirt on to wash some of the sweat out of it. I hiked to the beach in my wet shirt and boxer shorts. They were almost dry by the time I got to the beach.

I arrived back in Sa Calobra at 1430. A boat had just left the dock, but the schedule indicated a boat would leave every hour on the hour. I waited patiently, but the next boat did not arrive until 1545 and did not leave until 1645 so I had 2 hours to watch some interesting people and the numerous small fish swimming in the cala. I believe the boat operators wait until they have a full boat before they leave. Anyway I did not get back into Port Sóller until 173o. There were some beautiful thunderheads over the Sierra Tramuntana. I was able to take some photos from the boat with the clouds over the mountains until my camera started to give me a message saying that the SD card was not formatted. The conductor on the tram told me to inquire at Sóller about my cell phone. I did so, but the clerk said no one had turned one in. I did not arrive in Palma until 1900. I tried to copy the fotos from the card to my flash memory without success. I expect I will be able to recover them when I get home.

Angel told me that someone had found my phone only minutes after I first missed it. They had called Ana, and she would ride her bicycle over the mountains all the way to Sóller in the morning to get it and bring it to the hospital when she went to work. Ana is a really special person.

After I showered, shaved, and went to the store for water and beer, Angel and I went out to an Andalucian restaurant for a beer and a snack before dinner. We each had a beer and Angel ordered half orders of three dishes: smoked cod, tuna with baked bell peppers, and bread spread with a very special cheese. We decided we had had enough to eat and would not make dinner when we got home, so we ordered desert. Angel ordered tiramisu, and I ordered a peach sorbet. It had the best peach flavor I have experienced outside of a real peach. We finished with chupitos, very small cups of a coffee liquor topped with whipped cream and cinnamon. We returned to Angel´s condo at 2300. I fell asleep on the couch reading a newspaper article about Tiger Nuts. They are used in Spain to make a very good kind of horchata. They are very closely related to the nut grass I ate as a child. I had hoped to grow some when I got home, but they need sandy soil, and that isn´t available in Vacaville.

Patios, Petra, & Villafranca de Bonamy

Tuesday 5 June 2007
Today I got to tour the patios of Palma. I took a lot of pictures and hope to put some of them on the internet soon. I learned that these patios were once semi public places although they were built and owned by the city´s wealthiest people. The large doors that opened to the street were almost always open. If they were only slightly ajar it meant that someone living in the house had died. If there were lots of flowers it meant that a child had been born. The kind of flower indicated the sex of the child. Most patios had wells. People who did not have a well came to the closest well for water. People were also free to enter to seek shelter from rain or heat. During the mid 20th century tourists began to picnic in the patios and leave trash. The owners began closing the doors. The city then paid owners of patios to install steel grates so they could open the large wooden doors and still keep people out.

There are often knockers way out of the reach of a person on foot. These were for people on horseback. Horses and carriages entered the patio area. There were offices, called estudi, on either side of the entrance to the patio. They were used by the men to conduct business and sometimes by single men to entertain ladies. Other rooms on the ground level were used as workshops. The center of the patio was originally open to the sky, but some were covered with glass in the 19th and 20th centurys. Each patio a large staircase leading to the second floor of the house where the family lived. This staircase was out of limits to the public. The third and fourth floors were often used to store merchandise.

I toured the second floor of Can Marquès on Monday. The rooms were arranged around the patio. Some guests were entertained in the room into which the staircase entered. Moving in a counterclockwise direction, the rooms were progressively more private. Very special guests were invited into the second or even the third room. The fourth room was the master bedroom, and the fifth the children´s bedroom. The next room a private family dining room, and then the kitchen, followed by a couple of rooms used by servants. One of the houses I visited recently sold for 19 million euros.

After the tour I bought some groceries in Merkat L'Oliver. I found some allspice. I had been looking for it for a week. Here it is called pimienta de Jamaica, or Jamacan pepper. I bought broccoli, red bell peppers, cucumbers, an avocado, figs, and tomatoes. I returned to Angel´s condo, and after a nap, warmed up the chicken I had cooked yesterday, cooked the broccoli, and some rice. When Angel arrived home at 1600, I served the chicken on a bed of rice, and placed thinly sliced green garlic and red peppers on top of the chicken. I served the chicken with a salad as well. Angel was impressed with the chicken and the presentation.

After we ate, Angel took me to Petra where we visited the birthplace of Father Junipero Serra, and a nearby museum. They have photos of all of the missions and have built models of every mission in California and Baja California. The birthplace of Junipero Serra is a humble 2 story stone home. On the first floor is one large room where people worked and ate, a very small bedroom, a small kitchen with a fireplace, and a stall for livestock. There is a stone pig shelter in the back yard. The second floor has a large work room, and a small bedroom.

After visiting Petra, Angel called some friends, Silvia and Francisco. We went to their home in Villafranca de Bonamy, a small Mallorquin village. There are few people on the streets in Mallorquin villages even in the evenings. Silvia and Francisco have a beautiful new home with hardwood floors, a modern kitchen and laundry, a beautiful patio with a teak table and chairs. They have a large master bedroom and two offices. He is a policeman and she is an anesthesiologist in the hospital where Angel works. We were offered coffee and Mallorquin liquor. Angel chose the coffee, and I the liquor. I tasted three kinds. Two were very sweet, and the third a raw distilled wine of high proof. They invited us to lunch and dinner Saturday afternoon and evening. When we returned to Angel´s condo at 2030, Angel prepared some pasta. I grated some Mahon cheese to put on the pasta and made a salad. The cheese went very well with the pasta. I washed the dishes and went to bed at 2300 after another wonderful day in Mallorca.

A Day in Palma

Monday 4 June 2007
Today I decided to stay in Palma. One of my main objectives was to find out where I could reserve a spot in a tour of the patios of Palma. I had hoped to find out at the city hall in Plaça Cort, but wandered through some streets I had not been down on my way there. I stopped at Foracorda, a store that sold climbing gear to look for some kind of rain gear. All the people on the hike to Cala Bóquer had some kind of rain protection. I was looking through the rain coats to find something cheap that would fit. Most of the jackets were in the range of 200 to 300 euros. That was more than I wanted to spend, especially since I have several at home. A clerk came to help me and showed me a jacket for 130 euros. I told him that I was looking for something cheaper because I had other jackets at home. He went into the back of the store and brought out 2 very nice Gore-Tec jackets and told me I could have one for 10 Euros and the other for 15 euros. I bought the 10 euro jacket and was very pleased with my find.

I wandered into Llibreria Jaume de Montso', a bookstore near Plaça L'Oliver' and found several books on the plants of Mallorca, one for 7 euros and the other for 11 euros. I bought both of them. One of them was in English, the other in Catalan. There were several others in Catalan as well. I finally arrived in Plaça Cort several hours after I had left Angel´s apartment. I asked a policeman where I could buy a ticket to a tour of he patios of Palma. He sent me to an office of tourist information on Calle Sant Domingo, only a block away. There I was able to buy the ticket and get information on other tours and events in Palma. Next door to that office I found a map store where I spent about 20 euros on maps and books. By now it was almost 1400 and the stores were closing, so I decided to explore a nearby part of town I had not seen yet. I headed west on the old city wall, crossed Torrent de sa Riera, actually nothing more than a dressed up flood channel. I found a nice park with fountains and other water features on the west side of the Torrent and a modern art museum, Museu Es Baluard, on the east side. I found an archaeological site with interpretive signs, and stopped for a Mallorcan lunch at Café Coto in Plaça Drassana at 1700. I drank a pint of beer with a salad that included bread, goat cheese, and preserves made of loquats. In Calle Boteria I saw a couple painting flowers and plants on the front of a building. I asked a lady watching them if she was going to open a buisness there. She told me she was going to open a restaurant in 2 weeks. This part of town has some nice hotels and several Irish pubs. I bought some chicken thighs on my way back to Angel´s apartment, and cooked it in an oriental sauce.

Angel got home at 2100 and we left to meet Ana and David at a very fancy restaurant in the southwestern part of the city, Portals Nous I believe. There were lots of luxury yachts in the marina. Angel recommended that I order the shoulder of lamb. It was excellent.

Bóquer Valley

Sunday 3 June 2007
I went for a hike to Cala Bóquer today. There were about 30 people in the group and most were Mallorquin. Several spoke good English, but I spent much of the day with José who spoke to me in Mallorquin. He selected his words carefully and spoke slowly enough that I was able to understand much of what he had to say. He knew a lot about the plants of Mallorca, many of which are endemic. the hike to Cala Bóquer is quite easy, and mostly on good trails. We saw ancient walls built to mark the boundaries of properties, and as compounds for sheep. There are also some fortifications built during the civil war of the 1930s. There are still a lot of wild goats, some of whom are quite friendly and make a nuisance of themselves when we tried to eat something. We stopped to eat a bit at the cobble beach at the head of Cala Bóquer. Some stayed there, but most of us continued on to Punta La Troneta. This part of the hike is much more difficult. The only sign of a trail is red spots of paint on the rock and an occasional pile of rocks. Much of this part of the trail looks like a moonscape with few plants. The limestone is often eroded with shallow caves and rough sharp rock. I found salt in depressions more than 100 feet above the sea. The other hikers assured me that the waves sometimes crash against the rocks and send spray this high. The salt was quite tasty. We stopped to eat a bit and drink water in the shade of some of the caves. When we reached Punta La Troneta, some of our group attempted to climb down a steep cliff to a cave near sea level. They gave up when they ran out of rope and were being pushed around by the strong wind.

We returned to the beach at the head of Cala Bóquer for some lunch. I was offered tastes of liquors made by two of the Mallorquin men. They distill their own alcohol from what I am not sure, and add herbs from gardens and the wild. Each family has its own recipe. They were quite tasty. They gave me instructions for making my own and I may try it when I get home. One of the men brought a gas stove and an expresso machine. He made several batches and gave each of us a taste, adding his special liquor to mine. There was some discussion about going to a restaurant for paella, but that didn´t happen.

Elena Cisneros, a general practicioner in Palma, had arranged for me to go on this hike, and given me a ride to Port Polença. Malena Cabot went with us as well. Malena speaks English and Mallorquin perfectly. After taking Malena home, Elena took me to Valldemosa, a beautiful village in the Sierra Tramuntana. She showed me around the village. She took my picture at several view points, and showed me shops where I bought a few gifts. She introduced me to a friend who designs and makes clothing. I saw some very artistic quilts as well. We stopped at a café before returning to Palma. Elena ordered a coffee and I an horchata de chufa, a plant much like the nut sedge that grows in the vineyards of the San Joaquin valley in California. These nuts come from Spain and Africa.

After Elena took me back to Angel´s apartment, I heated up the barbecued ribs that I made yesterday. I served them with a salad, and Angel bought a baguette from the bakery down stairs. We ate at about 2130 and I was asleep by 2300.

Mallorca

Monday 28 May 2007
I finally arrived in Palma de Mallorca Sunday afternoon. Ana and David met me at the airport and took me to their home just below the castle Bellver for coffee and ensaimada, a special Mallorcan pastry with a filling that tastes much like an almond croissant. Ana was very tired from working all night, and David took me to Angel´s apartment after we studied maps and possible camp sites during our kayak trip around Menorca. Angel arrived from Cordoba at about 2 the next morning. Monday I walked around Palma to get familiar with the city. Angel´s apartment is located within a short walk of all of central Palma.

Tuesday 29 May 2007
I sent email and put some photos on Snapfish, and cooked spareribs. Angel worked late and was very hungry when he got home at about 1630. I served the spareribs with a green salad and cottage fried potatoes. Angel got a loaf of bread from the bakery downstairs.

Wednesday 30 May 2007
I took the train to Sóller, hiked to Biniarix, and hiked up the barranco de Biniaraix. I met Tomas, an Austrian businessman on a mountain bike near the foot of the trail. He was unable to ride the bicycle up the stone steps, so we walked together for several hours. He offered to give me a ride back to Palma if I would meet him near the train station in Sóller at 1700. At 1400 I turned around and headed back to Biniarix. I stopped for a while in the shade of a venerable old olive tree to dry out my books and maps that had become wet from the sweat that soaked through my day pack. There is a water pipe along side the trail with a faucet every few hundred meters so I didn´t need to carry so much water. I arrived at the train station at 1650, and ordered a jar of beer at a table near the train station. Tomas arrived at 1720, and we had a nice ride to Palma. I gave him my email address and expect to hear from him again.

Thursday 31 May 2007
Angel left for Lisbon today. I read and sent some email. I put some photos on Snapfish and invited friends and family to view them. I did some shopping and house cleaning before I called Betty. Later I enjoyed a beer and dinner of cuttlefish, salad, flan and un cortido, strong coffee with milk, while watching excellent entertainment by mimes, a guitar player, and a dance and acrobatic group of Africans. I returned to Angel´s apartment at 2200 to find a note from Ana saying that she and David had come by to pick me up for dinner at 2030. I rushed to the corner telephone store to call her. I finally fell asleep just before midnight.

Friday 1 June 2007
I spent the morning trying to figure out how to get to Ille Cabrera. I found that the boat leaves from Colonia de Sant Jordi at 0930. To get there in time I will have to catch a bus at 0700. That is hard to do when I don´t get to bed until midnight, but I hope to make it happen Tuesday. I also visited Merkat L´Oliver, an immense, modern mercado. There are about 25 fish vendors there, and numerous vendors of fresh vegetables, fruits, nuts, spices, meat, cheese and all kinds of foods. It is larger than any grocery store I have ever seen. I bought some cheese, nuts, and spices. I visited the cathedral Le Seu. It is quite impressive, but too dark inside for me to take a good photo. I later visited a section of the city where many craftsmen and women have workshops. I bought one stained glass gift. There is a bookbinder there who gives classes, but his shop was closed. I hope to return and visit with him or her. I went back to Angel´s apartment and heated up some spareribs for supper and was asleep by 2200.

Saturday 2 June 2007
I was planning to kayak with Ana and David today, but Ana had to work until nearly 1000 this morning. I had to go to the locutorio to communicate with her, so I stayed, read and sent email. Put 5 more photos on Snapfish, and brought this blog up to date.