Notes from our trip to Mallorca, October 2018
Date
Activity
Sat Oct 6th
Fly Malaga to Palma, taxi to Hotel Amic Miraflores in Ca’n Pastilla
Our apartment wasn’t available on the Saturday, so we booked into the Hotel Amic Miraflores for the night. Went for a walk around the Ca’n Pastilla sea-front looking for somewhere to eat. It’s a nicer town than I expected. Our first choice restaurants were all full, but eventually found somewhere for decent pizzas.
Sun Oct 7th
Take train to Soller, and walk to SolleRooms Guest House.
Breakfast at the hotel, then took the public bus from Ca’n Pastilla to Palma. Tried using Google Maps to work out where we were, and where we should get off. Managed to miss the stop and had to walk back! We found the station and got into the old wooden Palma – Soller train. Plenty of choice for seats and carriages, but by the time it left it was pretty full.
Nice sunny day, so enjoyed the trip through the citrus groves, and olive groves north of Palma, then into the mountains with many tunnels. The train stopped so we could look down on Soller and take photos.
Found our guest house, which seemed quite nice. Let ourselves in and found our room. Downstairs was an excellent DIY coffee machine. Unpacked, then went for a walk out of town to view over to the Serra de Tramuntana and Puig Major. Then into the Plaza for beers.
Dinner in the plaza, nice meal in the Restaurant Sa Granja.
Mon Oct 8th
Took tram to Port de Soller.
Breakfast in the plaza.
Not a good weather forecast, but took the tram anyway. A nice warm day in Port de Soller, many people on the beach. Had lunch in a sea-front restaurant and then it started raining… torrential rain! The trams were running full, and queues were being left behind. We decided to find the bus stop, but there were too many people already there. We had cagoules and umbrellas but by this point, we were still soaked.
Walked back to the sea front with water coming over our shoes. Waited for ages for the next tram and then crammed into the carriage with no sides with rain coming in. At one point the tram line was next to the road, and when the tram stopped, the wash from cars was soaking us. Got to the guest house, like a pair of drowned rats. Fortunately, the lady let us hang our sodden clothes next to the boiler.
Dinner in Restaurant Sa Cova in the plaza.
Tue Oct 9th
Took bus into Palma.
Breakfast in the plaza.
A good 15 minutes walk to the bus stop. We took the coach to Palma, and got off at the bus station. We needed another bus to take us to the waterfront and the cathedral, but it was very confusing as no bus seemed to go there. Eventually we realised that this was coaches only, and we had to go up to street level for the buses.
Wandered around the cathedral area for a while, then stopped for an overpriced beer. Walked some more through the complex of religious buildings around the cathedral before stopping at Hotel de Cort on the Plaça de Cort (with it’s ancient and massive Olive Tree) for beer and tapas, followed by an ice cream for me.
Wandered back to the bus station, and by the time the Soller bus left it was raining. Heavy rain all the way back to Soller, but little realising that on the east side of the island they had 20cm of rain in a few hours, and 10 people lost their lives in the flash floods that ensued.
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBoUrLC5m_c
Dinner in Restaurant Sa Cova again, but it was cold and wet so went upstairs.
Wed Oct 10th
Boat trip from Port de Soller to Sa Calobra.
Nice breakfast in the plaza.
We took a taxi to Port de Soller. The weather was grey and threatening, but not actually raining. We took the opportunity to book car hire for Thursday and Friday. We then took a nice boat trip north along the coast with views of the Serra de Tramuntana mountains. We walked from Port de Sa Calobra through the tunnel to Torrent de Pareis, then found a self-service restaurant for omelet and chips (and beer). We had time to kill before the boat trip back, so we wandered around some more, then had more beers in a small bar on the water’s edge.
It started raining on the boat trip back to Port de Soller, and on arrival, we were forced to leave the boat in torrential rain, we stood in the entrance to the port authority’s public toilets waiting for it to stop… but it didn’t. Walked back to the sea front and waited in a doorway before walking to the taxi rank.
For the third day running, we got back to the apartment soaked to the skin. Dinner in the plaza, Restaurant Sa Granja.
Thu Oct 11th
Car hire day 1
Bright sunshine, hooray! Took taxi into Port de Soller, and picked up the hire car.
Drove south on the coast road to Deià. Had a wander into the town and up to the church. Drove onwards and stopped for beers and an indifferent lunch in the pretty village of Estellencs.
Continued south for a while, then returning via the Mirador de Ricardo Roca before driving back and parking in the public car park in Soller.
Dinner in the plaza, Restaurant Sa Granja.
Fri Oct 12th
Car hire day 2
Breakfast in the plaza.
More sunshine. We headed north and into Fornalutx, but we found it difficult to park and too touristy so didn’t stop. We drove along tortuous roads through the Serra de Tramuntana mountains… hairpin bends, tunnels, gorges, precipices… very popular with owners of superbikes driving at crazy speeds. We stopped for pics at the mirador looking down on Port de Soller.
Had a beer at a cafe at the turning onto the Carretera de Sa Calobra, a famous road for cyclists. The road is also known as the Pass of the Snake or Knot of the Tie. Anyway, we took this road and had a near coming-together with a car overtaking one of the many groups of cyclists, and coming round a blind bend on the wrong side of the road.
We continued as far as the overlook above Sa Calobra, then stopped for beer and biscuits at the little cafe halfway up.
We returned via the town of Inca, and drove to the lighthouse above Port de Soller, before dropping the car off.
Dinner in the plaza, Restaurant Sa Granja.
Sat Oct 13th
Take the bus, Soller to Palma, then fly Palma to Malaga, leaving 21:15.
Another lovely day and we had time to kill, so we left our luggage at the apartment and had leisurely walk into Biniaraix, then beers and lunch at Bar Bodega Biniaraix.
Walked back into Soller. Still time to kill, so more drinks, this time at Restaurant La Villa. We eventually picked up our luggage, walked to the bus stop, took the bus to Palma, and onwards to the airport.
Arrived Malaga 23:00
