Majorca

Cala Figuera, our home for 5 nights.
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Dear All,

I would like to apologise for not writing for the last 2 weeks. I also plan to clean up our blog a little and group entries better so some people’s comments may no longer be up, sorry.

After Barcelona we left to Majorca (Mallorca), which is the largest island out of the Balearic Islands off the Spanish east coast. I’m sure you have all heard of Ibiza, well Ibiza is one of its neighbours. We took an overnight ferry, which took about 7 hours. Luckily the sea was very clam, though we did take seasickness tablets just in case. We paid 34 euros each for a reclining seat with a company called Iscomar. John couldn’t get comfy, I couldn’t get warm and little sleep was had. I wish we knew what to expect. It was obvious to see those that were experienced ferry crossers, they all had their blankets, foam mats etc etc. Most slept on the floor in between the rows of seats so you had to be careful were you walked. If we were prepared it would have been better, poor John only had t-shirt on. This way is definitely the cheapest way to get to the island though, just need to remember next time to bring warmer clothes etc.

Looking out to the entry of Cala Figuera to the sea.
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We arrived about 6:30 in the morning, ouch. So we grabbed some breaky and a coffee at the ferry terminal and then made our way into the centre of Palma. This was simple enough, a local bus for about 2.30 euros each took us straight there. I couldn’t manage to book us into anywhere in the capital, so we needed to find a bus that would take us about 50km away to a small fishing village called, Cala Figuera. After asking a few locals for directions we found the bus station and also found to our shock that there were only two buses that ran to Cala Figuera daily. We had missed the 8am and didn’t want to wait over 5 hours for the 2pm, so we took a bus to the next town over called Sanatnyi and then caught a taxi. Oh I forgot to mention, it was raining when we had to do all this. Our sunny island getaway started out very wet. The bus to Santanyi was about 5 something each and the taxi 9 euros, so we were pretty happy it had worked out reasonably cheap.

A night out in Cala Figuera.
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I had organised for us to spend 5 nights in a hostel called Mar Plau (Hostel’s are not like backpackers in Spain, hostel means cheap non hotel accommodation) for 32 euros per night, our cheapest accommodation yet. The room only had single beds but it was so hot you didn’t really want someone in next you. Our room was clean, with our own bathroom, a fridge, a fan and a balcony. Perfect for a 5 night getaway, it was very relaxing. (I am currently writing this from Poland and thinking about the heat is helping me warm up).

The sunrising over the cliffs in Cala Figuera.
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Cala Figuera, is a very small town and not as touristy and hectic as Palma but it was still very much catered for tourists, especially German tourists. Everything was in German, we had to quite often ask for English menus. I don’t think I have seen so many Germans in the one spot apart from, well in Germany. There was no beach at Cala Figuera, but you could walk down to the water on steps that had been carved out of the cliffs. John and I never swam there, we were both a bit chicken to jump in the deep deep water. There is a beach not far from there though in a little town called Cala Sanatnyi. It’s about a half an hour walk or you can take a train car for 3.50 euros return. Our second to last day we decided to walk to the beach, we hadn’t yet discovered the train car thing (it was at the end of our street mind you) but alas before we stated walking we discovered the transport and caught that instead. It was the last one for the day so we did have to walk back. It was all right and helped us work up an appetite. After our train car discovery we decided that the next day and our last day we would spend it all at the beach. We spent 6 hours at the beach the next day, we bought floaty rings and had a very fun day. Only bad thing was when it was time to leave and we hopped out of the water Erin was bright red from head to toe, John was red on his face and back. But Erin glowed, it was extremely painful and yes, we did put sunscreen on. It didn’t take long to get nice and brown, luckily. So a week later and a whole bottle of after sun we have great tans.

Some again.
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The day we had to leave to Valencia started very early. The bus from Cala Figuera left too late in the morning for us to make our 11am ferry, so we had to catch a taxi to Santanyi and then the 6:50am bus to Palma. We made it to the ferry terminal in plenty of time. This ferry was 9 hours and a day ferry, and very boring. We dosed, ate, watched kids movies in Spanish, and sat staring into space a lot. To anyone that takes this ferry, remember to bring forms of entertainment. We arrived into Valencia at 8pm that night, it was still light so at least we could look at stuff.

This was the same morning we were up to see the sun rise (well the end of the sunrise) the water was ver rough that day.
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Well it seems I am up to writing about Valencia so I guess I will have to make a new entry.

Much love

Erin and John