Friday 11th our last full day on Majorca

We decided to have a quieter day for our last day and other than pottering off to Sant Elm for lunch we stayed around the Hapimag site and walked to Paguera and back.

We have been surprised and delighted with Majorca; for many years we have been put off visiting by stories of noisy drunken tourists but certainly at this time of year the island is delightful! We will definitely return and the Hapimag site at Paguera would take some beating as a base. As you can see from the photos below, "our" beach was very crowded (!) and the site has direct access to the beach. We swam most days and whilst it was certainly not warm, once in it was great.

Thursday 10th Around the island trip

We had booked on the whole day around the island trip in spite of the fact that commentary was in German, we were delighted we did as it was excellent. Not quite true to say around the island since the trip focused upon the very picturesque north western part. We departed by coach at 09:00 and headed north firstly along a motorway but soon taking minor roads through some small towns in a very flat plain before heading for the hills ( the Serra de Tramuntana) and some very scary roads. The narrow, very steep and very wind roads were difficult enough to negotiate in a large coach but it was made doubly difficult by having to wait behind the hundreds of cyclist braving the climbs. Our coach driver Rafa was excellent but he certainly could not go anywhere quickly!

First stop was the monastery of Lluc which was beautifully situated on a small hill surrounded by high mountains. We wandered around, climbed the small hill overlooking the monastery, were distinctly underwhelmed by the black Madonna (we seemed to be in a minority here), enjoyed a coffee and after an hour were on our way over the mountains to Port de Sa Calobra.

The roads down to the port were extraordinarily steep, precipitous and windy and the port was delightful. None of this deterred the cyclists who were everywhere!

Time for a short lunch overlooking the bay and then off on a boat ride to the port of Soller. Lovely views and very interesting cliff geology all along the coast.

At the port of Soller we boarded a tram (or Strassenbahn as our guide described it) for a few miles up to the old town of Soller where we had an hour before boarding the train to Palma. Very lively and attractive town which at this time of year is certainly not crowded.

The train back to Palma is famous on the island and has been running daily on the 27Km route from Soller to Palma since 1912.

The trip back was much quicker that via a coach since the railway uses several tunnels to avoid the scary hairpins of the road.

Our driver met us at a station just outside Palma and we were driven back to Hapimag, Paguera. An excellent day and a great way of seeing the most beautiful part of the island without having to drive.

Wednesday 9th A wedding anniversary!

Yet another wonderful day and luckily I had remembered it was our wedding anniversary! A quiet morning around the Hapimag resort and then off for a celebratory lunch at Port D'Andratx. The staff at the Admiral restaurant were lovely and we had an excellent lunch right on the waterfront watching a lone sailing dinghy enjoying a perfect sailing day in the bay.

I'm sure you can tell from the photos that there were no crowds and the weather is perfect!

Tuesday 8th Sant Elm

Yet again a beautiful morning and to date we have enjoyed temperatures of 21 - 23C every day which from our perspective is perfect! After a leisurely morning we had decided to drive to the east coast and explore Sant Elm which is a well know local beauty spot facing the dragon island El Dragonara.

Sant Elm is lovely and incredibly quiet! As you can see from the photo the beach was hardly crowded and the restaurants were not busy but nearly all were open. This was a pleasant surprise to us since having travelled to so many parts of europe "out of season" we know that one of the few downsides is that sometimes the choice of places to eat is very restricted. Certainly not the case in April in Majorca.

After a very nice lunch (and we are getting used to good food in Majorca) we drove back to Peguara for another swim and spent the evening watching the sun go down from out apartment balcony. Quite lovely and the colour and shadows changed by the minute.

Monday 7th - driving up the east coast

Another lovely morning and we had decided to drive some way up the east coast and then back through the mountains. There was some cloud over the eastern coast but we were unprepared for the scenes that greeted us as we crossed the first mountains and arrived at the coast!

At times we were going in and out of the cloud but luckily it was never a problem for visibility. We stopped for a coffee at a viewpoint cafe and the views out to sea were quite incredible. Basically it was a sea of cloud and the Mediterranean itself was totally invisible!

After a brief stop we carried on north along the coast. The road was very windy and whilst not difficult it was quite hard work. At Banyalbufar we decided to head inland and return to Peguara via the inland route through the mountains. It was absolutely spectacular and the road was very narrow in places with some of the tightest hairpins I have every encountered! 

Very lovely but we were ready for a pit stop and found an excellent small restaurant at Galilea where initially, we were the only customers. However, shortly afterwards we were joined by two groups of cyclists of which there are literally thousand cycling around Majorca at this time of year. Mainly Germans, they did not seem to have any concern about tackling some of the steepest and most precipitous roads you could encounter anywhere!

Back then to Peguara and another swim at our delightful beach which is absolutely on our doorstep. I can't pretend that the water was warm but after the first few seconds it really did feel great and the water is some of the clearest we have encountered. At this time of year it's difficult to envisage Majorca with the infamous boisterous crowds.

Sunday 6th April - lunch at Port D'Andratx

Brilliant sunshine as we awoke and today we had decided to have a look at the HPB, Biniorella near to Es Camp de Mar and then head on to Port D'Andratx where we knew there were several suitable restaurants for Sunday lunch. The HPB site is very good, as always for HPB. However, it is high up a hill and some distance from any other facilities.

A restaurant was duly found in Port D'Andratx and we settled down for a very nice meal - brilliant sunshine and absolutely no crowds. We can't believe how nice Majora is at this time of the year!

Saturday 5th April

Up at 04:45 and off to Gatwick to catch out 08:30 flight to Palma, Majorca. Very good flight with easyJet and lovely weather as we landed in Palma, with great views over the eastern part of the islands which surprised us by being mainly flat. After so many years of travelling to most places in Europe, this is our first trip to Majorca.

Luggage arrived fairly quickly and Ray had gone to complete the formalities for our hire car which was a smart move as the queues were building quickly.

An easy drive to the Hapimag resort at Paguera and we were soon settled in to our very nice apartment with stunning views over the bay.