Mallorca 2018

When we got home from taking the kids to Florida, one of the first things we did was book a vacation to Mallorca, but this time just for the two of us. This time we were planning a relaxing trip in the sun in the height of summer. We looked at a few places in Mallorca before deciding on Santa Ponsa.

Santa Ponsa is located in the southwest of Mallorca and is a historic town where King James I of Aragon arrived on September 12, 1229 and fought with the local Muslims for control of this beautiful island off the coast of Spain. He was victorious and since then all of these islands have belonged to Spain.

We booked a hotel room in a good hotel near the beach with half board. We didn’t regret it as the food was great and the location of the hotel was good. Santa Ponsa has beautiful beaches all around and it doesn’t hurt that it is only 18 km from the capital Palma. We settled in well and on the first day we went to the beach where we layed in the sun, relaxed and enjoyed ourselves, and in between we cooled off with a little swim in the crystal clear warm sea.

But we did a lot more than just relax on this paradise island. We went on several excursions and cruises. One of them was to see the Caves de Drach, located on the east coast of the island. We started from one of the many hotels in Santa Ponsa where we waited a long time for our bus, the pickup point was in a parking lot by the hotel, poorly marked. The bus was late so we were about to give up but we were not the only ones waiting there so we decided to give them a few more minutes. Well worth it because finally the bus arrived and we set off.

This afternoon trip first went up to the mountains above the coast and we drove with a guidence in 3 languages ​​towards the caves. After about 30 minutes of driving, the guidence had actually stopped and shortly after that the bus stopped at the Majorica Pearls pearl factory. The guide informed us that we would stop there for 45 minutes. Ok this was a good stop even though we were not into buying pearls, we had something to eat there and then we continued to the caves. We walked then in a row down into this large and deep cave.

They are full of stalactites, the ceiling above us was covered with small needles of stalactites, on the floor there were huge columns of stalactites and the caves were absolutely incomparably beautiful. We walked deeper and deeper into them and finally came to a river that flowed inside. We followed it into a huge cave dome where the whole group was made to sit down. After a few minutes all the lights turned off and in pitch darkness a lighted boat came in along the river. On board the boat was a string quartet who played for us there in the incredibly beautiful cave. What an experience!

We were exhausted on the way back and didn’t notice that our guide fell asleep a few times on the way to Santa Ponsa.

We also went on another tour, but this time the pick-up point was better marked and the guidance was excellent. We drove up to the plateau and then down a narrow and steep road that was only open to traffic in one direction before lunch and in the other direction after lunch. We arrived at a small village called Sa Calobra, a beautiful village where we had lunch before walking through a small narrow passage through a cliff that jutted out into the sea. On the other side, we were greeted by a small hidden beach that was absolutely stunning.

We then sailed from Sa Calobra on a speedboat that took us along the coast to Sóller, which is one of those beautiful towns with a lot of charm. We walked around this town and explored it well before it was time to go back to Santa Ponsa. But now we took a train up to the plateau. The train that welcomed us was about 100 years old, the carriages were made out of wood and the seats accordingly, but with this train we went up to the valley behind Sóller and from there up to the mountains above, through tunnel after tunnel we slowly made our way up the mountain. With incredibly beautiful views we always got higher and higher until we finally arrived at the edge of the mountain. From there the train took us slowly but secure to a small train station where the bus was waiting for us and drove us back to Santa Ponsa.

We did a lot more in Mallorca, for example visiting Palma. We will definitely go back to this area because the memories from this trip are wonderful.