Spanish Pueblo and Castle de Bellver

We have mentioned a few times already that the boat rocks a lot in this marina, so much so that we feel like we are in unpleasant seas. We are constantly crashing into both neighbors. Thank God for fenders, but even with the fenders, it makes an unpleasant crashing sound. The ropes make loud, creaking cries as they strain against the wind. The loud noises wake us up multiple times during the night. Eric gets up a couple times a night to adjust the lines. We aren’t sleeping well, which makes getting up in the morning hard. Also, getting out of bed in the morning when it is cold is terrible. Eric has been running upstairs, turning on the generator and heater, then crawling back into bed until the bitter edge of cold is gone. And finally, the sun doesn’t rise here until almost 0800, which throws our internal clocks off. When we awake at a normal hour, like 0700, we think it is the middle of the night and go back to sleep.

Needless to say, we had a hard time getting up this morning and were off to a late start. We were happy to see that the skies were mostly sunny with scattered clouds, and it was not quite as windy. Most importantly, it was significantly warmer. We still needed long pants and a jacket, but not the heavy sweaters we have been wearing underneath the jacket.

We had an early lunch at the restaurant across the street before catching the red tour bus. We have noticed gazpacho on the menu at most of the restaurants we have been to, it is a traditional Spanish dish. Gazpacho is a cold tomato soup. This restaurant makes it with sparkling water instead of regular water, which Eric absolutely loved. We also ordered the scallops, which in and of themselves weren’t interesting enough to write about. But the way it was served was — on a bed of mashed peas, with a side of a hot salad of grilled vegetables, and some kind of foamy stuff, like the foam from steamed milk, except it wasn’t milk. Maybe steamed butter? Does such a thing exist?

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Fortunately, there is a Continue reading

Exploring Mallorca and Its Foods

This morning when we got up, in our sheltered marina it was blowing 20 knots of wind with gusts of up to 40 knots. The portion of the bay protected by the sea wall was full of whitecaps. And, of course, it was raining. Eric adjusted the lines to prevent chaffing. We wished we had a second mooring line. All the boats in the marina were rocking away in the heavy wind.

By noon, the wind and rain had lightened up significantly, so we headed out. We took the bus into the center of town. Downtown is probably only a couple of miles east, but definitely beyond walking distance. We got off in the main town square. The town square has a lot of greenery and a few statues and is a pleasant place to sit and relax. Then we walked around aimlessly. Downtown is eclectic. There are buildings that are probably at least a couple hundred years old standing next to brand new buildings. Every style of architecture that has been popular over the last few hundred years is represented. There are high rises and little one story buildings side by side. It is a neat mix of modern and old, a town filled with diverse character. The streets are wide, modern and tree lined. There are a few monuments scattered about which add to the character. We like it.

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After about an hour, we decided to Continue reading

Welcome to Palma de Mallorca, Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain

Yesterday conditions were pretty much exactly the same as the day before — sunny day, pretty sunset, dark night, light winds, relatively good seas, good speeds thanks to higher than normal RPM and cooperative currents.

At about midnight the wind started to pick up. By 0400 there was 17 – 21 knots of wind apparent on our nose and the seas had picked up to the point of being mildly uncomfortable. While the waves weren’t huge, they were sharp and confused, hitting from all directions. The sudden jerking motion it creates tends to be unpleasant. As the day wore on, it got windier and rockier. Oh, and did we mention that we were on the sheltered side of the island? It has to be absolutely miserable on the windward side.

We were running close to land at the south side of the island when dawn broke. We were surprised to see Continue reading