The Train to Soller

Last night the marina wasn’t nearly as rocky as it has been. Yes, we were moving, but we felt like we were in an anchorage, not at sea. The lines weren’t making the horrific noises. So, we actually slept soundly and woke up feeling rested. We had planned to take the old train to the other side of the island today if the weather was nice. We were so happy to see that the sky was blue and the wind was relatively light. Awesome! We were taking a train ride.

We took the downtown bus to the train station, which is across the street from the main town square, and got tickets. We had about 45 minutes to kill, so we found a restaurant that serves breakfast nearby. We now consider breakfast a high luxury, and are always excited to find it. Actually, in Mallorca we have seen quite a few places advertise breakfast.

The train takes you from Palma due north to a town called Soller, which is about halfway along the northwest coast of the island. The line started in 1912, and the brochure gives the impression they are still using the same trains as back then. They are electric.

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We noticed that Continue reading

Chore Day in Mallorca

We awoke to more heavy wind and rain. It was unbearably rocky. If we were in an anchorage, we’d for sure have the paravanes out. Since we didn’t get our chores done on the days the technicians came, we had allotted this morning as a chore day. We were overwhelmingly lethargic from the rocking in the marina, and we knew our standard chores would require considerable more effort today. That made us kind of grouchy. Strike One.

Normally, we don’t send our laundry out to be done. Christi likes to Continue reading

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