Wednesday 22nd was a very hot day but we drove to the eastern side of the island to show Marg and Terry some different Mallorcan scenes. On the way we stopped at the beautiful village of Santanyi where the sandy-coloured stones were collected for the building of the Palma Cathedral hundreds of years ago. The village buildings are made from the same kind of stones and they fan out from a central church and plaza where the local market is held each Wednesday and Saturday. Of course we had to stop to wander around but it was even too hot to entice me to spend long there.
We visited the picturesque Cala Figuera, where the harbour is a long narrow cove filled mainly with fishing boats, and then continued up the coast to Porto Petro, another fishing harbour, and then to the so-called "chic" (I think "brash" would be more suitable) and modern Cala D'Or where all of the buildings around the long marina cove are adobe style and painted white. We had a fabulous lunch there at Petit , overlooking the marina; Greg had marinated salmon and sashimi decorated with nasturtium flowers and strips of wasabi sauce and the rest of us had lobster salad with avocado and passionfruit dressing. The customary aoli with crunchy little rolls were a great starter with olives that were still attached to the stem with a couple of the leaves intact - great idea for an attractive way to serve them, if you can cure your own. A Mallorcan rose and lots of water quenched our thirst and Terry allowed us to taste his fruit sorbets at the conclusion of the meal.
We also visited Porto Colom, which is a natural huge harbour with protection from all directions, before heading back to Palma. The best thing about meandering around Mallorca is that the direct roads back to Palma provide a quick trip home. Greg took a nap but Marg, Terry and I went nearby to Portitxol beach for a swim to cool off.
Dinner was at the very popular La Boveda in old town, which has the best tapas. We loved the chilled Gazpacho soup (best I have ever tried anywhere) and the scrambled eggs cooked with garlic, spring onions and prawns which is very similar to a dish we used to have at our favourite Chinese restaurant in Melbourne. We also had tiny lamb cutlets, garlic prawns, steamed mussels in a fabulous broth that included fennel and lots of fresh bay leaves, and grilled oyster mushrooms.
The final treat for the night was a drink at Abacus, the amazing bar with the tons of fresh fruit and flowers and antiques throughout the upstairs and downstairs rooms and the fountain and bird cages in the open courtyard. It's hard to take it all in.
On Thursday 23rd we arose earlier than usual as Margaret and Terry were leaving and Charlie was coming to clean the inside of the boat so we needed to get out of her way.
After dropping the O'Hares at the airport we both had haircuts (no major problems thank goodness!), did some supermarket shopping and had a relaxing afternoon before cooking spaghetti carbonara (yummy) and finished with poached brandied figs with ice cream. We even watched some more of the P D James DVD before retiring.
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