September 22- 30, 2014, John King Visits Dream Catcher III
John came to Mallorca many years ago with Michele and the children so he had some fond memories to recall, especially with a visit to Soller where they had enjoyed a week together.
This time we caught the train from Palma to Soller and then the tram to Port de Soller. We can understand why this trip is one of Mallorca's most liked excursions because the train is over 100 years old and travels through the pretty countryside towards Soller, passes through the mountain via a very long tunnel and then emerges on the hillside of pine trees, overlooking the attractive old town of Soller far below. We had a glorious sunny day for the trip, but not too hot to walk around the centre of Soller and then have a long walk in the port to a well-reviewed restaurant by the bay, Agapanto. We sat on the garden terrace, just off the sandy beach, and were entertained by watching a novice dinghy sailor set up his Mirror and learn how to manoeuvre it around the bay. Our lunch of grilled local fish teamed perfectly with a Mallorcan rosado and we spent a very pleasant couple of hours until it was time to catch the tram back to the train station. Luckily we were early enough to get a seat as many had to wait for the next train.
Another tourist excursion we did with John was to go to the Royal Palace, next to the Cathedral in Palma, and it was so interesting that we realised we should have done this long ago. Not only did we marvel at the architecture and furnishings of this very old stone palace but we also had the best views of Palma Bay from the high wide terraces and the best views of the front of the Cathedral. The Arab baths that were once used by the royal family are also much more interesting than the tourist Arab baths that we have visited in the old town area because they are still completely intact.
For another outing I showed the guys the fabulous old home that the Moules and I had discovered, El Calderes, and we attempted to visit some of the many very good wineries in Central Mallorca. We were sort of successful with one of the winemakers but it was a bit disappointing because we were not at the actual vineyard and were charged €5 each just to taste four of the wines, even though we did buy some. As many of the wineries are small producers and have their grapes growing in a couple of locations I think that it may be quite common to do the tasting at a bodega rather than at a vineyard. Exceptions are the very large producers such as Ferrer, in the Binnisalem area. However we did enjoy travelling around the countryside and passing through many of the pristine stone villages along the way.
We had a great day on the boat one day, cruising around the bay and anchoring for lunch in Portals Vells. The previous week had not been good weather and we were still getting some rain, so we figured we were lucky to have such a sunny day to enjoy the value of having a boat in Mallorca. Of course we also took John to some of our favourite restaurants, the market, etc. and the Abaca Bar, where John had also been with Michele when they stayed in Mallorca for a family holiday.