Train to Palma

Our touring today was via the street car and train. The old street car runs along the Port de Soller blvd and into the town of Soller. We transferred from the street car to the old train to Palma.

The 1.5-hour  clickitity clackity of the train took us through several tunnels and some scenic vistas.

Once in Palma, we decided to explore the city on the hop-on-hop-off bus, walked some, ate lunch, walked, and enjoyed a coffee before taking a cab back to our hotel.

We spent a leisurely afternoon doing our own thing. Norm swam in the ocean, Wendy and Alistair enjoyed some hotel pool time, and I found a quiet corner on the top terrace at the hotel for some relaxing yoga.

We then drove to a most picturesque town, Valldemossa.

We walked up to a luxury hotel to see the grounds and stayed for a drink.  If we stayed for supper, we would have had to sell the car to pay for it. Luckily, Wendy and I had dressed up somewhat so did not stand out too badly. Everyone here was dressed to the nines like they were out for dinner before some big fancy awards ceremony.

We sat on the patio, enjoyed drinks and snacks and listened to a talented pianist. The setting here is beyond words. We could have stayed here for over $3000.00 euros/night.

Alas, it was time to leave this little bit of paradise to drive along the mountainside a little more before returning to our hotel.

We enjoyed an evening cocktail on the street of our hotel before saying good night to Porta de Soller.

The next day was a travel day that took longer than it should. We sat in the plane for 3.5 hours before taking off. At first they could not refuel the plane in a thunderstorm.  Then the rain was so hard the water on the runway was too high to safely take off.  Fianlly, three hours late we took off for our 40 minute flight back to Barcelona, and then a 2 hour cab ride north to Ripoll where we will begin our bike tour.