Saturday
Alarm went off at 2.30 am but we had been kept awake by next door’s music until very late, so we were very tired. I was not looking forward to the drive to the airport and wished I had booked the National Express instead of the Airparks parking.
We got off at 3.15 am and set off towards the Airparks satnav reference given on the booking form. Following the instructions; TomTom took us to a school in Stockport; very useful!!! After a bit of a row we decided to forget the Airparks and go and park at the airport instead.
We finally checked in at 5.20; had breakfast at Burger King (only because the staff at the coffee shop ignored us and let other people jump the queue), and then went to the gate.
Flight went well. Alli went to Sleep but I woke her over the Pyrenees to show her the breathtaking view of the snow-capped mountains. We had never seen anything like it in real life; it was fabulous.
We landed 10 minutes later in Palma and got our luggage back within an hour. The female captain announced that it was 29 degrees and we could feel the heat immediately as we stepped of the plane. When we got outside, Palma greeted us with the most glorious blue sky and brightness that we hadn’t experienced for a long time. There were no clouds in sight. We had a slight problem trying to find our coach but we finally got to our hotel at lunch-time.
Hotel Haiti had an unusual layout. It had two 5-storey wings connected by a 7-storey centre part. We estimated it to have approximately 249 rooms. They were facing north, south, east and west and it would be just our luck to get a west facing room. It means we were going to have the sun blazing on our room until sunset, making it hotter than ever. However, we weren’t too worried about that at this stage. We just couldn’t stop admiring the gorgeous sea view from our balcony.
Our room was on the 4th floor and had twin beds made up as a huge double. It was a ‘no frills’ room with an adequate bathroom but it suited my budget okay. I hadn’t planned to spend much time in it.
There was a Mercadona supermarket just across the road from the hotel so our first port of call was to get water, wine and supplies for lunches. Eight litres of water cost €1 and 5 litres of red wine €2.49.
We had lunch on the balcony as it was in the shade from the north/south wing. As soon as we could, we headed down to the beach. On the way down we had to stop at several locations for photos. I just never had seen such vegetation as they had in Mallorca anywhere else in Spain. It was just amazing.
When we eventually arrived at the beach, which is only a few minutes walk away really, we just stopped in our tracks. It brought back a memory of a picture we’ve seen at Palma airport of a white beach and turquoise sea, which I had laughingly pointed out to Alli that the photographer must have used filters on the camera to get that effect because you only get white beaches in the Caribbean. How wrong was I? Here we were standing in front of a beach which was as close to the Caribbean white as you could possibly get. The only difference being that the sand was hot unlike the Caribbean sand which is always cool.
We walked up and down the edge of the water and then went to the marina to look at the yachts. Close to the beach was a nice looking Spanish bar so we called in and had two of the most enormous ice-creams we had seen for a long time and mine had real brandy in it; wow.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a few shops and bought some souvenirs, cards and hats. I managed to find a Spanish birthday card for Alli. It had a bicycle made of bits of foil and cardboard stuck on it and made a reference that her energy levels are still good despite her years. I loved it and I think she will too.
Because we went half-board, we were invited to a buffet-style evening meal. The buffet tables seemed wonderful to us. All this choice of food, didn’t know where to start. There was something for everyone, even Alli. Marvellous! Drinks were very expensive but we didn’t bother with them.
Afterwards we went for a stroll to the town centre. It was nice and leisurely. We really enjoyed the scenery, the language, the shops, the warmth and friendliness of the Spaniards and most of all the weather. It went dusk and the street lights came on, which were low down and had a soft yellowy glow to them. They made the place look even nicer, if that is possible. We got a bit lost but got back to the hotel by fluke. The rest of the evening was spent sitting on the balcony, drinking wine and wearing very little. What a splendid day.
Sunday
The alarm went off at 8 but we were still very tired despite a good sleep. We left the balcony door open all night but it was still very warm. Thank God for the black-out curtains or it would be even worse.
Breakfast consisted of a buffet again. There were hot and cold food, cereals, fruit, yoghurts and bread. This time drinks were free so we gorged on tea, coffee and juice. Later in the week we also discovered the cooled water, which was available in the mornings only.
After breakfast, there was a welcome meeting in the lounge. We got to meet our Thomson’s representatives and booked a free excursion (blanket trip) for Thursday. We also found out that there was a Sunday market in Alcudia, so we decided to take a trip to there and visit the market. My past experience of the Spanish markets says that they are well worth seeing as they are very different to our markets. Bartering is not only allowed but expected as the norm, so there are good bargains to gained if you want something special.
Armed with a rucksack full of fruit, chorizo, snacks and water we rushed off to the bus stop because the rep told us the market was only on until 1pm. Apparently Alcudia is roughly some 7 miles away but to us it felt much further. We never found the market and only discovered later that we had got off the bus too soon. There is the roman town of Alcudia as well as the tourist resort Port D’Alcudia and we arrived at the latter.
Port D’Alcudia didn’t have anything spectacular to offer but we really enjoyed the harbour. This is the main port for passenger boats to Menorca and tourist trips. There was also a massive marina with private yachts. Alli and I amused ourselves by walking around and deciding on which boats we would have as ours. Alli decided on a large motor boat with good sized deck but not much below. I couldn’t get too close to ‘my’ boat but it was a large sailing vessel with two decks and a sunbathing area. I could probably buy it with a couple of my spare millions that I have stashed away.
We had our lunch on a wooden walkway / viewing platform which overlooked the harbour. The Spanish do have some fantastic ideas, haven’t they? We could see the whole bay all the way back to Can Picafort and beyond. The 13 kilometre beach that runs along this bay is the longest and finest on the island, so we couldn’t have chosen a better place to be.
Afterwards we took a stroll into the town centre and found a place that sold single ice-cream cones. The town centre had some touristy type of shops which were very much the same we had already seen. We decided to walk back along the beach. At first it was lovely to walk along a nicely, tiled path but it soon finished and the walking became hard work. The sun was blazing down on us relentlessly whilst we struggled forward in the sand.
After an hour we were both tired and dehydrated and decided to look for a bar on the beach. We didn’t find one of them but we did see a nice tropical looking hut which I think belonged to a hotel, so we sat in the shade and drank a couple of nicely chilled drinks. I had a strawberry slush which tasted heavenly.
It was hard struggle to get going again and it didn’t help that the terrain got increasingly difficult to walk on. We chose to walk through the woods rather than on the beach so that we could get away from the sun. In the end we snuck into a posh hotel (after having had the rest of our fruit in their garden) and used their toilets. Alli told me later that she pinched a fluffy toilet roll from there as ours weren’t as nice. After using the toilets we just went upstairs and nonchalantly walked out through the front door.
The next hour or so we walked along the road. It just felt like it was going on and on and there were very little, if any, shade so we were hot and knackered and started to get irritable. Then just by some odd miracle we saw the bus stop and sat down in the shade.
Five minutes later we were on the air-conditioned bus and it didn’t take long for us to realise that we weren’t all that far away from Can Picafort after all. We did feel quite proud of ourselves for having walked all that distance despite the heat even though afterwards we went to a sleep for two hours and didn’t really want to wake up for tea.
There was another buffet for tea but this time they had a Paella as part of it. It was very popular with the guests so the staff had to keep re-filling the dish constantly.
The Thomson’s rep collared us on the way in to the restaurant to tell us that the blanket trip has been changed to Tuesday morning instead of Thursday afternoon and asked us to come and collect our tickets after tea. The rest of the evening was spent on the balcony again; listening to Alli’s radio and drinking wine. We had another excellent day.
Monday
We felt great after a 10 hour sleep session; must have really needed it to catch up with the lack of sleep from Friday. After breakfast we went down to the pool. I swam 4 lengths which were more like widths in a normal pool.
Then we both sunbathed for a little while before Alli went up to the room to do her workout. I stayed down for another half an hour but then got bored. I decided to go clothes shopping instead. I went in to all the clothes shops on the way to the town centre and bought from 3 of them. I bought 2 dresses and a vest for me and 2 vests and a Barcelona shirt for Alli. I also bought a Barcelona hat, which we both can wear.
At lunch-time I stopped at a nice Spanish bar and had a cold lager with tapas; just €1.20. I walked back towards the hotel and went into Mercadona to get a tub of ice cream and a box of plastic spoons. Whilst I was in the queue for the tills, Alli rang to say that she had finished her workout, so that was good timing. After the ice ream we had a little sleep and went back to town to change some of the clothes that I’d bought. I took Alli back to the tapas bar and we both had a pint each.
After tea we sat in the hotel garden for a while. It was in the shade so quite nice and cool. We were very reluctant to go up to our sauna for a room. Nearer to sunset time we braved it and sat on the balcony watching the sun going down behind the mountains. We entertained ourselves with watching a man from one of the karaoke bars collaring passers by and dragging some of them into the bar and then chasing after them when they tried to escape. A lot of the time his tactics seemed to work but we won’t be going near that bar.
Tuesday
It is my birthday and we were booked to go on the blanket trip. It’s a free excursion to the north of the island. It involves sitting through a presentation of high quality pure wool bedding with a free drink and some sight seeing afterwards. I have been to quite a few of them in the past. They are hugely popular and getting a space on them can be difficult. However, we managed to get tickets and got up early and queue up for breakfast behind the doors as the restaurant was late opening.
We rushed through brekkie and hurried to the bus stop 10 minutes early. Then we waited and waited and waited but no bus turned up. Almost an hour later we gave up and went back. The rep could not get hold of anyone so we have no idea what happened.
Therefore we decided to take a mystery tour. We would jump on the first available bus and go wherever it takes us. It happened to be going to Palma, which is the capital city of Mallorca. It was quite expensive but we thought the trip would be worth it. On the way out of town we saw that there had been a major RTA and wondered if the blanket trip bus had got caught in the road closures that followed it.
We were amazed by the sheer size of the island as it the bus two and a half hours to get to Palma. The ride was most enjoyable in the air-conditioned bus and the scenery wonderful.
Palma was huge, noisy, lively and busy city. There were probably a lot to see but we had limited time on our hands. We wanted to go back on the 3pm bus so that we would get back in time for tea.
First call was to find a nice place to have lunch as we hadn’t packed anything. We found a cute little bar that sold baguettes with pictures so that we could show what we wanted. I had one with Chorizo and tomato, Alli had one with cheese and tomato. We both had an American coffee with it.
All day Alli had been complaining about an old injury in her arm that had flared up again during her workout yesterday. We went past a chemist so I decided to get her a sling so that she could rest it properly. It appeared to get better with the rest.
Palma had an ingenious way to hide their massive bus and train station underground with a gorgeous, well maintained park above it. That’s where we spent the rest of our time before it was time to go down for the bus and this is where things really started to go wrong.
We bought the tickets from an automated machine and were amazed that they were quite a bit cheaper than they were before. Well, we walked down to the bus and waited for the driver to appear. “Those are train tickets” he said immediately as we tried to board. We just looked at each other in amazement. Wow, we are going back on a train, how exciting, we thought. Little did we know....
We hurried across to the other side which is the train station and hesitated on the escalators. There were two sets of them with different writing on, why? It appeared that our ticket had a [1] on it so we took that to mean platform one. However, platform one was not in use as it had an old steam engine parked on there and it didn’t look like it had moved for some time. Behind it was one of those maintenance wagons so no way could our train be leaving from platform one. We decided that it must mean platform two instead. There was nobody about to ask so Alli asked another passenger who said we should go to Sa Pobla and she thought he had said two, so we jumped on the train on platform two.
It was soon apparent that something wasn’t quite right. The train kept stopping at different stations at just a few minutes apart and seemed to stay underground for a long time.
At last we came to the end of the journey, only around twenty minutes later. We got off and followed everyone else towards the exit where you have to show your ticket to the automated gate for it to open. The gates, however, did not open for us and the message translated roughly as destination is not valid. Exactly the same thing happened to a young Spanish speaking girl. She looked at our ticket and then spoke to some men across the tracks. She asked us to follow her so we did.
Her English wasn’t very good but she made herself understood enough to say that we were all on the wrong train and had to go back to Palma. First we had to get out and over to the other side and back on the train again. She then explained that the red trains were metros and the blue trains are the proper ones which we (and her) should be on. She told us that we needed to go to Muro and for that we needed the same train as her. Apparently, we would then go by bus to Can Picafort.
We were ever so grateful to the girl and enjoyed the ride to Muro. It was really nice to see different scenery as the train track didn’t run the same route as the motorway so there was a lot to see. We were anxiously keeping an eye on the board as the track split just before Muro and we wanted to be sure that the train went the way we wanted to go, which it did.
Eventually we arrived in Muro and jumped off and onto the minibus waiting at the station. However, the driver told us that the he was on his way from Can Picafort to somewhere else and wouldn’t be picking us up until ten to 8 and it was now half past four. He offered to take us to Muro village centre which we gratefully accepted, thinking we can take another bus from there. The only bus stop that we saw said the same time as the driver had quoted.
I saw a sign for the police station and got an idea to call in there and ask them to help. Two reasons; they usually have English speaking staff which made it a bit easier for us and I thought that they may even give us a lift if we are lucky. However, when we got to the station, we found it closed and a time table showing that it’s only open between 6 and 2 after that you have to go to Sa Pobla. That is very helpful to us, I thought!!! Until then I hadn’t told Alli about the time that the bus driver said he would pick us up because I didn’t want to upset her needlessly. I finally told her and we both mutually decided that we didn’t have any choice but to walk it. We had no idea what the distance was but would that make any difference anyway?
We spent the next two hours walking in the blazing sun without hardly any water. I had left my water bottle at Palma bus station so we had been relying on just Alli’s water. There were no shops or even any living accommodation, just plantations and lots of reservoirs with filthy, dirty and green water for watering vegetation with. It was killing us walking and then, just by some miracle, when I was thinking that I couldn’t go on any longer, a man from one of the plantations shouted to us.
At first I was looking around to see if it was he was talking to or if it was someone else. Then I saw him look at me and doing a driving gesture and said Can Picafort. I understood it to mean that he is going to Can Picafort and was giving us a lift. We couldn’t believe our luck, how great was that?
It was little scary as well but he seemed friendly enough. He had a big flat-bed truck and all three of us sat at the front. He was a very good driver and made us feel at ease. Although I was a little nervous because every time he went to change gear, it looked as if he was going to grab Alli’s leg, but he didn’t. He dropped us off at the end of the road from our hotel. There was a hoarding telling us that it was about 2 minutes to Mercadona so we knew where we where. We were very, very grateful to him as he saved us at least 3 miles of walking.
We both wore dresses for tea since it was my birthday. Alli looked gorgeous in my purple sun dress and I wore my new going-out dress from Matalan that I had never yet worn. I got slightly sunburnt even though I had been putting more cream on throughout the day, but didn’t feel too bad.
Tonight we splashed out on a half-litre bottle of wine for me and a Budweiser for Alli in the restaurant and then sat in the bar afterwards and finished off the drinks. After being so hot earlier, we felt a little chilly sitting in the gentle breeze.
We changed our dresses to jeans and t-shirts and decided to go and inspect the karaoke bar. We had a quick drink in there but weren’t too impressed. Alli mentioned another bar that we had walked past earlier in the week, which was playing good music. She suggested we go looking for that one. It turned out to be a nice Belgian bar with Spanish waiters. Their resident DJ played all the music on vinyl LPs and singles and there were plenty of choice. We both drank too much and staggered back and I can’t remember getting back to the hotel.
Wednesday
We felt quite rough when we woke up. Alli decided to skip breakfast so I went down on my own. Afterwards we both sat in the garden whilst the maid did our room. We both decided that today we are not drinking any alcohol.
Later Alli did some washing. It surprised her how quickly clothes get damp and sweaty, having to get changed several times per day, so she didn’t bring enough stuff. I’m avoiding the sun today due to being a bit burned yesterday, so I sat on the shaded balcony and it was gorgeous.
Later on I went to the hardware shop, next door, and bought a smallish kettle, cups and a knife. Then I went to Mercadona and bought some lovely crusty bread, cheese, chorizo and . . .yeast. Yes, I’m going to bake my own bread on the balcony, lol. Well the little packet looked like individual butter portions but turned out to be yeast, ha ha.
After lunch we went for a stroll down the marina. I discovered that we can walk straight down, very close to the boats. We walked all the way up to one end and then around to the other. I was impressed that Alli was so fascinated with the boats that she forgot to be scared of falling off the jetty as there were no barriers on it. The boats were fantastic though and some of them were very large. Most of them carried the Spanish flag but there were one or two flags that I didn’t recognise but unsurprisingly no British ones.
We had ice cream from one of the many bar/cafes and sat under a canvas roof to get shelter from the sun. It was bizarre to eat an ice cream that would melt quicker than you can eat it. Afterwards we walked to the town centre at the opposite end to where we been before.
Yet another shower and a little rest before tea. We weren’t too impressed with the buffet tonight. There was nothing at all for Alli and not much for me either. The restaurant manager came and told us that we couldn’t drink our own water in the restaurant and expected us to buy it at their rip-off prices.
The heat really got to us today. It seemed to get hotter every day and today it was 30 degrees. We were really quite fed up with it now.
Thursday
I woke up before the alarm went off and jumped straight into the shower. In the meantime Alli made a lovely cup of tea, what a luxury after going nearly a week without one.
After breakfast we took the bus to the old, Roman town of Alcudia. It was quite a long journey and the bus was crammed absolutely full to way beyond capacity, yet still the driver kept shouting for people to move further back so that he could cram more people on. Two people were standing in the front door well; Spanish Health & Safety!!! Well, it was all worth it to get to Alcudia.
The old town was completely surrounded by stone walls dating back to Roman times. They had recently been refurbished and in some places it was still work in progress. We could immediately see that we were going to like the place. We had a quick walk around the outskirts of the walls and then settled for a cafe we both liked for a coffee and the most enormous piece of gateaux I have ever seen in my life.
After that we went for a walk on top of the wall. Alli doesn’t like heights but she was very brave and walked all the way from one end to another despite one side of the stone wall being quite low and the other side completely open apart from three metal wired barriers. She also managed to get over two bridges with wooden slats and gaps in between where you could see the ground below and just the three metal wired barriers on both side. She was terrified but she did exceptionally well.
Later we treated ourselves to a litre jug of Sangria. Alli had only ever tried the commercial type that you get in bottles at home and was very surprised at the difference having tasted the ‘real’ stuff. Also it was very cold as the jug was full of ice so it particularly tasted like manna from heaven.
Whilst we sat in the outside cafe, a good sized wasp landed on Alli’s head. I told her to keep very calm and still and few seconds later it flew off again. I didn’t tell her what it was until afterwards because I knew that she would freak out and flap about so that the wasp could get mad and sting her or someone else in the vicinity. I was proud of her.
The journey back was pleasant. The bus had air-conditioning and we managed to get a seat this time. During the trip we got entertained by the cutest little boy I’ve seen for a long time. He was half-English and half (we were guessing) Meditarenian. He was ever so good at first but became bored when, the other boy sitting opposite at a similar age, left the bus.
When we got back Alli had a nap and I went for a swim in the pool. After tea we had wine on the balcony. The hotel receptionist estimated that it was 35 degrees and even the locals were suffering.
Friday
Our last day here and we really are ready to go home. It has progressively got hotter each day and we really don’t want any more. It is actually so hot that it’s spoiling the holiday. The morning was spent quietly in our room. Alli did her work-out and I did some brain training on the DS and went to the shops twice.
Lunch consisted of fruit and yoghurt which we ate on the balcony whilst we could, before the sun came around.
Later we went for a stroll down the beach. I had a little swim in the sea just to say that I had swum in the Meditarenian even though I’m not very fond of swimming in the sea. Alli tried to paddle with shorts on but the waves came quite high and she got soaked but it didn’t matter because the water was as warm as a baby’s bath water. I guess she too can say she’s been in the Meditarenian Sea.
We bought a few souvenirs to take home and decided that we’d go for a last swim in the pool whilst we could. The pool wasn’t anywhere near as warm as the sea but it was still lovely.
After our last buffet for the evening meal we walked up to the 4th floor and had a few beers from our “fridge”. A cut down gallon sized wine bottle filled with water and covered with a wet face cloth. It worked!
The evening was spent packing our cases and then drinking beer whilst listening to music the built-in mp3 player on my phone. It was a good way to end a fantastic holiday and how wonderful to have been able to share it with Alli.
Saturday
We had a leisurely breakfast as we had already checked that the coach would be leaving for the airport at 9.30, so we had plenty of time. The coach, however, turned up fifteen minutes late and then went to three other hotels before it began the couple of hours’ journey to the Airport.
I really started to get worried when we were queuing up for the check-in. It was ten past 11 and we were due to fly at half past. Something didn’t feel right but I couldn’t understand what was happening. We hadn’t wasted any time anywhere and we hadn’t been stuck in traffic so why are we about to miss our plane?
Predictably, when we finally got to the check-in desk, we were told that we had missed the plane as they are already boarding and check-in closed more than 30 minutes ago. Now, we really panicked. It appeared that we had been looking at the wrong Manchester flight details at the hotel. Our coach should have left at no later than 8am according to the rep. We had looked at the coach details for the one o’clock flight.
The rep seemed very sympathetic. She informed us that at that moment in time there was just one spare seat on the next plane but told us to come back to her at 12 and she would see if she could get us on, otherwise we would have to fly back with another airline and pay again. By now, we were thinking of all sorts of horrible things. We both decided unanimously that neither of us would go on our own, we would stick together come what may.
At twelve we went back to the same rep and she kindly spoke to the check-in desk and found out that now there were four spare seats and we can go home. She said that the seats are usually chargeable but Thompsons were letting us go back for no further charge. We couldn’t thank her enough.
The flight back was rather uneventful. We didn’t get seats together but we wouldn’t have dreamt of complaining, at least we were on the same plane. Manchester welcomed us with the great British weather; grey and drizzling, but for once we didn’t mind. It was very nice to get home and see the girls even though they weren’t speaking to us for a while.
