Mallorca 2007 Pics Bob on BAC Majorca 2007

  • May 13 - Finca es Palmer to Hotel Delta and Palma

    The Ride - I started riding at 9:15. The weather was warm so I rode in my shorts and jersey. I would have been back-tracking the end of yesterday's route if I had followed the route yesterday. The real route was mostly along the flat, narrow roads that are designated as bicycle roads. They have very little motorized traffic.


    I got to the Delta at 10:45.



    Google Earth


    The Food - Several people had early flights this morning and a few had later ones. The early people missed breakfast, but we got ours. It was a normal breakfast buffet but much less choice that at the bigger hotels. They cooked eggs to order for those who wanted them


    The Rest of the Day - After getting back to the Hotel Delta, I took some time to clean my bicycle and pack it in its suitcase. Bike Friday sure makes it easy to pack. When I was done, Alison had arrived from her airport trips and we unloaded our luggage from the van. I ducked into the men's room off of the hotel's lobby and changed into my street clothes. The ride to the hotel was short enough so I wasn't very sweaty. After that, I said farewell to the group that was standing around in front of the hotel and caught a taxi to Palma where I was staying that night


    Mallorca Pics
    The Born Hotel is up the street

    Mallorca Pics
    View of the cathedral

    The taxi driver dropped me off near the Hotel Born in the old town of Palma. The hotel was on a very narrow street at the top of the main promonade. The driver said that it wasn't possible to drive on the street. It was one-way the other direction and I don't think that he knew how to get to the other end. It was no problem, however, because it was only a couple of hundred meters to the entry.


    I checked in at the hotel but my room wasn't ready. I told the clerk that I was hungry and he sent me down the promonade where there were many restaurants. I passed up MacDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts and sat at an outdoor cafe and had my first and last tapas for this trip to Spain. I had two courses - potatoes with aioli sauce and white asparagus wrapped in ham. It was OK but not great.


    The restaurant was near the famous cathedral so I wandered around it to see if I could go in. Because it was Sunday, it was closed to tourists. So I decided to get on the hop-on, hop-off bus to get a tour of the city. I asked if they had a senior discount and I got on for half-price. I sat on the upper deck and listened to a recorded narrative in English on small earphones. The temperature was in the mid 80's but a cool breeze from the sea kept me comfortable. The tour was interesting and I learned some history of Palma which I promptly forgot. This is another place where kings fought kings and brothers killed brothers. I did not take many pictures on the tour because my camera's battery went dead and I had forgotten to bring a spare.


    After the tour, I went back to get into my room and take a shower. The room was a single and pretty basic. It was clean and quiet, though.


    I couldn't stand being in my room, so I decided to wander along some side streets. One objective was to find somewhere to get a snack. The other was to take some pictures with a fresh battery in my camera. I accomplished. Banana and coconut gelato tasted real good and I found some picturesque buildings and other scenes to shoot. Gaudi spent some time here and you notice his influence right away on some of the buildings.


    Mallorca Pics
    Lamb shoulder with green beans and a baked potato

    My wandering also took me to a popular restaurant area. After perusing many menus, I decided on La Paloma and went there at the more appropriate hour of 7:30. The lamb shoulder I had this time was in a tomato sauce. It came with fresh green beans and a potato baked in foil. It was good. I remembered to take a picture of it.


    After dinner, I meandered back to the hotel along some other side streets. It was lights-out before 10:00.


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