Bob on BAC Majorca 2007

Craggy hills


Lake along the road

The Ride - This was moving day, again. The van was leaving at 9:00 so we packed up and hit the road at 9:00 or so.

The first 1/3 of the ride was backtracking the end of Day 5. We rode a fairly flat 6 miles through olive groves and then did a moderate climb for another 6 miles through the forest up to the gas station/cafe where I had lunch on Day 5. This time I picked up a Snicker's Bar to take with me. We then left the Day 5 route and climbed some more through the forest and alongside craggy cliffs. I stopped about halfway up the climb at a roadside snack shop/cafe to visit with Peter, another rider in our group, and to eat my candy bar for extra energy.

Climbing again, we passed a couple of lakes and many tourists starting out on their hikes in the high country. Traffic was picking up as we got closer to 11:00 with a lot of buses and rental cars. It was a little tense at times on the narrow roads. Our route had an option to take a side trip to Puig Major, the highest point on the island. We were disappointed that the road was closed by the military.

Once we reached the summit, we started downhill to Soller and rode through two tunnels. They were not as bad as the Day 4 tunnels probably because they seemed to have more light. We stopped at a viewpoint to take pictures of the Harbor of Port Soller - our destination - and of the surrounding hillsides. Peter, Rod and I were leapfrogging down the hill on our Bike Fridays.

We got to our hotel at about 12:30. We would have been there earlier, but a British ex-pat gave us wrong directions that put us on the opposite side of the harbor. She had stopped us to talk about our Bike Fridays and to tell us that she had one.

Google Earth

View of pedestrian walkway

The Hotel - Our hotel at Port de Soller was the Hotel Los Geranios. It was located across the pedertrian walkway from the beach. Bill and I had a good-sized room with one balcony overlooking the harbor and another one overlooking the side street. Our bathroom had a high-tech shower that could blast streams of water from multiple positions. It was interesting to program. My internet connection was with an ethernet cable in our room.

The Food - Breakfast was the same buffet as the day before.

I ate lunch with Alison and George and Dorlene Root in an outdoor cafe next to the beach. I had raviolis Bologna-style along with a cerveza grande. While eating we couldn't help but admire the view of the harbor - beautiful blue water with lots of sailboats surrounded on shore by little cafes and small hotels. It really looks like post-card Mediterranean.

Dinner tonight was very good. I went to a cafe a few doors from the hotel with George and Dorlene. It was the cafe with the blue place mats. We sat outside across the pedestrian walkway from the beach. For starters, I had a green salad with goat cheese (there are lots of goats on the island), corn and a creamy yogurt dressing. My main course was grilled monkfish with an orange-colored Mallorcan sauce, potatoes and cooked celery. The fish was perfectly cooked - crusty on the outside and moist on the inside. No dessert tonight. We were too stuffed.

Non-Cycling Activity - Happy hour was on the terrace in front of the hotel. For drinks, we had sangria.

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