(From Brian and Lindsay)
Today was the surprise highlight day of the trip. We woke up and headed out on the road for the day. We were following a suggestion from our friend Kelly for a day-trip she took on her own trip to Mallorca. For the record she makes great recommendations for most things so we should have known this would be good!
After traveling halfway across the island and through more roundabouts than I care to ever see again we began to ascend up a mountain. The road then turned into the twistiest, turniest, windiest, but prettiest drive ever to Torrent de Pareis. We stopped many times along the way for photos and snacks and took plenty more pictures. It was incredible how many tights twists and turns there were and how comfortable all of the drivers seemed to be. All of the cars were small and even the tour buses were fairly skinny. The roads weren't much bigger, leaving just enough room for cars to pass each other in opposite directions. At one point a bus and car were passing a biker with no helmet on a fairly steep decline while going around a blind turn. There wasn't much traffic so it was in theory safe-ish but we still waited for a rare straight road. The road turned so often that from a distance we couldn't tell if cars were coming towards us or away from us because they were always turning. It’s amazing that the most entertaining sightseeing of the trip involved driving (which I don’t usually enjoy) but that is how awesome this road was.
After two hours of driving we arrived at the end of the road which unceremoniously is a parking lot and a private road. The walk down the road leads to a few stores, restaurants and the first section of smooth stone beach at Torrent de Pareis. We hiked good bit and stopped for pictures often as we approached the crystal blue waters. We survived a long two person wide tunnel through a mountain then traversed a 20 yd pool of water which came up to our stomachs while holding our stuff overhead. Watching others try to keep their stuff dry over the water was entertaining so we paused to enjoy the show. We then found a spot for our towels and laid-out on the stone beach at the back of the scenic cove. To avoid leaving our stuff unattended we had to take turns swimming in the gorgeous blue water for a few hours. If we had a larger group we may have stayed out in the water of the cove for hours.
The place must be a secret as we didn't hear any American accents while there (it sounded like mostly German). One can only lay-out on the beach for so long when the beach is made of rocks so eventually it was time to hike back up to the car and grab a sandwich along the way. We then drove back through the windy road, stopped for even more pictures and then headed to Fornalutx. This city was a cute, little town nestled in the valley. All of the buildings were of a similar architecture and it was very picturesque. We grabbed water and snack in the town square then walked around the city streets and neighborhoods. We walked almost the entire city and it took about 30 minutes.
The next stop on Kelly's recommendations was a similar small town nearby. We attempted to go there and check out Biniaraix but the roads were so narrow that even our little car couldn't make some of the turns without using a 3 point turn. The walls of the buildings are right up to the road and the road is the width of a suburban. We didn't reach the town center before deciding to stick to the manageable roads and turning around. Even turning around was a challenge that took a few attempts so we were more than happy to move back towards the main roads.
Once back on track we followed the signs to drove through the semi-major city of Soller on the way to our next suggested stop in Deja'. This would have been a good time for GPS as we had no clue how to get through the town or when to expect one way streets to show up. We played the part of driving tourist to the stereotype by driving way too slowly for the locals while looking for street names and indications of the main roads. Apparently driving a small car didn’t compel people to leave more room between them and our bumper…
When we got back to the main road it was like our version of highway 1 with lots of great views of the water and the mountains. Once arriving and parking in Deja, we walked around for a bit, stopped in shops and enjoyed the view from the various lookouts. We intended to stop there for dinner before heading back to our hotel but nothing was open for dinner as it was only 6:30pm. We settled for some crackers and fruit from a store and then drove back to the hotel.
Once back at the Nixe Palace we walked down the street for a dinner of Turkish doner. It is very similar to the Greek gyro but for some reason not available anyplace that we know of near home. After dinner we returned and sat on the hotel terrace while creating room for desert at the hotel restaurant right on the water. It was overpriced chocolate fondue but the view was amazing. Grapes, pineapple, pear and strawberries are provided to dip in the chocolate. This is unlike our wonderful country which happily provides the delicious but fattening angel food cake, rice-krispy treats and marshmallows. We sat on the hotel patio until around midnight and then retired for our big day of relaxing that awaited us!
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