Intoxicated and far too numerous English and German tourists fighting over who can first reserve the hotel beach loungers with their beach towels. That is Palma de Mallorca according to the most recent news article I read. On a happier note, it was also the destination for me and two of besties, H and H-le, weekend away/hen do last weekend. We’d been there already five years previously and thought it to be a fun place to go back to, as H was about to get married (to a young man she met a few months after our first Spain-trip.) (Wedding was yesterday, ah it was gorgeous. <3) H-le and I decided to plan a surprise trip for H, back to our beloved Mallorca, back to our beloved Hostal La Mimosa. We were there 16-19.8 – arrived Saturday evening and left Tuesday morning. Despite the sadly short stay, it was epic.
The three of us, fresh-faced in 2009!
Five years ago we had just turned 18 and were embarking on our first self-planned holiday to a foreign country. We flew to Barcelona and took a night ship (rather a tragic journey including around 0 minutes of sleep and 1 lost passport) to Palma de Mallorca.
16.08.2014 This time round, we flew straight to Mallorca. We started our hen do/bachelorette party-day in Helsinki (Finland), where both H and H-le live. After a fun photo-hunt with H’s cuddly toy polar bear as the star, including a picnic with croissants and a brunch cocktail called Mimosa, we found ourselves at the Starbucks airport where the Starbucks girls handed H her reservation for a flight to Mallorca leaving in three hours. H-le and I were so happy but also so surprised that the trip had managed to stay a secret – she hadn’t suspected a thing… I will spare the details since I am desperately trying to keep this blog on track with the sole theme of TRAVELS. 😛
Brekkie time!
The famous Jääkarhu (‘Polar Bear’) enjoying his Starbucks in one of the photo-hunt pics
Helsinki-Palma was a nice flight which we excitingly shared with a “celebrity” couple (she is famous for being a playboy model ten/twenty years ago whilst he is famous for being seventeen years younger than her). At Palma airport, after being greeted by a very lovely palm tree-edged road leading from the airport, we managed to clamber onto bus number 1, which seemed to be the aim for most people at Palma airport (ie. it was quite crowded). Luckily I managed to, just, avoid Death By Bus Door (DBBD) – I was pressed up against it when the driver decided to randomly open it.
Entering Palma – it’s not just about the beach, there’s mountains too!
Welcome to Palma!
We changed buses in the town centre, witnessed a massive cockroach create havoc at the bus stop before some brave German tourist (man) kicked it onto the road. Then a bus drove over it… but I guess Spanish cockroaches are like daddy long legses and Voldemort… (nearly) IMMORTAL. Also apparently they can fly. Or at least tried to.
Our beloved bus route number 3, have been from the first to the last stop!
After the cockroach, we surprisingly successfully managed to change buses (Last time we did this five years ago, we only realised we had taken the bus in the wrong direction when our driver started shouting at us in angry Spanish until we realised we had reached the terminus, and not even the terminus near our hostel, but the one in the OPPOSITE direction… And it was 11pm and the spooky Pont d’Inca was very dodgy at that hour…)
Um, back to 2014, we even managed to get out the bus at the right stop, Hotel Maricel, although this time it was H-le’s turn to nearly experience DBBD as she tried to keep the bus doors open for me who was lagging behind with two big bags, an open folder full of important papers and passport about to fall out and a half-eaten nectarine (I really did not expect the stop to be so soon…).
We found our way to our beloved hostal Mimosa, and were greeted by brisk young Sophie, British by voice but very un-British by her blunt speech void of any British niceties I have always been so used to. Well, efficient enough I guess.
We settled in in our lovely room 108, happily surprised by the fact it was three-bed instead of the booked five-bed, with a lovely view of the pool. :))
No room mates 🙂
Even the pool is working this time round!
The friendly German owner of the hostel recommended a posh restaurant called Cala Nova nearby which we promised to check out. We weren’t looking for anything fancy, but Cala Nova’s prices seemed very reasonable so we tiptoed in.
Cala Nova was full of posh young male waiters with slick dark hair and posh suits – quite typically Spanish on the whole, including the fact that waiters are usually men, unlike, say, in Finland. Anyways, we were led to a lovely outside table surrounded by Palma harbour boats and posh groups of posh adults fine dining.
Blending into the fine dining
We were brought olives and bread for starters, and especially when I was asked to taste the wine before accepting it, I felt equally posh as I did out of place. (I now realise I forgot to swish it before trying it… how embarrassing.) A lovely dinner – H-le and I shared a Country Paella which was vegetabley rice with a few large clumps of bone with meat attached to it. (I don’t think I’ll pursue a career in food-blogging… I don’t think I managed to express the fact that it was actually SCRUMPTIOUS bordering on HEAVENLY.)
The famous and absolutely delicious paella!
The ‘Eyebrow Cat’ kept us company and was rewarded by many tasty treats
Followed by a “Mixed Dessert”, which was chocolate brownie, lemon meringue and special Majorcan almond (?) cake. We all agreed the lemon meringue was the tastiest.
Best dessert 🙂Luckily they were most definitely not needed 🙂
Cala Nova provided a very lovely first impression of Palma! And then back home, a.k.a. Mimosa. 🙂
I LOL-ed too (literally). You're one up on me: I've never been the one invited to sample the wine. Large clumps of bone with meat attached sounds really appetizing!
As for H and H-le, you could have at least called them Samantha and Arabella!
I like that you mentioned the palm trees in Palma airport, sadly neglected in other people's info about Mallorca. When I saw them this year I got so excited and Dylan thought I was insane, jumping about like a crazy person at 1am….
It was awesome!!! Palm trees at the airport are an excellent welcome, and gets you into the Spanish holiday vibe 😀 I woulda jumped like a crazy person with you 😉
The part about DBBD was hilarious! This post made me laugh and I'm looking forward to reading about Day 2 🙂
-Hannele
I LOL-ed too (literally). You're one up on me: I've never been the one invited to sample the wine. Large clumps of bone with meat attached sounds really appetizing!
As for H and H-le, you could have at least called them Samantha and Arabella!
Onneksi et ottanut kuvaa siitä torakasta. Kiitos hassusta, kiinnostavasta ja pirteästä blogista ja kuvista!
I like that you mentioned the palm trees in Palma airport, sadly neglected in other people's info about Mallorca. When I saw them this year I got so excited and Dylan thought I was insane, jumping about like a crazy person at 1am….
Yay glad you enjoyed it 🙂
But which one woulda been which?
<3
It was awesome!!! Palm trees at the airport are an excellent welcome, and gets you into the Spanish holiday vibe 😀 I woulda jumped like a crazy person with you 😉