Hola and greetings from Spain guys!
I am officially two weeks here. It is crazy how time flies
and how much I get to experience here. But before I start talking about my time
in Barcelona, I would like to blog about our crazy trip to Mallorca!
I would like to tell you guys how exciting it always it to
do things with my boyfriend. I tell you this now, because as soon as I plan
something with my boyfriend, something crazy happens. Sometimes good crazy,
sometimes bad. Which makes every little plan we have more stressful but also
more exciting!
We decided the night before the 27th of July to
take a cab in the morning instead of taking the long ride with the bus to the
airport. Our gate would close already at 7.30 am, which means that we had to
start going at 5.30 am as the bus ride and the walking to the right station
would take around an hour. The cabs in Barcelona are pretty cheap and can take
you in 15 minutes to the airport, which sounded for us more appealing. So well,
we woke up the next day, got ready and waited in front of our apartment at 6.30
am. Usually, you find cabs everywhere around the streets as we live in the
center of Barcelona but nothing – absolutely no cab was showing up. We decided
to walk up the street while my boyfriend called the different cab companies he
knew – no one picked up. So we stood there with our luggage and the time went
by. We knew it was too late to get to a bus and we were basically standing
there helpless on the streets. At some point a man stopped his car and asked us
if we were looking for a taxi. Well, that man turned out to be our hero!
Apparently there was a huge strike going on in Barcelona which meant that no
cab was driving. This dude was a cabify driver, which is the same concept as
Uber. We downloaded the app immediately and this man drove 140km/h on a 80km/h
street just to get us to the airport as quickly as possible. I love the people
here already.
We arrived at the airport at around 7.10 am – tried to stay
calm and just thought: not a big deal, we still have around 20 minutes to get
through security. Well, well, well, it happened to be the same day the security
at the airport was striking so there were only a few police officers who did
the security check and a bunch of chaos. There were so many people and we asked
several times if there was a possibility for us to get to the fast lane but
they declined. Yep, that’s not how I imagined my vacation would start. We made
it through the security at around 7.45 am when I already started giving up and we started
to run to the gate. Of course the gate had to be far far away from the security
so we had a bunch of morning cardio including the luggage we had to carry with
us.
BUT, we made it. I was sweaty, moody (we weren’t even able
to eat or drink anything before) and my boyfriend laughed his ass off as he was
actually expecting this kind of adventure.
The flight went smoothly and we arrived in Palma de Mallorca
at 9 am and damn the sun was burning already! We took the shuttle to our car
rental, which went pretty quickly and I could enjoy the aircon and the
beautiful view of Palma. Our Airbnb host was already waiting for us, so we
arrived quickly at the house which was totally in the countryside! This is
exactly what we wanted and we couldn’t be much happier than spending the late
evenings in Santa Eugenia. It was so quiet and peaceful there and even when we
were gone the whole day, it was always nice to join our host and her friends
and family in the evening on the terrace. 
We spent the day driving around the island to find some
hotspots and to find some food, as it was already 2 pm and we still haven’t
eaten anything. Our first stop was the Castell de Bellver. The castle wasn't really that interesting even though I am usually a big fan of such places but the view on Palma was stunning! We hiked up there which wasn't really hard but the temperatures at that point of the day were making it pretty tough. Afterwards we decided to take cool down and relax at the beach.
We ended up driving through Magaluf on our way to Palmanova to
spent the rest of the day at the beach. Can I just say that I don’t understand
how people can get batshit drunk on hot
days like these (36 DEGREES!!)? Maybe I am too old for this already, but when I
saw the drunk people everywhere, I was pretty happy that we didn’t spent our
nights at a hotel nearby.
So we basically spent our day at the beach and ate amazing
food at Ca’n Torrat, where we indulged tapas, steaks and wine while watching
the sunset. The night couldn’t have ended better.
The next day we decided to leave a little bit earlier to see
more of the Island. Our Airbnb host was so kind and wrote us a three pages long
letter to explain the best places to visit in Mallorca. We bought some fruits
and snacks so we don’t have to stop and eat lunch somewhere, as it was even
impossible to be hungry in this heat.
Port de Soller was very cute, but as crowded as the other
parts and beaches of Mallorca. Nether less, I can’t get enough of Nature’s
beauty!
Our route took us to Sa Calobra. And damn, this ride up the mountains
is 1000x times worse than the ride on the Highway 1 in California. I feared my
life and I started to pray to someone or something because I thought we won’t
survive this road. The roads were way too narrow and with so many curves that I
almost got car sick. Not to mention when it was time to get down the mountain
and you had to press the breaks non-stop to be able to stay in your lane and
not get killed by the cliffs. (I am so dramatic) We ended up surviving this
route of hell and beauty and arrived at Sa Calobra. Everyone who is planning to
go to Mallorca and has a car rented, should definitely check that place out. It
is wonderful!
After our crazy adventure that day we decided to eat well in
the evening and ate at the famous restaurant Sa Farinera, which was recommended
by a good friend. The food was amazing and I could totally understand why the
whole place was packed with people. In the night we mapped out a plan of the
things we would really like to see on Marisa’s list. (Our Airbnb host) We knew
we weren’t able to see everything, but we tried to enjoy the spots that really
interested us.
So the next day, we decided to go on another adventure,
starting off with Banyalbufar. This place is not only surrounded by beautiful
mountains and a deep blue sea, it also was a quite village, which had famous
waterfalls around the beach. This was the one place I was really looking
forward to see and the closest one of us as well. As soon as we arrived it was
clear that there was no option for us to park anywhere. Apparently the little
town had a village festival going on the exact same day that we wanted to
explore the place. There was no parking available and we barely made it up the
mountain as it was sooo steep. We decided it wasn’t worth the wait for us to
find a parking spot and we went on to the next place on our list. 
The next place was called Llulcalcari and what we found out
was that it is actually only known by the locals of Mallorca. There was no
parking available, only three spots for locals of Mallorca, which we decided to
take as we were advised by the people there that this wouldn’t be an issue and
that this place is so hidden that no one will come and check. Llulcalcari is
known for its beautiful peaceful beach and the “fountain of mud”. You basically
get your own natural mud treatment right at the beach. We had some troubles
finding the actual beach because there were so many trails and nothing really
showed any signs for us to reach the beach. At some point it was clear that we
had to climb down the mountains. 
Just a quick tip if you are deciding to visit
this place: DEFINTELY use lots of sunscreen, bring a good amount of water, a
beach towel, hiking shoes or sneakers and water shoes!! My sunscreen was empty,
I had flipflops on and our water was nearly empty until we actually arrived at
the beach. I have a huge fear of heights and I almost cried when I had to climb
the mountain down with flipflops. I was shaking so hard that it took me minutes
to jump from one place to another. Netherless,
the beach was something I will never forget. There were probably only 5-10
people, turquoise water and lots of coral riffs to discover. Our host also gave
each of us a pair of googles to explore its beauty. So much happiness at this
place! Of course we rubbed ourselves with the mud to get the full treatment.
The stones were dangerously slippery which is why I have some cuts on my foot
and bruises on my legs, but damn I would do it again. (this time with all the
equipment of course)
After we finished our adventure in Llulcalcari, we headed
over to Son Serra de Marina, another part of the island which is usually visited by
locals and Spanish people. This beach was so peaceful in comparison to the
touristic beaches of Palmanova and Barcelona, that we ended up taking a nap
right there.
We spent the rest of the night with our Airbnb host and her
friends and family on the terrace, laughed and drank some wine. The next day
was already time to leave and everything went as smoothly as it could be. This
is basically now summarizing our vacation and we spent the rest of the day at
the beach of Barcelona. Not as pretty as Mallorca, but I will never say no to
the beach đ.
Kudos to everyone who read this until the end!!
Yours truly,
Karoline
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