Grañon

So spent the week in Grañon visiting family and chatting with friends.  Nothing much has changed but there didn't seem to be as many pilgrims this year.

The harvest was in full swing so the combines were out.  Each morning they would be up early cleaning them or working on them in a dirt lot in town.  The local fix up shop was always busy with something in there.

Quinn stayed out till 1am or 130 each evening hanging with friends.  Pokemon Go is the big thing now that you walk around looking for invisible Pokemon with your phone.

Here some pictures from around the area.  This is the cemetery.

This is the Ermita,  it's about .8 miles from town.

Here is where everyone use to wash cloths.

An old house in town, although really they are all old but this is a bigger one.

Barbecuing is very big here but it's in more of a brick oven.  Fresh lamb chops are wonderful.  One day they bought a whole leg of lamb and slow cooked it.  Yummy!

Trails and paths are everywhere.  You can walk a different way each day.

Mallorca - Day 13

Started the day out with a drive in the clouds.  We took a very curvy road down to another coved beach.  This is the first day we have had any weather other than sun.  It was a bit more humid than other days but also a bit cooler.

At one point in the road there was jus a narrow crack between two rocks.  It was interesting watching a Bus go thru here.  You have to honk to make sure no-one on the other side comes thru because its a blind curve right on the other side.

Now to get to this beach you had to go thru people tunnels.  There were two the first one was all man made.  But the second was like a slot canyon except solid rock. It looks like the carved out the tunnel but you could see up real far thru cracks in the rocks.

The tunnels lead to a pebble beach.  The waves were a bit more intense likely because of the small area they came in on.  Below you can just see the tunnel and you can see the rock separation that was viewable from the inside.

On the way back the clouds decided to roll in a bit more thick.  This made driving down a narrow, cliffy, U turn heavy road even more fun.

Next up the Castle right outside Palma.  I wasn't really that impressed but inside they did have a museum that talked about the history of the island and its inhabitants that i did enjoy.  there was also information on a political prisoner held in the castle because his ideas were to radical.

So having time to kill from Palma we went west.  We found a more resort town but it was also a very active port.  There were a bunch of boats that were fixing and drying their nets and right accross from them was a market with very fresh fish.  They looked like they would jump out at you if you got too close.

To end the day we went to the East of Palma.  Its very strange to go 10 minutes and be in the middle of nowhere.  We watched the sunset at a small cafe with nothing else around. 

Final stop was a light house off one of the points on the East side.  Now off to the airport to catch a 6 am flight to Madrid.

Mallorca - Day 11/12

Wednesday was a day of rest.  Thursday we started at the Drach caves.  But before the tour we walked up to an old tower.  They used these as communication towers using smoke or fire to tell when pirates or invaders were coming.

Now the caves had salt water lakes.  They were crystal clear with amazing reflections.  The pictures just don't do it justice.  The other unique item was the amount of stalagtights, the ceilings were covered with them of all different sizes.

One bad thing was the group of people was horrible so we waited at the back so we had more space.  Toward the end of the cave near the natural entrance they did a classical music concert.  They had auditorium seating and turned out the lights and out came a lit boat with a piano and some string instruments.  The music was very soothing with the sight ripples on the water and the low lights.  Very cool.

After the cave off to a castle.  After walking down into a cave this time it was up to a point you could see the sea as well as all around inland.  Guess this place has been strategic since Roman times.

Next stop was a secluded beach.  Didn't bring a swim suit this day so it was just a view of it.  There was a little hike but it was one of he nicest ones we'd seen yet.  Crystal clear clove with turquoise water, light soft sand that moved with the waves.

Finally on our drive home there were the giant old windmills.  I think these are super cool looking.  After a bit of google searching i found many have been restored and if the owner desired they would restore them to working order with original hand crafted parts.  They served two purposes either grinding wheat or pumping water.

Mallorca - Day 9/10

So the house we rented is way up in the mountains as mentioned.  It has resident turtles we get to feed about 5 of them that we have seen.  But it also had a think we thought was a minks.  Well it came around again so we sat back and watched him and got a good picture.  He is actually a weasel.  So funning thing watching this guy.  He climbed up a tree so he could get to another tree.  He would go out on a branch and check out the distance.  change his mind go back and then when he was good he jumped to the other three, then he quickly made his way to another tree.  Well this tree must have had a birds nest of something because three wee little birds got really pist and started dive bombing the Mr. Weasel.  Boy did he run down the tree and away, It was very impressive.

We went to the other side of the island today.   We started on the Port of Alcúdia for a bite to eat.  They have a long stretch of beaches with plenty of parking unlike other areas.

After this we went to a place called Arta.  We somehow ended up in town which is always a pain.  The streets are either real narrow or narrow with parked cars along one side.  So back out of town we went to find a parking spot.  This town has an old fortification and church up on the hill.  We took the short walk up and checked it out.

Next thing we decided to go to the Ermita de Btlem.  Ermitas are usually a church they use on special occasions and it typically outside of town.  Well this was out side of town on a cliff and the road fit about one go-cart, luckily we only ran into one other car so no issue with two cars fitting.  The church was very small in an area that looks like it had more stuff at some point.  There was a path to this Ermita from a town on the coast all the way down the cliff.  Its interesting because we came from a completely different direction and you’d have to go down and way around to get to the town versus hiking down a very long path.

Next day we took a trip in the other direction to Soller.  We went and hung out at its beach which was a bit more pebble than others but not too busy either.  I also saw this interesting sign on why you should pick up after your dog.

After Soller we decided to hit a beach in the next two over in Deia.  Now this is suppose to be a real nice beach in a secluded cove.  Again gotta love the windy one lane road.  But then when we got down the beach is definitely secluded, but small and all rocks.  You basically had to sit on a rock.  I took put my goggles on and worked by way into the water to see if there maybe some cool fish.  Nothing real impressive but then when i wasn’t looking i got stung by a jelly fish, and i didn’t even get a picture of him.  Kinda disappointing for the sting.  It puffed up for a bit but now its just a red mark and doesn’t sting anymore.

To end our day we got back to the house early so we strolled down to the nearest town a little over a kilometer and 106 steps away.  The bartender and dad have some fun bantering going on.  He asked for a big beer, then later on wanted a smaller one.  the guy came out with a small cognac glass and said he doesn’t understand his Spanish very well.  It was very entertaining.

Mallorca - Day 7/8

Took a late night Ferry over to Mallorca from Ibiza.  It was an easy 4 hour ride, they had a pool and DJ on board.  I heard them playing bingo at some point and there was a magician entertaining kids where we were sitting.

Not sure why there are windmills in the middle of the city, they must have provided some sort of power.  They faced the sea but they were not twirling but i bet they don't any more.

So on our trip earlier we stopped at an original commerce center in Valencia well i guess it was modeled of this one.  Mallorca was a huge trade hub in its day and again this one has the spiral columns that turn into palm trees up top.

This particular real palm tree was just a little odd to me.  It was massive and had a lot of branches.  That was it for our short stay in Palma.  We will be back another day but we headed for the hills, literally to checkin to the house we rented.  Its basically at one of the highest points on the island and the road had hairpin turns galore to get up there.  But it still only took about an hour to get here.  Distance is just not very far.

Today we drove around the north east portion of the island.  The above picture was a lighthouse (Faro) that was way out on a mountainous skinny peninsula.  The road again was windy with deadly drops off one side.  The views were wonderful.

On the way out to the lighthouse there was a secluded cove.  It had crystal clear water.  I was too lazy to walk all the way down.  Didn't have my swim suit and it was hot, the climb up would have been tedious.

Another view from one of the lookouts along the road to the lighthouse.

We also stopped in 3 towns.  Pollença, Port of Pollença and Alcúdia.  This house was a renovation but i like the style.  one thing about this place is there are a lot of rocks everywhere.  So they really use their natural resource to put in their houses and any fences they build.  This door was also impressive.   Even on my tippy toes i couldn't reach the knocker, and if they closed the door in your face you would get spiked from the all the sharp spikes.

Pollença had a very simple church but on the inside was all painted.  Seems like we have seen a lot of painted ceilings lately maybe thats typical for this area.

At the port we walked along the beach and had lunch.  One of the neat things we ran into was someone had made this very impressive sand castle.

There have also been a lot of goats just wandering around.  They were in town.  we saw them on the road out to the lighthouse.  Pretty much everywhere you look.  Even now listening out side i can hear bells that are tied around some sheeps necks ringing in the distance.  Yesterday when we arrived we saw a Mink run along the wall.  It was very graceful and fun to watch.

In Pollença there was a large market today that we bought artisan cheese and ham.  Yum.  And of course some pastries and fruit and a few vegetables.  The place we are staying at has an area for turtles.  She asked we give it some left overs such as lettuce or fruit.  Not sure why but above where they had the market they had this white ribbon attached.  In Alcúdia they also had it and it made for a very cool view as it flapped in the breeze.

This view was also out to the lighthouse.  This was the first hill we climbed as we left the port of Pollença.