Melting on Mallorca

I love Spain!

And I was so ready for holidays, after a long and stressful exam month and the endless hours in front of books about Theodor Herzl for my research for this semester breaks´ history home assignment. But all of this was forgotten once we sat in the plane on our way to my favorite island and to my best friend Helen where me and Filip were going to spend 13 days between sun, beach and the endless ocean in front of us. Couldn´t wait!

It is actually the seventh time that I came back to Mallorca. First time was back when I was merely a teenie with my family, then entertaining in Cales de Mallorca (best summer ever!) with Helen, after that muchos visits to her also with Jule and friends, and now with my my man uiiiiiiiiiii :))) I just love the landscape on this island, the tapas, the warm summer evenings and the whole summer experience. I really believe that life is so much nicer when it´s warm.

This time, it was seriously hot though, and I reached my boiling-limits already on the first day when we walked through Palma (with 33°C in the midday heat along the Harbourfront wasn´t the most clever idea after all) and then after the first two days on the beach where we were instantly cooked and turned into lobsters. I make this mistake every ****ing time. Every time I get into a warmer place I first get a sunburn and then I remember to be careful with the sun while tending to the skin flaking off my back. Damn.

Palma is an amazing city though! At first I wasn´t so thrilled to be staying there because what would you want in a city for 13 days when it´s so hot and you can´t go in there in the daytime anyway? But Helen convinced me it was after all a good idea and I´m so glad she did because she was totally right! Firstly, because the little streets through the old town stone house quarters are shady and cool even in the daytime and I remember just how much I love this city especially in the night eating Pa´amb oli (traditional white bread with tomato, olive oil and local ham and cheese) and drinking tinto de verano (a local version of Sangria and less sweet) or taking part in a Tapas crawl (beer for 1€ and free tapas in lots of little Tapas bars around one area of town), or walking along the beach front watching the sunset behind the massive and impressive Cathedral La Seu. I mean, I would come here just for the frozen yoghurt because Llaollao does combinations of chocolates or crushed cookies, chocolate or fruit sauces, fresh fruit like strawberries or melon and cold frozen joghurt (obviously) with more chocolate on top mnooooooom!

Secondly, it turned out great because Helen works at Sixt now and she could organize us an affordable rental car for a week – which was perfect because we could roadtrip and end up checking out beaches. The VW Polo we had was a good companion for the small and winding roads (which I still avoided to drive out of respect for the hundred-metre cliffs we drove along – Fidje luckily had the driver´s abilities it took to rule the streets much more than I do)

Thirdly, because I actually preferred Palma´s city beach to all the other ones we were at. The ones we visited were crazy beautiful and christal clear water, but either it was super windy and wavy, or others had heard the word also and they were just crowded. Or the wind had brought in so much sea-dirt that you had to throw yourself into seaweed-particles and obscure plastic parts before being able to emerge into clearer water. The Palma beach on the other side was super relaxed, easily reachable, nice water, great view of the city, and a nice sand beach. I think that half of our holiday we just spent floating in the shallow water and enjoying the nicely temperatured refreshing sea.

But now, picture time! Enough talking, here we go:

Palma Beach with the Cathedral in the Background

Cathedral La Seu at sunset

Valldemossa, a famous and picturesque old town in theTramuntana mountains (UNESCO world heritage) :

Views while driving further through the Tramuntana:

One of the long and winding roads I was talking about – half an hour downhill driving and of course at the smallest part there were SEVEN bus coaches squeezing past us.

But at the end you are met with beautiful Sa Calobra beach, a secluded Fjord-like clear swimming spot:

Ses Salines:

More coastline:

This one was supposed to be one of Europe´s best beaches, Calo des Moro, and it looks nice from above:

but unfortunately it applies what I wrote above, lots of dirt in the water and there wasn´t actually sand there – instead people stuck themselves into every rock corner they could find more or less comfortable – we just went for a quick swim and left quickly. One of the downsides of summer: The island is full of tourists.

In spring and autumn, its actually more empty and everything is still (or again) green, which is also very nice to visit and great for hiking.

We visited some neolithic graves, which was great because we got to walk along the rugged coastline for about two kilometres just to find 3000 year old round stone graves in the middle of nowhere:

And here´s one of my favorites, the Cap the Formentor:

Now we´re back in warm Berlin and I´m packing for a few days with my mom and sister on the Baltic Sea. Upon return, I shall finish the
ungrateful task of writing my university assignment and then go on holiday again (yay!) – wwoofing in Sweden with Jule. In September, I have my English internship in a school near here, and in October the 12th my third university semester starts again.

What else is new?

We have a new hobby! Longboardingggggggg up and down the Tempelhofer Feld and it´s amazing and so much faster and better than skateboarding! I still snail after Fidje but at least I`ve got the kneeling down on it while boarding sorted which is nice (and he can´t do it so that gives me some satisfaction). It´s so much fun skating next to each other, especially on the Tempelhofer Feld with its wide horizon, nicely done asphalt ground, and I just love the sunset over the rolling lengths of grass and the chirping of cikadas in the background (or birds? Maybe my ears are still tuned on mediterranean sounds) #holidaybrain

And we have the living room now, which is also nice. We´ll take out the bed since we rented it out until now but it´s so amazing to have another room available for evening chilling and reading on the couch:

Ok my little lemondrops, hear from you all and muchos besos! I hope your summer is as amazing as mine was so far and don´t forget to enjoy the sun and take some free time for ice cream eating while you can, the winter will be here fast enough!

And, finally, a big thanks to the Helen for inviting us and spending as much time with us as possible, showing us all those wonderful places, and of course for being amazing!