Well, our week in Majorca, Spain was interesting. Considering that Rick booked everything on-line, we travelled without any glitches. I tend to be a little leery of calling a toll free number and booking a trip that way, but we saved ourselves a bundle and when it was all said and done it cost 477 pounds for the week for flights and hotel for the three of us. I am quite satisfied that it was a good deal.
Our room was on the 9th floor and it had a specular view of the mountains, and the bay of Palma Nova. However, there was an odour that was coming from the bathroom and it was quite offensive. It was a cross between a swamp and an outhouse. We tried airing out our room and flushing the toilet and running the water in the tub and the sink, but we just couldn't shake the smell. When we complained to the front desk, they sent up a guy and he put some god awful concoction down the drains and told us to wait for 50 minutes. By this point, we felt we had been fumigated and stood outside with our drinks because our eyes were starting to water and I had a coughing jag from the smell. After 15 minutes we decided to start flushing the toilet and running the taps as we weren't sure if the Spanish speaking fellow really meant 15 and not 50. Mostly, it was because we got to the point that we couldn't even stand outside our room without being overtaken by the stench.
With the flushing rampage complete, we decided the best thing to do was head out and explore the area and check out the beaches. Palma Nova certainly caters to the British tourists as there was one pub after another serving chips, beans, peas, chips, beans, and more peas. And it also seemed that all of the pubs had the football game on and guys would be gathered round, beer in hand, yelling at the screens. Despite this, we were able to find a lot of other interesting places to eat and discovered the local grocery store so that we could take food back to our room and cook. Wine was dirt cheap and we were able to make ourselves some nice meals to go with it.
The area was lovely and clean and we had several beaches to choose from. Since we were there at the tail end of the travel season for the island, there was ample room to roam on the beaches and the board walks were not crowded with tourists. This enabled Rick and Chan to enjoy several games of Frisbee and I read peacefully and soaked up the sun on the sand.
Throughout the week, we visited the shops in the area, took a train to Inka to check out the markets, and rode the local bus to the city of Palma. The funny thing is, every once in a while, we would get a whiff on the streets of something that smelled a lot like our hotel bathroom and we started to wonder if there was a sewage problem on the island. The temperatures were in the low 20's, which suited us just fine, but by Thursday, we got a huge wind and rain storm and I thought that our patio doors in our room would shatter. We could also see the sailboats anchored in the bay, bobbing up and down in the grey and angry looking water and I thought of the night last summer when we were in a similar situation in our Northern 29. I suddenly felt super nauseous. It could have been, however, from the remnants of the toilet fumigation.
After the storm, the almighty smell, and a dog across the street that wouldn't stop barking, we asked if we could change rooms. The staff at the hotel was very helpful and nodded their heads when we mentioned the dog. I guess the owners go away and leave it there alone on a regular basis. In fact, several travellers have mentioned the barking dog on travel advisory websites. I felt sorry for the pooch, but I couldn't take his endless yapping either.
Since the hotel was closing for the season the day of our departure, there was an entire wing that was empty so we were given the option to move there for our last two nights. The room lacked the view, but there was no smell (thus abandoning our sewage theory), no barking dog, and we were able to finally get a couple nights of undisturbed sleep. That evening, however, Channing started to complain of a sore throat and by the next day, he had come down with a cold and was feeling pretty rough. It was a good job that we were heading home the next day.
What I liked best about Palma Nova was how easy it was to get around the area by foot and by local bus (very cheap way to travel at about 2 Euros each) and the beaches were clean and picturesque. It reminded me a bit of Daytona Beach in Florida and I can say that I would not want to go there during peak times because I am sure it would be party central.
Going away on a trip is a nice break, but it also makes you appreciate your own home too. I know, given how Chan felt by the time we did get back, he was pretty happy to climb into his own bed. Rick and I were content to just lay there and listen to the sounds of the traffic going by and say, “Listen, no barking dog!”
