hello friends!
since getting home i have been very slack with the posting of images and things! i shall tell you why i decided to end my journey and return to 'straya later (and really, the only people who read this are my friends and family who have already heard the story a million times, so it doesn't really matter). also i have estimated another 12 or so posts, spanning as many countries, will still need to be written if i am to actually follow through with this thing, so it'll probably be christmas before i finish.
anyway, this is about my time in mallorca (or majorca, depending on your preference of spelling). it was still summer at this time (it is now the middle of winter in europe) and i stayed on the island with a local councillor named juame. i never knew how to pronounce his name (wah-may? wa-arm?) so i just avoided saying it at all. another guest was staying at _____'s house too: a tall and very enthusiastic german fella named christian, who had been visiting mallorca since he was a kid. after sleeping in late listening to a morning storm, i joined him and juame for a late traditional mallorcan breakfast of tomato smeared on toasted bread (drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with a bit of s&p, so bloody delicious). christian — a tourism student — then offered to show me around the island. yes.
^^ cool tree!
we stopped by a cake shop and got a slice of the famed mallorcan almond cake. i'm not normally a cake person (say 'cake' again) but this was rather delicious. the next day christian and i boarded the ferrocarril de sóller, an old train that has been running since 1912, to the cute city and pristine beaches of sóller. cake.
i loved this... the tram runs through the restaurants! after exploring the little streets and shops, we had lunch in a garden restaurant and then got that tram right down to da beaaaaach.
^^ christian and me on the tram!
helloooo.
christian wanted to swim out to the boats; i splashed in the shallows before coming on shore to build rock poos.
i scream for three different kinds of ice-cream!
on the way home, we decided to get the bus to another beautiful village called valledemossa. it had some of the prettiest architecture and laneways i have ever seen. so much greenery, so many cats and little tiled pictures placed sporadically around the streets. amazing.
^^ juame's stairwell. i had to drag my 28kg suitcase + 8 kilo backpack up these :(
to be honest, i mainly went to beaches whilst in mallorca. i didn't get the greatest weather but mother nature smiled down on me enough times to see how god damn beautiful the place was. the following series mainly consists of large, blue bodies of water (with an occasional 'arty' pic and a few selfies thrown in). enjoy.
on my last day, juame took christian and i to a little slice of heaven called cala pi. i have never seen water so clear in my entire life.
we were having a lovely time, relaxing and swimming, when our peaceful paradise was suddenly interrupted by a bloodcurdling scream of agony. a little girl had been playing in the shore when she got stung by one of the thousands of jellyfish that had been floating around. she was german and as her parents and concerned onlookers surrounded the screaming child, christian translated for me and juame what had happened.
i made a comment that she should just pee on her leg, as that would take the sting away. christian looked at me like i was bear grylls and excitedly passed the information on. the parents were bemused until christian said to them confidently, 'oh don't worry, she's australian. they know about jellyfishes!' (so he translated for me later).
when the little girl was told my suggestion, her screams just got even louder.
^^ one of the little buggers.
and suddenly, that was it. i found myself on a very large vessel, sailing away from mallorca's blue waters, green mountains, winding laneways and decorative streets. i was off to madrid, via express train, to see my wonderful friend belle.
