Mallorca

So I am currently in the middle of my second spring break thanks to a wonderful tradition that Sevilla has (more on that later). To kick off the twelve classless days, I finally went to Mallorca with my interest group! With everything arranged, like hotels, meals, flights and tours, all I had to do was get to the airport and enjoy. We left late Thursday night, so it didn't really hit me that I was on a beautiful island until the morning, but walking into the hotel was a riot. Basically Mallorca is a little Germany. The Germans have the money to vacation in Europe, and a lot of the time people will use German as the first language. Also, in the areas that are full of hotels and resorts, the 65+ age group runs the show. So upon arriving in the hotel I was dying of excitement because the lobby consisted of a dance floor with a disco ball and a game of Bingo! It was hilarious! The old people staying at the hotel, aka everyone but my group, were up late dancing choreographed dances led by a man who also was the bingo caller. Despite my attempts to convince the group to stay in and play Bingo, we ended up hitting the beach and bars at night and then resting up for our first big day in Mallorca.

I have come to appreciate hotel buffet breakfasts during my trip because Spain doesn't really do my favorite meal of the day. This one was a little so-so, but it was still a good way to start the day, because none of us knew just how bad the tour was going to be that morning. Since it was a trip led by my program, there had to be some academic things involved other than going to the beach. So to begin the trip we took a bus to the center of Palma (a city in Mallorca) and met up with our tour guide Lola. Usually I love personal tours because I find the history to be fascinating, but Lola was by far the worst guide ever. She took us to the most pointless places and talked on and on about nothing all that interesting and her tour lasted for four hours! But overall Palma was beautiful. It has a lot of modern aspects to the architecture, especially with influences from Gaudí. The cathedral was surprisingly incredible, with a main altar piece similar to Sagrada Familia's and another altar piece looked like nothing you would expect to find in a church. After Lola finally let us go on our way, my friends and I went back to enjoy the beaches on the Mediterranean!

Here is an example of a little touch of Gaudí that can be found in Palma

This is the cathedral in Palma. If you look to the left, you can see the
blue waters of the Mediterranean

This is a Gaudí design in the cathedral 

Parts of the cathedral were very strange. This almost
looked like cave paintings

Day two of my Mallorca trip involved some beautiful sights that were like nothing I had ever seen before. My group had the opportunity to take a boat to an island called the Isla de Cabrera which was one hour off of the coast of Mallorca. The island is a national park in Spain so it is very well preserved. Only one family actually lives there, and I wasn't even allowed to throw away my apple core! We took a rocky boat ride through the turquoise waters to get to the island that left me feeling a little queasy, but the feeling quickly left when I set foot onto the beautiful park. We met up with a guide that led us on a short hike up to the castle on top of the hill. I guess the island was used for military reasons in the past, and there are some french soldiers buried there from when Napoleon controlled Spain. The views from the top were crazy cool, and on the way down we took a different route that led us to the beach. The boat tour included lunch, so we were fed a lovely paella lunch on the shore. In typical Spanish fashion, when we got back to Mallorca our bus was running late---like almost two hours late, but we had the beach and made the best of it. My interest group leader Cristina taught us the spanish equivalent of dodgeball, and I am still confused about the rules. There was something about getting out you had one chance to throw and hit the other team to save yourself...none of us really knew, we just went along with it and of course Cristina's team won!

Here is the cute little port where we caught our boat

Here I am with my friends Sara and Kim during the boat ride. We eventually
turned around to hang over the edge and ride with our feet in the water

Here is the castle we hiked up to

This is a cemetery where soldiers are buried

Here I am sitting on a castle perched on a cliff
on the Mediterranean

This was my view sitting on the beach all afternoon

Down the beach from our hotel was this giant bar/amusement park/club/I don't even know that was all German run. As a group, we spent our last night first having drinks with our feet in the sand, and later taking a trip to the infamous Mega Park. It was so fun to go out and dance with all of my friends, even if I didn't know any of the German songs. Lucky for us, at the end of the night with our tummies rumbling, we stumbled upon a little hut that sold Bratwurst! Only in Germany...or Mallorca...or whatever country I was in! Anyways, I am so glad I gave into the Janssen Father's Day tradition and tried a brat this past summer, or I would have been missing out! It had this curry sauce on it and it was hot and yummy! I guess you can say that the typical "Mallorca" food is anything from bratwurst to wiener schnitzel. Good thing I didn't plan a trip to Germany this semester, Mallorca did the trick just fine! 

Waking up on our last morning in Mallorca was relaxing because we had the entire day to just relax without any tours or obligations. Good thing the hotel was just a five minute walk from the beach. I grabbed my towel, book, sunscreen and snacks and set up shop for the day. The weather was absolutely perfect and the beach had views of the mountains and the blue water still never ceased to amaze me! With a late flight, getting back to Sevilla was a little rough, especially after waiting for the airport bus for an hour to get me back to my apartment. But after a weekend in paradise I couldn't complain---well I do have one complaint: nobody wanted to go to Rafael Nadal's home town with me! He grew up a half hour away from where I was staying! It was cool to see where he came from, because everyone was so friendly and relaxed. I wasn't too upset because I of course knew his schedule before hand and he was in Barcelona for a tournament. So I guess I will just have to wait a little more for our paths to finally cross! 

This pretty much sums up my last day on the island paradise

So now I am just casually watching Champions League soccer and listening to horses trot along outside my window. Sevilla has been turned into a whole new world for Feria, and I am lucky enough to have the whole week to enjoy it! 

God created some beautiful things :)