Travel adventures - Mallorca - Part 4
Today I'll take you through the hottest day we had in Mallorca. All day we were on our way to the beach and we finally arrived there at 6 PM 😊 We went for a swim, had a drink and enjoyed this beautiful sunset.
Samsung Galaxy S7
How come that we didn't get to the beach earlier? Let's start from the beginning..
Today we planned to go to Puerto de Sóller and enjoy a day on a beach. We wanted to make a quick stop in the town of Sóller before going there. Based on our calculations we should arrive on the beach at 1 PM. That was our plan - a good plan! But we usually have difficulties to stick to our plans 😊
On the way to Sóller we were driving through Bunyola. Look at this charming view! We couldn't just drive through this town without taking some pictures. And this is how our 'delay' started!
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Bunyola
Bunyola is a very quiet, charming and traditional town that lies partly in the Sierra de Tramuntana mountains. The municipality of this town has ten mountains with the highest of these being Rateta at 1118 metres and the lowest being Puig de S´Estremera at 277 metres. It is truly a beautiful scenery.
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Bunyola doesn't really participate in tourist developments that have taken place throughout the rest of the island and is one of the few untouched Mallorcan villages that still exist.
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We parked our car on the top of the hill and walked back down to the city. I've noticed that the grass made its way through one of the stone stairs. The nature is so strong!
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We were walking towards the main square with its few bars and shops. You can already see it in the back of the photo. Can you see the first open gate on the left?
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This is how it looks like inside - peeking through the gate 😊
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The main square is dominated by the baroque church of Saint Mateu.
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After our walk we sat down in one of the restaurants located on the main square and ordered some water. The waitress didn't understand us, went back inside and after a few seconds she came back followed by one customer who was supposed to translate. His English was not good either, but he helped us and we were able to order our beverages. It would be easier if she would learn a few phrases in English but at least we had some entertainment for free 😊
There was also a bus stop next to the main square. While we were sitting there (for about one hour) only one bus came to the town. Three people got off the bus and no one stepped into the bus. This is a very quiet place!
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At the time when we were leaving Bunyola we were supposed to be already lying on the beach based on our initial plan. We both love the local atmosphere, so we were in no hurry and of course the sea would be still there later in the afternoon.
Sóller
Within 15 minutes we arrived in the town of Sóller. We were greeted by these sculptures.
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The parking is very close to the city center so it didn't take us too long to reach the main square - Plaza de la Constitución. Sóller is considered one of the most beautiful towns in Mallorca. And it was the busiest town that we visited there.
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There is a vintage tram that is linking the town with the port. It clunks its way regularly through this splendid square.
We didn't go for a ride as the waiting queue was way too long and mainly in the direct sunshine and we anyway prefer to walk around.
The beautiful main square Plaça Constitució is dominated by the Church of Sant Bartomeu.
Its interior is beautiful but very dark! The entrance fee is EUR 1 and the collected funds are used for the reconstruction of the church.
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My favorite part was to walk towards the altar, and then turn for a view of the chandelier, organ and luminous rose window.
This is the church from the other side. It is one of the most impressive buildings that I've ever seen.
It was first built in the 13th century. A Baroque structure was added in the late 17th century and the modernist facade was created in 1904 by the architect Joan Rubió , an ex-pupil of Gaudi. Its Gothic interior has been preserved, but Rubió gave it a beautiful modernist facade.
Even if you are not religious it is worth a visit. The side chapels are very dark, but you still can admire their beauty. The high altar is magnificent. The interior is very surprising for such a small church. It looks like a small cathedral.
If you've been reading my posts then you know that we couldn't leave the town without exploring its streets and the church helped us to get back to the parking slot as we couldn't find our way. It is visible from all places across the town 😊
The narrow streets are lined with traditional style residential townhouses with the famous green Mallorcan shutters.
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The streets of Sóller are so narrow that you would expect one - way traffic. Well this is not always the case. I wonder what you do when you come across another car here.
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The wealth and beautiful architecture of Sóller and the surrounding area were built on the success of the local orange and lemon trees.
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We wanted to get the best photos of the mountains around us so we walked and walked and walked until we realized that we were already on the way to a village next door! 😊 Time to turn around and go back!
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On the way back to the town.
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The nature in Mallorca is truly fascinating.
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I would also like to grow a couple of palm trees like this in my backyard 😊 This bring back a memory that I have from the first day in Mallorca. We were walking to the beach and the street was lined with palm trees. Their leaves were regularly cut, and their form resembled pineapples. There was a couple with a girl that was about 3 years old. She kept saying: Daddy look, pineapple trees. He would say: No honey, these are palm trees. And it was like this all the time: Pineapple trees! No, palm trees! Pineapple trees! No, palm trees! I couldn't stop laughing. She was too cute 😊
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Here is another photo of me taking photos. I guess you know which photo it was, don't you? 😊
I'm so glad that the last photo is focusing on our well deserved cocktails at the end of the day! I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open!
I hope you are not getting bored with our Mallorcan trips yet.
If you like my article feel free to upvote/resteem it or follow me.
All pictures (except of the last two photos which were taken by Samsung Galaxy S7) are taken by my Nikon D3200 AF-S NIKKOR 18-55 mm 1:3.5-5.6 G II
Thank you for reading!
Cheers,
Martina
!steemitworldmap 39.766547 lat 2.715379 long Travel adventures - Mallorca - Part 4 d3scr
I missed you, Martina, and your trips. Finally, I was able to make it here. I hope I can check out your other posts as well.
That beautiful sunset really set the tone for this post and it was quite enjoyable as always. Good thing you stopped by Bunyola. It does look like a quiet place. I think it's okay not to get on board on the tourist industry. It would help in preserving this place. With the help of social media, it is a free promotion anyway. People are always in search for a new place to go and sooner or later, Bunyola could be as touristy as everywhere else.
Church of Sant Bartomeu is impressive. Religious or not, it's always good to visit churches such as that and be amazed by its architecture. Those streets are narrow indeed. Reminds me of some roads we have here. It is one way in most parts that when two cars meet, one has to back up until there is a wide enough space for two cars so one car can give way to the other.
It may be a tiring day but it's all worth it.
That pineapple girl is a cute one lol!
I missed you and your comments Arief! I haven't seen any posts from you lately but I might have missed something so will check it out asap! :)
I also think that it's good that not all places try to be as touristy as possible. It is nice to go somewhere where you can still feel the real life and traditions. Or at least this is what I enjoy the most on traveling.
You are right! We are catholic but we visit all churches that we come across :)
The roads are just TOO narrow. They were not designed for cars. Plus lots of locals drive big strong cars so that they can easily drive in mountains too so it happened that when we were walking there we had to get closer to the wall to let the car pass. Crazy! :)
It was absolutely worth it. Mallorca has so much to offer and I'm happy that we were not only lying on the beach all days.
She was the cutest! When I first heard her I couldn't really understand what she was saying. And when I understood I couldn't stop laughing. I even told her that she was right :D
Thank you for reading and also for putting together another kind comment!
What a great blog of your hottest day, I am not surprised you could hardly keep your eyes open by the time you sat down for cocktails- this was an epic day and all in the beating down sun too! I am amazed at your drive and determination! Those narrow streets were definitely designed for horses or donkeys , not cars! So pretty. the old stone walls are also fabulous in good condition.
The scenery and views are as stunning as ever. Well done for finding such a quiet, not touristy town too, much more interesting in some ways to get a taste of real life on the island.
Another masterpiece of travel blogging thanks Martina, you never cease to impress me.
You know I was telling you before we left that it should be up to 25 and raining. Well, it turns out that the Samsung weather app doesn't work. It was even showing the rain when we were boiling in 38 degrees :D There were moments that I had just about enough. I can't deal very well with the heat and I was getting upset at times.
You are right! Horses and donkeys! I liked Valldemossa because entire city center is car - free. They should have done it everywhere as it is so dangerous. Anytime we were driving through a city we were just praying not to come across a car from the other direction :D
I was surprised that everything is kept so well in Mallorca - buildings and streets are so clean, more than in Switzerland! :)
I will be doing one more post with even quieter places :) I also like the real life of the places and this is why I'm always looking for something non touristy.
Thank you so much dear Sallybeth for stopping by and for your kind words!
Wow! What a beautiful part of the world 😍 I love the old buildings and the landscapes are stunning! All of those mountains everywhere. Incredible. Thanks for taking these beautiful pics and sharing them with us. Makes me feel like I'm there!
Thank you for stopping by Jessica :) I'm glad it makes you feel like you were there! :)
Mallorca seems really great, the perfect combination of green nature and culture with all the churches, statues and beautiful buildings! And that sunset, it's absolutely stunning! 😍 Seems like you had a great day, despite the hot weather!
Thank you for your kind words Jasmin! :) Every day there was a great day! :)
That's a lot of walking on a hot day! I would be exhausted by the end of that, too, but definitely well worth it with all of those beautiful shots! The beach is nice for a bit, however it is even nicer to see all of these other wonderful places all around. That church looks really beautiful.
Thank you for stopping by Katie! You are right! I prefer to see all the places too :)
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nice photos Martina! I can tell it was a hot day, not too many people in the streets =) Enjoy your stay in Mallorca!
Thank you Eve! We're unfortunately back already but we'll go there again soon! :)
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wow... its really cool how clean everything is. People really take pride in their town and that's awesome to see!
Exactly! The streets were even cleaner than in Switzerland 😁
@delishtreats yes its really amazing... nothing like there here is even close... At least not in the regular areas I hang out in
Maybe you should make a post about your surroundings so that I can see how it is there :)
Beautiful. Is it expensive to travel there to Mallorca? I would love to sail there one day.
Thank you for stopping by. The prices are like in Spain. The restaurant prices are reasonable but if you don't want to eat out every day you can get something from the supermarket and this is gonna be cheap. Transportation across the island is cheap too. The entrance fees are usually very low. Overall I didn't find it expensive :)
Thanks for the response. Will have to get there one day.