Trip Reports Home | My Trip Reports | Create Trip Report | Recent Reports | Search Trip Reports

Report 817: Mallorca - The Centre of the Mediterranean

By JulieC from Cheshire, Summer 2005

Trip Description: An account of part of our family's ongoing voyage, traveling very slowly around the mediterranean seas.

Destinations: Countries - Spain; Regions/Cities - Other Spain Region

Categories: Art Trip; Sightseeing; Independent Travel; 3-4 people; Adults and Teens; Adults and Young Children

Page 1 of 6: July 16th - Arrival in Mallorca

July 16th. We continue on our slow voyage around the Mediterranean. My husband left Britain over two months ago and has sailed across the Bay of Biscay with friends and down the coast of Portugal to Gibraltar, where I joined him with our three children. The children will miss two months of school, so have brought work to complete, sent by their teachers. We have visited the smallest ports of the Spanish coast, the Balearic Islands of Ibiza and Formentera and are now about to sail to Mallorca, the largest of the Balearic Islands.

The sail from our small rocky bay in Ibiza to the bustling port of Andratx is everything a Mediterranean night sail should be. We cut through the silky black sea, warm wind on our faces, and set the sails for Mallorca. With only the distant lights of the fishing boats for company, we take turns to keep watch under the stars.

We arrive in Andratx at 7am, and head for the fabled “town quay”. On an island where the most obscure and down-at-keel marina is gaspingly expensive, we have heard that the town quay facilities are the best way on Mallorca to get a reasonably priced berth, though with few or no facilities. The town quays are the original harbours, built for the local fishing boats and occasional visitor. Nowadays, huge purpose-built marinas dominate the coasts of the western Mediterranean, usually with better facilities but with charges to match. But it’s our lucky day, with a little bit of gentle pushing we’re in. We never meet anybody who has successfully reserved their berth in Spain, either by ship’s radio or telephone, to turn up and take a chance seems the only way.

Trip Report Pages

July 16th - Arrival in Mallorca

Andratx - Still a Fishing Community

Andratx and the Procession of La Virgen del Carmen

Valldemosa and Puerto Valldemosa

Porto Colom and Pollensa

New Friends and Thunderstorms

Resources

Resources are on the last page of the trip report.

Print

Printable version

Car Rental	Hotel Booking	Flight Booking	Train Tickets	Books, Maps, Events
Europe Cell Phones	Long Distance Cards	Luggage, etc.	Travel Insurance	Classifieds

* Advertise on Slow Travel | Post your travel questions on the Slow Travel Forums