Mallorca 2009 Chapter 8

MALLORCA

Chapter 8

Friday 23rd October.

The inclement weather of earlier in the week persisted, after a brief break when we had our last outing, until the wind had reached gale force strength and the Mediterranean Sea no longer resembled a lake of silvery sparkling water but was more like something whipped up by a very angry giant wielding a vast egg-beater! From the apartment we can look out over the sea, and a little way off shore is a small island called Isla de Toro, which has a lighthouse perched on one side of it. It is really little more than a large rock jutting out of the sea, probably about 30 meters at it’s highest point. Well, at the height of the storm and winds, the waves were crashing right over the top which made for some spectacular sights. Not very good for sight-seeing though and on one day we were so cold that we stayed in bed until the working folk on the island were about to knock off for their lunch and siesta.
On Thursday Dave and Cynthia returned from their brief stay in England buoyed up by having seen their friends and in Dave’s case, by having made some progress in his research into the family history. The weather cleared just long enough to get them back here again before the fiercest part of the storm began. It really didn’t matter though as the four of us had lots to catch up on and to compare notes about what we had been doing.
This morning we had a bit of shopping to do locally and then we took Dave and Cynthia to Port d’Andratx just for a look around. I am glad we saw it the other day as it had suffered quite badly in the storm. Obviously the waves had crashed right over the front and into some of the quayside restaurants bringing all sorts of floating debris with it. When we got there, Operation Clean-up was under way, but in all of the restaurants it was still ‘Business as usual’!

Saturday 24th October

After assessing the predicted weather, we had decided that Saturday could possibly be a good day to do the train trip from Palma to Soller, and we were right! It turned out to be a beautiful day with clear sunny skies and no breeze to speak of. The planned trip was relatively complicated (for us) and entailed going by car to Santa Ponca, where we could park in the all day free parking; then catching a bus to Palma which would deposit us at the station; then by vintage train to Soller near the north-western coast of the island and then finally by old-fashioned electric tram down to the port. Wow!
Although the various forms of transport run fairly frequently, there are quite large gaps in the time-table and as we didn’t want to waste a moment of time, we were all up and ready to go by eight o’clock – for us, REALLY early! We gathered our belongings, trooped down to the garage and climbed into the car. But when Neels turned the switch, there was just a dull clunk and we were obviously not going anywhere in a hurry. Finally after trying a few tricks to get the car to start, the rest of us climbed out and pushed and Neels managed to start it on the slope down to the road. Fortunately this little episode had not made us late, and we parked the car in the free parking as planned, knowing for a fact, that it would not start when we returned.
The bus stop was just around the corner and within minutes our number 102 bus arrived. The passengers boarded and we were off! We hadn’t realized, but the 102 is the express bus which goes straight into Palma without stopping, and at that time of the morning, with little other traffic on the road, we whizzed along at a tremendous speed. My only regret was that, being so high up, we were able to see over walls that we had previously driven alongside, and I would have loved to have gone a little slower to enjoy all this extra view.
At the bus terminus, all the busses park underground and once we had re-emerged into the outside world, we had no idea which way was up or which way to go to the train station. Standing right there though, was a young fellow who looked like a student and since most young people can speak some English, we asked him where to go. He really must have thought we were the dimmest of dim old people that he had met, because in the end he took us to the gate, and it was right next door! We had been expecting to walk down to the end of the road or something similar. The train to Soller has been running since 1912 and although there are other commuter trains on the island, the authorities have seen fit to preserve the old trains and the station in their original condition, right next to the modern trains. Even the station café has old-fashioned looking furniture in it, so because we were now at least an three-quarters of an hour early, we sat and had a cup of coffee under the rustling palm trees. After a while the ticket office opened and we bought our tickets and wandered off to the train. We had heard that it carries 350 passengers and wondered how full it would be. It turned out to be very full. Perhaps being a Saturday and beautiful weather had something to do with it.
The train takes about an hour and a quarter to cover the 28 kms of track and proceeds at a rattling, clattering, creaking, groaning and swaying pace. The old wood-panelled coaches have upholstered seats which are barely big enough for two adults, and watching the coach ahead is an almost scary thing as it bounces around on the track and sways violently from side to side. There was only one real stop to take on passengers but we did have a few stops to wait for oncoming trains to pass and one stop in particular to be able to get out and admire the view. There are also 14 tunnels on the way, the longest being about three kilometers long with a slight rise in the middle of the tunnel. It is a strange sensation to feel oneself chugging uphill for a while, in the dark, and then start running down hill again. On the outward journey, one could feel the tension rising in the coach as the train roared along going faster and faster through the dark tunnel; the noise almost deafening; until we suddenly burst out into the sunshine again and everyone started clapping spontaneously.
When we got to Soller, it was market day, so we just had to go for a wander through the stalls. Soller also is the home of the island’s best-known ice-cream factory, which makes forty flavours of ice-cream, so we had to try one of those too. We wandered into the big old church and around the narrow cobbled streets for a while and then, as it was nearly lunch time, we thought it time to do the last leg of the journey and catch the tram for the last two kilometers down to the sea. The trams are ex-San Fransisco trams and are also rattling, clanging, banging affairs, with open sides and wooden slatted seats. They travel very slowly but are such fun to go in. They start near the station and then travel through the centre of town, through the town square and down the narrow streets and none of the locals take very much notice at all.
Port de Soller is pretty much like every other seaside place around here, except that for the first time, we came across a non-sandy beach. Well, perhaps that isn’t quite fair – there is sand but not of the usual beach variety – it looks more like garden sand and is a strange reddish brown colour. But the yachts were there in their dozens, neatly moored in the marina, all gleaming and shiny with the halyards slapping gently against the masts, while along the jetty, people sat at shady tables, eating drinking or just relaxing. Along the road behind the jetty were the normal array of souvenir shops which are always worth looking at and we spent a pleasant couple of hours there.
The day was still not over, however, as there was the tram trip back to Soller; the train trip back to Palma; then the bus back to Santa Ponca where our dead car was waiting for us! Sadly, the fairies had not miraculously fixed it in our absence, but we found a helpful young man to add his muscles to ours and we push started it again and drove home, getting back at about 8.30 pm.
Once home, Neels phoned the car-hire company (again) and was told to phone the emergency number. He did that and explained that all the car needed was a new battery, but shortly a breakdown truck arrived, loaded the car on to the back and off it went. An hour later, however, it was back again, off loaded and put away in the garage again, still in the same condition! We couldn’t establish why this happened, but were told to phone the car-hire company again this morning, which we did and a short while later, the same break-down truck arrived, this time with another car on the back which they off-loaded and left with us, taking the ‘dead’ one away with them. So now we are on car number five! Here’s holding thumbs that it lasts us until we leave!