As well as the Super Yacht Racing at Palma, World Cup fever was taking its grip so we did spend longer in some places than we probably would have just for the fact that some places had better access to watch some of the games.
We headed to Majorca on Friday 15th June 2018, we had to motor for most of the way as there wasn’t a lot of wind. We anchored up for the night in the Baha de Arta which is where Cala Millor is. This is where I had one of my first holidays, when still just a teenager, yes that was a long time ago!
We headed to Palmanova, which is in the next bay to Magaluf. Palmanova is full of bars and restaurants with all your favourite food from home! A bit of a novelty for us. The bay was big and so didn’t get too crowded, but you got the usual jet skis, power boats pulling inflatables, so it could be a bit rolly during the day but settled down fine early evening. It was easy to get to a reasonably sized supermarket too.
We left Palmanova bay to go and watch the start of the racing on the first day. We were able to get up quite close. The boats are so big that they start each one two minutes apart.
After the racing we decided to visit a lovely anchorage by the Ille de Torre, unfortunately a lot of other boats had the same idea. It was the weekend and so is very popular with local day boats too. At one stage I counted over 50 boats. Boats are huddled very closely together which was a bit nerve wracking when bringing up your anchor as the boat in front of us found out when the bow sprit was coming towards them. Ian did ask them if they wanted to move as they were sitting over our chain but they were quite insistent they were staying where they were and it would be OK. The lady on the back had to grab hold of the bowsprit as it came towards her. One guy took his dog over to the shore on a lilo which quite amused me.
We went back to Palmanova after a couple of days as we wanted to watch the England v Panama game. The local sports bar JJ’s was buzzing and the atmosphere was fantastic, particularly everytime England scored and we won!
The buses are very good on the Island and quite reasonably priced. We took the bus to Palma and visited the Cathedral and the Palace. The Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma has one of the largest rose windows in the world and is known as the “Gothic Eye”.
In a corner of the Cathedral was a contemporary art installation by Miquel Barcelo and it was a modern take on the New Testament parable of Jesus feeding the 5000.
The Palace de l’Almudaina, which is opposite the Cathedral, is the official residence of the King and Queen of Spain although they do not tend to stay there. It dates back to the 10th century but was largely demolished by the Christians in the 13th Century and rebuilt.
There is also Belver Castle in Palma which we decided to visit on a different day, however, we were caught out by the Spanish opening hours again. Mondays it’s closed even in the busy tourist season of June! So we had a walk around the old town of Palma instead. The windmills which date back to the 14th century can be found overlooking the sea on Barrio es Jonquet, an old fishing district.
When you go along the bay on the bus the boats sitting in the marinas go on and on and there are lots of very big boats. Apparently there are approx. 3000 berths in the bay.
July 2018
Cuffysark Adventures 