Our last adventure of the year is underway! Friday afternoon we left from Valencia to come to Mallorca, the largest of the Balearic Islands, part of Spain, in the Mediterranean. We took off on our flight and reached altitude in about 15 minutes. As soon as the plane leveled out, we began our descent. The whole flight was barley over half an hour! When we landed, we retrieved our one checked bag and took a taxi to the address indicated by our host on AirBnB. After a few minutes of wandering around, we eventually called him and he waved from the terrace of our apartment. He gave the boys a few suggestions on paddle board rentals and recommended some good beaches to along the coast. It's so great now that we can speak Spanish because it makes interactions like this so much easier. We settled in and then headed out to the grocery store, just a two-minute walk away, for some provisions. Dinner included mashed potatoes, broccoli, and fri-chick supplied by Ryan's parents when they came out to visit. It was delicious and a very relaxing Friday night!

{blog title credit goes to Ryan with his facebook caption "moped madness" ... THANK YOU RYAN!!!!}
This morning started with tepid showers and delicious breakfast burritos made my Justin and Shannon. We weren't sure what we wanted to do today but we wanted to see some more of the island besides our little town of Platja. Right below our piso is a bike/moto/car rental shop so we decided to check out the prices for mopeds for the day. The problem was that only some of us brought our driver's licenses from the States and without them, you can't rent anything. Car rentals at the airport require International Driver's Licenses, but as we asked questions we also found out there were cars for rent with just a States license. I wasn't too keen on the idea of driving a moped for long distances since I have never driven any kind of motored bike before, so I asked her about their car rentals. We ended up with a moped for Justin and Shannon, another moped for Jaci and Jon, and then a car for me to drive with Josh and Ryan. 

I was so excited to drive again even though I haven't for almost 9 months! Luckily they had automatics for rent and it had plenty of space for our bags an the moped helmets when we stopped at beaches. We headed down the road, stopped for a little gas, and then caravanned along to our first beach, Cala Blava where we went to Caló Fort.
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Aparently hubcaps are just too much to ask for.
The island is pretty easy to navigate, and the moped rental lady gave Justin a map and some instructions on getting to beaches. The vespas weren't the fastest but we weren't in any rush and we were perfectly content in the car at any speed. Driving here was really no different than driving in the States at all and I enjoyed it immensely. It probably would have been possible to rent a car first thing in the morning and drive around most of the island in time to return back at eight. If we had a few more days here I'd love to do just that, but for today the amount was perfect and everyone enjoyed their vespa experience as well.
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Our route of the day.
The first beach was beautiful but the water was full of jellyfish so we couldn't swim. I didn't mind though because I had never seen so many at once in the ocean, and they were so pretty and pink! They just drifted in and out so even wading in was a bit risky. We spent a little time taking photos and exploring before heading to the next beach. 
The farthest point we went to was Cala Pi, an inlet connected to a canyon with a river. It was so beautiful! The beach was nice to but it was beginning to get a little cloudier and the vespa-riders were a little chilly from the drive. The water in the cove was so blue and the cliffs on either side were beautiful. The area was a little touristy but very small with just a few restaurants and one or two shops. Parking was easy to find and there were no big crowds. As we left we saw this lookout point and tower and took a few more photos before heading back. 
We made it back for dinner around five and afterwards Jon took me out on the moped since I only drove the car today. It was so much fun and I felt perfectly safe since I didn't have to drive. We returned all our transportation devices before eight and then ran into our host outside the apartment. He talked to us about what we did today, how our studies in Spain are going, and made arrangements for check-out tomorrow. Everyone on Mallorca has been so friendly! The lady with the rentals was also really friendly and was always calling us "cariño" which is a term of endearment in Spanish. I also noticed that the grocery store lady kept calling everyone "cariño" or even "amor," which makes me feel like maybe I'm in the Missouri of Spain. Hey hon, you wanna rent this moped? Only 25 dollas the whole day! Think about it sugar! I guess we have strange nicknames in all languages.
It was a successful day on the island and I'm really excited to see what more tomorrow! We head back to school in the evening which gives us the morning to hit up the beach or Palma before the airport. I'm so glad we decided to do this random trip; kudos to Jon and Shannon for coming up with this idea! I'm so glad we all get to spend the weekend together on this lovely island!
Sheri Seibold
5/12/2013 02:34:55 pm

The beached jelly and my cute Shelby, love those! What a fun and beautiful quick trip to end the wonderful school year. So, so glad you kids got to go and take in one more beautiful, little island. And you got to drive in Europe, that was unexpected too!

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