On Friday, we ditched the city slicking life of Palma and headed out for my first weekend at the house in Alcúdia on the north east side of the island. It was a special weekend for the family not only because I was staying with them but cos their relatives from France had also come over for the week to see them.
I must admit first of all that Alcúdia is VERY beautiful. To think that it only takes a 35/45 minute drive out of Palma till you get to this paradise is something I find hard to believe.
We arrived at the house in the early evening and after meeting with the French rellies, Simó took me on a bike ride to show me around the area while the sun was setting with a kind of purple/pink/orange haze in the sky. I really wish I got a picture of it to show you all how incredible it was! maybe another time *touches wood*...
Dinner that night was a traditional Spanish paella cooked up in a massive pan (no idea what they're called yet, need to look that up) which continued to be the main dish at all the other lunches and tea times throughout the rest of the weekend. The whole weekend was particularly interesting from a linguistic perspective due to the sheer mix of cultures in the house in which a total of 4 different languages were spoken amongst us: Catalan, Spanish, French and English. This made communication at times confusing as I found I would be speaking to someone in one language then would have to quickly switch into another language to speak to someone else but overall I spoke a lot more French than Spanish in honour of the majority of our guests. I didn't mind this personally as I had worried before I came out to Mallorca thatI would forget all the French I'd learnt due to being in a Spanish speaking environment so it made for a nice change. Marta's mum (Lourdes) has picked up that I speak French and now when she comes around to the flat she'll speak to me in French. must say I wasn't expecting that!
Saturday started off lazily and I managed to lie-in till 11:30AM. I've found that due to their late nights the Spaniards live like teenagers tending to wake up a bit later than the average Brit which suits me perfectly. For those of you who know me, I'm not a morning person at all! Once we were all up we headed off to have lunch at a Sports centre (seems weird, I know!) in the nearby town of Sa Pobla with some more family members. Another big paella was served up and I met Núria, Mireia and Marga, just a few of Marta's cousins who are around my age. Despite the fact the fact I don't speak any Catalan, we managed to get on well and Núria has agreed to meet with me again this weekend in Sa Pobla. I'd say the only negative to my current situation in Mallorca is that I don't know many people out here who are around the same age as me so I hope I can meet up with them again. After lunch in Sa Pobla, I headed out with Pau (Marta's brother), his girlfriend Silvia and Eleanor (the youngest of the French inquisition) to Pollenca, a small in-land town just north of Alcúdia. We met up once more with the French relatives and had a walk around the town, appreciating the small arts and crafts shops and the aged buildings of the town which gave you the impression you'd leaped about 80 years back in time. As my brother Ethan would say it is a very 'classic' town and I'd recommend it to anyone wishing to visit Mallorca. That evening I went into the centre of Alcúdia with Marta, Josep, Pau, Silvia and Eleanor to an Irish pub to have a bit of drink and play a few games of table football-fussball to all the Americans out there- as well as darts. Can't say I've felt homesick so far but it all made me feel like I was back home as I was able to drink Guinness and Cider which is very rare across the whole of Spain.
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| FOOD OF THE WEEK: Paella for Saturday's lunch in Sa Pobla |
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| Me with Silvia and Pau in the centre of Pollenca |
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| wish we had the time to climb up this, would've been a great view! |
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| The beach we went to on Sunday, look how blue the water is! |
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| La Seu Cathedral |
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| Me with what Pau said is the oldest tree in the whole of Palma, apparently... |
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| El Palacio Real |
Overall, I had a very good first weekend out in Alcúdia and althought I feel like I've eaten enough paella to fill a small sea, I gained a lot from it all. Silvia, who is originally from Bilbao, expressed interest in having a language exchange with me which I've agreed to and I hope we can start up once she gets back from Bilbao where she has been throughout this week. As mentioned, I've made plans to meet up with Núria at the weekend and today I was presented with the possibility of another language exchange with Simó's school music teacher which I hope to organise soon. The schools strike that I talked about in my last post is still going on with the kids in and out of school this week but Marta has told me negotiations between the pressure group Plataforma Crida and the government have opened so hopefully it will end soon so I can establish some kind of routine. There is going to be another big protest on Sunday which most of the island will be attending including ourselves so I expect I'll have something to say about that. In the short term I am heading out tonight to another Irish pub in Palma tonight to celebrate Arthur Guinness day. I'M WINNING!
FP
#FraserOnTour
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| Found this on the Sunday walk to the beach. Gotta love Spanish graffiti |
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