19.02.2023 -- #

Catch up post from our vacation to Mallorca and Madrid in October of 2022.

Mallorca

Mallorca the german party island. Or so I’d heard. It was a pleasant surprise on my first trip there to find that was not the case at all that at all. The north and east parts of we visited were all relatively calm and inviting.

For the first part of our stay on the island we headed to the middle, a home base we could make multiple adventures from.

Cas Comte Suites & Spa was perfect. Exposed stone work walls in the bedroom and we had an few hours of the saunas and jacuzzi to ourselves. Highly recommend.

From the top we top we could see out over the dry landscape and planned our adventures for the coast where the outdoors are more hospitable.

We headed north to Sóller where we made three scuba dives (each has it’s own post in the diving log):

When we were not diving we explored local towns like Bunyola.

Eating lunch out we enjoyed local food. Black rice / Paella being one of my favorites.

The over all level of the cuisine was very good. Not every Tapas plate was amazing but I feel local competition really drove up the quality. Way better then eating out in Munich. These tacos for example were crazy good.

Besides diving we also visited some stoney beaches along the north shore for some snorkeling.

getting in the water

After one of our beach adventures we visited Valldemossa for dinner and a walk though town.

On one of our drives back from Sóller we took a mountain road. Just as the sun was setting we captured some amazing views. The rocky landscape under in the twilight was worth some exploration.

cloud river

We even attempted some tennis after diving to mixed success. We felt fine while playing but that night the exhaustion of scuba plus tennis was intense.

Side note we didn’t have photo of us both in frame playing tennis so I worked some photoshop skills to add Masha to make one photo 😅.

After serval days of staying in the middle we moved housing east to do some more dives. This time out of Pollenca.

Dives 29 and 30 both in caves (each with there own dive log post)!

After a wonderful week diving and exploring Mallorca we headed out to Madrid.

Madrid

A packed city at the hight of Halloween / Día de Todos los Santos crowds still had a lot to offer. We explored some lessor known art exhibits, museums, coffee culture, and amazing food.

Renting bikes and scooters make for easy way to get around the city. It got a little out of hand when we rolled down streets with New York city time square level crowds but it was still fun.

On the art side we saw fashion pieces by Sybilla. Not being a top top fame level designer the work seems under appreciated.

We also came across a series of Japanese garments (artist reference lost).

After some art we stopped by a cafe and happen upon a poster for a filter coffee event happening on the edge of the city the following day.

Masha is super deep into coffee you can read more about her exploits on her site.

At the festival they had booths from different rosters and equipment manufactures. Highlight for me was the Aeropress competition. Whether or not the contestants arms were shaking from to much caffeine and pressure of everyone watching them I still don’t know.

The Madrid food culture is amazing. They have everything. We went to a restaurant featured on the Netflix series Better Feed Phil. Not sure what have us away, fanny pack…, but they recognized we were from out of town and knew we came because of the show. Anyway food was decent.

The highlight for me was Sala De Despiece. Small plate fine dining at 75% the cost of something similar in Munich.

We also made a day trip out of the city to near by Toledo. It was nice but touristy.

On our last night we hit up a night market ate various tapas. Somehow even those it was packed we escaped without contracting covid again 🙏.

We just touched the surface of the culture and gastronomy to explore in Madrid. Looking forward to going back.

Natives Card Game

Through out the trip we enjoyed a card game borrowed from Masha’s sister.

“Natives is a card game, where each player take a role of tribe leader, guiding his tribe to prosperity through clever management of resources.” source

Not sure how politically correct the title but the game is quite fun. You can find a strategy that fits you. Such as focusing more on collecting the big point bisons or simply farming corn and working on shaman abilities.

\- [ holiday, spain ]