One evening in a London pub, I told Katie I wanted to plan a trip for the entire family to celebrate my retirement. I had Mallorca in mind. Katie had been there several years ago and she gave the idea her stamp of approval. We rented a beautiful five bedroom, six bath villa with a large pool just above the town which fit all of us perfectly.
Villa Majestic
Valldemossa is a small town of about 2,000 nestled in the mountains at about 1,600 feet above sea level. Our week in July was in the mid to high 80's, the humidity was low and there wasn't a cloud in the sky the entire week! The villa is a 10-minute walk into town or a two-minute drive. The town, with its narrow lanes, is quaint and not surprisingly, caters to tourists. Its claim to fame is that Chopin and his partner George Sand lived there one winter. There is even a Chopin museum in town.
Many of the houses in town had plaques such as the ones below. Most were religious, but some weren't.
That's Katie and our son Andy and daughter-in-law Valerie walking into town. We stocked up at a Carrefour, a huge, Costco-type grocery store in Palma on our way up to Valldemossa, but there's a little grocery store in the center of Valldemossa that got a lot of our business.
Andy celebrated his birthday the week we were there. We drove up to Sóller, a bigger town about 30 minutes from Valldemossa. The winding route clutching the western edge of Mallorca above the Mediterranean was beautiful, but a little unnerving on the turns. It wasn't until after we arrived that we found out that there's an alternate route a little more inland that bypasses the hairpin curves. We took it on the way back; live and learn!
Sóller is larger than Valldemossa and it boasts a charming little tram that goes down to the port. We celebrated Andy's birthday at a beachside restaurant in the port and toyed with the idea of taking the tram from the center of town. In the end, we drove down, but now I know why people take the tram; it took us at least a half an hour to find a parking space! The port is lovely and we had a good birthday lunch.
This is the tram which goes right through the main square in town. Very quaint!
The port is beautiful and was lively on a warm summer day
This is us enjoying Andy's birthday lunch, our grandson Ford giving a hearty thumbs up for the beach and the tram arriving at the port.
When Katie was in Valldemossa a few years ago, she visited the Macià Batle winery. It's just under a 30-minute drive southeast of Valldemossa in the tiny town of Santa Maria del Camí. She liked it so much that she and I along with our daughter-in-law Valerie did a wine tasting there. They have delicious whites, rosés and reds plus other products such as olive oil, pepper jelly and rubs. It was a fun excursion and a great way to see another part of the island.
There were many fun hours spent by and in the pool!
And playing Euchre, or just enjoying each other's company.
The first clouds we saw appeared on our last evening and added an ethereal quality to the beautiful terrain. During the week, we ventured out a bit, but most of our time was spent enjoying enjoying our time together at the villa and it couldn't have been a better week!