Happy New Year, Bunnies! (2011 Highlights)

Here we are at the end of 2011, the year I started this travel blog.  Looking back at this past year, I wish I'd written a bit more about my travels but am happy with most of what I did write and am thrilled with my 2011 travel experiences.  Starting the year on the steps of Sacré Coeur in Paris and ending it somewhere in Rome, 2011 has been an amazing travel year for me and below are some of the highlights.

Best Travel Experience: Sóller to Deià

Outside castle ruins, Baden-Baden

Best Travel Moment: Stumbling upon a beer serving cafe mid-hike in Baden-Baden, and then another one outside the castle ruins, and another one inside them.

Most Disappointing Travel Experience: Brighton, England 

Most Challenging Travel Experience: We've had a few bad experiences with landlords this year.  Both in Paris and London, our experiences were dodgy and trying and our current Dundee landlord is non-responsive. Happily, having learned from our experiences, we're enjoying a lovely relationship with our current landlord here in Rome.

Most Rewarding Travel Experience: Spending 19 glorious days in Mallorca with no money, proving money isn't necessary when surrounded by a beautiful beach on the Mediterranean.

I have a few travel dates set aside for 2012 (April, June, July/August, December) and only one confirmed destination (Baltimore).  I'll be chasing cheap fares for the other dates and am looking forward to sharing those experiences with you.  Until then, happy new year, bunnies!

Sóller to Deià

The only place in Mallorca 1,000 Places To See Before You Die mentions is a hotel in Deià, a small town on the north side of the island.  The book also mentions that 'an old mule track provides a delightful three-hour trek through mountainside lemon and olive groves to the nearby village of Sóller' and, although we have no interest in going out of our way to see a posh hotel, a 'delightful three-hour trek' has our names written all over it.

On Day Nine of our recent trip to Mallorca we awoke early to catch the morning bus to Sóller from Port d'Alcudia, an almost three-hour trek all of its own.  Weaving through the mountains and occasionally stopping in adorable little hamlet villages to drop off or pick up backpackers and/or locals, the drive provided us with amazing vistas of the Mediterranean Sea as well as the Serra de Tramuntana mountains.  The drive was breathtaking.

We arrived in Sóller just before noon and were almost instantly smitten with our surroundings.  Situated gorgeously in the Serra de Tramuntana mountains, Sóller is a delicious little town and, although it possesses a few tourist attractions (a scenic train to Palma (€10/€17), a trolley to the port area (€4), etc.), Sóller felt very authentic and we loved every bit of it.  If we ever go back to Mallorca, Sóller is where we'd like to stay.

Our plan upon arriving in Sóller was to promptly begin our hike to Deià and then grab the bus back to Sóller in time for the last scenic train to Palma at 6:30pm.  We did linger in Sóller for a bit longer than originally planned but, after getting our instructions from the tourist information outlet and finding the train station, we made our way to the trailhead without further delay.

The 'old mule track' was very well maintained and of moderate difficulty.  The picturesque tiered olive groves and occasional views of the Med beyond the jagged mountain peaks made the effort worthwhile by themselves and, accompanied by the sounds of bells around the necks of grazing sheep, this truly was an idyllic experience.

Although we highly recommend this hike we would not recommend it during peak season.  Our experience would've been vastly different had it been crowded and the trail, at times quite narrow, is not meant for high occupancy.

Due to our excessive picture taking, the walk took us almost four hours to complete, which meant we didn't have any time to spend in Deià before catching the bus back to Sóller.  But, from what little we saw of Deià and the posh hotel mentioned in my book we don't think we missed much and were happy to get back to Sóller.

Our excursion from Sóller to Deià, including the morning bus ride from Port d'Alcudia, had been a perfect way to spend the day and remains the highlight of our three weeks on Mallorca.

Mallorca For Less Than €22 A Day (per person)

Mike & I enjoyed a 19-day beach vacation to Port d'Alcudia, Mallorca in Spain earlier this month.  Our budget was non-existent because this trip was a surprise, meaning we had no holiday savings and any money spent would be out of our personal savings, which goes towards essentials like Mike's tuition and rent.  Thus, we tried to do as much as we could with as little as possible while still enjoying ourselves and not allowing our limited funds to hinder our experience.

We found a screaming deal on our hotel, Bellevue Club, at Booking.com.  Bellevue Club is a resort with several pools and several buildings, a bit off the strip in Port d'Alcudia but with balconies and kitchenettes and only €405 for all 18 nights (self-catering).  We had originally wanted to stay in Port de Pollensa, so for this great deal we had to sacrifice on location, but not by much.  Port d'Alcudia was only a short €3 return bus ride away from Port de Pollensa.  Happily, it turned out we liked Port d'Alcudia more than we liked Port de Pollensa, so the sacrifice wound up being well worth it.

We spent €121 on dining out and €158 on groceries.  We ate a lot of chorizo and baguette lunches and alcohol was amazingly cheap at €1.09 for 1.5l sangria and less than €5 for 70cl of vodka and whiskey.  Our dinners were variations of rice, chorizo, anchovies, sardines, and pasta.  Mike is a great cook and had us eating quite well during our stay especially given the simple ingredients.  We did manage to eat out a few times, enjoying tapas for my birthday (€20), doner kebabs twice (€30), and burgers for Mike's birthday (€22).  We also discovered carne empanadas, which we will crave often, and enjoyed them thrice (€9), each time from a different bakery.

We spent €97 on travel, mostly on intercity buses.  The bus ride to Soller was much more than we expected, €19 for two single tickets.  On that day we also spent €20 for two single scenic train tickets to Palma from Soller, €3 for two single bus tickets from Deia to Soller (we hiked to Deia, a lovely three hour walk), and €11 for two single bus tickets from Palma back to Port d'Alcudia.  That was our most expensive day and didn't even include any food since we had packed our meals (chorizo and baguette).

Other costs were €15 for a dos personas kayak rental for an hour, €5 for internet access (our room did not include internet), and €6 for flip flops for Mike (he didn't have any and they are required for a beach vacation).

All told, we spent €807 over our 19 days in Mallorca, which works out to €21.83 per person per day.  We had a great time and didn't really feel hindered by our budget much.  However, we would've enjoyed renting a car for a day to explore the rest of the island and renting bikes at least once during our stay.  We had wanted to SUP on the Med but, surprisingly, there weren't any SUP boards available for hire and we only saw one person even attempting it.  We rented the kayak to at least get out on the water and it proved sufficient but SUP-ing on the Med is still on my wish list.