Majorca vacation - day 1

Back in the beginning of June we went on a 4 day vacation to Majorca, Spain. It was such a fantastic trip! Anyone looking for a semi exotic European vacay destination should seriously consider that island.

First things first - couple of facts about Majorca. Majorca, or Mallorca, is one of the Balearic Islands located off the coast of Spain on the Mediterranean Sea. Like the other Balearic Islands of Ibiza, Formentera and Minorca, the island is a highly popular holiday destination, particularly for tourists from the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland and the Scandinavian countries. The name derives from Latin insula maior, "larger island"; later Maiorica, "the larger one" in comparison to Minorca, "the smaller one." First settlements of the island date back to 4-6 thousand years BC. Romans occupied the island in 123 BC. The local economy thrived from olive tree cultivation and salt mining. The island passed from many different rulers and influences, Vandals, Muslims from Iberia, North Africans. Finally in the 13th century it was annexed by Spain. 

We took a direct flight from Geneva to Majorca, only ah hour 10 minutes. Katherine did fabulous on the plane again. It was a little bit of an adventure in itself as our flight was leaving at 7am. We had to get up super early, get everything ready for departure, load the car and the last thing we did was slip K into her car seat and we got going. She was very surprised to be up at such an early hour. She was looking around wit her big eyes and just taking everything in. Luckily take off lined up great with her regular feeding time. She did not really fuss or anything. We fed her on takeoff and up we went.

Once we landed in Palma de Majorca, the capital, we decided to get a rental car and explore the island instead of just paying a fortune for a cab and not getting any additional advantage from that. Rental car you might ask, but what about Katherine's safety? Well we decided to travel with our car seat and snap'n go frame! So we were all ready for using a car!

We got on the road and headed to a port town of Soler, which is a really cool port town on the north coast of the islad. One thing we both came to realize was just how large Majorca was. We were kind of expecting something to the tune of the Cayman Islands or the Bahamas, lots of white sand and palm trees and couple roads across.But Majorca is actually a fairly large island, with moon like rocky mountains and pine forest covering it. Roads wind up and down the hillsides, views of the sea peek through and are just stunningly beautiful. And the ride over from Palma to Soler and then to our resort in Alcudia takes a couple of hours.
But we were in no rush. Katherine was being a good girl on the ride so we just enjoyed the day. We had a lovely leisurely lunch, walked around the port, stopped in some cute gift shops. It was so nice. 

Then we got back on the road and headed to our resort. And let me just say - IT WAS FABULOUS!! Here are some photos. A picture will speak more than a thousand words...

We stayed in one of the suite houses, so we had a nice little living room (like above) and a bedroom attached to it, which was perfect because we could put Katherine to bed in her crib in the living room at 7pm as normal and we could still keep the lights on or watch tv in our room much later. We also had a cool porch right beside the house with a side view of the pool area and we were able to enjoy some nice just us time in the evenings after the Munchkin went to bed. What a treat!
Here is our porch...

It is such a cool resort. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a fun destination in Europe. It is a perfect place for active people and if we were "sans bebe" we would have taken full advantage of all the activities they had to offer, from workout classes, tennis, bike rentals, hiking through the hills, even archery right on site! But since we were "avec bebe" we did our own slow paced thing and loved it anyway. Oh also this was the first time we actually bought an all inclusive package which meant that we ate meals on site at the buffet restaurants (they had 2 or 3) and we LOVED it1 The food was delicious and the variety was amazing! Definitely the right thing to do when you have a munchkin in tow on vacation. Again, before baby we would have ran out and explored nearby towns for places to eat but now this is much more convenient.

More to come...