Beatrix pottering: The Interior, or Plaça Major x 3

I had a go at devising a Car Tour today. Looking at our Rough Guide to Mallorca, I realised we had ticked off various sights in all its sections, except the one about Mallorca's central region. So that was our destination.

We started down the same road Jemima and I had taken to Natura Parc, so I could show Kevin the agricultural interior. Mallorca was looking particularly pretty today: sun, blue skies, green fields liberally sprinkled with the stone tower remains of old windmills, and a lovely soft hazy light over everything. Beautiful.

After about half an hour we had a little detour through the tiny villages of Ses Olleries (one row of ancient honey-coloured stone buildings with green shuttered windows, surrounded by lemon and orange trees - the epitome of rural Mallorca); and then Santa Eugenia, slightly bigger, with a church, on a slight lump sticking out of the flat interior plain (El Pla) - not even enough to call it a hill - which nonetheless gave it gorgeous views over the green interior. Our little detour was on equally little roads - dry-stone wall-lined one laners, where thankfully the only other traffic was cyclists. But it was all very pretty.

After that, it was on to Sineu, the oldest town in the interior, a former stronghold of the Moors, which has been holding its market since 1318. We navigated our way to the heart of the old town and found a parking spot outside the 14th Century Palace of the Kings of Mallorca, now a Convent (I do love an old building with a bit of history - just parking outside it gave me a thrill...). Then we ambled to the Plaça Major for a coffee in the sun.

It was a very attractive square: not too big, enclosed on most sides which gave it a cosy feel, with the church on one corner and little bars and restaurants on the other sides. We found a table in the sun to watch the world go by. The world turned out mainly to be cyclists: by the time we left, there must have been about 40 in the square, including one table of twenty Germans on an "Easy Tour" (sounds like my kind of cycling). It was all very jolly, and the bar/restaurant owners must love them.

Onwards and upwards, literally this time: we got back to the car and drove north through Inca into the foothills of the Serra de Tramuntana. After the last few chilly days, we could see snow scattered over their tips (shocked newspaper headlines: Spring Snow!). Our destination: Caimari, an almost Alpine town with the Pla spreading out below in one direction and the mountains towering behind in another. We had a little wander (a Plaça Major meant for summer days and fiestas, with benches set in the shade of the trees lining it, and a little playpark, but not much else). It was very peaceful - there was not a lot going on - and looked like a very nice place to live, away from the hustle and bustle of the south-west.

Then it was back to the car for our last stop, Campanet, another appealing little town, where our main purpose was lunch. I'd read good things about the restaurants lining the Plaça Major (almost a cross between the first two: a church and little bars, but more open than Sineu). So we headed there and sat on a bench in the sun for some TripAdvising. Thrn it turned out restaurant number 25 out of the 5400-ish in Mallorca was in Campanet. How could we resist...

A two minute walk from the Plaça Major later, and we'd found a sign for Restaurant Sa Tercera above an unloved-looking staircase. At the top, there was an off-putting metal door - closed. After some head-scratching, we eventually tried the door, and it surprisingly opened, onto a large room with the feeling of a canteen, and a huge TV showing Spanish news. This was not the best of starts. But then it all started looking up: Tomeu, our charming, friendly waiter, turned out to be the owner; and his wife was the chef - "we make it the same for everybody" he said, worryingly (for other places) implying that despite our tourist status they were going to serve us good food anyway...

On Tripadvisor's recommendation, we ordered some tapas: pimientos de padrón, patatas bravas, chiperones (like calamari, but whole baby squid rather than rings), and pan-fried prawns. And oh my. Patatas bravas: best ever, with an amazingly moreish spicy sauce. The squid: as good as we've ever had, tender, crispy and delicious. And the prawns: just perfect, sweet and flavourful, and not garlicky which made Kevin happy. (You basically can't go wrong with pimientos de padrón, but they were tasty too.) A carafe of red wine, a large water, tea, coffee and bread: €36. Plus a free grappa after (although I'd actually rather they didn't - you feel obliged to drink it because they're being generous, but I do hate the stuff.) One of our tastiest, and one of our best value meals ever. And after such an unprepossessing start. As Kevin said, that's what TripAdvisor was made for. We drove home happy. Hurrah for El Pla.