Winding up, winding down...

The blog posts have now become fewer and further between. We are very aware now that our time here is coming to an end, so the urge to Explore is much reduced - we are doing quite a lot of local pottering instead. And preparations for the return are building: I'm spending more and more time sorting out the launch of my life coach business, which is scary but fun. So I'm afraid there is a lot less blog-worthy activity underway... But there are still four Mallorcan weeks left to record, so here goes!

Monday: as usual, run day. I am pleased to report that we are in the final stages of our Couch to 5k training programme. Our goal in the last week is three runs of 30 minutes each, and today we did our first 25 minute run! The whole way around our normal marina route including to the end of the sea wall and back, plus a bit more! The ability of the human body to go from running 1 minute to running 25 minutes in 6 weeks is pretty staggering. Anyway, we were pretty proud of ourselves...

As it was a sunny day, we decided to try out the Es Capdellà poolside restaurant we'd seen the other day. After another amazingly pretty drive through the green Mallorcan countryside (with all the almond trees now covered in fresh young leaves), we got back into the village and parked up. The swimming pool restaurant still looked pretty but already had three huge tables of 20 or more - two of cyclists, one of walkers - so we decided to visit another day. Instead, around the corner was Bar Nou, Es Capdellà's number 1 restaurant. After a little wait we got a seat on their enclosed, light-filled terrace (it felt very Chameli-esque) and ordered paella mixta. Very delicious it was too, especially the artichokes (my favourite). Then another lovely drive to school pick-up and the usual Monday-overtired Jemima.

On Tuesday, Kevin's new running enthusiasm saw him appear unexpectedly from the bedroom in the morning dressed in his running clothes! He had decided to catch up on the run we missed last week, with Jemima being off school. I declined - it was extremely rainy, and I am a fair-weather runner by choice. He was brave and headed out; then came back saying he'd done over 30 minutes, which was very impressive (but I was still pleased I didn't go). We then popped into Palma for Kevin to buy a new jacket, after his got broken on the boat over the weekend.

It's amazing, popping into Palma. Ten minutes away, we have an amazingly beautiful medieval city of 400,000 people, with all your 21st century conveniences, including brilliant parking, and Spanish fun and fiestas. It is all so easy. Apparently it's not like that in the summer - local people we've spoken to don't go near Palma at all in July and August. But right now, it's great.

Mission accomplished, it was back to Chameli's where we were having lunch with Kevin's new friend from his night out in Heroes. He is from England but been here for two years (mostly house-hunting it seems); and is a former investment banker who likes supercars and personal development. A great combination! And we had a jolly time - lots to talk about. Kevin and he stayed talking while I went to get Jemima, and then it was home again, still raining (really grim weather today).

Wednesday is always Run Two of the week - or run three, for Kevin. The weather was better, but it was windy, which makes the sea wall section harder work. But we did it, and our pace improved (Kevin has now started taking his phone so he can use Map My Run, and even I've got interested in our stats...). It is getting busier in the marina as we get closer to Easter: more people strolling about; obvious security guards; and most exciting of all, they have started putting out the umbrellas on the beach! We watched for a while as the tractor towed them around the sand - it's all beginning to look like holiday season is warming up alongside the weather. It's quite exciting.

Then it was a pottering in Portals Nous day - a few errands, lunch in Chameli's. The time just slipped by, very happily. But there's no run tomorrow so I have plans for an Outing...

Bar Nou

Taking a Panda to the Zoo

Kevin left early on Saturday to get to Port de Pollença for his power-boating course, so Jemima and I were up and out fairly early too. Our destination, after collecting the Fiat Panda I'd hired for the weekend: Natura Parc, an animal sanctuary/ zoo about half an hour away.

We had an easy drive through the agricultural centre, tomato poly-tunnels and all (a very common sight in much of Spain, but we hadn't seen any yet in Mallorca). And then we arrived, at the same time as about forty other people, at Natura Parc.

It turned out they were all together on mass outing, so Jemima and I took advantage of their group inertia to skip past and get into the Parc first. We scuttled down a pretty, shady, tree-lined pathway, and then took our bearings. 

It was all very charming. Lovely landscaping surrounded lots of waterfowl enclosures, each focussing on different parts of the world: a huge variety of ducks; flamingoes; and even enormous pelicans with three foot long (worrying sharp) beaks, who I swear were bigger than Jemima. There were also lots of very glossy-looking cockerels wandering free, looking as they owned the place.

Then as we kept wandering (it was a maze, I soon gave up on the map), we found more delights: porcupines all huddled in their hut looking like a spiky mound; an adorable armadillo; large bird cages with canaries, parrots and owls; a bat cave, where you could see them flying around in a dimly lit room the other side of glass; tortoises and turtles; little wallabies sunning themselves; a section with traditional Mallorcan farm buildings containing a horse, sheep and a cow; and a row of stalls with Pygmy goats, including one so newborn we watched it stand up for the first time; and more guinea pigs than I've ever seen (or perhaps want to see) in one place.

Jemima's favourite was the meerkats, who were extremely cute as always. And my favourite was the lemurs: we were allowed to go into their large enclosure, and got amazingly close to them, with more perched just overhead. "They look like they're meditating" Jemima said - and they did, sitting upright with their hands resting on their knees, eyes closed as they basked in the sun. It was adorable, and very human. (And one of them wee'd from above on the young, rather well-groomed keeper, which was very funny - he was not impressed...)

After this my phone battery ran out, which was actually a mercy. Because then we got to the bigger animals. I know they say they're a rescue centre, but I really did feel sorry for the lioness and tiger: their enclosures just didn't look big enough. Although the single ostrich and single zebra did fare better, with a large paddock for the two of them. You don't know the back-stories, maybe where they were rescued from was worse; but with huge, magnificent big cats like that, I did think they deserved something a bit better. 

By this time we were hungry, so with some false starts and going round in circles, I eventually led us to the café where we had a very nice panini each, sitting in a patch of sunshine on their verandah (it was fresh in the shade, but the sun felt warm, which was lovely). And then trip over, it was back via Palma for a bit of shopping.

I'd had a washing disaster that week: I'd unaccountably shrunk two of Kevin's very nice jumpers. So Jemima and I were off to Hugo Boss in Palma to replace them. It turned out the shop I'd googled was actually a section of El Corte Inglés, the big Spanish department store; so after some successful jumper purchasing in Menswear we had a little explore. As a result, Jemima decided to spend her pocket money on a toy on the Kids' floor rather than another trip to Claire's Accessories, and I bought her a new jumper too; and then we had a detour to the hat section. This was a lot of fun: we spent about fifteen minutes trying on various styles and laughing at ourselves in the mirror: Jemima in a fuschia pink wedding fascinator in the bizarre shape of a headband was quite a sight. I got myself something a little more discreet, and then it was back to the car and home to meet Daddy. (I was very proud of myself, I managed to find my way into Palma, park, and get home again, all without a sat nav - I'm finally learning my way around...)

Kevin had had a good day on his course, if pretty chilly on the water, and he was pleased with his new jumpers. So we celebrated with dinner in Chameli's. "I want pork knuckle" said Jemima, but that was from the menú del día, so she had to content herself with sharing our steaks. We walked back home in the dusk, all tired and full but happy.

Flamingoes

Squawk from Swashbuckle

One of the free-roaming cockerels, plus a beautiful escapee...

...who wanted to get back in his cage to see his mate, who was missing him

Huge Pelicans...

...with worrying beaks

Meerkats!

The newborn baby goat

Too many guinea pigs

Meditating lemurs

Lunchtime sunshine

Girls' weekend

"This is a fascinating place!" said Jemima. The Cathedral? Palma's modern art gallery? The Museum of Mallorca? No. Claire's Accessories.

Kevin had flown back to the UK to host his son Ben's leaving party (before he moves to Toronto for work), so she and I were having a weekend on our own. When we dropped Kevin at the airport at lunchtime on Saturday, he gave Jemima €10 spending money, and suggested I take her to the Claire's Accessories branch we'd spotted in Palma - he had a feeling she's at the age where she'd like it. How right he was. 

I navigated my first drive into Palma (fine) and first underground parking garage (definitely narrow - no wonder all the cars are scratched). Then we got the scooter out of the boot, and set off through the sunny, blustery streets.

Even now, I am still finding bits of Palma centre I've never seen before - a narrow river with very pretty old bridges (how could I have missed that?); an attractive sloped corner with fabulous bookshops and tables outside - it really is a lovely city. And the bank holiday market was still going, so there was a fun buzz in the air (although thankfully fewer people).

Except in Claire's Accessories, which was packed with girls (and their mums) all browsing the sparkly plastic and metal. Jemima stopped on the threshold, almost too overwhelmed by the sight to enter; then she got over that, and dived in. Our tactic was simple: collect everything she might want to buy on a first circuit, then have a quiet reflect on what she really wanted, and could afford within her money. She took the whole budgeting thing very seriously, discarding items that were too expensive, until she had to choose two of three options. The rainbow jewellery set and shiny globe hair bobbles won the day. Outside, I decked her in her new finery, and she was delighted. "Can we come back tomorrow?!"

The shopping continued. I took her to the shop opposite that I had heard did good kids' shoes (the Clarks of Spain). With the help of a lovely, thorough assistant Jemima chose some amazing flashing trainers (more pink sadly, plus flowers - I do try to avoid too much overtly girly stuff, but these caught her eye straight away, and when she saw they flashed, there was no going back...) Then we celebrated our successful shopping trip with tea and chocolate cake. Perfect.

A short scoot back towards the car, via a square with traditional Mallorcan farm animals (part of the bank holiday) - a donkey, chickens, a giant Mallorcan rabbit, and some adorable black piglets (mmmm, jamón...). And there was Kids' Republik, a recommended soft play with, hurrah, a lovely café at the ground floor, and even better, a friend of Jemima's from school to play with! I sipped a ginger and lemon infusion (the hardest Spanish word I've come across yet: jengibre) while Jemima, Saba and her brother made merry in the subterranean softplay. Honestly, they are such civilised places in comparison with the UK version. Then, after an hour or so's exertion it was home time, to share a pizza. A great day.

My original plan for Sunday was for us to visit Es Baluard, the modern art gallery, but to be honest we were both pretty tired. So I scaled down our ambitions. Today would be about Sunday lunch. 

The beach club (I always feel ridiculous writing that) on the edge of Portals Nous that we ran past on Friday has just re-opened, and apparently does very good roast beef. So after a quiet morning, we scooted through the sunny marina then up a steep hill (me pushing Jemima) and around to the beach club. Another lovely place to go, and a lovely walk to get there, all within fifteen minutes.

We were lunching on UK rather than Mallorcan time - we arrived at 1pm, and were the first there. But that gave us a chance to fully appreciate the view, which was fabulous: the restaurant was long and thin, with walls of windows looking right down onto the sea below, and along either side towards the marina in one direction, and the pretty coastline (with discreet and horribly expensive real estate) towards Palmanova in the other. Beautiful. Our friendly (English) waiter found us a window table, and I sipped my complementary cava while we played Little Bus Lotto until our delicious roast beef came. Then we adjourned to Cappuccino to share a huge chocolate ice cream for dessert, while Jemima joined in the usual marina Sunday scooting frenzy (two new friends today: Luisa, German, and Felicity, English, both living here).

After a while it got a bit chilly, so we adjourned to the kids' colouring picnic-style table just inside the door (with a small TV showing Scooby Doo). And to finish a lovely weekend, we bumped into a boy from Jemima's class, Alexander, who was there with his big brother Filip and his Dad. The Dad and I chatted about life in Mallorca (he and his wife are property developers, he is Austrian, she is Slovenian, and they moved here from Vienna a year ago) while the kids had fun, the table gradually filling until there was a line of children, elbow to elbow, happily doing joint artwork in their Cappuccino colouring books. A very nice way to while away the afternoon. And a lovely end to our lovely girls' weekend - we missed Daddy, but we did have fun.

Rainbow jewellery!

Family Hey Duggee wristbands before Daddy goes

Light-up shoes!

Post-shopping cake

The previously unseen river plus Lightning McQueen

Sunday: matching (new) hair bobbles for lunch

Mood

Cappuccino kids' table

Bank holiday Balearic style

My, the Mallorcans do love a fiesta. I was picking rogue bits of Sa Rueta confetti off Kevin's hat only yesterday, and it's already another celebration, this time a two day bank holiday (no school) in honour of the Balearic Islands' autonomy, granted on 1 March 1983. We had seen stalls being set up in Palma the other day, so put the scooter in the car boot and headed out.

It was astonishing weather, literally 14 degrees warmer than two days before: from shivering in woolly hats and winter coats, to sunglasses and a thin cardigan. We parked by the start of Palma's Paseo Maritímo, and set off along the marina's edge in the sunshine.

The Paseo has a red tarmac-ed two-way track for cyclists, so Jemima (with her wheeled conveyance) installed herself on that and scooted off happily, with us walking on the pedestrian bit alongside (Kevin occasionally jogging to keep up). They'd done this route with Uncle Ady the previous weekend, so led me to a lovely marina-side café with a little play area they'd discovered. We had a drink in the sun with a view of the boats, unable to believe the weather change (and feeling slightly guilty about friends and family in the UK suffering minus two...). Then onwards along the Paseo, until we saw the start of the festivities.

Or rather we saw the people. The festivities were mainly a long avenue of stalls - lots of cheese, quite a few knife stalls, and a sprinkling of artisanal alcohol, among the usual jewellery, clothing, and arts and crafts. And beside them, in a thick ribbon, was a mass of people, meandering and browsing. These kind of situations aren't actually that much fun with a four year old, so it became a bit of a mission to get through. And eventually we did make it past the crowds until we were able to turn more towards the old town and some space. 

After a bit more walking we got to the Plaça Major, a large square in the heart of the old town that, to be honest (and unlike the rest of Palma) could do with a spruce up. But we were hungry, and there was a free table in a sunny corner near a busker playing piano (there are a few "entertainers" - it's like a slightly shabby Covent Garden in feel). But the piano was actually pretty good, and the pizzas looked tasty, so we risked it. Pros: lovely to sit in the sun while Jemima scooted around the open car-free square, or watched the entertainers (the pianist was replaced by a juggler/unicycle rider, and then a clown). Cons: it took twenty-five minutes to get a Diet Coke. But the food, when it came, was good; and it's hard to complain of too much when you're sitting in a T-shirt outside on 1st March. 

Then with the sky finally clouding over, we started the long walk/scoot back to the car. Jemima enjoying scooting has been a huge bonus for this trip - she spends so much time outside doing exercise, and loves every minute; and it means we can walk long distances without complaints - we did 7.5 miles that day and she was still running around with her (longed-for and eventually purchased) Minion balloon at the end.

The scooter was our secret weapon in our Friday plan - Friday being run day. After a very slow morning - painting, TV, pick-up sticks, balloon games and banana bread-making, Kevin persuaded Jemima she'd enjoy scooting with us on our run. In fact, he appealed to her competitive side, and asked whether she could scoot faster than we could run - and the answer turned out to be "definitely".

We drove to a car park on the edge of Portals Nous, where we could join a nicely paved path well-separated from the road that ran south-west towards Palmanova. Kevin turned on our app, and off we set, walking/ jogging and scooting along en famille. The path was great, very safe, and scattered with play areas and outdoor exercise machinery, which we promised we'd stop at on our return journey. Our route rather fortuitously led through a public sports centre with a playground, so our last stint had us running around the edge of the playground while Jemima climbed and slid in the middle.

Training over, and rain threatening, we walked down the road that leads to Palmanova beach (site of the gumball machine from our earlier Great Gumball Adventure). Coffee and a pain au chocolat later, we had a quick diversion to see the (very nice) beach and its playground; and then a slower walk back to the car, stopping at every play area, as promised - although Jemima seemed to enjoy the adult outdoor exercise machines even more, especially the cross trainer which she could just about work at full stretch.

We thought we'd try a lunch venue at this end of the village for a change. The combined Asian Fusion-Angus Steak House restaurant which had confused us every time we had driven past looked even less appealing when we got up close; so we walked around the corner and found a charming if slightly unexpected little café/ bar run by, and full of, English people, in a back street of a Mallorcan village, pretending to be a beach shack in the Caribbean. But the people were very friendly; the food was good, especially my burger; and it turned out to be just what we needed. We got back to the car before the rain set in, and drove home, happy with our small achievements (exercise and a little explore) on a very welcome restful day.

Scooting on the Paseo Maritímo



A marina-side drink



Day of the Balearic Islands' market (with the palm trees wrapped in red and yellow cloth, and giant representations of traditional Mallorcans)

Jemima in La Llotja

Lunch in Plaça Mayor

Another beautiful Palma-n street corner

The playground in the shadow of the Cathedral



Minion fun

Sunday: run/ scoot/ play/ rest

Palmanova beach

Play equipment on the journey home (Jemima taking the photo)

The Ramshackle