Mallorca: sol, caminatas, cuevas... y tengo 21 años!

If I had to sum up the city of Palma (the capital city of Mallorca, on the southwest coast of the island) in one word, it would be "luxurious." My view of city, however, is a little skewed since I am technically not staying the city of Palma, but right outside it in a place on a mountain called Son Vida. To make a long story short, my friend Jacquelyn's parents gave us (and our friend Krista) an incredibly nice birthday gift of staying here at the Castillo Son Vida Hotel. Look it up online if you wish... it´s quite a ¨luxurious¨place.

The city of Palma, though, is no dump. It has one of the most beautiful cathedrals I´ve seen yet on a magnificent coastline on the Mediterranean. We also traveled to Valldemossa, a town about a half hour north of Palma, to hike in the mountains. This was probably my favorite part of the trip. The views were incredible, the weather was nice, the town was quaint, and we worked off at least a little bit of all the birthday cake (and absolutely fabulous continental breakfasts that were included in the hotel). We also visited ¨las Cuevas del Drach,¨caves on the other side of the island (about an hour and a half by bus). The busride was cool because we got to see most of the Mallorcan inland and the caves were really touristy, but interesting to see. We got to take about a 30 second boatride inside them too. :)

On Saturday night (my birthday), we ate in the hotel restaurant (my parents´birthday present to us- thanks mom and dad!) and it was incredible. Delicious food, exquisite presentation, and friendly service (which was refreshing, because not everyone is always so nice in some restaurants I usually go to. ..). We dressed up all fancy (so as not to stick out like sore thumbs as American college students among the European elite clientele) and it was nice.

On Sunday (Jacquelyn´s birthday), we ate dinner at an adorable restaurant called ¨Samantha´s Restaurante¨ that we stumbled upon when we got lost in some mountain area of Palma. It was less expensive than the hotel, but so nice. The host of the restaurant was incredibly friendly and gave us free cake and drinks when he found out it was our birthdays. It was pretty nice to be so pampered!

We took a boat back to Barcelona and, in conclusion, I wouldn´t recommend it. The views were gorgeous and the sunset was awesome, but literally everyone got sick. People were lying on the hard floor just to keep from throwing up from the rocking movement, the three of us included. So our arrival back in Barcelona was very welcome after a refreshing and luxurious vacation!