Day 2 - Palma

With better weather in store today, our plan was to grab breakfast and rent bicycles to cycle into Palma. We got two e-bikes from the hotel and set off along the promenade. I have never used an e-bike before and felt like we were cheating the system a bit. However, we were flying past proper cyclists and they must have thought we were amazing. It's all in the technique!

There is a cycle path the whole way from our hotel straight into Mallorca Cathedral and the cycle took us about 40minutes. The journey reminded Louis of Essaouira in Morocco and the walkway between Portrush and Portstewart. Quite a mix.

After parking our bikes beside a man in a massive panda costume, we visited the Cathedral. At 44m tall, it’s the second tallest nave to Beauvais Cathedral and 11m taller than Notre Dame. What stood out for us were the influences of Gaudi, famous for his work in Barcelona and La Sagrada Familia. We felt so cultured spotting these Gaudi designs without reading about it first.

Following our Cathedral visit, we toured the new and old town of Palma, walked along the main street almost identical to La Rambla in Barcelona and as a must when you are in Spain, visited ‘Zara’ of course. The streets were packed and we really wondered what it would be like in the peak months of summer!

After our day of exploring, we cycled back with the aim of stopping along the promenade at some stage. The Mallorcan’s really enjoy their fast food it seems as there are so many options of big chain takeaways and kebab shops, there also seems to be a lot of German visitors as most of the menu’s were in Spanish and German.

We found a quiet little café type restaurant to have some drinks and bruschetta to refuel us for the rest of the day. We would need it on the way back as we were cycling into the wind. I tried my best to describe drafting and the art of cycling in a pair, but my Tour de France knowledge was lost on Anna who instead just turned her engine up.

When we returned to the hotel to get ready for food, it was a shock to see that my face was bright red and that I got burned today on our adventures. Despite Anna’s constant reassurance that I was grand all day, it now meant that a white shirt for dinner was out of the question.

Anna was craving carbonara this evening so we went hunting for an Italian restaurant. The first 2 were closed and eventually we gave in to a random restaurant that sold everything from crepes to schnitzel. They did have carbonara though so Anna was happy.

After a memorable performance last night from our Spanish singer, there was no music in the lounge areas of the hotel and the place was empty. After all the cycling, it was probably best to go straight to bed anyway!