25th June - still at Port Andratx

[Note from Leighton: To date, Cathy has been Blogger-In-Chief, Although if asked, I have provided the odd input. The B-I-C is stuck into a good book at the moment so I thought it was time that I should have a go. I like Cathy's style and format - so will keep to the form.]


Soundtrack: Verdi's opera La Traviata...(seriously!) It is 10:00 PM and we are in the cloisters
of Castell de Son Mas in the town of Of Andratx. The boat is anchored in the Port of Andratx
about 6KM away - we are up the hill attending an open air production of the Opera.

High Point: Tickets are only 15 Euros each!

Low Point: There are no tickets available.

They could only fit 300 plastic chairs in the Cloisters (actually the open air central courtyard
of the castle with a sweeping stone staircase up to the pillared balcony used as the backdrop to
the stage. We were told that all the tickets had been sold out almost a year in advance! We did
our persuasive best to get in, but there was no room inside, even for standing. We were told we
could stand outside and look through the gate.

We had spotted a stack of "extra" plastic chairs in our earlier walk behind the castle - So When
the big 20 foot iron gates were closed we had two of the best seats in the house - all for free.

What a performance! We counted 87 in the cast and another 40 in the orchestra. The opera was sung in Italian with Mallorcan (not Spanish) Supra-titles projected on the castle wall - so it was
good we had seen the opera before and thus knew the plot.We shared a taxi with an Irish couple (Pat & Margaret) back to Port Andratx after the performance and it seemed a bit surreal rowing the dinghy back to the boat on a mirror calm harbour at 1:00 AM in the morning. A great evening out.

CABRERA ISLAND VISITING PERMIT

We are still waiting to get a permit to go to Cabrera Island. - The government office that issues
the permits in Palma de Mallorca is only open on weekdays from 10:00 - 14:00. Their staff of two seem to spend most of this time drinking coffee and not answering the telephone. As it is a day sail from Port Andratx we are trying to book a specific date so we can plan our passage to be
able to arrive at the appointed time. Without a permit it is not possible to even enter the
protected zone around the island. We have faxed a second application for 30 June - 1 July, as we
were told these dates were available - but still no reply. Very frustrating to wait. I have been reading a wonderful book, "The Middle Sea", by John Julius Norwich - a history of the Mediterranean and these very islands were of course, staging posts for the Crusades. I can understand the frustrations of the armies waiting aboard the galleons and them in-fighting among themselves! Happily this has not happened on Makarma.

VISIT TO PALMA

We have decided to take a break and head inland to Palma, Mallorca. The L102 bus takes us there in just over an hour - and through some of the Grockle hot-spots along the coast road such as Peguera and Santa Ponca - these are tourist concentration camps with bars and sand buckets! - to be avoided at all cost! On to Palma.

We entered the city along the water front. I can honestly say that we have never seen some many super-yachts in one place! (It would be interesting to explore the tax laws of Mallorca in more detail?). Aside from wall-to-wall super-yachts the Cathedral La Sue is perhaps the most
impressive building on the water front and dominates the city with its presence. Palma's central
bus station is housed in a modern underground building that integrates the city's rail and small
underground system. I am not certain why the UK does not understand about joined-up transprtation - but here it is at its best and We could take lessons from this very small island.

Cathy's chief navigator on land as well as on the boat - and we head off on foot across the city
toward the Cathedral. When we get there, we discover the Palace of l'Almudaina museum opposite the cathedral has free admission for EU visitors - so a quick flash of the driver's license and we are in the palace. This is an old Moorish palace here the present King of Spain has his
Mallorcan office and entertains foreign visitors. Full of tapestries and paintings from the
period I am reading about in "The Middle Sea."

One of the highlights was the massive City market where we loaded up with fresh fruit (including the new season 's figs) to eat on the bus on our trip back to Port Andratx. Makarma was exactly where we had left her and we had had a really good day out on solid ground.

We are getting used to going ashore and having hot showers at the town quay. We are getting a bit itchy and want to sail on - but Andratx has got a LOT going for it: The beautiful view of the
mountains from the cockpit, free anchoring in a very sheltered harbour, Internet access from the
boat, clean toilets and showers, a supermarket, a well stocked ironmonger...and in the best
part of the island by far. But sailing is what we are here for and new places are waiting out there to be discovered.