Since Barcelona had a holiday this past week, we decided to take a long weekend trip to Mallorca. It is only 150 miles from Barcelona which made the flight just under 30 minutes. You literally start your descent the moment you reach cruising altitude.
I just assumed Mallorca would be a nice beach weekend at a beautiful place. It was that but much more. For anyone traveling to Barcelona or living here you have to put it on your list of places to travel. We were lucky enough to go with another family that gave both the parents and the kids built in playmates.
Below is a breakdown of what we did the past week including highlights from the trip.
Day 31 – Meeting Forum #2
I started my day with a run. Kel took the kids to school, as she had her Spanish lesson. I spent about 3 hours catching up on work and then headed to lunch at a Mexican restaurant with the goal to get to know one of my new forum mates better. From there I came back for a zoom conference call with work.
Kel had a market tour and a cooking class at the home of a parent from school, she said it was awesome and learned so much! She then took the kids to an art class after school which the kids really enjoyed. After they got home I had my first opportunity to meet more people from Entrepreneurs Organization in Barcelona. I had an “interview” with another forum to join. I already joined a Non-EO forum, called Ex-pats but I am open to joining another one also because my goal here was to build new relationships to help my business and personal life. Really enjoyed talking to everyone, as they were very accomplished international entrepreneurs.
Afterwards, I met with two others EO members who were at the social event. I learned that EO in Barcelona has many of the similar challenges we have in our bigger chapter in NY, but because they are smaller and newer, it is more of a risk to the success of the chapter. Getting member engagement beyond forum is one challenge. A very small budget, under $15K for learning the entire year, is another challenge.
I pledged to be a champion of something to help engagement. So we will see how that goes.
Day 32 – Off to Mallorca
In the morning we picked up our NIE cards so now we are official residents of Spain! Pretty cool. From there we went home and finished packing. Flight took only 30 minutes and then we rented a car and drove to the hotel. For some reason, we got a free upgrade to a villa with a private pool. It was awesome!
The kids loved it and they appreciated the fancy special treatment. My mother-in-law joked that it is because they know I am now a travel blogger.
Day 33 – Family Cooking Class
I started the morning with a run as it was windy and rainy. I ran to the other side of the harbor. I met the family at the breakfast buffet. This hotel is so spread out that we need to take a golf cart from our room to the lobby. Kind of reminds me of the Four Seasons on the Big Island in Hawaii.
At night we drove to Palma and we were in complete shock, realizing how big it was, with the most beautiful castle. I just could not believe how many people were there. We came to town for a family cooking class to teach the family how to make tortilla espanola and Paella. The kids cooked most of the food including using the blow torch for a delicious dessert.
After dinner we played in the main square and by 10:15 we did the hour drive back. It was a great full day.
34 – The Speed Boat – “I am going to Die Today!!!!!!”
I once again started the day with a nice run that took me to another resort area and then met everyone at breakfast.
In the afternoon, we met up with another family from Barcelona and our three families spent the day swimming and going on a speed boat which went VERY FAST. Jonah was screaming the entire time… Slow down….Stop… “I am going to die today!!” In his defense, it did feel like a roller coaster on the water. At the same time, all the older kids were screaming in unison “mas rapido por favor!”
We then stopped in a cove and the men went swimming with the kids. The water was so calm and there were so many fish all around us. It was super cool.
We all went to a great Japanese restaurant for dinner in a nearby town. The food hit the spot and the kids could run around there and yes, we let them also play on phones too. Every so often we need it.
Day 35 – Jewish Quarter & The Mountains
The next day we woke up earlier and headed back to Palma to meet a guide at 10:30am for a Jewish tour of the main city. Of course, we showed up a half hour late. The kids loved it because the guide made a cool scavenger hunt to find the hidden Jewish symbols throughout the day. Mostly gold hebrew words on the ground.
There was what he called the Mallorca Western Wall where the kids put in notes similar to what you would do in Jerusalem.
One of the most interesting things we learned here was that in the 1200’s or so, about 300 Jewish families converted to catholicism so they would not be killed. They wanted to prove that they were no longer jewish so they ate pork, including putting it in their bread. That tradition even lasted to this day, so be aware when you buy a special challah looking bread in Mallorca, called Ensaimada, most of them still have pork fat in it.
For lunch, we headed north to the mountain area and as we continued the drive, it got more and more beautiful. Finally we got to the coast section and it looked exactly like the Amalfi Coast in Italy. Windy roads on the side of the mountain through old villages with amazing views of the ocean. I felt so grateful to be there at that moment.
From there we drove home and it was long and I was definitely tired. We set ourselves up for a disaster on the drive, as we gave the kids dessert following lunch, so of course 10 minutes into the ride the kids were hitting each other like no other and it got to a point where the boys got into a fist fight and both were crying.
I started yelling LOUD about their behavior. I had to let it out because they were taking it too far. What I think was good was the kids stopped hitting and were joking about my screaming. It certainly was not the highlight, but we are getting used to some of the challenges we face as an abroad family that travels frequently. Still trying to work it out.
Day 36 – Back to Barcelona
I woke up and decided to go for one more run…. I ran to the other resort again in a different route. It was super cool. Then I finally found the gym and did a quick workout. I met Kel at breakfast and got a regular omelette, a Spanish omelette and 4 pieces of olive bread and delicious oil. Hey I was hungry!
Kel and I ended up walking back on this hidden trail on the coast along the hotel that we had not seen before. We took a late afternoon flight which was once again quick and easy.
We got home and quickly learned that the fridge circuit breaker was flipped so everything was ruined and smelled awful. Clean up time! I went to get dinner, Kelli did the bedtime routine and I studied for my Spanish class the next day.