Weight Watching
If there are any positives to be taken from having a dodgy tummy for two days, it is that the inexorable increase in my weight as I step onto the scales each morning this holiday has been reversed..........well halved anyway.
Another couple of days of this and I’ll be back to where I started!
Desayuno
I didn’t really feel in the mood for eating, but have been persuaded by everyone from Sandra to Pep, to Mathew, to Tomas, to Jose to try to eat something simple to sort out my stomach.
Tomas’ suggestion of pa amb oli (A Mallorquin Favourite, with tomato spread onto garlic bread) sounds the least attractive, but fortunately although I could probably have ordered it especially, I didn’t find any on the Es Castell buffet, so stuck to my tried and tested muesli / banana & Greek yoghurt, merely sipping at my juice / coffee.
Someone else suggested strong black coffee, but I don’t think that would do the trick.
Back in the room, I contemplate taking an Imodium tablet from our travelling medicine chest, but resisted the temptation, believing in the old adage, ‘better out than in’! I did stir a sachet of blackcurrent flavoured Dioralyte into a glass of water, and downed that to keep my salts / electrolytes balanced.
Now, we have a couple of hours to fill this morning, before heading North for lunch.
Marivent
Sandra had read about the opening of the gardens surrounding the Marivent Palace, home to the Spanish Royalty when they stay here in Palma, as they often do during the Summer months.
When mentioning it to Pep and then Inge, she received different opinions as to the experience - both turned out to be right, when we subsequently stopped by en route to Puerto Portals.
Pep was correct when he said that it was small, whereas Inge was also correct, when she said that it was pretty.
Neither mentioned the biggest problem - finding somewhere to park the car, as there is only pedestrian access in a busy part of the City close to the Port, in Cala Major. We eventually found a roadside space in a street across the road and walked there, where we were the only visitors at that time of day, wandering as the gardeners and security guards patrolled and went about their business.
It took no more than 15 minutes to complete the circuit and not a sign of any Royalty in residence.
Puerto Portals
This port, one of the classiest on the Island, became a favourite for a stroll and a coffee (at the Cappuccino cafe, of course) when we stayed at the St Regis Mardavall hotel in 2014 and we usually stop by to mix with the rich and famous at least once during our time in Mallorca.
Today, we timed our visit especially well, as the Puerto Portals XVI Rally Clasico was about to get underway.
When talking about the hazards to be avoided in descending the Snake to Sa Calobra, I forgot to mention that you certainly didn’t want to coincide with the Rally Clasico when the roads are full of seriously fast drivers risking life and limb in their classic souped-up Minis, Porsches and all manner of performance cars, complete with ‘go fast stripes’ and the full regalia.
In fact, as we recall from viewing the Rothmans RAC rally in Cyprus many years ago, seeing the cars stationary is far more rewarding than seeing them zoom past every 10 minutes or so in a blur of speed and cacophony of noise.
This added to this year’s visit and outshone some of the very classy yachts which were moored in the Marina.
Because of my dodgy tummy we avoided the Cappuccino cafe on this occasion.
Returning to Son Vida, Sandra asked Ramon to check whether we might change our lunch reservation from today to Saturday, but alas Daica is fully booked, so we decide to go ahead regardless, even though I might not be able to enjoy it to its fullest.
We change and then hit the road once more on the familiar route North to Inca, where we leave the highway and head towards Llubi, a small town in the North of the Central Plain to the East of the Tramuntana.
Daica
This has become a firm favourite dining experience of ours during our last 5 visits to the Island, having first sampled Cati Pieras’ cooking when she was the chef at Es Vi, Son Vida’s signature restaurant many years ago.
Her inspiration and innovation in cooking fine / local ingredients in season never fail to impress whenever we dine there and the service, overseen by her husband David Ribas, who we now know quite well too, is excellent and attentive.
The ambience in their restaurant is welcoming and with the Kadjar’s thermometer hitting 26 degrees Celsius as we drove there, today was perfect to accept a table in the small courtyard between the bar and the restaurant, which was fuller than we recall on previous visits.
David helped me choose a wine that I’ve not tried before, Mortitx Blanc, blended from Malvasia & Muscat grapes not far from Lluc on the road that we drove from Pollenca yesterday. As I’m driving, we’ll drink a glass with the food and bring the bottle back to Son Vida to enjoy later.
Although I’ll probably not enjoy the full range of food as much as usual with my dodgy tummy, we decide to stick with the Winter Tasting Menu, which has more than satisfied on past visits - and so it was today, starting with the theatre of the first plate............literally.
Everything in the wooden tray was edible and largely made from sweetcorn, to warrant the title of the dish, “A Day at the Cinema” - clever and tasty.
We worked our way carefully through the rest of the delicious courses, all presented beautifully to the best effect on stylish plates, and fortunately not too problematic for my dysfunctional digestive system, although I didn’t manage to devour all of the artichokes from the third course - not that they weren’t nice covered in jamon iberico and black truffle, but I feared for the wind effect.
But that was all that I didn’t at least sample and by the end of the meal, I was feeling no worse than before, so we settled up and said our goodbyes to Cati & David, promising to return next year, when I’ll hopefully be able to do justice to the amazing gastronomy that Daica consistently produces.
An Early Night
And that was more or less it for me, for the rest of the day, as having driven back to Son Vida, I retired to the room and rested, polishing off a few lessons of Duolingo when not napping and then starting to write-up the day’s blog before finally turning in for the night.
Bored, when she finished reading her fourth book of the holiday, Sandra popped along the corridor a couple of times to stretch her legs - we’re well short of our exercise targets for the day, but having broken the streak last week, I’ve now missed my targets on a couple more occasions, prioritising my other obsessions (Duolingo & Blogging) instead.
The Idiom’s Guide to Mallorca
In the absence of a turn-down service due to the room being occupied, Pep had to resort to more magic in delivering today’s idiom, slipping the saying discreetly into the Do Not Disturb sign on the door, which I discovered later and feature here.
“Qui mira enforcer, cau apron”
Not as rude as Tomas’ offering yesterday, Google Translate offers a reasonable interpretation of Mathew’s contribution to our little game:-
“whoever looks beyond falls near”
.........with the explanation going on to clarify that the phrase is used to warn those looking too far into the distance that they may fail to see what is much closer to hand and trip up over something obvious nearer to home.
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