Mallorca Day 8 - GR221

I realized this morning that although I have been here a week, I haven't used the car since the drive from the airport. I haven't needed to, there has been lots to do within walking or tram distance, but I do want to explore the island, especially when I have company. So, I headed back into Palma to go grocery shoping and get comfortable with driving here.
I have been grocery shopping in the little supermarkets in Port de Soller. They are more than a convenience store but less than a grocery store. I can get almost anything I need but there isn't much variety or anything other than basics. So I looked up "supermarkets in Mallorca" on the internet and found that most of the European big ones are in Palma, just half an hour away. I drove back out of the valley, through the tunnel and back onto the highway towards the airport (good practice for picking up Eve next week) and off at the required exit.

I shopped at the Lidl, next time I will try the Eroski, which is just a little further on. I perused all the aisles, picking up things I would like now and know I will need later. My main difficulty locally is meat so I got chicken breasts, salmon and shrimp. I am set for a couple of weeks meat wise. Some produce but also things like plastic wrap and greek yogurt, that I can't get locally. The other thing is that Lidl also has reasonably priced wine. I bought 2 bottles, one a Mallorcan and one a Ribera del Duero, both for under E4 each.

Driving back into town I realized that Port de Soller has a lot of one way streets and was very grateful for the detailed directions that Angela sent me to get me in on the first day. Parking on the waterfront was a little more difficult as it was a lovely warm day and everyone was out walking and having lunch in the harbour side restaurants.
After lunch (a spinach pastry I had picked up at Lidl) I checked the weather and found that it is supposed to rain again tomorrow. I decided to try and walk up to the lighthouse, via the hiking trail rather than the road. I left the apartment at 1:30, walked around the harbour and out the road towards Soller;

to where the hiking trail crosses the road (I found it the other day, walking home from Soller)

It crosses the Torrent Major on a foot bridge,

well marked this is part of the GR221, "Ruta de pedre en sec" (the dry stone route) that covers the length of the Serra de Tramuntana using mostly the cobblestone paths that linked the mountain villages.

In this picture the path looks pretty smooth, and in places it is, but in others it is made up of crudely placed stone stairs and in others loose pebbles just waiting to twist you ankle.

It often follows the old terraces (built by the Romans to create flat areas to plant olive trees)

Some of the olive trees look that old. A quick internet search reveals that olive trees are frequently 100s of years old and as they age they grow broader and more gnarled trunks. There have been olive trees scientifically verified to be 2,000 years old.

After a period of climbing the views were quite impressive; of the Tramuntana range and

down towards the Port.

I passed a few people coming in the other direction; singles, couples and a group of 4 (all speaking in Germanic languages but happy to convert to English with a "Hi" or "Good Day"). I walked until I reached a sign that said Refugi de Muleta ( which I think is near the lighthouse I was trying to reach) was 35mins away. It was 3:30. I looked at the sun. I wondered if it was 35min at my pace or at the couple who had jogged past me at the beginning of the climb, I considered that I hadn't done this walk before and didn't want to try and do it in the dark. I turned around.

On the way back down I came upon this family; Father donkey, mother horse and a mule foal. The foal was very curious, following me along the fence line.

I took a different way back, following the road to the beach. I passed an impressive looking house, all shuttered up, but with the most beautiful, bountiful orange and lemon trees I had seen yet.

This was next door. An orchard of strange metal sculptures. No signs, no explanation.

Got to the beach and around the harbour to a little cafe that I frequented a few times. It sells gelatos mostly (locally made, I will post more on this later), they also do the most reasonable cafe es tarte on the harbour and a very nice, and reasonable, red wine. That's what I had, the vino tinto. 

It was about 5 and I sat in the sun next to a woman, older than me, with this little dog.

 I have no idea what he was. He was black with a slight overbite and a greying muzzle. He came over for a stroke and that started the "conversation". The conversation was made up of single words or short sentences in Spanish that we each then expanded on. She said "todos da dias" and I said "yes, I think he would let me do this all day". She said "Bueno perro" and I said "Yes, he's sweet". "Intelligence, intiendo todas", "He does seem very smart". Before long he was on my lap with me stroking him ("contento" she said) and him licking the salt from walking off my neck. The waitress bought him some water while his owner had a coffee. She gave him some sugar from the packet and we had a stilted discussion of how it would make him fat but it was a treat and he didn't get it at home. Lovely connection, as the sun went down behind the headland and we watched the promenade of young people and families, walking, rollerblading, cycling along the harbour path. I realized I was usually home making super at this time and had missed that the community comes out in the early evening. She told me we should enjoy the sun because it is supposed to rain tomorrow and corrected my pronunciation of rain - "lluvia" pronounced yew via (but the "y" is not quite the same as the English Y, I still don't think I have it right).
After they left a big, wet labrador retriever arrived with his owners and decided that his job in life was to clean up every last crumb of food left around the cafe, even if that meant moving the chairs, licking the chairs and licking the tables - he was hilarious.