Mallorca Day 3 - Soller on the tram

The sun does not actually get into the courtyard in front of the apartment at this time of year. The roll- out awning over the door implies it does in the summer. But in the early morning (by this I mean between 7 and 9) it does shine between the buildings onto the front door, so I moved one of the patio chairs and had my coffee and yogurt sitting there.

A morning cat visitor. There is a note in the apartment not to feed the cats. I imagine they can be a pest.

The tram from Port de Soller to Soller runs on the half hour. I caught it at 10:30. It was the first electric railway in Mallorca, started in 1913 and 3 of the original motorized cars and 2 of the original non motorized are still in use.

At this time of year there are just 3 of these lovely wooden carriages. There is no way to get from one to the other so the conductor jumps off at each stop and moves to the next carriage to charge the E6 for a one way trip.

Around the bay,

along the valley with the river on one side and the road on the other,

past orange and lemon groves and then peoples backyards until

letting us all off at Soller centre.

Tourist information, in another wooden railway car, was closed.

The church from behind and

in front.

I walked the shopping area looking for some bits and pieces that I wanted for the apartment.

I didn't buy any Mallorcan gin but I did get some Mallorcan honey.

I caught the 12:30 tram back as I had just wanted to check it out, there are museums, galleries and sketches that will happen later.

She said it was the biggest umbrella in Mallorca when they got it, at this restaurant at the base of my stairs, So Caprichos (Capricho means whim or fantasy). She said it is for the sun or the rain but the wind has broken it twice.

Salad for lunch and then I packed my hiking pack and set out behind the apartment to see if I could get to the lighthouse or the lookout tower. The roads wind back and forth, up the hill, but I was unable to get to the lighthouse. I think it is part of the Naval Base.

I did find a lovely lookout in front of the Museo de la Mar, which was closed. No indication when it would be open.

I kept climbing even though sometimes that meant I had to go down a road in order to find another up.

At one point this goat jumped over a stone wall, in front of me, and on to the road.

Followed by a kid

sorry, 2 kids.

and there's the other parent on the opposite bank. That sequence was for you Chris, I know how you love goats. Hope it made your day.

Further up another beautiful view and there is a path at the bottom of those cliffs that I will try some day.

I'm stumped again. The Sardinian Warbler looks like this but has distinctively red eyes. The Balearic Warbler is all grey, doesn't have this black cap. ?????? Yeah, I'm no good at this stuff. I just gave Google another try: he might be a Spectacled Warbler.  I recognized the bird in the next tree but wasn't fast enough to get a picture, it was an English Robin.

 EDIT - I knew my birding friends would come through. Cyndy e-mailed to say it is a warbler, commonly called a Blackcap (go figure). The Wiki descriptions fits perfectly: The adult male has olive-grey upperparts, other than a paler grey nape and a neat black cap on the head. The underparts are light grey, becoming silvery white on the chin, throat and upper breast. The tail is dark grey, with an olive tint to the outer edge of each feather.

I took a different road back down and found an official looking footpath sign. Another day.

It's winter so the island isn't crazy with wildflowers but there are some.

Walked my legs off again so water and wine as a reward. This time at So Caprichos (the place with the big umbrella). Yesterday's bar just bought me a house wine (E2.90) but today the waiter asked if I wanted a Mallorcan wine. I said yes as long as it wasn't too sweet. It was a little sweeter than a Rioja but still very nice (E4.60). I will have to look at Mallorcan wines in the supermercado.

The weather forecast calls for rain tomorrow. Sounds like a day for reading a good book ( I am reading "me before you" by Jojo Moyes) and resting my legs.

Mallorca Day 2 - Port de Soller

I got 12 wonderful hours of sleep, had a great breakfast at the hotel and took a taxi to the airport. Picked up the rental car and drove, through a 3 km tunnel at one point, to Port de Soller. I was here by about 11.

My little car . The entrance to where I am staying is just behind that umbrella

Up these stairs, between 2 restaurants ( the smells at lunch time are divine, this could be dangerous)

To my home for the next 2 months.

It is on a little courtyard, shared by a few houses, so when it is warm enough I will be able to sit out at the table. Actually I ate lunch out there today. The shutters slide open to let light into the 2 bedrooms and the living room. With Angela's permission I will post pictures of the inside later, on a slow news day.
I got settled and then went for a walk.

From the bottom of those stairs over the marina in front (from tiny fishing boats to huge, monster yachts)

L

Some moored out in the bay but most of the mooring buoys are empty at this time of year.

The harbour is so well protected that it wasn't until I walked to the other side of the bay, later, that I could even see how to get out to the sea. Surrounded by the Tramuntana Mountains.

Looking for the supermarket, I found the church

with its maritime cross on top.

I hadn't really planned to go to the grocery store but when I found it thought I might as well stock up. Four plastic bags later and it felt like a long walk back (wine, fruit and veg can weigh quite a bit) so I stopped for a cafe con leche in the sun. Home and stowed it all. Made myself some lunch and then unpacked. I had the door open as it was a lovely day and a man knocked on it. His English wasn't good, my Spanish isn't good.. So we ended up having a rather difficult conversation in French. Turned out he needed to get the owners permission to attach fibre optic cables to the building. I wished him bonne chance.

Beautiful out so I decided to walk around the bay. This is the entrance to the sea, flanked by 2 lighthouses.

One high up on the left that Angela indicated is a nice walk and that you can take a path to the next village from there. I will have to be in better shape first.

This one is closer, up behind me and I may try to get to it first.

Another Canadian visitor.

Muskovy duck?????

I only think this is a Muskovy Duck because we had one at the cottage. It followed us around for a couple of days and when we asked at Bird Studies Canada they told us that was what it was and it was probably an escaped domestic duck.
The Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata) is a large duck native to Mexico, Central, and South America. Small wild and feral breeding populations have established themselves in the United States, particularly in Florida and the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas as well as in many other parts of North America, including southern Canada. Feral Muscovy ducks are found in New Zealand, Australia, and in parts of Europe. From Wikapedia. Guess the one here is feral.

No idea what this is but he looked very sweet on a piece of stick on the beach. I'm sure I can count on one of my birding friends to identify him.

I walked to that bend in the road

and looked across at my side of the bay.

I'd done a lot of walking and suddenly felt jet lagged. On my way back I sat at a bar, be the beach, in the sun and had an aqua con gas and a copa vino tinto, while listening to German being spoken all around me.

There is a section of the docks devoted to these traditional little fishing boats.

They have these lovely wooden prows

and wooden masts, bound together with rope.

The ‘llaüt’ is the traditional trawl fishing vessel of the Balearic Islands, although nowadays it is more a piece of craftsmanship whose use is reserved to enthusiasts. From masmallorca.com

This wooden tram goes to Soller every hour. I think I may take it tomorrow.

Mallorca Day 1 - Palma

I left home at 11am and Simon drove me to the airport. Flew Air Canada to Zurich and managed to doze off and on for about 2 hours. I had a 6 hour lay over in Zurich and alternated between trying to sleep on uncomfortable seats and walking the shopping concourse. Do we really need that many shops for purses and perfume? At 12:50 I flew Edelweiss Air (I wasn't sure about an airline named after a little, white, alpine flower but it turned out to be excellent) for 1 1/2 hours to Palma. We flew in from the North and it looked lovely, flying in along a green valley with fruit trees with the mountain range on the right. I am looking forward to exploring.
I took a taxi to my hotel, checked in and then went for a walk (I read the best thing you can do to adjust to a time change is to get outside).

I am just 2 blocks from the beach which is skirted by a road, a walking path and a bike path.

I can imagine this just packed in the summer time!

A protected bay, perfect for paddleboarding (he is wearing a wet suit though)

No waves and a light breeze also made it perfect for windsurfing and

a small sailing class. That's an overturned Laser on the right. I felt badly for that student. I watched as I walked and the boat was upside down more than it was right side up with the zodiac buzzing around, shouting instructions I imagine. I'm sure Daniele remembers a similar day with George in our Laser.

I kept walking, past a marina,

past a fishing boat cove and beach,

and around a headland to see that Palm extends around the next bay too. That's were the cruise ships dock.

At that point my fitbit vibrated that I had done 10,000 steps and I thought that was a good enough excuse for a glass of wine. I found a beach side bar (the Flip Flop), ordered a glass of the house red and continued to watch the various water sports, dog walkers, joggers and bicyclists. The waiter greeted me in German and switched to English when I responded in Spanish (I don't want to think about what that means). He said most tourists this time of year are German and then some English. I only heard German being spoken at the other tables.

I ordered a light supper of tapas (Prawns, olives, tomato and mozarella) and another glass of wine and watched the sun go down.

The waitress started to put blankets out on the backs of all the chairs so that we could wrap up and continue to watch the evening descend on the bay.

I have just managed to synch the fitbit and it indicates that I got 2 hours sleep in the last 24 hours. I knew that already. I am going to bed.

Cats and Birds

I have driven off the Point 5 times this week and each time enjoyed the bird life here. The Inner Bay was frozen over for a time but is now open water again and populated with patches of little black ducks and quite a large flock of swans. I saw Sandhill Cranes flying overhead. They will stay until the corn fields are too covered with snow for them to eat. The Bald Eagles seem to stay all year round. I have seen them from the causeway road each time I have been on it, this week. Once there were 3 of them dive bombing a fourth. They are big, impressive, birds swooping around and colliding with each other. I think they were trying to get him to drop whatever was in his talons.
I realized, after finishing the last post, that I had neglected to mention Heather or Rasta:

Heather was working on a Santa with a cat.

"Can't touch that!" Torture for a cat.

Happiest when he made a nest in a box of tissue paper.

Rug Hooking winter 2017

Last weekend I had a full house with 8 of us in residence for a weekend of rug hooking, knitting, crafting, etc etc.

Quite a collection of wine, cider, beer and scotch arrived. This is what was on the floor, there was more in the "bar" area.

We each volunteer for a meal. Pat and Pam served "raclette" on Saturday evening. Paired with cider and/or Riesling.

It was mild for our walks on the beach

even a bit foggy.

Sue was working on a large pictorial of her grandchildren.

The colours of Peggy's floral pillow are much more vivid than this photo shows.

Lynn was finishing a couple of small squares.

Pat was working on a massive rendition of the parliament buildings.

Brit made this sweet little basket out of cotton cord and coloured threads and whipped a hooked piece.

Brit, Pam, Pat, Peggy and Sue were also knitting. This is Brit's linen stitch cowl made from a magic "never ending" ball of yarn.

Brit taught me how to make the baskets. Could be a new addiction.

I also worked on my pumpkins.

It is great spending time with creative, talented and fun friends. I will see some of them again at the OHCG Annual in April and then try for another cottage weekend in June.

Mystic Landscapes at the AGO

I am way behind in my blogging but having to delete all the photos from my netbook has motivated me to try and catch up.
Chris and I have memberships at the Art Gallery of Ontario (A Christmas present, thanks Santa!) and went to the Mystic Landscapes exhibit a couple of weeks ago. We ate at Franks (get a 10% discount with membership) and the food and service was excellent. Then went in to the exhibit (timed ticket). The last time I went was for the Lawren Harris exhibit, during the day. This time it was evening and therefor much more crowded. All though I was not actually rushed or pushed, it was a much different experience. I had to wait to get a good view of the paintings, people would just plant themselves in front of one and then chat with their friends about something else (very annoying), I felt I had to move on in order to give others a chance and generally it felt a little claustrophobic. In spite of that, I enjoyed the show, highlights were two of Monets haystacks and a small Emily Carr that I loved (I had previously not really cared for her paintings). We were not permitted to take photos.
I then spent just a bit of time in the other rooms:

There was another exhibit or works by Anthony Caro, when he was in his 80's. 4 huge metal sculptures and a sketching class.

Cranberry Lake, Franklin Carmichael

From the signature on the bottom its by A.J.Casson but I couldn't find the booklet on the room to find out its name. I prefer it when there is a label beside the painting.

A Lawren Harris, still love his style.