Mediterranean Easter

Diary

track: Serra de Tramuntana + torrent de Pareis
total walking distance 109 km, highest Puig de Massanella (1364 m), lowest sea beaches (0 m)

daily stats: 600 km + 890 km by airliner
sleeping: Palma, hostel
tiresome flight after sleepless night (packing and preparing for absence till the last moment)
nice view of Alps
weather contrast: short-sleeve evening, sunny, blooming landscape, palms
cocaine and brothels

daily stats: 12.2 km
sleeping: premises of refugia Ses Fontanelles, 15°C in the evening (after sunset)
bathing in the sea in Sant Elm
everything (including water) is cold, it is only radiation heating by Sun
La Trapa climb, jungle-like (mist and green abundance below ~200 m), parched above

daily stats: 19.7 km
sleeping: picnic area under refugia (morning temperature 7.5°C (average guess))
Esporles: market (delicious ham and cheese), shop, water
climb through oak (holm oak) forest, sudden outlook to a hacienda/mansion
Valldemosa: museum, water, toilet, shop
climb through stony valley (Cairats)
chalets, water tanks (not drinkable), charcoal kiln platforms

daily stats: 27.3 km
sleeping: a terrace above Soller (11°C in the morning, average guess)
descent to Deia (slightly lost over cliffs)
unsuccessful sea bathing
easy track to Soller (many German tripping families)
- surrounded with lemon and orange orchards
climb through terraced valley (with water conduit), multiple springs

daily stats: 21.5 km
sleeping: on a charcoal kiln platform during descent to Lluc
morning climb on paved (cobble stones) road to the reservoir de Cúber
group of (wild) horses and group of (wild) runners (they seemed like a guided group, mixed men and women)
crowded parking place, no drinking water (despite our expectation)
later a spring and washing ourselves
pinnacle of the expedition – Puig de Massanella
- windy and non-trivial access
evening incident with tent places distribution

daily stats: 3 km + 4.2 km
sleeping: Palma, (same) hostel
reached Lluc monastery (water, toillet, food)
taking bus to Sa Calobra beach
- picturesque road with many hairpins full of cyclists
- the bus driver gracefully handled encounters with other vehicles in opposite direction (or the right of more mass?)
the beach and lagoon is a crowded place, the farther we went into the canyon the less people were there (however, dark corners bore (fecal) traces of human presence)
bus/train to Palma with connection in Inca
evening run (down from Bellver hill as we were afraid to be trapped in after opening hours)

daily stats: 890 km + 600 km by airliner
sleeping: at home
morning walk along Palma coast and checking La Seu cathedral
- entry fee, beggar “mums”
Jehovah Witnesses campaign new Plaça d’Espanya
rainy Milan and sunny Prague (disappointing to experience the same weather at home as in Mallorca)

Ryanair has hard seats (and no vomit bags), Wizzair is softer (and thus bags); leg space is borderline in both
path marking
- red+white band is the main color
- signposts (small (column), big (pointers))
- barriers (twigs, stones)
  - took us some time until we learnt leveraging those
- drawings: arrows, red circles
possible to sleep without tent
Bellver areal closes in the night (~21:30)
Kiwi.com
- necessary to reclaim & checkin our baggage during transfer in Bergamo
- they messed check-in for our last flight -> we had to pay the fee of 35€ for airport checking
- kudos to them how easily we could file a complaint online and how smoothly they reimbursed us
water
- generally no problems (March/April)
- south of Soller there were enough opportunities in towns and villages
- north of Soller there war also springs and public pipes
total cost (travel, food, accommodation) ~ 350 EUR

gusts of wind
- calm periods interrupted with gusts that gradually increased in intensity (~10 seconds) and then faded out
no dew
torrent de Pareis gorge
cacti, succulents and palms both in gardens and in the wild

terraced gardens (olive trees)
deserted houses/huts
lemon and orange tree orchards
charcoal kiln platforms (signs of earlier times economy)
frequent graffiti of Antifa Stuttgart
- the drawings are quite contrasting in native(?) rural areas
interesting generalization of statistics
- mean minimizes sum of deviation squares (2)
- median minimizes sum of absolute deviations (1)
- modus minimizes sum of zeroth power of deviations (0, where $0^0 := 0$)
- that’s why I like travelling with STEM folks
underground bus and train terminal in Palma de Mallorca (Plaça d’Espanya)
nonsensical(?) stony barriers/walls (in the mountains)
water distributing cars (cisterns)
- they are

Easter festival
- Ku-klux-klan alike
- various groups march, music, candles, children collecting wax
- much stronger religion traditions

exclusively road cyclists (the only MTB we saw had an electric engine)
German pensioners (and tourists)
- silent but everywhere (buses, restaurants, streets)
- Mallorca is nicknamed the 17th Bundesland
children playing football at squares (in every town)
community grilling (park infrastructure)
runner herds
individuals
- attractive receptionist (but poor English speaker)
- happy Mexican
- a German guy with guidebook
- Czech-speaking shopkeeper in Deia
- skilled receptionist (mainland Spaniard but looked like a Mexican)
- snoring “Indian”, he was the only one who slept in the bedroom

spicy beer (in Mexican restaurant)
beer size (normal size is 0.3 l which is confusing for Czechs)
bitter olives (advertised as Mallorquian style)
- it’s natural
pastry
- empanadas mallorquinas
  - tasty and filling combination of puff dough and meat (also combined with pea and carrot)
- coca de patata
- empanada

Osprey Talon II 33 l fits comfortably into 20x40x55 cm box required by most (low-cost) airlines

Big thanks to my friends for the photos.