Рассказ об отдыхе и поездках по острову A story about holidays and trips around the island

We had a wonderful rest with my husband from August 31 to September 12.
We love a quiet and relatively secluded holiday combined with independent travel. This time there was a choice between Rhodes and Mallorca, but since we were in Greece, in particular, in Crete, we decided that we were not so rich people that we could go to the same country a second time when there was more so many countries unknown to us).

We chose not so noisy and cozy Paguera. We also thought about Santa Ponsa, but I read in the reviews that the water there is not as clean as in Paguera. (By the way, making a boat trip with a stop for swimming in Santa Ponsa, we were convinced of this. The water in Santa Ponsa is really a little different. With a greenish tint, probably more algae). We did not regret our choice, I will explain why below.

Hotel Tora. In addition to him, I was interested in two more threes: “Gaya” and “Maria Dolores”. But our operators do not carry to these hotels. Therefore, we opted for Thor.

It fully met our wishes. Small, located, on the one hand, close to the beach (although everything is close in Paguera), on the other hand, in a relatively quiet place. We arrived at the hotel around 21:00, but due to the lack of rooms on the first night we were settled in another hotel, Cupido, which is a three-minute walk away. The next day, immediately after breakfast, we returned to Tora, where we were given a room, as well as compensation for the inconvenience caused: a free safe for the entire duration of our stay and free drinks in the restaurant for 4 days. It should be noted that even without compensation, we did not experience any particular inconvenience due to the first night in another hotel, because we arrived in the evening, and settled in Tora the next day in the morning, so we didn’t even have to unpack our bags; but with compensation, they completely forgot about this moment).

Here I would like to make a comment regarding the work of Natalie Tours.
The bus on which we arrived from the airport did not drive us directly to the hotel (like, so as not to wander through the streets of Paguera), but stopped on a neighboring street, and we had to get our things on foot. Not far, but still. In addition, the guide Natalya did not accompany us to the hotel, but at the entrance to Paguera she got into her car and cheerfully waved her hand to us as she drove past the bus. The driver, of course, not belmes in Russian, showed us with gestures how to go to the Torah. It is difficult to get lost there, but still there is a feeling that this is the wrong attitude of the tour operator towards its customers. Especially when the hotel found out such a problem as the lack of rooms. Two more couples came to the hotel with us, it’s good that one of our compatriots spoke German and was able to explain himself to the lady at the reception. In fact, the guide Natalya was supposed to translate for us, but, as I already said, she considered her working day to be completed ahead of schedule.
In addition, on the way from the airport, Natalya, giving brief information about the island, etc. , said that Telephonika phone cards, which are profitable to call to Russia, cost 6 euros from Natalie Tours guides and Tabacs stores. Not true, in stores they are 5 euros. A trifle, of course, but unpleasant. There is nothing wrong if Natalie Tours guides earn 1 euro on the resale of cards (any labor must be paid), but this must be said directly, otherwise false information is obtained in addition to the feeling that Natalie Tours guides do it unofficially, since they hide this fact.
This is where our communication with Natalie Tours ended, because there were no unforeseen situations, and we didn’t take excursions, because we prefer to “walk on our own” and by car.


We got a large room, on the second floor. It is located on the corner of the hotel where the sign "Torah" hangs, which is captured on the presentation photos of the hotel on many sites.
From equipment in the room there was a TV and a hairdryer in the bathroom. The street where our balcony overlooked is not noisy, in any case, we slept with an open balcony and did not experience any inconvenience. Only at 6-30 in the morning a garbage truck arrives, it makes a lot of noise, but not more than 2 minutes. Either we had a good sleep in the morning, or we were so tired from too active a rest, but this car did not give us any discomfort either.
The attitude of the hotel staff is friendly. In the restaurant, the head waiter welcomes guests in their native language. The food (we had breakfast + dinner), in our opinion, is quite decent. Breakfasts are monotonous, but not to say that they are poor in assortment. Dinners are quite varied, the choice of dishes is very good for a 3 *.
Russian-speaking Kristina, a very nice girl, works at the reception. When, during our first communication, she began her phrase with the expression “what ...
"I immediately realized that it was impossible to learn a non-native language in this way)) This was confirmed, Christina said that she was from a family of Russian Germans.
Somewhere on the 6th day of our stay in the bath, water began to leak badly. I told Christina, the next day in the evening - the same thing. Christina looked in the log, the plumber had a note that he was and "the problem was fixed. " I repeated my request, but for the next two days there was no change, although each time this miracle plumber made notes that "the problem has been fixed. " Then the water stopped flowing completely. I went to the reception and asked one of the hotel employees to come into my room. The head maid came, saw, waved her hands, groaned, ran away, came running with some special equipment, and after half an hour the problem was really fixed.
After that, I suggested that Christina convey to her management a proposal to fire the plumber, and pay his salary to the head maid))


Already in Pager, we realized another advantage of the location of the Torah, an advantage for us. The hotel is located on the right side of Paguera (when facing the sea). Firstly, there are two supermarkets on this side, Rere and the cheaper Mercadona, convenient for shopping. Secondly, this is from such a wonderful place as Gala Fornells. The fact is that my husband cannot stand the standard beach holiday with lying down. Upon arrival at the place of rest, he climbs into the sea, and, in fact, before leaving, he crawls out. The underwater world is everything. The crowded Paguera beach with a sandy bottom does not differ in a special underwater world. And such a large number of people horrified him, I will never forget his frightened look when he first visited the beach and the silent question in his eyes "where did I go. "
And on Gala Fornells there are two beaches, one is very small, the second is bigger. There are fewer people there, and the underwater world is very interesting. Therefore, those days that we did not drive a car, we went to Gala Fornells, and the Pagers came to the beach if only in the evening, before dinner.
From the hotel to Gala Fornells beach, half an hour of quiet walking along a very picturesque road past small cute hotels, apartments, beautiful and sometimes even very big villas. From the beach, the road continues in the opposite direction from it, a clearing begins, where there is a parking lot. If you follow the forest path for about 15 minutes from the parking lot, and then turn left, you can come to a quiet cove, divided into two parts. Until 11 o'clock you will be there almost alone, by noon the people begin to catch up. On the left side (there is also a "hangar" in the rock) nudists hang out, on the right - "ordinary" people.
In the middle of the bay there is a stone island with a “brick” sign for yachts hanging on it: no entry : ). Quiet cozy bay, with clear water, fish there and all that. But the entrance to the sea is not very good, stones, so water slippers are desirable.

A couple of times, when we did not leave for the whole day from Paguera, we dined at a restaurant located opposite the corner of our hotel. The criterion for choosing a cafe or restaurant for me is the presence of local visitors, because they know where to eat. Here, in this restaurant, the visitors were locals, and my assumptions were confirmed, the food there is really tasty. My husband also liked the restaurant on the Boulevard, where they speak Russian and have a menu in Russian.

As souvenirs, we bought ceramics, synthetic pearl jewelry, leather belts and, of course, bags. In early September, there were already sales, although without them the prices for bags are much lower than in Russia.

With sales, leather bags cost 20-30 euros, leatherette bags cost about 10 euros. I also noticed that it is profitable to buy beach accessories in Paguera, and especially men's swimming shorts - the choice is very good, and the prices are 3 times lower than in Moscow (I don’t know how in other cities of Russia).

One day was given to a trip to Palma. Bus 102 (ticket to Palma 3 euros), in the morning it is better to get on it at the Rere supermarket, because then there are a lot of tourists at the stops on the Boulevard itself and there may not be enough seats. In Palma, we walked from the Cathedral to the Little Spain complex, wandered around this complex (8 euros per ticket), walked back to the center along the promenade and took a taxi (15 euros) to the Aquarium, located near Palma airport. The aquarium is worth a visit, very interesting (ticket costs 19.5 euros). Back from the Aquarium to the Cathedral returned by city bus (1.25 euros per ticket).
For 5 days we rented a car, Peugeot 207, in the office "Сoches Sebastian", located on the Boulevard in the left (if facing the sea) part of Paguera. This rental office seemed to us the most attractive: they have new cars (we didn’t even have a year), in addition, my husband wanted a diesel engine (it’s cheaper and pulls well in the mountains), and this was the most optimal offer among diesel ones. For five days, the rent was 155 euros.
Our program was very busy, we covered about 1200 km in five days (we spent 60 Euros on fuel). We bought a very good map (about 9 euros), called Kompass, we used it to make routes, look for "blue lagoons" and, it should be noted, we never made a mistake.
Driving around Mallorca is a real pleasure. Good roads, sensible location of signs, it is impossible to get lost. Instead of crossroads, there is a roundabout, which is convenient because if you don’t immediately decide where to turn off the circle, circle around it as long as you need until you figure out where to go.

It is also difficult to get lost in cities: if there is a choice of where to turn, as a rule, there are signs. There are such rules with parking lots: you can park where either there is no color marking, or where it is white. Where yellow - parking is prohibited. Where the blue one is paid parking, you pay for two hours, if you need more, you have to pay extra, but be sure to move the car to another place. In Paguera itself, there is a blue marking, but you don’t have to pay for parking, but only after two hours rearrange the car. We never paid anywhere (except for parking in Valldemossa), because we always found a place where free parking is allowed. In general, the problem with parking, I suppose, can only occur in Palma (therefore, it is more convenient to go there by public transport), in other cities there are no particular problems.
There are fewer gas stations in the northern and western parts of the island than in the east and south.
At gas stations, you first fill up the car for the amount you need, then you pay for it.

In terms of finances: the whole trip cost 2370 euros, including:
1520 euros - the tour itself;
215 euros - car rental and fuel;
120 euros - tickets to historical, cultural and entertainment places;
160 euros - gifts, souvenirs;
30 euros - public transport and taxi;
325 euros - food, water, alcohol (including duty free).

Further, for those who are interested, I will briefly describe our trips.

First day. We traveled around the west coast (the cities of Andracht, Deia, Soller), stopped by Valldemossa, rested in the bay of Sa Calobra (sa Calobra), then Luke Monastery, from the Monastery returned to Palma through the Inca. The west coast is very beautiful, the road stretches along the sea through the mountains, the views are extraordinary. In Valldemossa, we wandered through the streets, visited the Carthusian monastery (ticket price 8.5 euros).
By the way, to pay for parking in the parking lot in Valldemossa, save a small change, we didn’t have less than 2 euros, we threw them into the machine, it was enough for 3 hours, but absolutely slowly, and even having a snack in the cafe with the famous potato buns, we met at 2 o'clock. Sa Kolobra is a really beautiful bay, with clear water, but the road to it impresses with its turns, such pretzels in the mountains are not for the faint of heart). In fact, there is no danger, if you do not drive, but turning almost 360 degrees over the abyss makes the heart beat faster. We were already in the Luke Monastery in the late afternoon, so we wandered there almost alone, without crowds of tourists.

Second day. North coast. Formentor - Alcudia - further along the coast a little to the east, and returned to Palma by secondary roads through Miro and Sa Poblu.

Guide Natalie Tours was very persuasive to take a bus tour to Formentor, motivating a very dangerous road for cars. In reality, the road is not at all scary (and compared to the road to Sa Colobra, it may even seem like a wide flat highway). And why is it dangerous to drive a small car where a large tourist bus passes? Nowhere have I seen so many women driving as on the "dangerous" road to Formentor, and this is an indicator. On the way back, having driven a little from the lighthouse, we saw an unusually beautiful bay (on the map it is designated as Gala Figuera). We decided to park the car somewhere and somehow go down to it. And then we saw a special platform for cars. We left our Fawn there and went down to the bay. The road takes about 20 minutes of descent. What can I say. The beauty. We, as always, arrived early, there were few people. Then they pulled up (and the yachts too). In this bay, water slippers are also desirable.
After this bay we stopped at Formentor beach. By the way, the buffet is partially included in the parking fee there, I didn’t go into details of how exactly, because we weren’t going to eat there, but just wanted to swim. I explained this to the parking attendant, and we paid a smaller amount, if I'm not mistaken, 3 euros. We really liked the Formentor beach, the sand strip is not wide, there are pine trees right there, there is a shadow. The water is the clearest. You swim, it seems, the bottom is very close, well, maximum waist-deep, and you get up on your feet - you find yourself up to your neck in water. We understand that this beach is a priority for the locals, because 80 percent of it was local (it was a day off). Then we visited Alcudia, in the old city, and drove along the northern coast to the east, it stretches for several kilometers in a sandy strip. We stopped for a swim at Can Picafort. I didn’t really like the north coast, the water near the coast that day was muddy, and the beaches were crowded.
After all, hotels are located very often along the coast. There is no visible division into cities, one large resort area. For my taste, this is not such a cozy place as Pagera or others, which I will describe below.

The third day. Managora - Arta (Caves) - Canyamel - Gala Torta beach - Gala Estreta bay. In Arta, we missed at first, instead of the Caves, we arrived at the ruins of Arta, this is also a cultural and historical place. Nothing special there, just spent 4 euros for tickets. But there we were given a brochure of the Arta district, where in the picture I saw one beautiful beach, but about it later. After wandering around Arta itself, we still went to the Caves. Entrance to the Caves costs 10.5 euros. Buy a ticket and wait for the launch. Run in groups, every half an hour. It is advisable to take a sweater on an excursion to the Caves - the temperature there is 17 degrees. The caves are located near the beautiful town of Canyamel.

Here I liked it, well, very beautiful, in a picturesque place, a good beach. After Canyamel, we went to the Gala Torta beach, the one that I saw in the advertisement. This beach is on the north coast. Really beautiful place, sandy beach, easy access to it, which is important. Then we drove even further and found a completely wonderful rocky cove, marked on the map as Gala Eztreta. A road leads to it (and, as a rule, there is no access to such “blue lagoons”, usually you leave the car and walk some distance), but at the same time, surprisingly, there were no tourists there, only a small group of Spanish youth having fun national fun - jumping from rocks). We saw a lot of beautiful and secluded coves, but not one of them left such touching memories with my husband as Gala Estretta.

Fourth day. Montuiri city - east coast (Gala Vargues bay, Gala Murada township, Horta, Calonge, Algyera Blanca, Santanyi, Campos towns).
From the beach, we walked along the rock to the neighboring bay, where Spanish youth climbs vertical rocks (Spider-Man nervously smokes on the sidelines) and jumps into the sea. And on the opposite side of the bay, tourists fix it on cameras. After we went to the place Gala Murada, this is a small resort town, very pretty, the beach is cozy there, there are marine life. After that, we drove south along the coast and visited the Gala sa Nau bay, also a nice little place, a sandy beach, and a good access right to the beach.

Fifth day. Southeast. We started from the southern cape of Mallorca, Cap de ses Salines. Then we rested on a cozy beach in the bay of Gala Llombards, visited the cities of Portopetro, Cala d'Or and its beach in the bay, captured on many advertising brochures. Then we went inland: the cities of Fetanitx, Petra and several other small towns.

After the trip, there were a lot of impressions and a lot of photos. Now I understand why Mallorca is the place where you want to return.
I wish you all a pleasant holiday!