Spain out of lockdown!

Well hello from a lovely, sunny Mallorca now in official winter time now that the clocks have gone back!  The weather over the last few days has been absolutely glorious, around 23-24 degrees with beautiful turquoise blue skies.  I took this photo from Dolc Sa Pobla cafe on the corner behind the church:

I understand that the weather currently in the UK is grey, wet and miserable, so for those who are languishing in all that yukkiness, here are some views of the Port:

and of La Gola Reserve which we always really enjoy walking around with the dogs:

Mind you, so do a lot of people and sometimes not all of them seem to think that poop-scooping after their dog is a requirement.......💩  But it's really lovely, and if you've never walked through it rather than past it, it's definitely worth a little detour for a wander.  

In breaking news, this morning the Spanish Cabinet approved a new national state of alarm for the country which will give Spain’s regional governments the powers to limit mobility – in particular night-time socialising – in a bid to combat the second wave of the coronavirus.  Closing bars early hasn't had much of an effect as people have simply moved to socialising in private homes and data has indicated that more than 30% of transmissions have taken place at these gatherings.  So in a bid to prevent this there will apparently be an obligatory curfew for the entire country from 11pm to 6am, with the regions having a margin of one hour to bring forward or back the curfew times.  The Balearic regional government has decided to stay with the times of 11pm to 6am.  Regions can also close their own borders if they feel they need to.  There has of course been a huge political hoo-hah in getting to this point and currently the decree is for 15 days, but the national government has made clear that it wants these new measures to stay in place until 9 May 2021.  My view is - we may not like it, but at least we know where, give or take a few regional variations we are.  It is what it is.  Personally I prefer to celebrate all the things we can do, rather than those we can't.  Keeps things positive.......👍

Cases of coronavirus in the Pollensa municipality have decreased from 19 to 16 and it all feels very safe here.  In Palma things are a little more challenging but this would be due to the much larger population so..........   But we're still intending to do a Christmas shopping trip to Fan shopping centre (near the airport) this coming week - it's an open air centre so safer plus we want to pre-empt any crowds of people nearer to December.  Living at the far end of the island as we do, this is an exciting event for us - I mean there's a Primark and EVERYTHING! 😝

In other local news, Finca 49 (behind the Eroski on the road to Pollensa) is closing for the season and hopes to be back next season.  Both cafes that generally stay open the longest in in Cala san Vicente have now closed but would have done so by around the end of October or so anyway; so no coffee for us any more as a nice little stop during our dog walks there.  As we get near to when many places would have closed for the season anyway, it will be more a test of what re-opens for next season that will indicate the long-term consequences of these very challenging times.

Next Saturday is Halloween; usually there's music in the square and children dress up and go round collecting sweets 🍬🍭 as do adults (minus the sweets!) including us!  We love getting a Halloween outfit sorted, doing the makeup - we both turn into big kids 😳 a few bars locally look like they're going to decorate for Halloween so we'll see......but I suspect this year will be a non-event and just give us more to look forward to in 2021!  I am intending to cover Halloween to various degrees during my classes at school this week though.  And the theme during my radio show on English Radio Pollensa (via www.englishradiopollensa.com) on Saturday is Halloween so you can guarantee I'll be playing Monster Mash at the very least 👻😂 

Stay safe and hasta noviembre! 

Spain out of lockdown!

Things are definitely getting a lot cooler here now; by 'cooler', all things are relative of course and temperatures here are currently in the early 20 degrees during the day.  But this is definitely a lot cooler - not to mention more pleasant - than the hot and sweaty mid to late 30 degrees of the not too distant past.  It's when the sun goes down that you realise that autumn really is here though - temperatures in the mid teens is very chilly indeed if you're used to the Spanish climate.  

So, given that our perception of what is 'chilly' has now changed.....how have we changed, or should I say adapted, since moving out here?  

• Certainly we find food/drink here to be much cheaper - depending on where you choose to go of course - but we can go to a number of places locally and have a really good coffee for 1,50 -1,80€ - try getting one for that price in the UK!  And of course alcohol - we can have a large glass of very pleasant wine for as little as 2,20€ if we go during our favourite bar's 'happy hour(s)'.  A menu del dia can cost as little as around 10€ for 3 courses with wine and water.  So when we have been visiting the UK we find it buttock clenchingly expensive to eat or drink out 😳  
• Mosquitoes? Definitely you adapt the longer you live out here and if you do get bitten, it's nothing like it used to be and fades very quickly.  Mind you, I speak as one who has never really suffered from mozzie bites given that they far prefer the flavour of Ian.  For the first couple of years out here, he really suffered as they just seemed to feast on him. And I would be barely touched.  But now, whilst he does still get bitten, his body just doesn't react as it used to and relatively speaking, it's a non-event.  
• Damp - you'd think living in the UK that we'd be used to it, but what with centrally-heated, carpeted and insulated  houses there you have no idea how real damp feels unless you've lived on an island well known for its humidity in houses made of single-skin blocks and specifically focused on keeping you cool.  THEN you know what damp feels like.  I was a scout leader for many years in the UK and I can only liken it to the kind of damp you feel during very soggy scout camps when all your clothes feel chilly and slightly wet, as does your sleeping bag which makes settling down for the night somewhat of a trial.  Many people we know have electric blankets here, but I use what has always worked for me - a hot water bottle popped into bed well before I get in it.  
• Informal dressing - not that we've ever been much for formal dressing so to speak, but living here I hardly ever wear a pair of heels or a 'fancy' dress, maybe New Year's Eve, and that's pretty much it.  In addition, I've found that your feet seem to spread with all the wearing of flip flops and sandals and it's a real squeeze to get your foot into a more structured shoe; I know I'm not the only one as I've mentioned it to friends and they seem to have the same issue.  

Otherwise, things have remained fairly static out here this past week, with no further closures of note, although Moda Fresca - the women's clothing shop in C/Juan XXIII opposite the tabac - is closing for good and currently has all stock at 10€.  I found a few bargains there which I'm delighted with.  And one thing I'm determined upon this year is that all gifts that I buy will be from local or small businesses.  Etsy.com is a wonderful platform for all sorts of lovely handmade, custom, vintage and unique crafts and gifts by some very creative and talented people so I'm intending to use them for gifts for friends and relatives in the UK.  For gifts here I'm sticking to local.  Every little helps!

Numbers of cases of coronavirus locally increased by 2 yesterday apparently but there are still very few and long may that continue.  Everyone locally continues with the mask wearing absolutely everywhere plus all the other measures such as hand sanitising etc.  Every shop has hand sanitiser by the entrance and on the one or two occasions I've just walked in, forgetting to use it, I've been reminded very politely which is as it should be.  And last night we were in a large taxi returning home after a night out (about which more in a bit) and were stopped by police at a roundabout who were checking that we all had our masks on (we were and all was well).  But Spain has its problems, with certain areas on the mainland showing a steep increase in Covid cases and they are in lockdowns in much the same way as now seems to be the case in the UK.  All I can say is that here, on an island and at the other side of it from Palma, we feel very safe (although not complacent) 💕

And so to last night.  We went, for the second time, to what is certainly one of the best kept secrets on the island - so shhhhhhhh! - Mare Nostrum restaurant in Sa Pobla.  Due to the distance and that we all wanted to have some wine, we booked a multi-person taxi (there were six of us) and on the way there we saw the most spectacular sky and I took this photo through the taxi window which came out better than I imagined it would:

In any event, Mare Nostrum is hard to find in the backstreets of Sa Pobla and looks like an ordinary house on the outside.  On the inside however you find this:

The menu is set (6 courses plus a palate cleanser sorbet) and includes cava on arrival plus dessert wine but other drinks are extra.  To say that the food, service and ambience is spectacular is to understate it slightly and you cannot walk in off the street (even if you knew it was there), it is by reservation only (and well in advance at that!).  

The downside to such a wonderful night out is that we drank rather a lot of the gorgeous Mallorcan wines on the wine list and today are feeling more than a tad fragile 😬 never mind, it was worth it!

The clocks go back in the wee small hours of next Sunday - darker evenings beckon and the end of summertime will officially be ended.  It's possible it will be the last time they do it in Spain, but then again they said that last year so......... 

Stay safe and hasta el próximo domingo!

Spain out of lockdown!

This week saw the weather turn definitely autumnal even though some days have been quite stunning.  This meant only one thing, the moment I always dread after a long summer wearing loose clothing, never mind after a lockdown - putting jeans on and hoping to god that they actually do up!  I retrieved my two favourite pairs from the wardrobe in the spare room where my winter clothes currently are, waited till my husband was absent - I certainly didn't want an audience 😳 - and...praise be to all that is wonderful in the world...they fitted 🙌  Needless to say I have worn jeans as often as possible ever since!  

In any event, for those who are missing the blue skies of Mallorca, it may make you feel better to know that today is thoroughly grey, wet and miserable here.  But even in moody weather, the Port is still an absolute stunner:

As a result of the unusually grotty weather we have stayed in to watch last night's Britain's Got Talent final - don't judge me - which was really great, old-fashioned entertainment although not as varied as it might have been with all those magicians!  Delightfully I think the right act won.  We're now watching the French Open tennis final - vamos Rafa!  Actually, thus far it looks like Rafa is running rings around Djokovic so here's hoping he achieves his 13th win.

An interesting observation I made the other day whilst passing the children's primary school playground here in the Port, is that all the children were running around, playing, shouting and generally having a perfectly normal and great playground time - but all of them were wearing masks, correctly positioned and relatively unsupervised in terms of the size of playground and number of adults.  How wonderful to see all those very young people just getting on with things and all keeping each other safe 💕  At the language school the students are all really good about it, but to see this translated into a much wider picture was hugely impressive to be honest.

In wider news, much of the Madrid area where Covid-19 numbers have been rising, has been re-locked down, partly in an effort to prevent those living there travelling to holiday homes on the mainland coast and here in the Balearics as we are in the middle of a long Spanish bank holiday weekend.  This has provoked an enormous political brouhaha as the national government is a socialist one and the regional authority in Madrid is conservative-led so they are not taking this re-lockdown well and there is a great deal of political bickering.....a depressingly familiar scenario don't you think? 🙄

In local news, the Daina finally closed its doors for the season earlier this week.  Capuccino at the Sis Pins closed the week before (forgot to mention it last time) but the hotel is still open. Dakota Steak House is now also closed.  Local shops are offering lots of reductions, discounts and sales and there are definitely bargains to be had as they try to shift their stock.  Quite a few people I know have stocked up on clothes, shoes and accessories and I may have bought one or two things myself (sshh! don't tell Ian).  However we finally made it to the shoe shop (Antich) on the corner near Ca'n Ferra where the owner is retiring and has had a massive sale on for some time now to get rid of the stock.  Six pairs of shoes (two of them leather) for myself and Ian for 92€ - bargain! 

Another lovely little shop is El Patio de Frida on the front, more or less opposite the marina car park.  The lovely owner Patricia has lots of great gifts there and is so helpful.  I went in to buy a little birthday gift for a friend but will be returning next week to buy some Christmas gifts before she closes for the season at the end of the month.  If you're out here before then, she's open Mon-Sat 10am-2pm.

More positive news is that Nostalgia is staying open this winter and will also be doing Christmas dinner 🎄 In addition, Siurell (in Llenaire) is staying open all autumn/winter this year from 11am-10pm every day except Tuesdays.  So if you are intending to travel here, there most definitely is now, and will continue to be, plenty open.  And you will have the beach to yourself; poignantly the lifeguards are still on duty but there's no-one there to 'guard' 😢 This was the beach near Stay restaurant on Tuesday:

At the end of the beach you can just make out the wooden lifeguard tower.  I think I saw a couple of people on the entire beach.  Strange and very different times. 

Stay safe and hasta el próximo domingo!

PS Rafa won 🎉🎾🎉 and in so doing has equalled Roger Federer's 20 Grand Slam titles.  The boy from Mallorca done good!!

Spain out of lockdown!

 Another week has flown by, including the weather turning a little cooler, and it's hard to believe that it's October already.  I accept that for many, this year may have dragged, but for me it has passed by even quicker than usual.  Which is no bad thing in all fairness, given the year we've all experienced so far! 😳  But I think the sooner this year is over the better, frankly.  I know 2021 will bring some challenges too, but hopefully ..............🤞

I've now finished my first full month back at work and it sure is a good feeling 😎 I am more than aware that I am very lucky compared to many people and we just have to hope that the education sector continues to be safe from Covid-19.  We have taken every possible precaution at N1 Language School but you just never know......  Certainly it is heartening that students are so motivated to learn English that they continue to attend after school/work 💪

It is really sad to read posts on Facebook from people who would have been travelling to the Port - so many people are missing their Pollensa/Puerto Pollensa 'fix' this year; but this place ain't going anywhere and will still be here when normal service is resumed!

My work, attendance at the gym, and the show on Saturdays at English Radio Pollensa have kept me busy all week but on Friday I had the very great pleasure of going to a family-run winery located between Muro and Ca'n Picafort called Butxet and neighbouring the S'Albufera nature reserve (where the terrible fires were recently).  Apparently there are very few vineyards in this area which is more or less at sea level, so the wines stand out from those made nearer to the Tramuntanas. They make 1 white, 1 rose and 4 red wines there; the latter are Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah varieties, together with a blended special red wine - Macada.  It turned out to be the favourite of all of us (three couples).  

Anyhow....they have 10 hectares of vines.  The grapes are harvested and go into stainless steel vats, and for red wines, after 15 days the skins/grapes (which make up 20% of the total vat content) are removed and pressed again to get more from them.  White grapes are pressed directly into the vats for white and rose wine and the rose gains it's colour from only around 15 minutes of red grape skins!  The red wine is kept in barrels of 220 litres made from American and French oak for 10 months and are then tasted.  If all is well, they're bottled; if not, then they spend more time in the barrels.   Replacements are of course required but only 20% of the barrels are changed every year which maintains the unique flavour of the winery. The white and rose go direct into the bottle from the vat.  

Overall, the winery produces 40-45,000 bottles of wine p.a.  2020 was fine for grapes apparently, but a vine pest has made the actual plants go brown whilst not affecting the fruit itself - not as photogenic as one might wish but still.....the setting is beautiful 😍

After our lovely tour, we had a wonderful wine tasting complete with Mallorcan cheese and quelitas - and may have bought one or two bottles......😳  

In local news, No31 Restaurant closed it's doors for the season yesterday , and Plaza Uno has also closed for the season.  Finca 49 is now open only on Sundays and doing home deliveries of ready meals on other days.  Llenaire Hotel is open until 10 October and I really hope to get there for their famous coffee and cake on the fabulous terrace before they close.  This past week we were delighted to go to Moll de Bellagio for a menu del dia in their lovely, sheltered terraced garden - great value and service 😃 

It is pretty quiet here now, although still (of course!) stunning, and there is plenty still open if you are still planning and able to come out here sometime soon.  These photos were taken on Pine Walk on 30 September - very different to normal years as you can see:

 

As already mentioned, the weather has turned a little unsettled and certainly cooler; this evening we have had quite a bit of rain and some reasonably impressive thunder and lightning 🌩 the dogs are unimpressed and have decided a family cuddle on the sofa is the best way they can support us through the storm 😂 mind you, I'm surprised they're still speaking to me as today was bath and grooming day and despite the fact that they now look sooooo cute and feel very soft and silky, they don't seem very grateful - how rude 😜

Stay safe and hasta la proxima domingo!