Sunday, May 13 - Last night's dinner was simple farm food. We started out with several kinds of salads. One was similar to the aubergine custard that I had a few days before. Another one had hardier vegetables and shrimp. They were all cold and tasty. This part of the dinner was serve-yourself. When we were done with the starters, they brought us several platters of barbecued food. The first was sausages and ground meat that could have been ostrich meat from a farm a few kilometers away. The next platter had lamb and pork chops. The last platter had fish. I gave up after the lamb chops. They weren't the best cut of meat and fish, but they hit the spot after a long day of cycling. Dessert was cake and torts.
We got to bed around 10:00.
Several people had early flights this morning and a few had later ones. The early people missed breakfast, but we got ours. It was a normal breakfast buffet but much less choice that at the bigger hotels. They cooked eggs to order for those who wanted them. Alison had already shuttled the early people to the airport. We loaded up the van with what was left and she took off with the later people. The rest of us road back to the Delta Hotel - our very first hotel - where we had left our bicycle bags.
I started riding at 9:15. The weather was warm so I rode in my shorts and jersey. I would have been back-tracking the end of yesterday's route if I had followed the route yesterday. The real route was mostly along the narrow roads that are designated as bicycle roads. They have very little motorized traffic.
I got to the Delta at 10:45. I washed my bicycle and packed it in its suitcase. By the time I was done, Alison arrived with the luggage. I did a quick change in the men's room, said good-bye to everyone that was left and took a taxi into Palma and the Hotel Born.
The Hotel Born is and old building with very thick walls and a central courtyard. It is located in the oldest part of town on a very narrow street that my taxi could not go down. I had to lug my bags about 100 feet to the entrance. My room wasn't ready yet so I walked down the street and had my first and last tapas for this trip to Spain. I had two courses - potatoes with aioli sauce and white asparagus wrapped in ham. It was OK but not great. There are lots of other restaurants in this part of town so I am looking forward to tonight.
After lunch I caught the hop-on, hop-off bus to get a tour of the city. I asked if they had a senior discount and I got on for half-price. I sat on the upper deck and listened to a recorded narrative in English on small earphones. The temperature was in the mid 80's but a cool breeze from the sea kept me comfortable. The tour was interesting and I learned some history of Palma which I promptly forgot. This is another place where kings fought kings and brothers killed brothers.
So now I am in my room with no internet connection. It's strange that the little hotels way out in the rural areas have wifi, but some hotels in the big cities don't.
Final daily statistics:
Max speed - 29.6
Time - 1:26
Average speed - 14.8
Miles - 21
Elevation - 375
I couldn't stand being in my room, so I decided to wander along some side streets. One objective was to find somewhere to get a snack. The other was to take some pictures with a fresh battery in my camera. I accomplished. Banana and coconut gelato tasted real good and I found some picturesque buildings and other scenes to shoot. Gaudi spent some time here and you notice his influence right away on some of the buildings.
My wandering also took me to a popular restaurant area. After perusing many menus, I decided on La Palma and went there at the more appropriate hour of 7:30. The lamb shoulder I had this time was in a tomato sauce. It came with fresh green beans and a potato baked in foil. It was good. I remembered to take a picture of it.
After dinner, I meandered back to the hotel along some other side streets. It was lights-out before 10:00.
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