Summer is H O T in Mallorca. This summer my family and I were much more sedentary than we have been in the past summers. In part our home air conditioning situation was not ideal (weeks of delays on installation), so our main coping strategy was keeping things slow. Keeping things slow meant that we spent much less time going to the local pools and beaches than we normally like to.
Mainly we visit beaches that are accessible from Palma, as the train into the city makes it the fastest set of destinations. Biking down to the sea and taking a left goes past Anima beach and eventually to C’an Pastilla and points west. Taking a right means a ride past the ferry terminals and eventually, to Palma Nova. All wonderful destinations.
Toward the end of August I loaded up my bike and slung my camera across my shoulder to try my hand at beaches on the other side of the island. This side doesn’t have direct access via the train. Instead, I took my bike to the T1/T2 terminus at Sa Pobla, and biked about an hour up to Platja de Muro, near Alcudia.
Exiting the station it took me a few minutes to get my bearings straight. I had been so relaxed on the train, listening to an audiobook and watching the scenery pass by that getting out into the late August heat I was a little disoriented. All part of the journey, and honestly kind of a fun thing to have happen. Disorientation on a journey has the effect of making everything more exotic and adventurous for me, so I welcomed it.
I got onto my bike and started along the route I had planned. The I saw very little of Sa Pobla, as I found my way out onto the road. But the sun was out and the sky was so blue.
My path took me through Parc Natural de s’Albufera, a protected wetland. There was a lovely viewing platform where I could get a proper look at the wetlands which were obscured from view at road level by brush.
I don’t recall the details exactly, but there was an issue with the mapped directions that I was following coming out of the nature reserve. I think I had to back track a bit, and make a new path. But it didn’t put much of a dent in my trip.
I got to the beach and set up my little chair to do some people watching and look out at the surf.
An absolutely cloudless day. The blue of the sky and the the blue/green water could have been examples of their type in a paint swatch book.
I didn’t stay too long. The heat was oppressive, and I had a fair ride back to the station. On my way out of town I came across this concrete wall above at a condominium building.
The trip back to the station, and home, was peaceful and quiet. I didn’t stop as much as on the way up to the beach, but I didn’t rush either.
I’m looking forward to finding more places like this that are relatively easy day trips from our pueblo in the mountains. As the temperature drops out of the sweltering summer highs, I can envision more and longer trips of this kind finding new destinations from the train stations.