Our last day in Mallorca!! The kids and I went to a historic estate outside of Palma that now is a museum of Mallorca's traditions and history. It was such a lovely place! We had a great time. The estate and location were so beautiful, and to my surprise the kids loved the museum too. It was a nice way to say goodbye to an island we've come to love.
Front of the estate
Inside the courtyard
I had loosely promised the kids there would be animals there, then got nervous that maybe I was wrong. But luckily, the first thing we came to was all sorts of farm animals! It was fun and the kids were thrilled.
The little baby goats could slip right through the bars of their cage :)
Inside the house were all kinds of antiques showing the trades, crafts, and traditions of old Mallorca.
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Dying the wool! It was so cool.
The dyes
Look at this with the picture below.
There was a weird stage in the ballroom with a mini dollhouse theater
Music room!
The monks chambers. It was a monastery at one point.
Dress of the late 19th century.
Creepy playroom
Winepress
Olive press
Rope making
Weaving
Torture chamber used during the Inquisition. Try explaining that to the kids!
Pottery making
The grounds were so beautiful, and the weather was gorgeous. We had a great time wandering around.
Outdoor bathhouse
Stop for a snack
Cool little cave
Skull on the wall
As we left, we got to have a tasting of Mallorcan foods. Mallorcan donuts with jam were a hit! We also had sausage, cheese, fig cake, and orange cake.
Friday we had another day of beautiful weather, hooray! The kids and I took the day to enjoy the house in Colonia. We went to the beach, we laid by the pool (fully dressed of course, ha), and we just relaxed.
That night the restaurant El Sol (owned by our home exchangers) was having their bonfire, rescheduled from the previous rainy week. I decided we would walk down to the restaurant for dinner and enjoy the music and bonfire.
What an adventure it turned out to be!!
The walk was longer than I expected. A lot of it was through sand, which was tiring. And it got totally dark just as we were nearing the restaurant. But I thought, no big deal, we'll eat, relax, and after awhile we'll be ready for the trip back.
I didn't bring the baby carrier on this trip, so I got creative.
Just before we reached the restaurant, we found ourselves at a giant torrent, or river. Well, a river that only exists when it rains a lot. So apparently, when people told us we can walk to El Sol, they did not mention (or maybe did not realize) that does not apply when it's been raining buckets for a week!!
So close, and yet so far!!
It was completely dark and chilly, so there was no way I was going to cross that water. From where we were, it looked deep, and it definitely had a current. Plus, we were in a totally uninhabited area, so there was no hope of making our way to a road or bridge. The restaurant is at the very edge of the town.
So, we sat there for a while and took a rest, and watched the bonfire from afar. Then we turned around and made our way home again. It was pitch dark at that time, and a long way back (though we did find a way to take a little shortcut). Levi J was such a trooper. He did so well. We were out for about three hours, and walking for a good portion of that.
But we made it without problems, thank goodness. The kids were starving and exhausted, so we ate sandwiches and went straight to bed. Both of them were asleep before their heads hit the pillows.
Saturday was our last day in Colonia. We cleaned and packed and said goodbye to the cat (the kids absolutely doted on the cat!)
We went to El Sol for lunch (driving this time!!) and wandered out on the beach there.
El Sol in the daylight
You can see how far we walked from the neighboring town. The torrent looked lower that day than it did the previous night; either way I would not have chanced trying to go through it with the kids in the dark.
We headed back to Palma, and just outside the city, stopped at a glassworks shop called Gordiola, where they blow glass. For some reason, the glass blowers were not working. I don't know if it is because it was the weekend or the off-season, but I was disappointed we missed that. We walked through their displays, then shopped.
Levi J is up at the top right
Quintana said, "I'm the queen!" We do sometimes call her Queen-tana ;)
Can you imagine my stress levels at this point? Baby bulls in a glass shop, aah!
Today we went to the branch here one last time. Everyone has been so kind and welcoming! And the kids have been awesome attending church in a language they don't know. I've been able to understand a lot of what is taught, at least when it's South Americans speaking and not Spaniards! 😉
The picture is from last Sunday
One more day here!! And then home again home again, waahh.
