The Rains Came Down and the Floods Came Up

Friday evening and Saturday morning Mallorca (and most of the coast of Spain) received torrential rains!

Friday night we were supposed to go to a bonfire, but the weather was pouring rain and even hail. I was super bummed; we had even put Quintana down for a really late nap so that she could stay up later for the party. Levi had a great idea though; we turned out all the lights in the house, snuggled on the couch all together, and watched the lightning over the ocean. It was a really special memory.

When we woke up in the morning water was coming into the house because the wind and rain were so strong. We were already planning to leave the beach and head back to Palma, and I was glad to get away from the ocean on a day like that.

The whole drive across the island we saw flooding, waterfalls, and rivers. Note: Mallorca normally has no rivers on the entire island! We saw whole groves of orange trees in a foot of water, and rocks tumbling off cliffs. It was pretty wild.

Look at the stairs on the right side and you can see mini waterfalls of rain pouring off the steps.

This whole picnic area turned into a river.

I don't know if you can tell but we are driving through several inches of water!

On our way back to Palma we drove up to a mountaintop monastery called Santuari de Lluc. It was beautiful, remote location in the forest. There is a cathedral, a boarding school, and a monastery where people can stay the night. The school has a famous children's choir, and the singers are know as the "Blauets" for the blue robes they wear.

Children's choir robes.

The bishop points the way to the cathedral

The monastery where people can stay in rooms.

There is a relic in the cathedral known as the "Moreneta." She is a little statue of Mary and Jesus, and is very dark in color (thus the name). The legend is that a farmer boy found the statue in his field and brought it to the church. But every time he brought it to the church he found it again in his field. So they built a church in that spot for the statue.

Wet little girl!!

It was beautiful little place. In nicer weather I could imagine wandering through the forests. But mostly I am just glad we traveled safely and also got to see a little something neat on a very wet day!