To: old town of Alcudia, Port de Pollença and the town of Pollença
Today we visited the nearby sights of old Alcudia and the town of Pollença as well as the beach resort of Port de Pollença. It was a leisurely ride - checking off a number of the nearby touristy boxes.
We started with breakfast at the same restaurant that we ate at at on the day that we arrived on Mallorca. Again, ordering the omelets with tomatoes and coffee at the Alcudia Restaurant was a great way to start the day. The restaurant has a nice no nonsense esy going home style diner vibe, too.
Our go to breakfast spot with bike parking right out front.
After our breakfast, the first stop was the old town of Alcudia. Fortunately it is not the busy season here as the walled city would attract numerous visitors, but we made it in and out of the narrow streets with ease. We purchased a couple of small mementos of our stay here and cycled the perimeter road just inside the town`s large stone walls stopping now and again to look at things of interest. The defensive wall itself is impressive. It was started in the 1300`s and even with considerable focus took 60 years to complete. At one time there would be 700 men working on the wall as the king demanded that one in five able bodied men on Mallorca assist in its construction.
In Alcudia, this building has a set of incredibly detailed window frames.
Next stop was the Port de Pollença where we cycled along side the large bay before reaching the wide expanse of beach. The well marked cycle path is right next to the beach for a couple of kilometres from one end of town to the other. Port de Pollença is a very nice a beach front resort. The beach is massive and full of umbrellas and chaise lounge chairs. As you ride the cycle path you need to keep your wits about you as there are many riders with a mix of skills and cycle lanes are side by side in opposing directions along with many pedestrian crossings. To add to it all, the beautiful beach and sea are a major distraction.
The distinct rock in the middle of the frame is on the way to Cap Formentor. If you zoom in you can barely make out the slash of the road on the right side.
Port de Pollença looks to be a very nice beach side resort. Right bit now is a bit of a slower season for this area but in a month we are told that the tourists will be arriving. We are enjoying it now just fine!
Our final destination for the day was the old town of Pollença which is about 8 kms inland from the port. We were both quite surprised how large and well developed the area is. There are numerous plazas, restaurants and shopping streets. Everything to attract a thriving tourism industry.
A field of sheep on route to the town of Pollença. The sheep were so still in the grass that we needed to look closely to make sure they were not rocks!
Our coffee stop today in one of the plazas in Pollenca. But, Pat had seen numerous tables full of road riders drinking cokes at all of our stops in Mallorca. She changed from cappuccino to coke today in hopes of a miraculous improvement in her endurance! lol
On the edge of town we found a park and sat in the shade of some trees and enjoyed some sausage, cheese and bread that we had bought from a wonderful organic store near our hotel. Getting back on our bikes we took a fairly direct road that runs between Pollença and Alcudia. Scott was taking mental notes of any connecting roads as we are planning to take this same route when we begin to head inland tomorrow.
Seemingly against all odds - at the exact second that we reached the intersection of a connecting road, David and Anne Mathers that we had only met the previous day reached the same spot. We all laughed hysterically that we could end up in exactly the same place at the same day with two people we had enjoyed a coffee with the previous day. Literally if either party had been 10 seconds faster or slower we would have been ships passing in the night. It was just so funny to bump into them again this way.
Back at our hotel we had our happy hour by the pool and dinner back in our room as we began the process of organizing two small panniers for a short tour to the north side of Mallorca. Given the current weather we have no problem leaving our warmer gear behind in storage at the hotel.
Scott has enjoyed his afternoon swims in the pool at Hotel Ivory Playa Sports & Spa.
Today was our last local ride based out of Alcudia before we switch back to tour mode, albeit slightly modified. Tomorrow we will be heading toward the Tramuntana mountains and the north side of Mallorca.
1 year ago