Day Off Ride to Deia

May 22, 2022

Today was to be a day off the bikes to stroll and to visit the Port de Soller.

Until 1912 when the train tunnel was built, Soller was isolated from the rest of Mallorca by the imposing Tramuntana mountains. It had a bustling sea trade of its own, trade being largely based on citrus fruits. The citrus orchards are nestled in the valley all the way up to the top of the mountain pass which we have now ridden twice. The trees are dripping with ripe oranges and lemons, some so close as we cycle along that I am tempted to snarf an orange or two in passing. There are easier pickings right in the ditch however and I need my arm for cycling.

Back to the train though, it now transports tourists to and from Palma which is only about 30k from Soller. From here, tourists can hop on a tram to get to the Port de Soller. It starts and stops just outside our hotel and announces itself with a cute little toot-toot, just like Thomas the Tank. The tracks pass right through the central placa in front of the church.

If you drive to Soller, you will drive through a long tunnel that was completed in 1997. Today there is no tarif, but it was initially a toll tunnel. Prior to its construction, drivers had to navigate the 50+ hairpins of the col de Soller. And, of course, before cars came along horse and wagon was the only mode of transport. Poor horsies.

After a liesurely buffet breakfast, we hung out and rested in our room with a view. By 11am, we were both ready to saddle up and explore Port de Soller.

View from our room of the Tramuntana mtns.

This beautiful church overlooks the central square in Soller.

This central placa in Soller is a hubbub of activity each day. Around the perimeter are restaurants, bars, cafes and gelato shops. The central square becomes a playground for young kids, really young, to learn the art of kicking nerf balls and riding scooters. Moms and dads watch from nearby. It is our evening entertainment while we have our gelato, to watch these little tykes. Failures and tears are all part of it, but so is encouragement and kisses from grandma to make it all better.

View across the square, where everything seems to happen in Soller.

Several streets in Soller have been adorned with 'flags' giving them a festive look.

Many of Mallorca's towns originated as sea ports and for each port, a secondary village sprang up just inland of the port. Such is the case for Soller and Port de Soller. So we decided to cruise down to the port for a looky-loo. Our choice of Soller town for our second hub was swayed by the idea that it would be an extra 5k uphill ride each day if we stayed in the Port. As it turns out, it's far less of a drop between the town and the port than we had expected.

As we coasted in to Port de Soller, the traffic signs directed all traffic into a parking lot. It seemed very unusual! Then we realized that cars were not allowed to enter the town from this end. Brilliant. The roads in these towns are narrow and it doesn't take much to create a trafffic jam.

We had rented our bikes from a local business whose mechanics operated from their shop in Port de Seller and since our chains were both sounding dry we decided to drop by and have them lube the chains. They were busy but happily took a few minutes to do just that for us.

Port de Soller is a 5k cruise from the town of Soller.

Once that was finished, I looked at David and asked if he was up for a ride along the coast to Deia for lunch. Yessiree! So we were off. Here are a few photos of what transpired.

Looking down on Soller from the first part of the ascent.

I stopped by to visit with the donkeys who live in the hillside forest.

Soon, the other donkeys came out of the trees to join in.

The roadway climbed gradually, a real pleasure to ride.

This bakery is operated ex-pro retired cyclist. We had seen a video about him and his bakery and so it was fun to see and taste his baking. 10 out of 10 rating on the peach cake!

There... I spotted the fruits at last. These are carob trees!

Elevation gain: 7312 metres.

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Today's ride: 28 km (17 miles)
Total: 464 km (288 miles)

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