Tag Archives: Porto Cristo

Manacor Still in Lockdown

Posted
Filed under Covid-19, Out and about, Writing

It’s the news that people in and around the town of Manacor were dreading: a two-week extension begins today to the fortnight’s lockdown imposed a couple of weeks ago, to reduce the number of Covid-19 cases. The Balearic government has also brought forward the curfew time from midnight to 10pm.

Eat Outside or Takeaway

We feel particularly sorry for the restaurants, cafes, and bars, who are unable to serve people indoors during this period. Despite the lovely weather we’ve been having during the day, the cool evenings may not be conducive to dining on a terrace. The food would soon be cold (plates are rarely warmed first here in Mallorca), even if diners themselves were dressed to keep warm. A number of places are offering takeaway food and, for some in Manacor, this is the preferred alternative.

Hey, Mr Postman

Our list of things-to-do when Manacor re-opens is growing by the day. First will be a visit to Correos (the post office), where we have our apartado (postbox); no postie makes his way to our rural neck of the woods. We imagine our little mailbox will be stuffed with letters, bills, magazines we subscribe to, and cards sent for my birthday – which happened after Manacor’s lockdown started. My thank you notes for cards received will be somewhat delayed this year!

A main concern is whether our UK bank will have written to tell us we can no longer have an account with them after the end of this year, when Brexit is finalised. Several UK banks have already informed British customers living in Europe that this is happening. Our bank has not yet made any announcement or informed us of a decision and we hope they haven’t done this by post, as it’ll be a fortnight before we get our hands on our mail. And Brexit looms…

  • Porto Cristo. The large boat at the back belongs to tennis supremo Rafael Nadal
    Porto Cristo. The large boat at the back belongs to tennis supremo Rafael Nadal
  • One of several sculptures by Mallorcan artist Joan Bennassar - this is in Can Picafort. Others can be found in Soller and Cala Ratjada
    One of several sculptures by Mallorcan artist Joan Bennassar – this is in Can Picafort. Others can be found in Soller and Cala Ratjada
  • More sculptures by Joan at Can Picafort
    More sculptures by Joan at Can Picafort

Meanwhile we’ve found solutions to being barred from going into Manacor: we’ve eaten lunch in Porto Cristo and done our food shopping (and a local bank visit to pay a bill) in Can Picafort. Both excursions gave us a chance to enjoy being by the sea in the continuing good November weather.

But we’re looking forward to returning to Manacor and supporting the local businesses there.

Authors in Mallorca Podcast

During our time here, I’ve discovered there are many interesting foreigners in Mallorca who write books – of all types and genres. Why not talk to some of them and find out about their writing life and their works? Hence, the launch of my second podcast, Authors in Mallorca.

For the first episode I met up with British author Anna Nicholas, whose books about moving from a busy life in public relations in Mayfair to a rural home in Sóller have many fans around the world. I’ve interviewed Anna on radio before and she’s an entertaining guest.

If you’d like to listen, Authors in Mallorca is available now on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Jan Edwards Copyright 2020

August ends but Mallorca’s summer isn’t over yet!

Posted
Filed under Weather/Climate

Porto Cristo beach in the quieter month of May

Porto Cristo beach in the quieter month of May

Even after more than 10 years of living through August in rural Mallorca, this holiday month takes some getting used to each year. To start with, many of the shops and other businesses in our local town close for lunch and don’t re-open until the next morning. It’s a nuisance if you’re in the middle of a DIY job and run out of something vital to finish it. And that is why we recommend not doing DIY projects in August.

The heat is another good reason to down tools for a few weeks. August is the month when the locals head for the beach early morning or late afternoon. At the end of the day, the tourists are just packing their beach bags and heading back to their holiday accommodation to freshen up for the evening when the locals arrive in groups to claim their spots on the sands.

Holiday home … just down the road

One thing that still amuses me is the number of people who live in Manacor but have a second home in Porto Cristo – around a 10-minute drive away. Many of them leave their main homes to take up temporary residence in the cooler air of the resort for August.

In the UK, it’s more usual for those with second homes to have them further away from their main residence. Former neighbours in Oxfordshire had a cottage in Cornwall. On occasional Friday nights they’d load up the car and head southwest in ever-increasing traffic jams, probably arriving just in time for a cup of tea before it was time to drive back for work on Monday. Having a second home just down the road has some merits …

Dipping into local life in Porto Cristo

This August we’ve again had the occasional morning swim in Porto Cristo. The east-coast resort has a town beach, so the passing traffic (road and harbour) means it’s not a tranquil spot, but it’s perfect for a bit of exercise swimming first thing. We can swim, have a coffee, and be heading home before the town’s roadside car parking charges come into effect at 10:00h.

We’ve enjoyed observing the local early-morning beachgoers. We’ve seen exercise classes on the sands for the elderly; excitable clusters of kids being supervised in various sporting activities, and senior chaps in swimming shorts walking from one end of the beach to the other, toes in the water, as they converse in an animated fashion.

But my favourite sights are the ‘bobulations’. Don’t reach for a dictionary, as you won’t find this word lurking within its pages; it’s a combination of ‘population’ and ‘bob’ – which I made up. These are the groups of local ladies (often of a certain age), who stand chest-high in a circle in the sea or, in deeper water, bob about (still in a circle). They just chat, little exercise is involved. Most wear a hat of some sort to protect their recently re-helmeted hairdo from the sun, but the sea rarely gets a lick at their locks.

August is now over for another year, but you can bet that full-time residents of Porto Cristo will be on the beach early mornings for a week or two more. We look forward to a few more mornings in their company …

From the Boat to Our Table – via Porto Cristo Fish Market

Posted
Filed under Fiestas, Food and drink

When we started looking at properties for sale in rural Mallorca, we’d already decided that we wanted to be able to reach the coast fairly easily from our future home.  Mallorca isn’t a very large island so this wasn’t much of a restriction.

From our finca in the Mallorcan countryside we can drive to the coast to the north or east of our home within 25 minutes. One of the several seaside places we enjoy going to is Porto Cristo – Manacor’s port.

Porto Cristo is bustling in the summer – and not just with holidaymakers from abroad. Many citizens of Manacor own second homes here in the port and relocate themselves to their seaside homes – only some 11 kilometres away – during July and August. When we first heard about this we were quite amused: people we’ve known in the UK with second homes usually had to travel a long way to reach them – either in the air or on Britain’s clogged-up motorways.  Folks here may travel only around 15 minutes to reach their home-from-home.

Summer at the Seaside

We don’t blame the Manacor folks for moving to the coast. During the two hottest summer months many businesses in Manacor itself close at lunchtime and don’t reopen until the following day. People who relocate to Porto Cristo may have further to travel to work in Manacor but, when the day’s (or half day’s) work is done, they can beetle back to the port for the cooling sea breezes.

Porto Cristo is in party mode for the Festes del Carme each July. Events during the week include a seafood fair (this year on Monday, 7th) and a late-night weekend firework display that never fails to delight the crowds lining the port. These are two events we – and apparently the entire population of Porto Cristo and Manacor – attend every year.

This morning we had an appointment in Porto Cristo. Afterwards, we achieved something we’ve meant to do since we moved to Mallorca: we bought a fish at the small harbour fish market.  You only notice the place is there because a few weathered fishermen are usually hanging around outside. The fish market is open six mornings a week and, in summer, for an hour in the early evening. We’d always thought you had to buy fish in bulk here but, no, they are happy to sell individual fish too.

Wind and rough seas had limited the catch today, but we chose a good-looking Cap Roig (also known as a Red Scorpion fish). We’ve eaten this fish in restaurants, but never cooked – or cleaned – one. I was pleased that one of the lingering fishermen volunteered to gut it for me.  Now all I have to do is cook it this evening . . .

Get your fresh fish here!

Get your fresh fish here!

Fresh from the Med

Fresh from the Med

Jan Edwards Copyright 2014

A Sting in the Tale

Posted
Filed under Animals/Wildlife, Nature
"And is there honey still for tea?"

“And is there honey still for tea?”

The world’s honey bee population is in decline, but there seems to be no shortage of bees in our valley in rural Mallorca. Quite a few of the farmers around here have hives and we’re used to seeing bees in our garden, which seems to be the equivalent of one of the all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants loved by the Mallorcans.

Rosemary, lavender, lemon and almond blossom, and various other flowers on our land attract the bees, and – given their important role in food production – we’re happy to see them. We also have quite a few bird baths around our land and the bees seem to like these too.  On a couple of occasions we’ve even had a swarm pass through our ‘airspace’: once, a large dark cloud of buzzing bees passed right over my head. I wasn’t stung but it wasn’t an experience I’d like to repeat.

We don’t expect to see too many bees at this time of year, but on Friday afternoon – lured out by warm sunshine – one stung the back of The Boss’s ear. We were eating lunch on the terrace and a fly had been making a nuisance of itself around us. So when The Boss felt something land on his ear, he swiped at it, believing it was the fly. Sadly for both him and the bee, it wasn’t.  He managed to remove the sting and I applied Betadine liberally to the back of his ear. An Ibuprofen later, to reduce the inflammation, and we thought that would be it.

And so to Bed . . .

On Saturday The Boss’s right ear had swollen and looked red and angry, but he wasn’t in any pain, so he decided to let things take their course. But by Sunday morning, the whole area around his ear, including his neck and part of his cheek, had become swollen and hard. We decided to get it checked at the new Hospital de Llevant in Porto Cristo, and planned to follow our visit with a coffee and slice of cake in a favourite little café there (Magrana). The Boss had expected to be given an injection or a course of tablets, so we were both quite shocked when the doctor told him he was in danger of losing the cartilage in his ear without the appropriate treatment! After a battery of tests – surprisingly, none of them ear-related – The Boss was admitted as an in-patient for 48 hours’ treatment, resting in bed and attached to a drip.

He’ll certainly remember the end of 2013. And, hopefully, he’ll be allowed home in time to celebrate the arrival of the New Year. It remains to be seen whether the oral antibiotics he’ll have to take for a few more days will be compatible with a glass or two of cava to see in 2014. What I can tell you for sure is that we won’t be joining the local community of bee-keepers any year soon . . .

 

On the eve of 2014, I’d like to thank my blog followers and readers for being interested enough to read about our life in rural Mallorca. I wish you all a Happy, Healthy and Successful New Year.

Jan Edwards Copyright 2013