Emailing Friends

Even in the most beautiful places you have to sometimes stop and take a break from the history and the scenery to respond to emails. We were in Valldemossa, one of the most beautiful villages in Majorca and we had just finished going through a monastery that was opened in 1399 when we stopped to have a drink of water. Rita went into her Blackberry and saw that I had an email from Richard Lewis. Of course we stopped everything to read what Richard had to say. It was such a nice email about the great time he had doing golf duty for Tourism BC, how he missed his girls while away and the latest Seattle Seahawks scores. Obviously I had to respond immediately. Well I took so long responding that Rita was getting a little perturbed and got the camera out and took this shot of me totally engrossed with the Blackberry.

The villages in the mountains are beautiful and most of the villas are very old but beautifully well kept as you can see here. Because the villages are on the steep slopes of mountains many of the villages have steps as part of their streets. I thought it was to make it easier for the people to move around but it turns out the steps were created to make it easier for the donkeys that were used to move supplies and materials throughout the village.

Touring West Majorca

Coastline of West Majorca

Street in Valldemossa. Most homes are decorated with flowers on the outside as they do not have any yard space and the flowers are creatively put on the outside wall and along the street.

Well this was our first real day out and about and it was quite the experience. Not only was the scenery spectacular (very mountainous and green), the villages old and quaint (some dating back to the late 1300’s) but the driving definitely got my adrenaline going. After getting off the main highway to visit these smaller villages the road shrinks to a one lane and is twists and turns through the mountains and small villages. The problem is these one lane roads hold two way traffic some of it tour buses!!!!! There is a lot of stopping, backing up and closing your rear view mirror to be able to squeak by. I have driven some of the country roads in England and thought I would be prepared for this. What is really weird is some of these roads in the villages have parking on one side of the road, which makes it impossible for two moving cars to get by. To the regulars, this does not seem to be a problem. Many times I stopped wondering how I was going to get past and the other driver was waving me forwards and we managed to squeak past each other. Definitely makes it impossible for the driver to look at the scenery going past. Visited 4 villages this way and then took the main highway back. It was a relief to be passed as I was doing 120 kph.

This is our new home!!!! One of the houses in Escallencs that are still occupied.

Port d'Andratx

This is a beautiful old fishing village that has been turned into a tourist resort. It’s still very nice and quaint as there are no high rise buildings here like in the Palma area.

The downtown area by the water still has an old world charm as you can see from the photo. This is where we come for our coffee and pastry. The majority of tourists here are either British or German and you can pick up the major newspapers the same day they were printed from either one of these countries.

After all the working out and walking around the port, a person gets quite a thirst on. Thank goodness there are lots of places to stop for a beer. Tried for a local brew but they did not have one, so ended up with a good old German Hefeweizen (wheat beer for non beer drinkers).
The view from the café shows some of the boats in the harbor and the buildings climbing up the other side. What amazes me is the ability to build these villas on very steep rock slopes. All the foundations have been done after first blasting into the rock and then pouring concrete to create retaining walls to make sure they are firmly in place. All have unbelievable views, as you can imagine.

New Realities

First morning and my new personal trainer was busy showing me my new workout routine. Rita has bought a set of rubber tubing exercise equipment for us to use on our holiday. Also, Majorca is a series of volcanic mountains and the hills are like San Francisco. We go on a 50 minute walk/run route around the neighborhood. I am stiff and sore, but my trainer tells me I will be fine once we reach France!!!!

Day One in Majorca

What a wonderful Villa Rita found for us on the Internet. Its 2 bedroom/2 bathroom with all the living ammenities you could want (except ther is no satelitte TV and its only Spanish. Not even CNN or BBC World is available. Will see how we do without it for 2 weeks. The Villa is also at the end of a road and is very quiet. As you can see the views are amazing. We have done a little exploring of the village and its very quaint. Lots of big boats in the harbour and quite a few waterfront cafes and restaurants.

The roads are very narrow. Only room for one car but the traffic goes both ways. A lot of backing up or slowley going past each other to make sure we will pass unscathed. Parking is also very interesting. If there is a space and its not marked "no parking" you can go for it. You can even go on the sidewalk. Rita has found a grocery store and we have purchased supplies for a couple of meals and lot's of snacks and drinks.

Talk soon....Geoff

First Day of Retirement

Its been a long day getting to the champagne in Majorca. Started with a 6:30am wake up call at the hotel in London, taking a cab to the airport (so far nothing has changed for me) and checking into our flghts (here is the big change). Lining up for our economy seat on Easy Jet and then finding out our luggage is 5 kilos over the 40 kilo allowance. Have to go to a seperate counter and line up to pay them 30 pounds ($65.00). This completed went through customs and waited for the plane (no lounge access). Purcased food at the airport as we were told the food on the plane is not that good and expensive. No champagne when we got to our seats. This is going to take some time to get used to the new non TBC travel reality. After a 2 hour flight we arrived in Palma, Majorca. Went straight to the car rental hire and found out what Spanish effieciency is all about. There was a huge line up to get to the car hire check in area. Finally got to the front and had all the paperwork done and they gave us an upgrade as our car was sold out. Went to pick up the car and it was not at this lot and had to be driven over. Another 20 minutes and we finally were on our way. Left Palma for our destination, Port d'Andratx which is about a 30 minute drive. Decided to try out our Tom Tom GPS system that we purchased in Vancouver. Took some time for it to figure out it was in Spain and then started giving us directons. Unfortunately they were different to the highway signs we were seeing. Decided to try the suggestion of our Tom Tom and promptly got lost. Back to using the traditional highway signs, which were fine for getting us to our little village. Relied on instructions from the villa owner to get us to our home for the next 13 days and here we are at 6:30pm having champagne on our deck overlooking the Med. Truly spectacular setting. A great way to start of my retirement.

Adeu for now...Geoff

Last TBC Supper

Well the time has finallyarrived and it ended where it all started for me at TBC, in London England. It seems like it has been a very long farewell that started in Quebec City in May, then Sydney in June, Vancouver in July and Germany and London in August. Its amazing that we were able to get any work done!!!

As mentioned many times before, its been wonderful time these past 11 years with TBC and I would not change anything. Its now off to new adventuresand hopefully, you will keep updated by checking in every now and again.

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Its been an amazing ride. I'm now offically "outa here" as my trusty blaberry has been sent to head office and you now must contact me on my personal email: stugeon.geoff@shaw.ca

Keep in touch and now the real blog begins.....Geoff