Mallorca - Day 3

After a relatively poor night's sleep (Carsten was awake for 2 hrs saying 'Mama!' 'Dada' and pulling off Andy's covers...), we got up and headed out to Valldemossa, which was a super quaint town where the main attraction for us was the 'Real Cartuja de Valldemossa'. The Real Cartuja de Valldemossa has been many things over its existence: a monstary, royal residence, and the home of Chopin. Carsten was pretty cranky for most of our time here, so we kind of had to rush a bit more than we liked. We did manage to listen to a 10 min piano concert that Carsten really seemed to love (hooray!). Here's a few photos:

Outside of the sanctuary. Yes, there is no front door.

When asked to smile, this is what Carsten does... :)

Most of the island was terraced and seemed to be planted with trees of some sort (orange/olive/lemon).

Piano concert :)

Royal residence area

The town of Valldemossa - very cute!

We grabbed a few things from a grocery store and pastry shop so we could have lunch in the next town or so. However, Carsten threw a wrench in my careful planning for the day by falling asleep shortly after we got into the car (around 11 am). So, what did we do? We saw the sights we wanted to see through the windows of our car which we kept driving and driving while Carsten got some much needed rest. At the end of my list for the day was Sa Collabra which I had thought we'd never make it to because I had a lot of other things on my list. Sa Collabra was pretty crazy to drive to and I have to say that Andy was a champ and I declare him to now be an expert at driving a manual :). The hairpin turns were amazing and frequent, and throughout the turns, Andy had to dodge many bikes and busses (I do not know how the busses make it through that road). Anyway, Carsten woke up shortly before we arrived in Sa Collabra, and we got out the car and took a much needed stretch. Then we walked down to the beach area where we had a very late lunch and dipped our toes in the very cold Mediterranean. Carsten actually cried after having his toes in the water after about 10 seconds; he really doesn't like cold water :). The beach area was beautiful with turquoise waters, sheer rocky cliffs, and a blue sky. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and I'm very glad Carsten thwarted our plans so we could make it to this destination :). Here are some photos:

beach at Sa Colabra

Carsten is crying in this photo... 

Much happier out of the water. The beautiful canyon behind Andy.

Carsten loved the rocks.

We had to go through 2 significant tunnels to get to the beach. Carsten thought it was awesome and kept asking 'again?'. 

Carsten and I at the beach.

Carsten was overjoyed that he got to walk part of the way back. Andy walked with him so I could take photos...

...of the breathtaking scenery!

We then headed back up the twisty road to head back to Soller, where we wanted to stop for the local ice cream. We didn't end up stopping, but it turned out we should have stopped because about a mile out of Soller Carsten got sick from motion sickness. Note to self: even 18 month olds can get car sick on twisty mountain roads. Next time, we'll make more stops even if it causes more angst about getting back into the car... Anyway, at that point, we had to head back to the hotel where luckily we could use a washing machine. It was a great day though!