Mallorca - Day 6

We checked out of our hotel after breakfast, loaded up our tiny car, and made the 1 hour drive up to the north side of the island to the town of Alcudia to see the Medieval city wall and the Roman ruins of Pollentia. We arrived right at 10 am when the ruins were supposed to open; we waited for a few min, but no one came to open it so we continued on to see the city wall, which was right across the street. The city wall was really pretty and we even found some stairs so we could walk along the top a small stretch of the wall. We had a fun time taking photos and walking through the cute town, which was mostly within the walls :). Here's a few photos of the walls:

Andy and Carsten by the city wall :).

The streets of Alcudia.

Walking along the city wall!

City wall.

Steps up to the wall.

love the palm trees next to the wall.

Carsten by the wall.

Another gate - it's missing the wall...

Strongman!

Walking along the town.

This kid loves to put buckles together :).

We found a little playground and Carsten made a friend.

They played together for a while :).

After seeing the city to our satisfaction, we went back to the Roman ruins of Pollentia to see if they were open. And someone had decided to open them, so we went in and were greeted with a wonderful view of the ruins. It was pretty hot, Carsten was getting tired, and it was near lunchtime, so we had to hurry through the ruins. I convinced Andy to let us walk all the way to the amphitheater (it was a bit of hike) even though Carsten was almost falling asleep. We ended up making Carsten walk most of the way to keep him awake - poor kid :). All in all, it was really fun to see something that was so old (BC era).

Pollentia Roman Ruins

Love the columns.

Walking along history.

Roman amphitheater

Carsten climbing onto the stage area.

Carsten is all done. Time to go!

Since Carsten was tired and hungry we hustled back to the car to give him a quick lunch. Andy went out and found us some sandwiches while I fed Carsten and then we started driving to the Cap de Formenter, which is a pretty drive through the mountainous NW region of the island. Carsten fell asleep immediately, and Andy once again was a champion driver. We enjoyed the scenery through the windows of the car except for about a minute when we couldn't resist a look out point. Luckily Carsten stayed sleeping throughout the scenic drive, and then we started the ~1 hour drive back to the airport. Carsten woke up partway through, but ironically, after chatting for a minute, he fell back asleep, which was pretty cute. He just couldn't keep his eyes open. We actually ended up driving past the airport because we were a bit early and we wanted to extend Carsten's nap as long as possible. Here's a few photos from our drive:

Mallorca Mountain.

Sleepy dude

Had to get out of the car to see this :).

Proof we were there!

There were a lot of windmills near Palma, I'm not sure why. None of them actually spun.

The rental car was returned, and our check in went pretty smoothly as well. The Swiss Air agents seemed confused that we wanted to take our car seat on board since there was a space next to me, but they let us do it anyway. However, once we tried to board the plane, the flight attendants seemed shocked that we had a car seat and made us leave it at the gate, which was a bit confusing and incredibly frustrating. It seems as though Europeans don't travel with their car seats the same way I'm used to seeing in the US. Oh well, at least we'll know for the future. On our way home the pilot announced that he had requested a special route through the Alps since it was so clear. So we had gorgeous aerial views of the Matterhorn and Jungfrau with the pilot guiding pointing out each major mountain. It was a fantastic end to an amazing vacation :). Here's a few photos:

PRETTY!

What we thought was the Matterhorn. It wasn't, but we didn't get a photo... :).

The valley we took a train through when we took the Glacier Express last summer (Visp and Brig area).

Jungfrau, the highest point in Europe!

The clouds that cloud our view of the mountains most days... :)

Our little adventurer.

Once we landed we got our bags (yay!) and then headed home. It was a late night for Carsten, but worth it for the totally fun day. Also considering the late night, he did great on our ride home, which lucky for us, is pretty typical :). What a great vacation! 

Next up in April: Vienna!