Day 22 - Palma de Majorca (and Ben's birthday)

Wow! What a fabulous day! Firstly, I have to say THANK YOU to all of you that sent Ben a text message or email, he was wrapped. It's very hard to celebrate a birthday when you're not surrounded by your family and friends, so that helped make the day feel special.

Our day in port today was a really long one - from 8am until midnight! And boy did we make the most of it!

First up, we went to the Dragon Caves... Needless to say, that got a few of the Koutoukidis very excited.... It was a forty minute drive across the island and Nic videoed the whole journey on his iPod. When I told him no one was ever going to have the patience (or the stomach for all the motion) to watch it back, he quite confidently told me that James Lorro and Nonno would love it... Watch out fellas!

This place is huge and they have a no photo policy , there cave after cave with thousands more hanging off the ceiling shame you can't take photos no other reason than buying theirs at the exit of the caves.

Well, what can I say about the caves? Suffice to say that we could never go back to the Naracoorte caves again, we have seen (probably) the most spectacular stalactites and stalacmites in the world! And then to top it off, when we got to the centre of the caves, there was a lake with a large arena shaped naturally like an amphitheater in front of it that they ushered us into until it was at full capacity (approx 1,000 pax) and then a symphony boat rowed peacefully out with a mini orchestra onboard playing Mozart and Chopin on their instruments. Unbelievable! Even with the crying baby in the background it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen or heard.

I snuck a couple of shots in though couldn't resist . I have an idea for the Narrocoorte caves we get the kids to make a heap of stelectites out plasticine get Rolf Harris in with he wobble board singing tie me kangaroo down sport that will get them in .

Love the Spaniards, they're wonderfully polite and they have beautifully groomed and well looked after cities (the 2 that we saw...). It was a real pleasure being here. We fell in love with the place. In the few hours that we were in the taxi Ben almost filled out our migration papers to relocate us here and do you know what sealed the deal? The bloody radio station! I'm telling you, they played major 80's classic, everything from Michael Bolton to Split Enz to America and then Spandau Ballet was the one that tipped him over. OK fine, I was singing along, but Ben was in his absolute element. If I could have arranged a playlist specifically for his birthday, this would have been it. In fact, he has since looked into streaming it live when we get back home. One song in particular took me back (Dan, Saint do you remember this one?)

Last night I dreamt of San Pedro,
It all seems like yesterday, not far away....

Tropical the island breeze,
All of nature wild and free,
This is where I long to be,
La isla Bonita


....anyway for those who aren't with me on that one, that was Madonna, yes back in the eighties. I was in year nine or ten I think.

Any whooooooo

After the caves, our lovely taxi driver ( Sebastiano ) took us to a bull ring which still operates in the summer time and then to the magnificent basilica. What's with these Europeans and their churches? I'm getting church envy for our nation.

No different for any other day for Lee she feels like she's fighting the bulls every day .

When Nic did this someone in the crowd sung out EL TORO meaning the bull how right they are 

Majorca is a beautiful place 

You can see why Lee is getting church envy they were getting this one ready for easter celebrations with lighting absolutely stunning 

Just another view of the Cathedral 

Then, we went in search for a suitable celebratory Spamish lunch for my husband. Doesn't matter that I skipped dinner last night because I wasn't hungry and I was tired and it was now 4 pm in the afternoon and the kids and I we're DYING, we had to find the RIGHT place worthy enough for us spend our one free meal for the day. Too much pressure. Luckily, moments before my low blood sugar level got the better ofmme, we happened upon the most lovely restaurant with a beautiful view of the marina, it was busy, the meals on the table looked good, SO we went in... And you know what the waiter told us? ... We closed.

Billions of dollars of boats behind us from little modest ones to 500 million dollar super yachts owned by oil rich saudi's


Those Saudi's are certainly doing it tough.

Luckily there was another restaurant next door and those waiters were very lovely and welcoming and we sat down to a FABULOUS paella and bottle of wine....YAY! Happy Birthday Ben!!! And then before we left, we shared a lovely little dessert, a local specialty, an almond torte with almond icecream and berry compote. 10 minutes later as we moseyed back to the ship with very full bellies, Nic started going pshyco, and then the penny dropped..... The strawberries. I'm telling you Bec, I'm so glad you discovered that about Beth because Nic is right there with her! In fact he can feel it himself now, you know what he said? "Man, those berries were toxic!"

I can see why Christopher Skase found refuge here 

Jose' served up the second best Paella i have ever had (he looked like Jose' or even a Je'sus i didn't get his name if your wondering about the best Lee does a great job)

It was over an hour walk back to the ship so luckily he got to wear most of the toxicity off before we had to get ready for our excursion. We went to the 'Son Mar, Spectacular!' and spectacular it was! It was a dinner and show that lasted over 3 hours. There was Flamenco Dancing, Dancing with Castanets, Stomping, Fans, Singing, Magic shows (that were AMAZING) Comedy acts, more dancing (in g-Strings) It was great! I told our host it was Ben's birthday so they put a candle in his dessert and we sang Happy Birthday to him and they gave us a complimentary bottle of champagne. It really felt like a celebration. It was a lovely way to spend the evening.

The kids were rapped they thought we were going to a monster truck spectacular  .

The kids were excited about the spectacular i have a very memorable birthday 

Nic was devastated when the dancers came out , it was great show we all loved it .

Sorry about the blurry photos it's not the new camera just another place that doesn't let you takes photos had to sneak another couple in .

Barcelona tomorrow (they pronounce it Barthelona here and the kids think it's hilarious)

Good day today.

Leaving Majorca 2am in the morning had a great a great birthday thanks to my beautiful wife and kids thanks again to all .
Ben xxx

Oh BTW - for those of you that gave Ben money for his birthday before we left - you bought him a pretty flashy Nikon DSLR camera. One that even Mr Okinoora would be jealous of.

Thank You

X