To kick-start my travels after months and months of unraveling my domestic life as a house owner and to get myself into travel mode again, I took a short trip to Palma de Mallorca around midsummer. If this is a mini version of what my trip around the world will be like – well I can’t wait!

I stayed with Maryna and Mike in Santa Catalina. It was my first visit in this particular area and my first stay with them too and we had a great time together. Sharing a home with someone is an interesting way to travel. You get to know new people fast when meeting them in a informal and relaxed environment as a home is. I also very quickly got that feeling of truly being at home. Sharing a glas of wine and enjoying great conversations when my hosts came home after a day at work. Going out for a meal together. Saying hi to the neighbours when meeting them on the stairs. Buying food at the local market. Apart from that I just walked the streets, soaking in the ambience of the place. Streets shaded from the hot sun by leafy Acacia trees. Eating at the local cafés and restaurants, striking up conversations with people I met by chance, taking the local bus to the beaches. Basking in the heat like an exotic flower deprived of sun and nourishing soil for a long time. And loving every minute of it!

Apart from visiting different beaches, it was hot I can tell you, I never actually left Santa Catalina. I never ventured past that buzzing little corner of Palma. Never felt a need to do so. What’s great about this area has partly to do with it being a place where real life takes place. Of course they have their fair share of tourists and people of other nationalities living there too. But mostly I found the Mallorquines themselves going about their days, doing what they do everyday. I was thrilled to hear people only speaking Spanish around me, at restaurant around the corner on a Saturday evening. Always a good sign. They served simple but delicious seafood. I had a knack of ending a meal in a restaurant in the kitchen having a nice chat with the chef. And being given small tidbits such as a Gazpacho or Strawberries and a Macaron. Or being asked to enter the cabin of a small vessel and steer the boat together with the captain, on the the way back from the beach to the port, while the rest of the party traveling in small groups had to sit on deck and get wet with the spray of the sea. Lots of fun! So thumbs up for the perks of traveling alone!

I totally fell in love with the tree shaded streets of Santa Catalina. With it’s low buildings with wooden shutters and curtains hanging outside the windows and balconies. Small, unique and fun shops. Excellent restaurants. And the small town feeling. I will be back!

Here are some snapshots from my stay. Most of them are taken with my phone. I just wanted to give you the feeling. Enjoy!