Two of the beaches in small coves in the Bay of Pollença
It took only a few minutes in Alcúdia – a little town on the north coast of Mallorca – to start wondering, “Just how many beautiful small towns are there in the world, anyway?”
We spend a lot of time in big cities, but we like to get into some of these places that few people have ever heard of, too. And it’s remarkable just how many cute towns and small cities there are in the world. Alcúdia is one more.
The street from our hotel up to the main square. Alcúdia is a small town, but the streets and main square were beautiful.
If the reason to go to Sóller was the hiking, the reason to go to Alcúdia is for the beaches. This is, after all, a Mediterranean island, so you’d expect there to be some nice beaches. The town itself isn’t on a beach; instead the town is at the foot of a peninsula sticking out from the island, midway between the beaches on either side of the peninsula. The beaches themselves are both a nice little walk away while all the restaurants and bars you need are inside the old walled town.
We were amused when we got to our hotel, a tiny little boutique place that had recently been renovated with an obviously loving hand. The guy at the front desk was describing the two beach options on either side of the peninsula and described one as a little “downscale.” The way he said it was though he all but told us straight out “You’re gay; you don’t want to go to that one.” Not that any of the beaches were at all gay; the place is far too small for that. Just that one was a little classier, a little quieter, a little less family oriented. Not surprisingly, his recommendation was pretty much spot on.
The entrance to the Bay of Pollença
And that’s what we did for our two-plus days in Alcúdia, go to the beach. I’d go before Mark and typically stay later (Indian v. German-Irish), and then we’d find an Indian restaurant (the other kind of Indian) for lunch. Dinner in the cute old town surrounded by medieval walls, sleep, get up, and go back to the beach.
One funny lunch story. We’re sitting at a table outdoors near the main square; it’s a lovely spot. At one point the young woman at the table next to us was startled when something fell from the sky, brushed her on the way down, and landed on the street. It was a cheap plastic watch. Strange. We all looked up, couldn’t see anything from the building near us, and kept eating. A few minutes later there was a slightly louder noise when … a chicken egg splattered on the ground between our tables. Now we were all a little disturbed and the two women made quite a fuss with management. “What the heck is going on?”
Pretty soon some youngish adult guy goes into the building and comes down dragging a little kid, maybe five or six years old, just screaming. He’d been tossing stuff from his second- or third-floor window and Dad was going to make him apologize, except he was humiliated and screaming and sobbing too much to say anything. Strange experience.
So that’s Alcúdia. Oh, and one way you can tell you’re in Spain? We’re used to the fact that they eat late here and usually we love it that way. But here on Mallorca, at least, breakfast is pushed back too. In Sóller breakfast didn’t start until 8:30, a lot later than we’re used to. Here in Alcúdia it was even worse: 9:00 AM. Yikes – I’m pretty hungry by then. The managers explained that they’d started earlier when they first opened and just no one came down before 9:00 AM. Strange world.
Next stop, Palma, the big city.
Alcúdia had some nice restaurants, including these Italian dishes at the Osteria el Patio
The 14th century town gate
Nice way to enter the city
The medieval town walls have been largely restored and pretty much encircle the old town
Pretty flowers