A week in Spain.
Barcelona. Spending a few days in this city enabled us to get into the groove of Spanish life. We spent a lot of time soaking up the sun at the local beach, eating our fair share of Spanish tapas and Paella, drinking at any and every bar in town, and wandering around the incredible landmarks all over the city. What else would you do? Definitely need to come back one day.
Sant Miquel Beach, Barcelona. We sure weren’t the only ones keen on the beach!
Spent an arvo overlooking the whole city from Bunkers del Carmel, an old war bunker which is a very popular sunset spot. Definitely recommend checking it out to get your bearings, and bring along some beers.
This happened later that evening. Turns out we stumbled upon the best seat in the house to watch the St. John’s celebrations. Fireworks over the Segrada Familia and in every other corner of the city.
Sunrise over Barcelona.
We were then off to Mallorca, part of the Balearic islands off the coast of Spain.
Our exploration started off in the South-West region of the island. After a quick look at a map we were pretty much locals and took off on a scooter to find some swimming spots for the day. Our first epic find was a little rock bay called Cala Llamp, surrounded by steep cliffs and crystal clear Mediterranean water. Exactly what we were looking for.
‘Mallorcan Coastline’ - available in the ‘Life On The Coast’ category.
‘Cala Llamp’ - available in the ‘Aerials’ category.
‘Mallorcan Rocks’ - available in the ‘Aerials’ category.
‘Cala Llamp Headland’ - available in the ‘Life On The Coast’ category.
‘Mallorcan Locals’ - available in the ‘Ocean’ category.
After swimming and laying on the rocks like the locals, we continued back along the coast to see what we would find. Camp de Mar was covered in beach umbrellas and had an island bar just off land accessible by a small foot bridge, pretty good spot for a beer. This one reminded me of my local Shelly Beach back in Australia.
‘Spanish Beach Scene’ - available in the ‘Life On The Coast’ category.
‘Camp De Mar’ - available in the ‘Aerials’ category.
With more to find in the area, we continued on to a spot called Platja Portals Vells, a protected little harbour with a few beaches and of course more of that epic Mediterranean water.
Locals loving it.
Retirement goals, how’s the clarity of the water!
Platja Portals Vells from above, epic little swimming spots and popular with the boats too.
‘Mallorcan Coast’ - available in the ‘Aerials’ category.
We hired a car and took off to the East coast of the island, only about a 3 hour drive. I reckon there’s no better way to explore a new place than by car. We heard there was a popular beach nearby, Calla Major, it was a cool spot but unfortunately has been dominated by tourism and big resorts, not really our thing.
Having had enough of the bustling tourist centres, we escaped out of town to find our own spot. Using satellite images on maps, we discovered what looked like an epic little bay with a couple of sandy beaches and thought we’d check it out. After getting as far as the road would take us, we were on foot. The walk took longer than we thought and included some rugged bush walking but we came out at the coast to find Cala Varques. Turns out we weren’t the only ones to discover this place, it was a popular spot for both swimmers and boats, but we were still stoked on the find.
Yep, well discovered.
After a long walk, jumping into this made it all well worth it.
This was by far the clearest water I found anywhere in the Med, could see as far as the light would allow. An amazing experience free diving underwater here.
‘Mallorcan Clarity’ - available in the ‘Ocean’ category.
As clear as it gets!
‘Sand Ridges’ - available in the ‘Ocean’ category.
Cala Varques from above.
‘Boats At Cala Varques’ - available in the ‘Aerials’ category.
‘Cala Varques’ - available in the ‘Aerials’ category.
To top off the day, we drove up North to the Del Llevant peninsula to catch the sunset and have a few drinks. We had the whole place to ourselves, except for one bloke who snorkelled past us naked.
Thanks for reading!
Piers.