Today we split up throughout the day to explore various interests. The fay started at 5:20am when I got up and prepared to hike with Cole. We drove up into the western mountains, through the town of Puigpunyent to the trailhead for Puig de Galatzo. Puigpunyent also has a nature reserve, which you do NOT need to enter to hike Puig de Galatzo. Basically you follow the signs for the Reserva then at one of the last turn offs go right up a narrow road, away from the Reserva. AllTrails, Apple Maps, and Google Maps all do a good job. Organic Maps does NOT as of right now.

Once you get the the trailhead there’s plenty of parking, and we even found a flat spot with shade. We were also the only people there at 7:45. The second we got out of the car we were greeted by the imposing peak above us. It’s a short hike (3 mi total out & back), but moderate in difficulty since it has ~1,500 ft elevation gain and rock scrambling at the top.

We stopped at a locked tower part way up. This is also the first time you can see over the other side of the ridge to the ocean on the western coast.

A few minutes later is also where the trail really opens up onto rocks, and remains fully exposed for the remainder. There’s a mix of loose rock to umm.. “loosen” your ankles, and fixed rock outcroppings. The massive pillars rising out of the boulder piles are really striking.

The sweet-looking shrubs were deceptively rigid and painful.

Since it was fairly early (mostly to avoid the mid-day heat), clouds were below us, rising from the coast. It was cool and breezy and beautiful. It’s one of those places you can just stand happily grinning ear-to-ear with no worries..

We reached the summit after about 90 min of hiking. The summit itself appeared quickly as we worked around several outcroppings. All of a sudden we went from going up to being the highest thing around. A true 360˚ view for miles in every direction, with a clear view of the west coast, the southwest corner near Dragonera, and the southern coast toward Palma. You could also see up into the misty peaks where Puig Major is located.

We enjoyed our PB&J sandwiches and the perfect weather at the perfect location for a bit. Peaks are often windy, cold, crowded, you name it, and this was just empty and peaceful.

There were several goats along the trail as we headed down. They appeared to have no interest in us what-so-ever, and had no bells or other marks that we saw. Just doing their thing and hoping we’d observe the local etiquette.

Maybe some curiosity?

We got back to the bottom after 2.5 hrs. We got more of a workout going up for sure, but got substantially hotter on the way down as the temperature rose. My entire outfit was saturated by the time we got to the car.

That afternoon, Savitri, Liza, Matt, and Cole went to the José L Ferrer winery in Binissalem. Some pictures from their adventure..

Meanwhile, in yet another part of the island..

Kayla and I went on a gelato tasting trip! I eat (I mean taste test) all sorts of gelatos and ice creams, so I’ve become more discriminating about where I go. I try too only have brands that are made locally, ideally in the facility I eat it. Reading up on Mallorca’s best gelato’s I discovered Mister McCoy’s Island Ice. Now I was immediately skeptical with a name like that in Mallorca. It doesn’t scream “local”, nor does it even necessarily scream “gelato”, but reviews from diverse sources give it 5/5 stars and detail how fresh and local everything is so we decided to take the plunge. We drove the ~35 min up into the mountains to Sóller. We spent another 20+ minutes traversing the one-way maze of streets trying to find parking, only to end up only finding a spot outside town and walking in the oppressive heat. I was really questioning this trip at this point. However..

Sóller’s downtown is beautiful, with streets packed with life and shops and people and.. well.. cars. The architecture is very nice and despite the cars there are quiet side streets that seem quite charming.

We passed at least one other gelato shop en route, and while it looked yummy we kept going. Mister McCoy’s turned out to be a small shop without all the glitz and glossy pictures, aka.. just what I was looking for! The flavor list is truly unique, and everything is made in the same room out of the best local ingredients. Cut to the chase, it was delicious and absolutely worth the trip. We got Chocolate, Roasted Mexican Chocolate, Lemon Curd Ripple, and Paraguay Peaches & Cream. Every ingredient was uniquely identifiable and the texture was perfect. Even their cups (I almost always get a cup, especially on hot days) are edible!

We ate as we walked back to the car, as we need to get back on the road to meet the rest of the crew for dinner 😉.

Dinner was a special treat at a local Lloseta restaurant called Restaurante Es Garum. They had a lot of unique dishes, and even a five course tasting menu (if all members of the party have it).

Our table was a big cable spool with cool holes, staples, bolts, etc to keep us entertained.

It was a long and fruitful day. I was thrilled to have some 1:1 adventure time with both Cole and Kayla, in both cases sharing things that we love.