Browsing Tag

Palma

Travel

Ferrocaril de Soller

Too soon our stay in Palma was at an end, and it was time to up sticks to Soller, a town about 40 mins away by car. But we’d decided not to go by car, instead taking the wooden narrow guage 105 year old train through the countryside to our destination. The Ferrocaril is a train that leaves from the Plaza de Espana Station in Palma, and heads to Soller with a few stops along the way.

Ferrocaril de Soller station cafe

We arrived and were able to buy tickets on the day, although it was very busy. We had a drink at the lovely little cafe, because, as usual we had arrived really early and then we went onto the platform to get the train.

It was pretty chaotic, with a bit of a bunfight to get on the train once it had arrived. It was impossible to know if everyone who was waiting would get on, and there was a bit of pushing and shoving – bit like getting on the Central Line in rush hour.

Ferrocaril de Soller (Train to Soller)

We managed to get on, but there were no seats left so we stood in the gap between the carriages. It turned out to be quite nice, I suspect we might have had the nicest view through the countryside and into the mountainous Tramuntana region – though it was a bit weird going through the 13 tunnels close enough to touch them.

View from the train to Soller

The scenery is lovely and there is a stop off point for people to get out and take pictures. Definitely not the quickest way to do the journey but certainly an experience. There’s more about the history of the trainline on The Other Mallorca site.

 

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Travel

Palm-a Sunday

I hadn’t really twigged that we were in Palma the weekend before Easter, and that meant that our decision to get up early and take a walk to the cathedral was extra special, as there were lots of Palm Sunday activities going on. We were treated to the wonderful sight and sound of the cathedral choir warming up, of all the women buying elaborately tied palms outside the cathedral, of a procession of children and adults in green, shops with wonderful chocolate displays and everywhere we looked were gorgeous buildings and people holding palms – all bathing in the wonderful Spring sunlight.