Island hopping.

The last couple days we’ve been in port at Ibiza and Mallorca, two Spanish islands. (Though Mallorca has their own dialect of Spanish – a Spanish/Catalan mash up of which I could not decipher, despite my These are the two cruise ports at which we booked a cruise excursion – kayaking in Ibiza and biking in Palma, Mallorca.

Kayaking in Ibiza. Waves that envied that one overnight kayak trip I took with my friend Sara on Lake Superior. No wet suits this time but tandem kayaks and some pretty (okay, really) high waves/swells. The part I enjoyed the most? That part when we were heading back towards the beach.

We stopped at this little cove for a moment to rest and swim if we wanted. But see, in Ibiza, there is this sea grass that it’s known for and the first 10 feet of water was full of this dead grass. Let us just say when we got back to our room to shower, we made a complete mess. Sorry, room steward. (Photo: Dave full of the dried sea grass. He also pulled a fistful out of his shorts pocket!)

Today: Mallorca. We booked a bike tour for the morning which promised to help us explore a bit of the old city. Our guide was great as she led the way. We saw the old palace, a couple gothic cathedrals, and learned the history of the island. The ride was easy and fun until noon came and it became super HOT.

We visited a covenant of cloister nuns – they don’t leave the covenant and have taken vows of silence. They bake for a bakery that’s on site. We didn’t see any of them but did see a ‘helper nun’- a nun who also lives on site but can communicate by speaking – when some of our group purchased from the bakery.

This was the cutest old city and we could have spent much more time wandering its puzzle system of alleys. Our guide said that it’s become a huge tourist destination; people arrive and stay exclusively on this island. They just added a direct flight to NYC to meet the demand.

Following our tour, we headed back to the bus, sweaty, hot and hungry. Lunch was had and now it’s a lounge chair poolside in the shade. (The sun got me while kayaking yesterday; I’m a bit toasty in places.) Tomorrow: a sea day before reaching Italy.