Terka from AFS approached me sometime in January if I would like to go to Mallorca with her for surfing or cycling. It came as a perfect call, because I was just thinking about going somewhere but T. couldn’t go, because of a Czech exam he had scheduled for March. So I said yes, that I wanted to go cycling and I was looking forward to it. We hadn’t planned the whole trip, Terka wanted to sleep on couchsurfing and generally keep it low-budget, which I really liked because I’ve gotten a little used to low budget travel lately and actually felt bad about it because vacations cost a lot of money (especially Portugal and Jordan). We booked aluminum road bikes at 54/11 rental and that’s pretty much it. We didn’t plan anything else. Just departure and arrival times. We flew to Mallorca from Vienna. We met on the train and somehow made it to Palma through the many checks at the airport. A lady from Argentina who had beautiful grey hair and a young face took us to the Palma downtown. She helped us find a cheap hostel because no one on Couchsurfing was responding (Terka later started to call this hostel “Juvenil” with a thought in her head that this was actually the name of it but it just meant “Youth” in Spanish 😀 I found it funny.). The hostel was very strange. Especially the people who were staying there:

• A lady who looked like a retired prostitute in extremely short shorts and high heels. She was terribly unpleasant.
• Another older, unpleasant lady who was addicted to games
• A tall Latino guy who really wanted to learn German. He always came to us, asked extremely random questions and just went away in a second.
• Strange British girls
• Yogi girl who turned out to be a good techno DJ with her sister
• Strange other men who I don’t know what they were doing there.

In the evening there was a “Valentine’s Day party” and I was just glad I didn’t have to go through anything like that anymore. Everyone was dancing to terrible music and being loud. I didn’t end up going to bed until about 2 anyway because I couldn’t sleep after an evening of flatwhite at the Rapha shop. Terka and I talked about pretty much everything. About her job, how she works with drug addicts (meth, heroin), her relationships and everything. I realized that I didn’t have to be nice all the time to my brother, that I didn’t owe him anything and that the relationship was supposed to be mutual. So if he doesn’t give much to me, I don’t have to give back to him.

 

Bonany Monastery

Next day, we hitched a ride with some fancy rich guy who said he was sponsoring Italian cyclists. He finally took us to the rental place and said if we needed anything, we could call him. We rented bikes, got set up by a super nice guy, and off we went. I didn’t really like the ride, it was kind of in between the fields. We climbed a hill, then we got to some small town completely starving and because Terka wanted something vegan, we ended up in a fancy restaurant where we had seitan with potatoes and then bread with mayonnaise and I had some wine. It cost an awful lot of money. I was a little annoyed by that but not too long because soon I changed into mood of enjoying that paradox situation of wanting to save money and then eating in that wanna-be-fancy restaurant. There was a German woman sitting next to us and she was really surprised that we were alone on the bike, since we are 23 and 24. I was a little tipsy from that one glass of red wine and we rode back. It was interminably long. Especially in the dark, I was scared. My knee hurt a lot and I was afraid it would be like that all week.

We arrived at the hotel frostbitten. Then we went to the restaurant, had a coffee and a croissant with jam and somehow rested there and were extremely tired. Then I wanted to get up from the table and my knee stung terribly. We went back down the coast. I didn’t go up the last hill, I was afraid of the pain. In the evening I had a tortilla and wine for dinner. I went to bed at 1:00 and watched this American guy there, chugging vodka, and this black guy who was also on his cell phone.

 

Valentine’s Ride

The next day we just wanted to take the rest route. We left at 12 and had a snack in Lidl. Then we looked for menstrual supplies and I found Terka some Ibalgin gel in the village, which turned out to be a real miracle. Gloomy Terka became the cheerful Terka I know. The route was beautiful, just a slight hill. Both of our butts started to hurt.

 

Along the coast to Port de Sollér

On the third day we headed north from Palma to Sollér and Port de Sollér. Both were great. It was very cold in the mountains in Sollér and then beautiful sunshine by the sea. When we drove back, it was freezing cold. We had some seriously beautiful views on this trip, Terka loved the coastal road and said it was the best downhill of her life. That made me happy.

 

Towards the Marina

The next day we took a sort of relaxing drive east of Palma, so to speak. But we arrived at a beautiful viewpoint and then had coffee at the sailboat marina and commented on how rich people live and what they are like. Terka’s butt didn’t hurt, unlike mine, because she had Ibalgin in her, which apparently works for everything.

 

Sa Calobra

The next day we decided to go to the legendary Sa Calobra. It was beautiful the whole time and I had a lot of endorphins. I confirmed to myself that I much prefer riding uphill than downhill. I found the downhill to be terribly long, but I loved the way up. An 11-kilometre climb. What more could you ask for. The ride back was already quite long, I forgot my tail light again, so I was a bit worried. In the evening, I only had the energy to eat a tortilla and sleep. 

We spent the night in Port de Pollenca with Artemi and his girlfriend and their dog. They had a big house and often let us have it to ourselves. It was great. They were awfully chill and didn’t ask us to do anything. The only time we made them lunch was on Saturday when we had a rest day, otherwise we actually passed by the house. Best Couchsurfing I’ve ever experienced. We had the room to ourselves. 

 

Formentor

The next day we went to Formentor. We prepared an awfully big snack and found out that it was just a short trip. It was an awfully cool day. The sun was shining beautifully and we met some awfully cool ladies who were dancing by the loudspeaker and looked awfully happy. The song they were dancing to became my favorite with Terka (Mon Amour Remix).I heard it about 30 times that week. And after that. I love it to this day. Later, we met Artem and went to Alcudia for coffee. He invited us to Ramen at La Palma in the evening, but we stayed in the house and enjoyed having the place to ourselves. 

 

Bethelem

On the last day we went to Bethlehem. I mean, on the coast. I went with a backpack because I was carrying my shoes. I looked like the Duracel bunny. I had a lot of energy, I don’t know if it was the backpack or what. From Alcudia we hitchhiked back to POrt de Pollenca. A Czech woman and her kid took us and then some tourists.

 

Chilling in La Palma

The last day, we moved on with the Brit and his son to La Palma. The gentleman said that he had bought a house in Mallorca and Terka and I said that we had to acquaint ourselves with him so that we could also have free accommodation in Mallorca. The son didn’t say anything. All he said was “I didn’t choose this”, which meant he really didn’t want to take us in the car. 

In La Palma we were staying in a great hostel and Terka kept moaning why we hadn’t been there before. Right outside the hostel was a cool cycling cafe with cool books and second hand cycling clothes. 

The trip to Mallorca reaffirmed my love for cycling and that I will ride as much as I can. Adios and see you next time!