A marathon day.

The bus pulled out of the bat cave into the daylight at 10 a.m. Mr. Toad's wild ride was underway. I had the whole island to cover, and didn't appreciate that the bus was 5 min. late! lol

First stop: Valldemossa, and the monastery tryst of Chopin and George Sand. Check. Cute town? Check. Wander a bit, hop on the bus for next stop: Deiá.

Oh yes, Deiá--my favorite! A pleasant lunch on a terrace in the sun, including the best roasted pepper and squash soup--with toasted pumpkin seeds, fresh carrrot slices, sprouts (and more)--and a small cerveza de barilla. Aaah.

Hop on the bus again, to Sóller, this stretch a white-knuckler ohmygawd, even closed my eyes on one turn, in spite of being determined not to. My mind was furiously attempting to invent new words to describe this... this.... this......... But failed. Film at 11.

Sóller. WTF? Where am I? No map, info, people, nada. Shops closed. Hm. Start walking... 10 min. or so, and I could hear people. Ah-ha, civilization. Noticed some tracks in the street, followed them, yes!, the plaza--this is promising. Continued up the hill... found the station. Considered going back to Palma on the first train, I'm not liking this place. Oh, but here's the trolley to Port of Sóller. What the heck, hopped on, it pulled out of the station 3 min. later. Holy cow--need new words. (I'll get back to you with them.) The trolley is as rustic as they come, wooden seats, views that could poke your eyes out. Yikes! Oh! Oh! Ohhhhhhhhhhh!

Arrive in the Port de Sóller, on the far north side of the island. Boats. LOTS of boats. Breathtaking views. (Lots of tourist chachkas, we'll skip those.) Ramble a bit, then park it for a cappucino. The Italians do have words for this: dolce far niente (roughly: sweet doing nothing) Half hour before trolley returns; stroll a bit more. Hop on. Back to Sóller.

Still not much impressed with Sóller, even tho' some places are open now (the post-siesta segment). Wander. OMG, look at that! The sun on the tramuntana is.... GAH! Run up the street. Click, click, click. Back down. Check station, see if tix available in advance. Not yet. 30 min. to spare. Hm. Oh! A free Picasso ceramics exhibit in the station. 15 min. left now. Oh, again! Across the courtyard, a free Miró exhibit. (Still don't get Miró, guess I'm a Philistine.)

Train pulls out of Sóller. A bit of light in the sky, and then it's dark. Through the tunnels, across the valley, palm trees and churches uplighted. The train car is heated. Guess where it comes out? On your lower back!!! It's radiant heat. (Really, I could not make this s**t up!!!!) Aaaaahhhhh. Rattle rattle, click, clack.

Back in Palma. Walk through Plaza Espana, Down C/ San Miguel (bustling with Christmas crowds), down the bazillion stairs to my street, past CaixaForum. Yes! I've made it in time for the local Caixa exhibit: "The Cinema Effect". Only enough patience for Lonely Planet Julian Rosefeldt's short. Bollywood meets backpacking! Too fun! Wish I could get it on DVD. (Nope.)

Sigh. I'm almost home. Wait, there's a superb sax player, doing the Ave Maria. OK, one more video. Now I'm almost in the barn... wait! What's this? This door was never open... the portrait photographer. Wow!

Almost home... hey, across from the hotel's front door... this was never open before. A nativity scene-like recreation of the whole island, in miniature! Buzzed that. OK. Enough!

YES. 10 hours later... full circuit. Didn't even break a sweat. HA! Home run! What a day!!!

P.S. Sorry 'bout the phone line in the pic... will p'shop it out when I get home. Gotta pack again now.