Cargill Travel Blog

Today looks to be a sunny day, 24degs y’all. We pop next door to discuss plans.

Go to breakfast. I have good intentions of just having fruit today, but on the way in Sue is talking about maybe having a bacon sandwich, so guess what – I have a bacon sandwich instead. Lisa and Stu are still going on about the singer last night.

We sit next to Larry David. I thought he would be German but he is actually English, and he sounds like he has a Yorkshire accent. Isabel is on a table near us and we mention that we’re going to try Portals Nous and Palma Nova. She recommends doing them the other way round so that we have a nice chill out at the marina after PN. So back to room to prepare.

Cab to PN, 10€. We saunter along the promenade – there’s 2 beaches separated by a rocky outcrop. Some youngsters are playing handball on the beach and we cheer some of the slick moves – they seem to notice this and start playing up to it.

It’s quite hot, so we decide to stop off for a chill. We’re by a place called Roger’s; so we take a seat and order. I try to ask if they do slushies but the guy looks blank so I concede and say diet coke. Some Scottish guys nearby are playing dominoes and chatting/laughing. They’re a happy bunch, and given the spread of ages we speculate that they’re on a stag do.

This is a nice spot to play cards. The sun is shining, with the soundtrack of the sea and Scottish banter.

We must be there like 2 hours, and stay for dinner lunch. It’s pretty mad food – the toasties are basically toast with filling chucked in and butter on the side in a pack. The chips are a mixture of shapes. All tasty and edible though.

We see that we’re close to where we stayed in 1995ish – The beautiful Hotel Don Bigote (this was the wording of the travel rep when we were dropped off at the concrete monstrosity). It’s now called “Tent” and we go inside. It’s been refurbished and looks pretty good tbh.

After that, back down the promenade and take a slash in McDs. Stu and me check out the menu – the Triple Chicken Mayo looks ridiculous.

The people want ice cream. We’re scanning for a place that has plenty of choice. Pop into one that looks hopeful but there’s no cookies and cream for Lisa, however they over to smash a cookie into some ice cream but this is just not acceptable. No sorbet on offer either so the search continues.

We go up the road and there’s a charity shop. Inside the staff are sat round a table eating cake and nattering, all English women of retirement age. Sue tries on a dress but it’s not right for her, then the staff are grabbing other clothes and insisting she try them on, which she does out of politeness. Lisa has found a dress but won’t try on after Sue’s experience, she just buys it, €5

Just up the road is an ice cream place so go there. All day we’ve been talking about a chocolate milk drink that we used to drink in Don Bigote… Lisa called it “choca blocka” and guess what – this place has some. It’s in little glass bottles and is called Laccao.

Back to the front where the taxi rank is. On the way I see a taxi with his light on and raise my arm. It stops momentarily and the guy makes a phone symbol with his hand and says something unintelligible. Oh well. We get to the taxi rank and see that there’s two ladies already there at the grand of the rank, and at the far end (wrong end) there’s a woman and 2 kids, which looks like this had the potential for a system malfunction. First cab that comes is grabbed by the woman and kids which has the two women moaning and cussing. They said the cabs have been arriving once every 15 mins, but as luck would have it one arrives for them and then one straight after for us.

The cabbie is welcoming but is soon into drive-mode. More beast -mode. He’s hunched over the steering wheel like a man possessed, aggressively overtaking anyone that has the audacity to be sharing the same road space. However he gets us back safely at warp-speed and that’s €12 por favor.

Once back, we have a dip in the heated pool, and a chat with Isabel. She’s flying out on Friday too, but earlier. She’s on a deal with Jet2 which includes transfer to airport.

The girls go back to get ready for dins, we stay on for a while. I am getting bitten to pieces by bugs, I have a fat right ear again like I did in Florida ’16. It’s itchy AF. And my ankles too. I leave Stu to it and head for the hills.

Dinner is at 19:45 and the menu is very different – it’s a themed night – Flavours and Melodies from the Silver Screen. There’s a pianist and a cellist banging out theme tunes from various films. The menu is freaking Lisa out because there’s nothing she likes, but she has a chat with the owner’s daughter and arranges for the surf and turf minus the surf. Beef fillet and chips, basically. Evans’s go fish, I go duck. Duck comes with dauphinoise potatoes which are riddled with creamy lactose so I neck some lactase and hope for the best. It takes care of my batty but I feel pretty bloated for the rest of the night.

After dinner we go to the bar for entertainment “Jimmy’s Music”. This is confusing. At first we think he’s a DJ just playing music, then we hear some quiet singing along with the tunes. Jimmy does not announce himself and he drifts around the DJ area; sometimes sat at 90degs to the bar seating at his mixer, sometimes behind a column. He seems very laid back. Plays some reggae.

After about 3 tunes we go and play cards in the cubby-hole. Stu puts on Otis Redding and there’s a sing along. We call it a night at around 22:30.