I am back in Mallorca for a couple of ITF tournaments after leaving the USA: three days, three flights ago.

I stopped over to visit my cousin on Sunday night near San Francisco, then Monday went SFO/MUC/PMI (San Francisco/Munich/Palma de Mallorca). In San Francisco some airport workers were on strike (relating to food catering I think), but the flights were on time. I saw a robot coffee/snack kiosk there…the future is now.

It was cold in Munich and wet, and going from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 was a bit confusing as there were a lot of doors marked “no exit/emergency exit only (or to that effect, in German) only to have one unmarked door next to them or to open when a bus passenger entered. I exited Terminal 2 onto said bus, then in Terminal 1, after asking where the A gates were located finally found said door next to the emergency exit only doors. And that’s where customs was located. It was a small line (and none at all by the time I’d exited passport control). The parts of the airport where I went were still rather sad, many restaurants and businesses closed.

I had a Eurowings flight to Palma. I hadn’t been on that airline before but it was on time and the flight was fine, a short two hour one. We were bused out to the plane, but in Palma the plane unloaded directly into the airport terminal. Palma airport by contrast to Munich was bustling, stores open and once I exited the airport the weather was sunny and mild, mid 70s.

I rented a car from OK Mobility…the car is fine, the pressure to take the insurance very strong, so we’ll see how the return goes. I took a lot of photos of the car.

I’m staying for three days in Binissalem again, but on the other side of town from where I stayed last time. It’s not a big town though, the church was a 10 minute walk both from where I’m staying now and where I stayed in July. After unloading my car (I’m on the first floor which is one floor up from the ground floor and the steps here are steep and not super wide…wrestling my suitcase up was a battle which I did win.). Once in the apartment though, it’s nice and the patio is excellent.

I walked to the center before dinner, to stretch my legs and try and wake up a bit. I’m not sure why there were hats in the bunting over the street leading to the church plaza. Binissalem is a big wine grape growing and wine making area. There are huge cylinders dotted around the town, and lots of wine tasting/buying locations. Mallorca is also known for windmills.

In the grocery store I was looking for some olives (but decided to wait for the Friday farmer’s market here)…olives stuffed with anchovies seem to be most popular here!