Wednesday Sept. 4, 2024, Alaro, Mallorca

Today I was supposed to practice at 11am but my car had other ideas. I left Alaro and shortly afterwards the car refused to go above 55kph (around 35mph) and a sign came on that said the engine had a problem and to pull over. I did and turned off the engine, hoping it would restart (works for my phone!). It would restart, I’d accelerate and the same thing would happen…but there was no place to pull over. I finally pulled over on the turnoff to Consell (another small Mallorcan town) where I saw a van parked. It turned out to be a Backroads van (an American touring company…the van was support for a bunch of American bike riders who were clients). The clients were Americans around my age, I called the rental car company which sent another car but the driver could not replicate the problem. However they let me keep the replacement car (but charged me for the unused gas which I sort of expected). By that time I had missed my tennis window (rebooked for tomorrow).

I pivoted and decided to go to Sineu to its weekly market. I had to go back to my apartment first since I had forgotten my wallet, and arrived in Sineu around 12:30. The market closes at 1:30 but in reality the vendors are packing up by 1pm. I was on a hunt for padron peppers, tomatoes and perhaps a few pieces of fruit, and some Mallorcan salt, all of which I found eventually. I parked in the big lot in a field near the market, which was still soggy from yesterday’s drenching rains. (The rain in Spain was mainly on the plains yesterday.)

I walked into town from the edge of the market, looking for produce. I found some in the center but no peppers. I did look into the church though, simple but elegant. However, I found the peppers on my way out of town…the main produce area was across from the railway crossing. (I ate them for dinner…delicious as always). This market has live animals including ducks, chickens (mostly gone by the time I arrived), sheep, and ponies for rides. It also had the usual clothes/flowers/fruits/vegetables/olives/pottery/jewelry…a cross between a flea market and a farmers’ market.

I returned to Alaro, enjoyed one of the tomatoes with anchovies (really good if you like anchovies), did some exercises and then took a nice walk to the outskirts of Alaro, from which you can see the mountains. The sun was hitting the mountains as I set out and it was really pretty. There were a lot of sheep amongst the orchards too, very busily eating.

And that’s a wrap on Wednesday in Mallorca. Tennis tomorrow, then I leave early Friday for Germany!