Draws/Match Results are here.

The Queens Cup was the only USA team in action today and they have beaten Austria, winning both singles matches (doubles result not posted yet).

We had the day off and after a 40 minute practice that started in the dark, we went to the Arta Market, which is one of the biggest and best on the Island. It’s held every Tuesday.

Finding parking was a challenge…it’s a challenge here every day, but on Market Days it’s really difficult especially if you arrive after around 8am..which we did. We took one agricultural detour past farm buildings and down a narrow (albeit 2-way) road, and went through the town before seeing a spot where we parked so near to a stone wall and oleander that we had to climb out on the passenger side of the car!

We ended up being not too far from the market. I had barely finished asking Carolyn Lane where she was going to meet her sister and brother-in-law (Mary Kaye and Bill) before they saw us, as they had parked nearby at the same time!

We walked first past food stalls…cheese, sausages, dried fruit, colorful candy, Mallorcan “pizza) (all veggies, no cheese), emapanadas, roasted chicken, with or without potatoes (I bought half of a chicken which was amazing!), and a potato chip operation…one man slicing and frying them and the one woman putting them into a container…it was a very popular stall.

Our next stop was to the fruit and vegetable hall, where I bought small green peppers (pimientos de padron). I also bought green olives with pits in them. Last night Mary Kay and Bill took our team, Carolyn, Susan, Bunnnie, me and Jenny Cerff from So Africa who is staying with us to a lovely dinner at Sea Ancores in Cala Rajada, not far from Font de sa Cala. After finding parking (much easier than it was in Arta!), we walked to the nice restaurant overlooking the harbor and had a wonderful meal with great company. We started with the pimientos de padron and octopus and bread served the Mallorcan way with aioli (garlic mayonnaise) and green olives. So today I bought the same peppers and green olives you see. We also had fresh fish, most of it served with bones and the heads attached. Turns out Susan is as good at boning a fish as hitting a backhand!

After heading out of the hall we wandered around the market, which has clothes, food, handicrafts, baskets, pottery, souvenirs, plants, jewelry, woven baskets, leather goods and more. We went to the area around the church, which had more hand made items and bought some jewelry, I got Mallorcan salt in various flavors and generally had a good time. Carolyn by then was with her sister and they enjoyed the market then went on their own adventures.

We left around 1:30, and headed back, to enjoy the rest of our day off from tennis. Tomorrow we start the quarterfinals, which will be tough, as all seven groups had one or two and sometimes three outstanding teams. The seeds all advanced other than Germany…Austria won their group, barely over Germany and more decisively over Netherlands.