Travels in Spain: Mallorca New Years Eve 2021

This is a continuation of our New Years trip to the island of Mallorca, part 1 is here. On New Years eve, we woke up early and headed to the northwest part of the island. We took narrow gravel roads and wound up in the town of Pollença. we had a quick coffee on the plaza mayor enjoying the sunshine along with many other tourists. We took a quick walk to the local roman bridge (which was much less impressive than the ones we encountered in Cagnas d’Onis and Lugo) however still fun to walk through the narrow streets past the faded yellow homes of Pollença. We returned to the square and popped in to Santa Maria dels Àngels catedral, built in the 17th century; and appreciated the many altars and frescos painted on the ceiling.

After this we drove up, on winding roads with switchbacks, our destination the Mirador es Colomer. As we drove, the bright sunshine turned to thick fog, and the temperature dropped. We reached the Mirador, which was a series of platforms connected by stairs and boarded with waste-high railings. The fog was so thick, we were only able to see ten or so feet in front of us as we were climbing up and down the stairs, to the final, open platform. As lookout points serve less purpose when one cannot see, we were the only people here.

We could hear the ocean below as we leaned on the railing, eating our apples that we had brought to snack on. As we took cool pictures of the fog, a couple mountain goats came to say hello.

After we finished gazing out into the mist, we drove back down the mountain, finding the blue skies again. We could see that the Mirador es Colomer was located in between two mountains, and that is where fog stuck; outside of this area, the sun shone brightly. Not to far away, at the North end of the island, we returned back to see level and found ourselves a the beach called Platja de Formentor. Situated next to a remote Four Seasons hotel, the beach had the clearest and calmest sea waters we had encountered. There were people spread sporadically on the soft, sandy beach; we took off our shoes and put our feet into the water, walking up the beach until we reached a lifeguard tower, not in use at that moment, and took a rest to take in the scene. It was truly impressive. (The fog that can be seen below is where we had come from).

Our last stop of New Years Eve was the Port of Pollença, a sleepy tourist town where all the restaruants were closed for the off-season, and the only place open was Burger King, so we sucked it up (we had not eaten Burger King in Spain, though it is quite popular here; in Gijon there are actually four locations all within walking distance of where we live), enjoyed some burger and fries while sitting on a bench in the Marina. There are worse places to have Burger King, I reckon.

When we returned to Palma, the vibe for the New Year Eve was palpable. We relaxed at the apartment until 11 pm, then when searching for a bite to eat before New Years, we walked through a large park with some interesting sculptures, that, in the fog, looked even cooler.

We found a doner kebab place, grabbed some durums, and headed back to our place, with twenty minutes to spare until midnight. Our (peeled) grapes ready, our Cava (Spanish sparkling wine) opened, we prepared to do as Spaniards do and eat 12 grapes in the 12 seconds leading up to midnight, for good luck in the New Year.

At midnight, grapes finished and with our bottle of Cava in hand, we ventured outside, listened and watched the fireworks through the dense fog, wished Feliz Año Nuevo to fellow revelers, and ended our night at the nearby port, imagining owning one of the countless large boats, and the boat parties we would have, before heading back to the apartment for a late night doner kebab snack and much needed sleep.