Our 9th Anniversary

Wednesday, was our anniversary and we were left to our own devices by our hosts. We left early in the morning by bus to the local train station in Santa Maria and took the train to a little town called Sineu. On Wednesdays they have a market the oldest of the island. There has always been a market here since 1306. Most of the stalls are African selling leather handbags, pashminas, knock off watches and jeans. The more interesting local stalls were selling local fruit, meats, cheese, candied almonds, beautiful peppers strung together, olive wood carved kitchen ware, local honey and figs. We meandered through the lanes of stalls criss-crossing our way up the hill of the town. About half way up the top of the town, we started to see all sorts of birds and animals in cages that were also on sale. They even had puppies on sale all mixed in with the sheep, rams, donkeys and cows. We took a break at this point and had crepes from one of the stalls. We sat on the stairs and enjoyed the view while having a restby. At the top of the hill in the main square of the town, called Sa Placa, is the church of Santa Maria de Sineu dating from 1549. In the square in front of the church is a winged lion statue in honour of St Mark. Unfortunate it's very hard to get a good view from all the stall around it. For 1 euro each we went into the church. The timing was just about right, as it was starting to rain outside. We had a quick look around the quaint little church before heading back down the hill to catch our train back.

In the evening our host had their first choir practice of the season to prepare for Christmas, which was in Palma. Peter decide he would like to go, but I wasn't as keen. So our host son and I were dropped of at the bay of Palma while they went to there practice. We went to a place that had a wonderful view of the Cathedral. We sat outside and had drinks while watching the amazing view. It was so beautiful to see the view as it changed from day to night. All the lights of the Cathedral light up the bay and a gentle breeze blew in off the sea. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip and I'm sorry that Peter missed it. We then made our way into Palma to meet Peter and our hosts in a little Argentinian restaurant that they knew very well. We had an amazing meal together with very personal service, as they knew all the staff there. We started with traditional no salt Mallorca bread served with aoli, chili vinaigrette and tomato dip. Then we were brought a small aperitif of brisket topped with cheese and kobe carpaccio beef for our host son who can't eat cheese. Then for starters Peter and I shared a baked provolone cheese topped with tomatoes and salad. For mains we both had steak served with sweet potato. Peter had the rib eye medium cooked and I had a hanger cut well cooked. It was the cut recommended by the waitress for a well done steak. I was not disappointed! It was beautiful cooked, not a bit of pink in sight, yet still moist and tender. Think it was the best steak I've ever had. For dessert I had the chocolate cake and Peter had a cheesecake with honey and walnuts all washed down with a coffee. Peter and I had our desserts served with a candle in them and wished a Happy Anniversary. With our bellies full and our hearts content we had a short walk through Palma, headed back to the car and back to our host casa. The end of another wonderful day here in Mallorca and the mark of another great year ahead for Peter and I.