Home stretch

Time to leave Eivissa for the last inter-island hop to Mallorca to finish touring it. Iberia seemed to be having Monday wobbles in service; the flight before mine was delayed to be after mine. My own flight suffered a ½ hour delay. Well at least I arrived and won't have to fly with them anytime in the foreseeable future.

When I planned the trip, a minor but critical detail was where and when to get my clothes washed. The first juncture was in Maó where the hostal arranged it for me. This was the second juncture and I had picked out a lavanderia in Palma, even working out where to alight the bus from the airport. It was operating when I got there, the unexpected change was that there was no self-service. But they would take my money to wash and dry for me, which was even better, because I could then go for lunch.

The lavanderia was just across the street from the food market. I had lunch in a nearby restaurant but it was forgettable. The albondigas (meatballs) were padded with extender and they burnt the french fries. Really, how can anybody ruin a simple dish like that?

I asked about a box of persimmons at a stall as they were closing and the woman said no son persimones, son kakis. Hmm? I bought the box anyway and it was cheap at 2€ for 10 or so. When I got to the hotel they tasted like squishy sweet seedless persimmons. I looked up kaki and it is indeed of the persimmon family. The stall also sold the more squat persimmon I see in markets at home; they are just more discriminating in naming them here.

So that was my clean clothes problem solved for the remainder of the trip. After showering and resting, I walked through the paseo crowds to Cine Augusta to see Woody Allen's latest film To Rome With Love. I thought it was subtitled but it was dubbed. Comprehending speech in real-time was so much harder than reading Spanish, but I got the gist of the story, or rather the 4 parallel and non-intersecting stories, a device favoured by many Italian comedies, not surprising given that it was a co-production with Italy.

There were a lot of older people in the cinema causing a short queue at the box office. Perhaps it might have been for the same reason I was there: cheap Monday. But the city as a whole seemed more alive than a fortnight ago. Was it the start of the cultural season and people were going to films, concerts, and other events? Or was it the large cruise ship in the harbour injecting well-heeled tourists wanting a good time in town? Whatever the reason it was great to be in a medium sized city again rather than a provincial town.

The film ended about 2030, about right for Spanish dinner. But I couldn't work up enthusiasm for another sit-down dinner. Then I saw the prepared food section in El Corte Inglés (The English Cut, a well-known chain of Spanish department stores) which was still open, until 2130. I bought paella and a strawberry pastry to eat in my room. The paella was tasty but the rice grains were undercooked and I wasn't sure if this was normal. The pastry was yummy.