Winding roads and rugged mountains in Majorca

I'm currently in the not-so-shabby position of trying to rush through blog posts since there is a lot going on to try and blog about! This weekend, I'm back to Tours for the first time this year (where has the time gone?) to catch up with friends and visit the Vitiloire wine festival, the highlight of any self-respecting Loire-wine-loving girl's calendar.

First though, I'm fresh from five nights in Majorca celebrating uni friend Amber's 30th birthday. When she invited me along, I hesitated a little bit. In my mind, Majorca was a "Brits abroad" destination, full of sunburned, drunken chavs (yes, Mum, chav is a naughty word), massive nightclubs and very little culture. But I thought, "it's not the sort of place I'd usually choose to go to, so this is my opportunity to see it", and decided to hop aboard the Majorca train.

I imagine a lot of it is where you go to - a night out in Magaluf was talked about several times, but eventually dropped for lack of enthusiasm/everyone wilting under the prospect of a big night out on the tiles - and also the time of year you go. But I must admit that Majorca didn't really live up to my negative perceptions. I did very little research and hadn't even seen any photos (I think I initially thought Majorca was in the Atlantic, that's how little I knew), so I was really surprised by the rugged, mountainous interior, the sheer coastal cliffs and the diversity of sights and activities on offer. We really didn't do too much, and actually I would have been happy with some more time lying on a beach, but it really wasn't the drunken lads on tour vibe I was expecting.

We stayed - seven of us - in a large stone apartment in the heart of Palma. This was a bit of a challenge to my sensibilities as well. I'm not really a fan of being around people 24/7, especially since Amber was the only one I knew. Everyone was perfectly nice, bar the occasional minor annoyances you get with any group, but it was a bit much for me by the end. With that many people, it's just a hassle trying to get going anywhere. Trying to decide what to do, where to eat, and then just getting everyone up, showered and out the door (particularly when there's hangovers involved) is a real mission. In that sense, it's amazing that we did anything at all, although I'm still kind of annoyed that on our beach day we missed all the good weather because some of the group wanted to visit the cathedral first despite the forecast predicting it would cloud over in the afternoon. Hmmph.

I arrived on Thursday evening after a stressful trip to the airport (the train was replaced by a bus service which was oversubscribed, but luckily I left plenty of time to get to the airport in Germany) for an evening of tapas and wine, very pleasant. Friday was probably the best day of the trip (always good if you can start high and then taper off). We hopped in our two hire cars and drove from Palma to Port Soller, where we stopped for an amazing lunch on a roof terrace overlooking the harbour, then on to Pollença through some very windy mountain roads with spectacular views. Stopped in Pollença, a charming little village, for a drink and then before it got dark drove all the way out to Cape Formentor at the northern tip of the island, whence you could just see Menorca on the horizon. I got a bit carsick on the twisty roads, but it was definitely worth it for the views.

This is the view from the terrace where we had lunch in Port Soller. Amazing (reminds me of Monaco)

And the delicious grilled calamari I had for lunch

On the beach at Port Soller

Stopping en route to Cape Formentor for a selfie

On the way to Cape Formentor

Unfiltered photo of a very white town as the sun sets on the way back from Cape Formentor

At Cape Formentor

Virtually the same as the last photo, but I couldn't decide which I preferred

Apparently hanging on for dear life at a viewpoint on the way to Port Soller

Panorama at Cape Formentor

On the way to Cape Formentor

Family and friends oop North

My summer holidays weren't only spent in sunny Italy, there was also a few days in not-so-sunny northern England. This time proceedings were enlivened with a visit from my friend Rick, who you might remember from our château shenanigans back in 2012. Our time in Lancashire and neighbouring parts mostly comprised driving around for hours in the car, which wasn't actually as bad as it sounds. Rick, who is from LA, had never been to the north of England before, and I think he actually quite enjoyed seeing the countryside and Hadrian's Wall. And everyone loves a good pub lunch and pint of beer and/or cider! He didn't even seem to mind the constant Sandiego family singalong in the car, although that may have been because he kept falling asleep to avoid it...)

Weirdly, Dad and I were talking about going fruit-picking when I was a kid, then we found a place where you could do it! Mmmm, raspberries

Family dinner in Lancaster. I'm not actually sitting on his knee, by the way

Countryside near Hadrian's Wall. We cunningly avoided the worst of the rain in a pub and a museum, but it made for some dramatic skies

Dad on Hadrian's Wall

Me looking oddly fey on Hadrian's Wall

I always forget the name of this place. A hill in Kendal overlooking Windermere, with Rick

Me and Windermere

Italy Day 5: Capri

On our last full day in Italy, we took a ferry over to Capri, both because I thought the ferry trip would be nice and because I'd heard good things about Capri. However, when we got there there wasn't really anything in the way of tourist information at all. I had wanted to go to Tiberius's villa, but a taxi driver told us it wasn't accessible by road and it would take a 2 hour walk, which we weren't too keen on. So we waited for ages for a bus that we weren't even sure where it was going. Someone in the line told us we needed to buy tickets for the bus, but when it arrived it turned out they were the wrong tickets. It's fair to say that at this stage, tempers were a bit frayed in the Sandiego party...

It turned out, however, that the tickets were valid for the nearby funicular, so we just decided to go up and see what was at the top at any rate. There were some lovely views on the way up and at the top, where you came out at a little town centre. I was inwardly convinced (on very little information) that from where we were we should be able to walk across and see the view from the other side of the island. After a stop in a shady (in the good sense) alley to eat our sandwiches, we noticed quite a lot of tourists going past in a certain direction, so we decided to follow them.

We ended up in some gardens with the most wonderful views of the coast and the renowned Faraglioni rocks offshore. I honestly think that Capri is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, it was just amazing being up there and seeing the cliffs, rock formations and crystal-clear sea down below.

After a while looking around in the gardens, Mum and Dad decided to just go sit at a cafe, whereas I wanted to walk down the Via Krupp to the bottom of the cliffs. It snakes down a height of 100 metres, offering beautiful views on the way. I took my time, stopping for plenty of photo opportunities, on the way down, but once I was at the bottom I was a bit concerned about us getting back to the ferry on time, so I powered back up in about 5 minutes. It was really, really hot and (as Mum lovingly pointed out), I was pretty red and sweaty by the time I got to the top! The fresh lemon slushy Dad bought me has got to be the most refreshing thing I've ever drunk after that!

So we only saw a small portion of the island, but it was so pretty it was well worth it for me.

Faraglioni rocks off Capri

Capri harbour

I've become a selfie convert

Didn't find out what was so exciting about it

Capri harbour from the ferry

The Via Krupp

At the top of the funicular

On the ferry

Finally, a family portrait!

Family dinner in Sorrento on our last evening

Bossyi and mutanttamer

Italy Day 4 - Naples Archaeological Museum

Many of the treasures of Pompeii - frescoes, mosaics, statues, etc. - have been removed from the city and are now in the Archaeological Museum in Naples. This is where we headed on the fourth day of our trip, and it really is the perfect complement to a trip to Pompeii. I think it's good to do it that way round as well, since you have some idea of the context which the objects came from.

It was really huge and there was a lot to see. We reconvened in the lobby after an hour or two and decided to take another half an hour to finish looking around - and I think there were at least two sections I hadn't even been in at that stage. I think in the end I did manage to see everything though. There was even the "Secret Cabinet", full of naughty paintings and mosaics found in Pompeii, which used to be restricted to gentlemen who sought special permission to see what was inside. It was only finally permanently opened to the general public in the year 2000!

Here are a few of my highlights from the collection:

The Farnese bull - an amazing piece of sculpture, although it seems all the major parts are actually reconstructions!

A glass pitcher melted in the eruption

This is amazing - it's actually a papyrus which came from the "Villa of the Papyrus" in Herculaneum. Some 1,785 charred papyrus scrolls were found in this villa. First attempts to unroll and read the papyrus were unsuccessful, until the machine pictured was invented in 1756. Now the papyrus, which include the only copies of some ancient works, can be read using multi-spectral imaging.

Many of the mosaics were so fine they looked like paintings from a distance

Not the easiest to see, but I love the restrained delicacy of these white-background pieces

An exotic-looking Venus

Slightly disturbing