MalcolmS
New member
Came back from Pollença on Sunday and been meaning to post a trip report but the weather’s been too good to stay inside at the computer. Raining today though.
My wife and I have arguments about the number of times we’ve been to Pollença over the years but it’s certainly now closer to 20 than 10 and we’ve never had a bad trip and only once (!) experienced poor weather (rain). This trip was no exception. This is the earliest we’ve ever been always having visited before between July and October and we did notice everywhere was quite a bit quieter. One night; we we’re the only couple in the restaurant the whole time we were there!
Our easyJet flight this year was scheduled much later arriving at 21:55 and I didn’t fancy any off-site car hire or lengthy queues at the airport so booked a car with Sixt. First time I’ve done so and was very pleased with the experience – although it’s a little bit more expensive. When we arrived, there were huge queues at the likes of Record Go, Goldcar, etc. but I walked straight up to the Sixt desk and had my paperwork in less than 5 minutes – I think I might even have been quicker going straight to their desk in the car park to collect the car. My wife stood and people watched as I got the paperwork sorted and said the queues at Record Go were getting very heated with lots of arguments and queue jumping. I estimated it would have taken an hour had I joined the back of their queue at that time.
That said I want to investigate doing the trip without a car the next time. We once again had a town house in Pollença and only ever used the shops in the town so other than an evening in the port could have done without the car…
The last 3 trips I’ve booked accommodation with Villa Parade. I didn’t this time – not because I’d seen what was coming but because the price had increased slightly so I shopped around. Being in the travel industry (or at least I was) I used to get a 20% discount with VP however this year they reduced that to 15% so I decided to make some comparisons with other companies – quite fortuitous in the end! I eventually booked a lovely town house called Ca La Pradina direct with the owner that I found on Tripadvisor. I’ve written a review of the house which hasn’t been published yet but I’ll leave it to you to check it out. I couldn’t fault it and it had the best outdoor space of the any of the “in the town” properties we’ve rented. It’s on the South side of the town and only five minutes’ walk from the square – very quiet, private and peaceful.
Normally we’d hit the town as soon as we’d dropped the luggage off but we were a bit tired and wanted to make an early start at the market the next day.
We did some shopping at the stalls in the main square and then decided to have a quick coffee in Café L'illa. While there we noticed they were still doing breakfasts and we’ve had some nice scrambled egg on toast there before but having ordered it this time our waiter came back to say we could only have cold food. :-(
As well as the food and drink for lunches at the house during the week we also bought some meat for a BBQ one evening. We came across a butcher we hadn’t noticed before and bought some fantastic steaks. It’s called Tot Carnisseries on Carrer Reinia Maria Cristina. If I’m honest all the butchers we’ve used in Pollença have been great but the added attraction here is one of the assistants (owners?) speaks perfect English – we struggled to believe this but she’s Spanish born and bred but speaks English with a broad Yorkshire accent!
In the afternoon we sought out somewhere to have our ‘traditional’ Sunday afternoon tapas. We really liked La Taberna del Temple in the past but that’s still shut (more later). Last year we tried Dos Hermanas and really liked this but this year it was closed when we walked past. Never managed to work out what this restaurant’s opening hours are. They seem so irregular – so frustrating.
So we ended up around the corner at La Botigueta which I recall as “the paper shop” from previous years. They’ve obviously invested some money in the place and it does look very nice – if not very “old Spanish town” like. It would appear to be part of the company that owns Pizzeria Obris (the old La Penya bar) across the road and Spira down near the museum square. The tapas were okay – just okay. There were quite a few on the menu that were ‘off’ and our albondigas, whilst nice weren’t that hot, temperature wise. All in all I wouldn’t go back.
In the evening we went to, what remains our favourite restaurant in the whole of Pollença – Cantonet. Being regulars we were greeted with hugs and kisses and choose to sit on the terrace – which was the first night they had opened it this season. Despite being well after 8pm we were the first and only people there for a while before being joined by one other family. As always the food was first class, the service perfect and all good value for money.
We actually went back another night during the week when it was much busier. When we were saying our good byes they explained that there was a problem with the use of the terrace and that they may have to move! They are considering taking on La Taberna del Temple so they can get the use of the little courtyard at the back of that restaurant. From memory it’s very nice but smaller than the Monti Sion church terrace.
Monday evening we BBQ’d at the house and then the following evening decided to give Can Costa (without the apostrophe) a go – it having been a favourite of ours in the years gone past. We had a great evening by ourselves (yes, we were the only people in from 8pm until around half 10) in the restaurant and tried the 7 course tasting menu. All of them were very interesting and different but not all worked for us. One of the courses had scallops which unfortunately I’m allergic to but they were more than happy to swap that out and we had a lovely sea bass course instead. The whole bill has around double what we paid at Cantonet but I’d still say it was an enjoyable experience.
I had a really good bottle of wine with the meal at 23€ - a L’u Blanc de Mortitx (100% Malvasias). I tried to repeat this later in the week with a bottle of L’Ergull de Mortitx but it wasn’t as nice – an unusual mix of five grapes (Malvasias / Chardonnay / Riesling / Moscatel / Sauvignon Blanc). I noticed that Can Costa had changed the restaurant around a little bit with more tables and another bar. The entrance hall was stunning – much brighter than off old. Unfortunately fire regulations meant a new wall and doors had to be installed covering up the old glass wall and doors at the top of the stairs.
Wednesday night we BBQ’d again – huge chicken kebabs from Tot Carnisseries again and Thursday we tried La Font del Gall again. I noticed El Brio has now gone and they’ve openly branded both restaurants as LFDG. Again the restaurant was very quiet which gave us time to chat to the waitresses. The food was good but just not in the same class as Cantonet – for instance I had Ravioli de setas in both and Cantonet’s was far tastier. The bill was round 20€ more than Cantonet but then I did have a rather nice fillet steak and the L’Ergull was 26.50€…
Friday was back to Cantonet but we did try one new place for breakfast on Saturday morning before leaving. Not sure how long it’s been there but it looks very new? When we passed it on the way to the Eroski supermarket earlier in the week it was empty but on Saturday morning we could hardly get a table! It’s Panord on Carrer Via Argentina – a great selection of pastries and sandwiches and nice freshly squeezed orange juice and coffees.
We thoroughly enjoyed a great relaxing week in Pollença and will definitely be back – probably not until 2015 now though. Finally, even though the town was reasonably quite, I did notice more police (the blue uniform – Local?) presence this time which was comforting given past experiences.
Hope some of the above helps out future visitors?
My wife and I have arguments about the number of times we’ve been to Pollença over the years but it’s certainly now closer to 20 than 10 and we’ve never had a bad trip and only once (!) experienced poor weather (rain). This trip was no exception. This is the earliest we’ve ever been always having visited before between July and October and we did notice everywhere was quite a bit quieter. One night; we we’re the only couple in the restaurant the whole time we were there!
Our easyJet flight this year was scheduled much later arriving at 21:55 and I didn’t fancy any off-site car hire or lengthy queues at the airport so booked a car with Sixt. First time I’ve done so and was very pleased with the experience – although it’s a little bit more expensive. When we arrived, there were huge queues at the likes of Record Go, Goldcar, etc. but I walked straight up to the Sixt desk and had my paperwork in less than 5 minutes – I think I might even have been quicker going straight to their desk in the car park to collect the car. My wife stood and people watched as I got the paperwork sorted and said the queues at Record Go were getting very heated with lots of arguments and queue jumping. I estimated it would have taken an hour had I joined the back of their queue at that time.
That said I want to investigate doing the trip without a car the next time. We once again had a town house in Pollença and only ever used the shops in the town so other than an evening in the port could have done without the car…
The last 3 trips I’ve booked accommodation with Villa Parade. I didn’t this time – not because I’d seen what was coming but because the price had increased slightly so I shopped around. Being in the travel industry (or at least I was) I used to get a 20% discount with VP however this year they reduced that to 15% so I decided to make some comparisons with other companies – quite fortuitous in the end! I eventually booked a lovely town house called Ca La Pradina direct with the owner that I found on Tripadvisor. I’ve written a review of the house which hasn’t been published yet but I’ll leave it to you to check it out. I couldn’t fault it and it had the best outdoor space of the any of the “in the town” properties we’ve rented. It’s on the South side of the town and only five minutes’ walk from the square – very quiet, private and peaceful.
Normally we’d hit the town as soon as we’d dropped the luggage off but we were a bit tired and wanted to make an early start at the market the next day.
We did some shopping at the stalls in the main square and then decided to have a quick coffee in Café L'illa. While there we noticed they were still doing breakfasts and we’ve had some nice scrambled egg on toast there before but having ordered it this time our waiter came back to say we could only have cold food. :-(
As well as the food and drink for lunches at the house during the week we also bought some meat for a BBQ one evening. We came across a butcher we hadn’t noticed before and bought some fantastic steaks. It’s called Tot Carnisseries on Carrer Reinia Maria Cristina. If I’m honest all the butchers we’ve used in Pollença have been great but the added attraction here is one of the assistants (owners?) speaks perfect English – we struggled to believe this but she’s Spanish born and bred but speaks English with a broad Yorkshire accent!
In the afternoon we sought out somewhere to have our ‘traditional’ Sunday afternoon tapas. We really liked La Taberna del Temple in the past but that’s still shut (more later). Last year we tried Dos Hermanas and really liked this but this year it was closed when we walked past. Never managed to work out what this restaurant’s opening hours are. They seem so irregular – so frustrating.
So we ended up around the corner at La Botigueta which I recall as “the paper shop” from previous years. They’ve obviously invested some money in the place and it does look very nice – if not very “old Spanish town” like. It would appear to be part of the company that owns Pizzeria Obris (the old La Penya bar) across the road and Spira down near the museum square. The tapas were okay – just okay. There were quite a few on the menu that were ‘off’ and our albondigas, whilst nice weren’t that hot, temperature wise. All in all I wouldn’t go back.
In the evening we went to, what remains our favourite restaurant in the whole of Pollença – Cantonet. Being regulars we were greeted with hugs and kisses and choose to sit on the terrace – which was the first night they had opened it this season. Despite being well after 8pm we were the first and only people there for a while before being joined by one other family. As always the food was first class, the service perfect and all good value for money.
We actually went back another night during the week when it was much busier. When we were saying our good byes they explained that there was a problem with the use of the terrace and that they may have to move! They are considering taking on La Taberna del Temple so they can get the use of the little courtyard at the back of that restaurant. From memory it’s very nice but smaller than the Monti Sion church terrace.
Monday evening we BBQ’d at the house and then the following evening decided to give Can Costa (without the apostrophe) a go – it having been a favourite of ours in the years gone past. We had a great evening by ourselves (yes, we were the only people in from 8pm until around half 10) in the restaurant and tried the 7 course tasting menu. All of them were very interesting and different but not all worked for us. One of the courses had scallops which unfortunately I’m allergic to but they were more than happy to swap that out and we had a lovely sea bass course instead. The whole bill has around double what we paid at Cantonet but I’d still say it was an enjoyable experience.
I had a really good bottle of wine with the meal at 23€ - a L’u Blanc de Mortitx (100% Malvasias). I tried to repeat this later in the week with a bottle of L’Ergull de Mortitx but it wasn’t as nice – an unusual mix of five grapes (Malvasias / Chardonnay / Riesling / Moscatel / Sauvignon Blanc). I noticed that Can Costa had changed the restaurant around a little bit with more tables and another bar. The entrance hall was stunning – much brighter than off old. Unfortunately fire regulations meant a new wall and doors had to be installed covering up the old glass wall and doors at the top of the stairs.
Wednesday night we BBQ’d again – huge chicken kebabs from Tot Carnisseries again and Thursday we tried La Font del Gall again. I noticed El Brio has now gone and they’ve openly branded both restaurants as LFDG. Again the restaurant was very quiet which gave us time to chat to the waitresses. The food was good but just not in the same class as Cantonet – for instance I had Ravioli de setas in both and Cantonet’s was far tastier. The bill was round 20€ more than Cantonet but then I did have a rather nice fillet steak and the L’Ergull was 26.50€…
Friday was back to Cantonet but we did try one new place for breakfast on Saturday morning before leaving. Not sure how long it’s been there but it looks very new? When we passed it on the way to the Eroski supermarket earlier in the week it was empty but on Saturday morning we could hardly get a table! It’s Panord on Carrer Via Argentina – a great selection of pastries and sandwiches and nice freshly squeezed orange juice and coffees.
We thoroughly enjoyed a great relaxing week in Pollença and will definitely be back – probably not until 2015 now though. Finally, even though the town was reasonably quite, I did notice more police (the blue uniform – Local?) presence this time which was comforting given past experiences.
Hope some of the above helps out future visitors?
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I was referring of course to when she used to sing. Oh well, if she's now over here, then that's my theory dead in the water . 
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