PP every year?

[mearsy]

Susie, how lucky are you?!! I'm addicted to that place.

Sparky, your story is inspirational. I started reading your diary this morning in the Tapas bar and was nearly late for work!

For me, I find it a bit weird to have this feeling of home when I go to PP, as I've not been anywhere near the amount of times most of you have. But, it's there and I feel it. I also always have this feeling of wanting to book my next holiday as soon as I get home, much to Mr M's disgust! We have annual leave organised in a couple of weeks time...

 

[Pollpott]

Mearsy, in answer to your question – why do we keep going back to PP year after year? We all have our different reasons but I think Suemo summed it up quite niceley and very succintly - because we feel comfortable and relaxed from the moment we arrive.
That's just about it for me. What more could you want from a place?
I've been going to PP, to the same apartment, for the last 6 years. I can't imagine spending my main holday anywhere else. We go away to other places usually in spring and autumn but our main holiday is PP in July or August.
We are leaving this Saturday, 3rd July for 2 weeks and I just can't wait. I don't think I could get through the winter in the UK without the thought of a summer in PP.
PP, by the way, as well as standing for Puerto Pollensa, stands for Perfect Paradise.
4 days to go!!

 

[Sparky]

Susie, how lucky are you?!! I'm addicted to that place.

Sparky, your story is inspirational. I started reading your diary this morning in the Tapas bar and was nearly late for work!

QUOTE]

Mearsy i am sorry if i made you nearly late for work, it was Favie's idea to have my diary on the TB but i have enjoyed doing it and am pleased you find it interesting. I have a song that is my PP anthem and again i have Favie to thank because she suggested it, it is a Stevie Wonder number entitled " There's a place in the sun " look it up on Utube. I think it could be PP.com's song.

 

[its cd]

Isn't the PP/Cornwall thing interesting

So may people have an affinity with both

Is it that the places evoke the same sentiments or is it that those of us that love PP are similar in some way - is there something in our core that binds us, because its not an outward similarity as from meeting up and regular chats with forum members I know we all come from a very diverse range of backgrounds and from all corners of the UK and beyond.

Like others ...... without doubt the only place in the UK that makes me feel as good as I do when I am in PP is Cornwall ...... and in particular Watergate Bay, Constantine Bay and Padstow .......... and look at this post , Pollensa holidays for years at Bedruthan Steps; Susie lives just down the road from Watergate Bay, Mearsey can't stay away from Watergate Bay and I spent most of my childhood summers camping at Tregurrian which is just above Watergate Bay ( most families couldn't afford foreign hols when I was a kiddie ) and we are off to Padstow again at the end of August.

Cornwall is loke PP in that it is lovelly but within the UK there are equally nice places .... areas of scotland; abersoch and its surroundings; parts of Devon ........ BUT they just don't have the same feeling ....... and isn;t PP the same ..... there are lots of nice mediteranean holiday resorts that are family oriented, don;t have yobs and have nice places to eat ......... but to they have the same pull as PP ......... for me NO

 

[Belladonna]

This thread pops up quite regularly, and its lovely to read about the new additions or extra info from regulars.
Thank goodness you decided to settle on PP Pollensa, what would the rest of us be doing now without our regular "fix" of the forum, and good on you for sticking with it even when the going gets tough!

Our regular pull back to PP began 20 years ago when Alcudia was much like PP was about 5 years ago.
Hubby put the a/c in Ca Vostra as was then - Tango as is now - before the extra addition of the upstairs, and when it was constantly flooded! We often ate with the owners downstairs with plastic table cloths and plenty of wine, candles on the tables and constantly telling them to close the door or the a/c wouldn't work!
We used to stay in Alcudia but hubby explored PP and obviously it was absolutely delightful, so we eventually changed areas and PP became our Port of choice!

Our three children always loved coming over when young, the boys taking delight in the year that those "laser light" pens were in fashion and teasing cats and other small children along Pine Walk! Thank goodness they were soon banned! - The pens - not the children!
They are all adults now with partners of their own, but still consider the North of the island their home from home.

We made good local friends over the years, some even estate agents - sorry eleanor! This obviously made the connection with the Island even stronger and by exploring the island I think we know it better than the UK!

We celebrated out 25th wedding anniversary in a lovely villa, with 30 friends who came over and stayed at various places in Pollensa. We had the blessing performed by the vicar in the gardens of the villa, he was SO hot in all his gear! As it was in August, the bees were out along with the fantastic bourgainvillea, and 3 of us got stung! An anniversary to remember.

It is the only place where we can step off of the plane and feel completely relaxed immediately, knowing exactly where we are going with no real complications. Saying that, it will probably be a nightmare this year!
In the "old days" the arrival area had that distinctive "Spanish" smell as soon as the doors opened and it just seemed to seep into the body and the stress was left miles away.
Although the smell is no longer there due to the modern a/c, the feeling is still the same.

We love going on other holidays and experiencing other cultures etc -( and being able to blog about them on the TB!) but Mallorca is our bolt hole for our sanity, a place to catch up with new and old friends, some who have become close family friends, and explore what is still in our opinion, the best Island around for diversity.

 

[PaulB]

Nice thread, Mearsy.

We have just got back after our second trip to PP, and already planning our third. Two weeks of absolute heaven! We intend bringing extended family next year - nearly twenty of us including me old (but still very urbane) mum. She loves her restaurants and wine so she will love it! I feel that we have had an advantage having discovered this forum before our first trip and the recommendations here have been invaluable. We can't envisage wanting to go anywhere else now.

By the way, we love Cornwall too and used to holiday in the far west area around Sennen / Penzance with beautiful beaches like Porthcurno. This area has a unique "flavour" like nothing else in England. Shame about the weather sometimes though!

 

[Sparky]

Isn't it funny that so many of us PP fans also love Cornwall. For me Cornwall was on my doorstep (coming from Plymouth) and we used to spent every summer weekend as well as our main holidays in Polperro but when we discovered PP we gave all that up to be able to have our 2 holidays here.

 

[Brooksy]

Our first trip was in 1985, but we had heard of PP 10 years before, how I wish we had chosen to go then when PP was still a fishing village! It was the only place my husband could truly relax, and I have so many happy memories of the wonderful PP. Also many thanks to Pollensa for this great website.


Brooksy

 

[onceroundthemarina]

First came to PP 14 years ago when the family were small and have [tried] to come back every year since.....although now the kids are grown up, lucky enough to come back 2-3 times a year....quite right about that feeling driving in from Alcudia...find ourselves doing a big breath in and then long sigh out, at the sight of the bay stretching out in front of us! Still get excited when the boat plane makes an appearance, like a big kid! And yes we love Cornwall too...Padstow, Wadebridge and Watergate Bay, but nothing really compares to PP, and if my numbers came up I would be sooo first plane out!!

 

[Gommar Goffer]

Just wrote a long post about PP in the 20'/30'S etc and it timed out Will try again if I have the enthusiasm

Really should know better - do it in 'word'

 

[CathB]

My friend and I were brought up in Mumbles (with the fantastic Gower coast on our doorstep) and we always say that the sweep of the bay in PP reminds us very much of the view from Swansea to Mumbles - it makes you feel like you have "come home"

 

[Rosie34]

This thread has just got me reminiscing! The first time in 1994 that I suggested trying Mallorca to my OH, he was sort of horrified - his idea was that the island was one giant Magaluf. (We had been for a long weekend in Palma in 1970/71 and visited Magluf when it was a nice quiet little place - buts thats another tale). Anyway, he went allong with my suggestion, and we booked Villa Cantona just behind the pottery factory (?) at the edge of La Font. We fell in love with PP and Pollensa and loved 'walking the lanes' early morning and late evening (dodging the bats) - and its amazing how many people you meet doing the same thing, and they all have a Buenas Dias or Tardes fo ryou. We stayed in another villa the following few years and next door was a lovely old house where this elderly man would appear regularly with his dog and always pushing a wheelbarrow full of twigs - so we called him the Twig Man. (Sometimes he was driving his sheep along the lane - but still had the twig barrow). We were walking the lanes in May this year, and who should we see coming towards us, abit more stooped and with (obviously) a different dog, but Twig Man (but no wheelbarrow!). he recognised us as he stopped and did a 'full take' and then said Hola.

We've been lots of other lovely places since 1994 but have always come back and have now settled on PP twice a year as it is so 'easy' and comfortable and as so many others say, its like coming home! I'll never forget our first time in PP - it was early in the morning and the sea was like glass with the boats reflected and it was just so quiet, calm and peaceful and we knew we would always come back.

Sorry for rambling on!

 

[susiejb]

GG that post would have been really interesting....hope you manage to do it. I just love the old photos of PP.

Dont forget everyone who has accommodation in PP we are always up for a home exchange.............our house overlooks the beach at Porth near Newquay.
Our last exchange was a great success for all.

Its lovely to read all these posts - such a lovely group of people on this forum

 

[Belladonna]

You old softie you!

 

[mearsy]

We stayed in another villa the following few years and next door was a lovely old house where this elderly man would appear regularly with his dog and always pushing a wheelbarrow full of twigs - so we called him the Twig Man. (Sometimes he was driving his sheep along the lane - but still had the twig barrow). We were walking the lanes in May this year, and who should we see coming towards us, abit more stooped and with (obviously) a different dog, but Twig Man (but no wheelbarrow!). he recognised us as he stopped and did a 'full take' and then said Hola.

Ahh, see? that just sums it up for me. Would that happen anywhere else? Possibly not.

Giving him a name reminds me of looking over the wall of our roof terrace, across the road to a house that had two dogs. One was adolescent, who we named 'naughty puppy' because I really enjoyed watching him trying the patience of his older and wiser different breed sibling!

 

[Grandad]

Whenever I am sitting having a drink and you get talking to people they nearly always are "regulars" to P.P. and have been coming for years and years.I now try to put people off who have only visited once ( dont want too many people knowing what a fantastic place it is).
As for me it is Home from Home.. I am soo at ease and relaxed as soon as I leave the airport. and I come over for a total of around three months a year.
We first came to Majorca and stayed at Cala Rajada and fell in love with the island from that time. This was around 1970. The next year we came to P.P and from then on we came over every year without fail.(Usualy in May) and we stayed at The Bahia which then was a very Basic Hostal. concrete floor one wardrobe.one side table and not much else. Cost then was 10 Shilling (50p) per night. After a few years and a bit more money we stayed at Ill a'or ,Miramar, Sis Pins. But ofton we went back to the Bahia. We tried to buy an apartment but couldn't afford it until one year the Pesato was devalued and we got 268 to the pound which brought the price down to what we could afford so we bought (1989 ??) We have never let the appartment as we called it our second home and it is furnished to reflect this.
Still get excited when I am coming out. look forward to some of the best eating places in the world. Why do I love PP. Not sure,but it keeps growing on me even after 40 years and the place has not changed that much in all that time (Except you wouldn't get a room for 50p per night). Coming over next week for another 10 days..

 

[susiejb]

Grandad....50p per night .....oh how good does that sound.
And Bella ...was that comment for me...'you old softie'...
not so much of the old thank you...although I collect my bus pass in 4 weeks

 

[eleanor]

lol Susie - i've seen your photo!!!! BUS PASS???? you are wearing very well lol

just can't imagine 50p per night! - those really were the days!

 

[eleanor]

Well - my turn now! We first visited Mallorca back in 1977 when my husband as a newly qualified architect worked for a major hotel group. Many of our visits were to the Villamil in Paguera where we stayed in style whilst husband worked. Wonderful! - we fell in love with the island. We we were so very lucky as we taken around to so many wonderful places by the big bosses. Having said that - we escaped and went our own way ending up in beautiful Pollensa. Many years on my husband started his own architectual practice which specialised in tourism and hotels especially mostly overseas but in particular the Balearics (including Menorca and Ibiza). We became very familiar with so many areas of these islands. Most of husbands work is near to Palma and when we decided to buy we thought of all the wonderful places on all the islands we had visited. Only one place really grabbed us - Pollensa! In the late 80's we bought our apartment in Pinaret. We loved it. We spent as much time as we could visiting which wasn't hard as husband was still working mostly in the Balearics.
We decided to buy bigger as we were spending much time in PP so we sold the apartment and thought very carefully about where we would like to buy a villa. Again we looked all over the island. We very nearly bought near to Santa Ponsa but the pull of Pollensa was too great. We found a lovely villa in Gotmar /Gommar which had only ever been owned by one local family and bought. The idea being that eventually we would move permanently with the kids coming with us. Now - this just didn't happen! The kids, now in their late 20's didn't want to come. Grandchildren arrived and so moving permanently hasn't happened. That doesn't mean it was the wrong decision to buy the villa - it means that things change. Last year for personal reasons we decided to sell the villa. This made me sad but it looked as if it would have to happen. Thankfully husband and I made a couple of visits back to PP and just decided that no way could we leave and we fell in love yet again with Pollensa.
Whenever we land at Palma airport, the smell and atmosphere just make us feel we have come home. A wonderful feeling!
We have been very lucky in having opportunities to travel to many places worldwide but Pollensa is special. It is our second home and nowhere in our opinion comes anywhere close. For anyone with doubt - I would challenge them to just look at that Bay - fantastic and every time you look at it, you will see something different.

 

[Gommar Goffer]

Here we go -
Brooksy - you mentionrd about when PP would have been a traditional fishing port, and it was, but for a very ong time time it has been a tourist destination for the wealthy. Up until the 50's or 60's there was a regular flying boat service from Southampton or Plymouth direct to the port.

Agatha Christie's novel set in PP I believe had Miss Marple arriving by said plane!

We got to know a very elegant, frail, lady with a small white poodle who used to frequent the Coach House (now Little Italy) - her husband was the harbour master for the port in the 40's and 50' and he had Italian princes arriving in the port and paying their harbour dues in champange!

PP was very much a restort to rival any on the French or italian rivieras.

I also have a customer in my shop in UK who's brother was a private charter pilot and they regularly flew wealthy customers out to Mallorca in the 50's - not really knowing where they were going or doing!

When my family first came to PP it was very much the jet set era - my father would alwalys dress in 'slacks' and a cool shirt and my mother would wear a bright summer mid calf drees with a shawl or head scarf - they knew how to travel then!