Majorca, Spain
Stuck in horrendous queues in the sweltering heat, we were beginning to regret our family excursion to Puerto Alcudia’s Hidropark. The visit had been a non-negotiable for our three girls and, to be fair, its fun flumes, “Snuba”-diving and so-so food would have seemed more of a treat if holiday heaven hadn’t awaited us back at Ca’n Roig, our home from home.
We had found the best of both worlds at our private villa: a beautiful, secluded location that was only a five-minute drive from the pretty town of Pollensa. Within two hours of touching down at Palma airport, the whole family had taken up their places by the pool. My wife and I parked ourselves on the luxurious sun loungers while the girls made their own fun, putting on fashion shows and splashing about on the inflatables the previous visitors had kindly left behind.
Ca’n Roig was superbly equipped with everything you could ask for – except a TV remote control we actually understood. But even this proved a blessing: alfresco card games soon became our chosen form of family entertainment and, come evening, we would make full use of the villa’s best feature – a massive barbecue area. Our sundown cook-ups and midnight swims became a daily routine, and the most memorable part of our week away.
Not that we didn’t make it to the outside world. Pollensa proved far more of a hit than the Hidropark. The perfect place for a scenic stroll, it still offers an almost untouched glimpse of traditional Majorca, with its bougainvillea-clad stone cottages and stunning hillside backdrop. On our Sunday visit, the town square – filled with market stalls and locals chatting after church – was clearly the place to be.
A few miles north from there is Puerta Pollensa, a former fishing village that, these days, has more in common with Saint-Tropez. To walk along its front – a handsome horseshoe curve of a bay, bobbing with yachts – really is something. Visitors have their pick of chichi shops and pavement restaurants, and we enjoyed some lovely meals by the harbour. But the setting comes with a price tag and we soon learned that supermarket visits were the way to go (our girls had fun picking their own fish from the counter and trying out their Spanish on the staff).
A bulging book of local attractions had been laid out for us at the villa on arrival and we had intended to do far more*, but there really was no substitute for our pool-side set-up and one week’s total relaxation.
Matt Robinson
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