We saw Sollér

Today we took a trip up to Soller (pronounced saw-YEHR), which is an old citrus town near the northern coast of Mallorca. We hopped on an old rail line - one of the narrowest-gauge rails still in operation - which takes about an hour to wind its way up through the hills. It's a total tourist trap, as natives would just take the highway and get there in half the time.

The scenery was picturesque, almost surreal. The terrain in the north is rocks and cliffs, betraying Mallorca's true nature is the tip of a submerged mountain range that originates in Spain. The hills are blanketed by citrus, olive, and almond trees, and on the train ride up you could literally reach out and grab a fresh lemon from a tree as the train passed by.

We tooled around town, bought some gifts, and then took a tram up to Port de Sollér, which is the coastal fishing village just north of town. It's a beautiful, half-moon-shaped harbor, with a colorful history involving pirates. Unfortunately because of the season and time of day a lot was closed. We headed up to a lunch at a place that sounded good in the guide book, but unfortunately this was their first day being closed for the season. The woman there, Maria, was very nice, and recommended to us another excellent place named Faro, up on the cliffs. She called to ensure they were open, and then even offered to drive us up there herself! So we got in the car, and halfway there we met the owner of Faro, who had come down to pick us up since he knew it was a long walk.

Lunch was very nice, overlooking the port and the sea from up high near the lighthouse. The food was excellent, but riddled with comedy. For one thing, they were putting a fresh coat of stain on the tables outside near us, so every now and then we'd get a nice big whiff of woodstain. And we hadn't chosen our wine to go with that flavor, so it threw the whole meal off.

Also, the waiter said they had a seasonal menu of mussells. That sounded delicious, but then it turned out he meant "mushrooms", and the dishes were mostly meat dishes that incorporated mushrooms somehow. Oops. Thankfully we had avoided ordering it.

Really, even if the food were bad, the view was so good it was worth it.

Song of the moment: Cappuccino Grand Cafe - Carta Ao Tom. This song was playing at breakfast in our hotel.