Spain

We will be enjoying two ports is Spain and today is Parma on the Spanish Island or Mallorca wow what a beautiful port to arrive into. We arrived at noon and on a slightly overcast day, a problem for some sun lovers but a real bonus for us as we are doing a tour to a Spanish historical farm house and garden dating back to the 12th century. So a cooler 22deg day will be better than the 38deg for the last few, the locals are excited about the late summer rain which is so out of season. Average rain fall on the island is 460mm so dry.

Waiting for our bus we have the best view of the island and the distant very tall peaky mountains all with a blue grey haze, they look so pretty from our ships balcony on the 12th floor. Also looking over the playground of the super rich and the 100,s of super boats.
Our bus picks us up at 1pm and takes us up the mountain heading for the gardens, it was the uncool shore excursion so there were only 10 on the bus so great for us and no waiting, some time it pays to be a gardening nerd!

The gardens are amazing and with the mist they photograph well, many waterfalls cascading down the hillside through Spanish tiled terraces very beautiful and colourful. The house was a large villa stretched over about 1000m/2, 12th century corridors, priest holes and white washed tunnels dugout into the hillside with a more modern 17th century main areas built over and around so a real great look into the past. The house was handed over to the state in 1968 and it is truly so well looked after. So much stuff they have on display wished we could have stayed longer. It was also not under lock and key and you could just explore, not sure if a lot of people make the journey up the hill but I'm pleased we did.