Alcudia, Mallorca, Spain

November 28, 2023

This is the ancient wooden door that would have been lowered to protect the town of Alcudia.

Our plan was to visit Alcudia and then make our way to Puerto de Alcudia but Alcudia stole our hearts and we stayed much longer than we had intended. I knew that it was a walled town but I was not prepared for how pretty this little walled town would be. We walked through the main towered gates and I stopped and stared at the beautifully inlaid marble roads of differing colours creating patterns throughout the whole walled town. Dubrovnik is the only other walled town that I have seen with such exquisite roads.

Beautiful marble-tiled roads make this town so jaw-dropping.

We found a store that we liked and shopped in it. I am not much of a shopper now but I really liked this place. Darren bought some things for himself and I bought a natural stone beaded bracelet and we bought some stocking stuffers for Dax. The store was very reasonable in price.

We walked around the quaint streets and made our way to the opposite-towered gate looking for the WC or Water Closet. Who knew that they close at 1:00 pm? We found an outdoor cafe to order a glass of vino so that we could use their washrooms. Win win I would say.

This was such a quaint spot for a glass of wine to watch the day go by.

From there we walked to the Roman City ruins called Pollentia. The price of this outdoor museum was 4 euros which included the tiny Museum which is behind the large church.

I felt that it was worth the money. Darren does not care for rocks so I made my way through the ruins and read all of the information that they provided. I woke him up when I was finished and we proceeded down the walkway towards more ruins and the Roman theatre. It is about a 10-minute walk to the theatre and there was an Orange Grove on our way there that I could not pass up. I picked two oranges and ate them. They were very good and tasted like Mandarin Oranges.

This is the very first time that I have picked my own orange to eat.

What was unbelievable about the Roman ruins to me was that we were the only people at the site. We had the whole place to ourselves. The theatre was once a grand and beautiful place of entertainment for the Roman people. It is a bit sad now but still very interesting to check out this place and sit where once it held over 1000 people. This is a relatively small theatre in Roman standards. The Colosseum held up to 80,000 blood-thirsty humans.

I do get the feeling that Spaniards don't really give two figs about Roman history. This site could be dug up to its potential and be awarded a UNESCO heritage status but perhaps the will is not there. It is kind of a shame.

That's me sitting on the stone theatre steps soaking up the historical ambiance of the place and having my moment.

The Roman Theatre mock-up resides in the museum. This was once a beautiful building.

The Roman Theatre today, over 2000 years later.

We walked back to the walled portion of the town and entered the small Museum that contains pieces that were excavated in Pollentia. It was worth going to see these pieces.

It is extremely common to see these beautifully sculpted but headless marble pieces in museums.

When an invading army came in and looted they often vandalized and knocked heads off. Especially if the invaders were Christians who did not believe in pagan worship.

This sculpture was highly peculiar with the berserker-like face sculpted into the chest area.

We then went to the far end of the walled town that we had not walked yet and made our way to the wall walked up the stairs and stepped to the top to see the town from a different vantage point.

Walking on the wall.

The surrounding countryside is mountains and the Mediterranean Sea.

We walked back and made our way down the center street towards a restaurant that I had scoped out that had Paella on the menu.

I ordered a delicious dry Rose and the Seafood Paella. Darren ordered a Bacon Pizza. I only paid 14 euros for my Paella and there was more seafood than rice. The most tender ink squid was in abundance in my Paella and it was delicious.

Darren loves having his photo taken and often has his eyes closed.

You can see the crab claw, numerous clams, mussels and shrimp in my Paella. If you have never tried it before, eat it in Spain where it is their signature dish.

We walked back to our car where we had found free parking across the street from the walled city and drove to the beach a few minutes away.