Rick Stein - You Were Right!

I have recently returned from a nice week's break in Majorca. We have been going there for something like 25 years or so, and the climate, variety of scenery and restaurants etc never fails to impress.

Talking of restaurants, a few weeks before the holiday I was watching Rick Stein in the mediterranean on TV. He was talking about the various dishes of Sicily and Corsica, and my ears pricked up when he then said he was visiting Majorca.

Pay attention I said to myself

Sure enough, he landed in the capital Palma, and took in the ambience of the city before moving into the hills to a mountain restaurant called Es Verger just below a castle called Castell d'Alaro.
 
This was a hidden gem as the food was superbly done and the setting and views were amazing. He had a splendid lunch of wood-fire-roasted lamb in the converted cow byre, together with a glass or two of the tinto house wine.

He heartily recommended the effort to get there, as it was high in the mountains and on a very rough road.

No problem I thought.

So, I took my notes from the programme abroad with me, promising myself we would make the effort to go to Es Verger.

By the fourth day we were very relaxed and enjoying the sunshine, but had not booked the hire car yet. My cute 9 year old daughter Charlotte is swimming mad, and every day we enjoyed the pool and the hours flew by.

However, we managed to stir ourselves, and the three of us got in the hire car one morning and off we went. The first part of the journey was easy and on main roads, and I knew where we needed to go. Arriving in the town of Alaro, guess what? Roadworks!

So although I could see the signs to the castle, the road was closed. Determined, we wangled around side streets in the direction we guessed was right, and wonder of wonders we found the right road. Well I say road, but perhaps track might be more accurate.

Still, on we went, finding the odd sign to confirm that we were going the right way. Turning a corner the track became smaller, steeper and very rough. Oh well it can't get much worse we said.

Wrong!

The 'track' somehow managed to get steeper and rougher (and even rougher), with hairpin bends every thirty or fourty yards. We grinded on ever upwards in first gear, preferring not to look out the side windows too much at the substantial drop.

What made it even more interesting was that local cars were threatening to overtake, and several cars were coming in the opposite direction down the mountain. As there were only a few passing places, this proved tricky!

After what seemed like hours (actually 40 minutes) we reached the top of the track, with the resataurant ahead of us. We managed to get parked (very busy) and took in the fantastic views as we approached the restaurant door. After a short wait, we were shown to a big table near enough where Rick had sat, and we had to share the table with other groups.

So, was it worth it? Oh yes, it certainly was. We all had the lamb, and it was beautiful. At 14 euros it was good value too as there was lots. Even Charlotte ate it up, and she is quite often picky.
 
Another good thing. I only had water with the meal, as I knew we had to do the opposite journey!

See you next month.