We have been traveling for over three weeks now. We’ve been in three countries, taken numerous flights, been in six different hotels/Airbnbs. For the past five days, our home has been the little fishing village of Porto Colom, Spain on the island of Mallorca. This is the perfect place to take a siesta day. No, not just a siesta, a whole siesta day. We were inspired by the pace of this place; that the shops really close for hours in the afternoon. The brightly colored shutters close up as if to say, go away, I am resting. So we did what Americans love to do–we SUPERSIZED siesta.
Porto Colom still remains a small, traditional fishing village with a quaint marina that has resisted full scale tourist encroachment. We are staying in the old town, which is truly a residential neighborhood, right next to a beautiful old church. The church bells don’t bother ringing the time before 9am. Even religion gets up later here. Porto Colom was named in honor of Christopher Columbus, who is said–without much evidence–to have been born here. German tourists seem to have found the other side of town, with tourist menus printed in Spanish and German. But, we are happily ensconced on our quiet street.
One of its postcard-ready features is a beautiful Beetlejuice-like lighthouse that juts out at the mouth of the harbor. We got a close up of the lighthouse when we rented a little boat and took it out into the open ocean for a few hours.
Since we have spent so many hours on the beach, we thought it best to take a day out of the sun to just unwind. It is fun to have a do nothing day in another country. We walked to our corner market and got ice cream cones at 11:30am.The kids played with legos and studied their multiplication. I went for a walk and a long swim. We did sunprints (the fabulous chemical-reaction paper I loved as a kid). Yes, there was iPad time. But, we also read Harry Potter and ate turkey and avocado sandwiches on our rooftop terrace.
It is nice to take a collective breath as a family. Josh and I were so harried when we left home, so one simple siesta day is a welcome reprieve. Tomorrow, we will hit the beaches with fervor and enthusiasm and beach buckets. But today, we rest.