Friday, September 22, 2006

Caves

Mallorca is pretty much made of limestone and hence there are caves all over the place. Like most of the tourists we went to se the Caves of Drach which are the most well known just outside of Porto Cristo. And they are a must see if you are on the island, but it is very crowded. We arrived for the first tour which was at 10 in the morning but there were already several coach loads there. Everyone files into the caves in a seething crowd but as you all walks through the caverns gradually everyone spreads out until you get to the bottom where there is a big lake and a large set of banked seats where you are then made to crowd in again. It’s actually quite frustrating as you’ve then got to just sit there in relative darkness until everybody has made it down to this point – we probably spent about 20 minutes waiting there and we were by no means the first to arrive. Once everyone is squashed in again the “guide” comes on the speakers in about 6 different languages to tell you the dimensions of the cave and the underground lake and tell you there is going to follow a little show and not to take photos. This takes about another 15 minutes to get through all the languages and then you have a show which lasts about 10 minutes which involves moody lighing of the lake while three row boat trundle up and down, one of which contains a string quarter and an organ playing some atmospheric classical music. The boats are all lit up too, so it is quite an enchanting little set piece, but I’m still unsure if it was worth all the waiting about. Still the caves themselves are fabulous and the show is good so even with the overcrowding, I’d still recommend it. Just take you time looking at the caves on the way down to the lake so you don’t have to wait there for too long.

The other caves we visited are the caves at Campenet which is much closer to Cala San Vicente. In fact if you have a car, drive on to the motorway and then com of at the very next exit heading in the Palma direction. It’s signposted for “Coves”. These caves are mush smaller than Drach but again if you go early you get a much smaller guided tour where the guide actually tells you lots about the caves as she takes you through. No lakes, but still beautiful caves and I preferred it as without the crowds it was a much more pleasant experience.

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Unknown said...

This is very nice blog, I like this a lot. Mallorca offers stunning views and a feeling that one is actually escaping the gray grime of the city.