Distance: 59.3 miles / 95.4 km
Elevation: 2,523 feet / 769 m
Colls: None
Santanyí is a small town towards the south of the island. I naively thought that driving there from Palma would be a lot faster than from Port de Pollença. Whilst that’s true, there’s not as much in it as I imagined.
The plan today was to visit the coastlines on the southern tip of the island. Like Sant Elm, the roads to the coast are quite basic with only one clear way in and out. The Cap de Ses Salines is the most southerly point, and I was motivated to visit after the most westerly point yesterday.
Colònia de Sant Jordi
This small town was really quiet, with even some of the big supermarkets closed. I understand that in normal times, the beach is a popular tourist attraction. Ultimately I did not stay here for very long – taking just a quick snap of the Cala Galiota bay.
Cap de Ses Salines
The Cap de Ses Salines is a lighthouse situated on the most southerly point of Mallorca. There is a small path out to sea if you skirt around the back of it. On the horizon I could see the small island of Cabrera.
Cala Figuera
Because of the very limited road options, I had to almost return to Santanyí to reach Cala Figuera. This town was much busier than Colònia de Sant Jordi – especially so around the harbour area. I believe that most of the activity was fishing boats returning from sea.
Cala Mondragó
I will admit that I created this route rather hastily just this morning, and here I made a mistake. In an effort to keep as close to the coast as possible, I chose to route via Cala Mondragó. What I failed to notice was an unpaved road warning – it turns out this was a beach. Whilst it was easy to lift my bike up and away from the sand, it was not that simple to keep it out of my cycling shoes. In the end I decided that the best thing to do was remove my shoes and socks. A couple of beach goers looked confused to see a road cyclist doing this. It was an unexpected surprise after nineteen days without a routing mistake.
Portopetro & Cala D’or
The last places of interest on my coastal adventure were Portopetro and Cala D’or. Whilst I had planned to ride as far north as Portocolom, it was much later in the day than I had imagined. The primary reason for this was setting off late, but the Cala Mondragó fiasco had also contributed to this. Sadly it means that I will not visit on this trip – tomorrow is my last day of exploring before leaving the island.
My route back to Santanyí was via Calonge and S’Alqueria Blanca – both of which are inland. After a mostly flat day on the bike, riding mostly at sea level, some elevation was introduced here. Whilst nothing was too strenuous, my body was getting tired and I was happy with my decision to bypass Portocolom. I was back in Santanyí a little after 6pm but had a sizeable drive ahead of me. Tonight’s hotel is in Cala Ratjada.
