whatnot26

I did this excursion in Mallorca on the Edge last month and it was one of my favorites of the trip. It's definitely expensive, but I thought it was worth it. For the day trip, we took a bus into the city with our local guide and two chefs from the ship. The guide took us to a local indoor market (mercat de l'Olivar) and we saw the various types of food and other products on offer. Our guide would stop at different stalls to talk about local food culture, and one of the chefs (who was from Chile but had studied in Spain) also talked about his experiences. We did not really have time to poke around the market and sample/buy things, expect while the guide was talking, although that is a common issue with these group tours in my experience. The chefs did buy some spices at one of the shops, which gave us some time to browse. We then walked to a tapas restaurant and had a nice lunch (sandwiches, different types of croquettes and a dessert). Soda, juice, water and coffee was included, and I think beer as well (others at my table asked for it and I didn't notice them paying for it separately). We then walked through the city for another hour or so, ending at the major cathedral there. We had time to take pictures outside before getting on the bus back to the ship. That was the main negative from my prospective - we still had a couple hours before all aboard, so would have been nice to have some free time in the city (in hindsight, I could have broken off from the group at this point and gone back on my own). We were told to meet at Cafe al Bacio at 6pm for dinner. The chefs who had been on the city tour with us gave us a tour of the kitchens for the main dining rooms, and then we were seated at two large tables in one of the main dining rooms that had been kind of cordoned off. The dinner was as good as any of the speciality restaurants I've been to (but more expensive), but it's a set menu based on the local cuisine so you'll either like it or you won't (they did ask for allergy info ahead of time). For our dinner, it started with charcuterie boards that includes local ham and cheeses, then gazpacho, seafood paella, an amazing steak, and flan for dessert. There were enough people on the tour for two tables of 8-9, and my table was all very friendly - a mix of couples and solo travelers (like myself). It was a ton of food, and we ended up finishing around 9pm. (I remember because it was the last full day of the trip, so a lot of us needed to hurry back to our rooms to get our bags packed!)