Botanic Gardens, Lluc

Today was the big day for those with enough guts and energy to climb to the top of Puig Tomir. It wasn't the clamber up that put me off so much as the description of the steep descent. Bearing in mind my unfortunate injury from the previous day, and my descent to breakfast causing my knee to give way, I decided that today was a day for an alternative walk, or just hanging out...

From the monastery you can walk through an archway and start the pilgrimage path up the hillside following the Camni dels Misteris del Rosari (stations of the cross) which allegedly had their finishing touches added by Gaudi. The views from the top are tremendous, you can look down across the valley or up into the pine covered mountains. It was a good place to soak up the peace and tranquillity of the place, listen to the birdsong and watch the black vultures hunting down their prey. Surprisingly very few tourists came up, only one or two Dutch people.

After that little exertion a quick exploration of the Botanic Gardens didn't yield much more than a flourishing fennel plant that happened to catch the sun but there were eucalyptus trees that were calling out for company and that seemed as good a place as any to sit and read in the dappled light.

In no time at all, the hardy had returned from Puig Tomir and were full of tales of mountains and adventure.