EXPLORADORANJA

Royal playground of the rich (and a little bit of Cannes) Aah Cannes! City of movie festivals, red carpets and holiday spot of the rich. I feel a little excited jump in my stomach as I walk down the deck and the city of Cannes begins to unfold before me. Cannes is a tender port which means that the harbour is too small and the water too shallow for big cruise liners to dock here. The ship docks a little way out of the harbour and you then take little shuttle boats towards the shore. Yachting Galore The Octopussy  It takes about 10 minutes to get to the port and as you come closer, you realise how small this harbour really is.  I decide to walk the 15 minutes uphill to the train station. It takes me directly along the Cannes film festival route. As the film festival already took place in May, the red carpet has long been removed and all that remains is the hand prints along the route. I see the handprints of Julie Andrews, Meryl Streep and Sylvester Stallone, ...

While waiting for the taxi to arrive I sit outside the hotel on the little wall and do some people-watching. Men wear small speedos and women only wear bikinis as they walk down the road. Liberal Europeans are definitely not afraid to show their bodies. Half-naked street walking At 11am the taxi arrives at the port. I go through the security check and board the ship. I look at the ship map and quickly take the lift up to Deck 9 where the spa is situated. This is where Laraine works. She takes me down to the room, but it is not long before she calls me up again. Having a friend who works in the spa does have its benefits. On the first day of the cruise, they have demonstrations and a tour of the spa for the guests. She arranges that I be the girl who the facials are demonstrated on. Turns out, it's a hot stone massage and I'll only covered with a little towel while guests have a look at the spa. But... it's a free hot stone massage. I'll take it. The dry, salty ...

Where did I stay? Playa Cala Mayor Hotel Sunset over Europe The little beach town of Cala Mayor is about 10 minutes drive from Palma City, the capital of Mallorca. Here, the sun sets at 10pm in the summer, girls tan topless, the Mediterranean feels like a heated pool even at 9pm at night, and everyone is Spanish. Oh so very Spanish. The water is drinkable, but don't...it tastes like soap. Everyone's favourite car here is the convertible CitiGolf. Snowy French Alps Cala Mayor has one main street where all the shops, cafes, karaoke bars and tattoo parlours are. No architectural wonders here. Cala Mayor's biggest attraction is its quaint little blue flag beach. It is afterall a beach town. If you want to see old style Spanish houses, churches and museums, then you should rather venture into towns such as Petra and Sineu. Unfortunately I cannot testify for this myself, but the pictures in the brochures look magnificent. My hotel, is walking distance from the beac...