Porto Colom

Carrying on, down the east coast from Porto Cristo, we arrived at the sleepy fishing village of Porto Colom. Set on another natural inlet, the village is one of many Spanish villages which claim to be the birthplace of Christopher Columbus. It was once the main port to the town of Felanitx some miles inland.

There are still some bits of the old town to be seen among the holiday homes and the best of them seem to be lining the sea front and the fishing harbour. The colourful windows, shutters and doors reflect the colours of the small boats bobbing in the mill-pond calm waters of the bay.

Among the highlights of our week was the sight of some spectacular Autumn flowers to be found. Some of the most numerous, if not the easiest to spot, were these delightful Narcissus serotinus.

Standing only a few inches above the ground and having flowers only about 2" across, they are easily overlooked.
Not so easy to miss are the large Lentisc shrubs (Pistacia lentiscus). As the Latin name suggests, these plants are related to the delicious Pistachio nut.

At this time of the year the shrubs are covered in bright red berries - a great favourite of the birds on the island. Resin from these plants is very sticky and called 'Mastic' which has many different applications.