Need name of a region.

March 8, 2005 10:12 AM

This is an easy one (I hope). Had some UK'ers over for a wedding recently, they were talking about a vacation region that I'd like to know more about, but I don't know remotely how to spell it or where it is. They pronounced it Mee-ork-ah. Once I know the spelling, I suspect Google will be able to tell me all I need to know, but if you've got information or stories, please share.
posted by Capn to travel & transportation (13 comments total)

Majorca
posted by Miko at 10:13 AM on March 8, 2005

Guide to same
posted by Miko at 10:14 AM on March 8, 2005

Or Mallorca.
posted by whatnotever at 10:14 AM on March 8, 2005

Same place.
posted by Miko at 10:16 AM on March 8, 2005

One minute. Thanks Miko. (darn crazy English and their pronunciations, woo-shes-ter-sher indeed!)

Oh, link has an extra ',
Fixed link
posted by Capn at 10:21 AM on March 8, 2005

As in (third one down):

The water
In Majorca
Don't taste like
What it oughta.
posted by carter at 10:28 AM on March 8, 2005

Sounds like a nice place to visit. Brits do indeed pick good vacay destinations (ask 'em about Spain & Portugal sometime!) ...enjoy!
posted by Miko at 11:26 AM on March 8, 2005

I used to live there - a very long time ago - and while parts of it are beautiful and fabulous, you probably want to avoid the overdeveloped high rise miserable bits.

Check out these towns: Soller, Valldemosa, Deia - all on one side of the island, and avoid Palma as much as possible. The other side of the island is cool as well, but I can't remember any names. It's beautiful there though.
posted by mygothlaundry at 11:39 AM on March 8, 2005

Like many places in the Med (or indeed anywhere else), Mallorca can be awfully crude and touristy.

Package trips are very cheap, but you may end up in some small town chock full of Germans or Brits, the kind of blue-collar workers or retirees who come over every year -- it's a fascinating phenomenon, and looking at them you realize that if they could have brought their mobile homes (especially the ones that come with a rectractable plastic porch), they would have.

As mygothlaudry says, look for the less developed areas. I went vacationing there last year with a friend, and we were lucky to end up in a nice little town called Peguera, at the southwestern side of the island. Germans everywhere, awful food and about two million little souvenir shops all sporting the same tacky prefab goods, but clean and quite prettily landscaped.

If you're particularly sensitive to tourist crap, consider the wonderful Portugese island of Madeira instead, famous for its flowers and its wine. Well-preserved, old, classy, rich in history, and not too expensive.
posted by gentle at 1:23 PM on March 8, 2005

Capn, it's not the British pronounciation, it's the Spanish one.
posted by quiet at 4:21 PM on March 8, 2005

Being one of the Balearics, Majorca/Mallorca (nearly homophonous, as 'Mayorka' in the local languages) is partnered by both it's little sister Menorca and the 'party' island of Ibiza. These islands have a variety of pronunciations, and obviously take their names from their relative sizes.

Some would say mee-yorka, I suppose, but it wasn't so long ago that most of us Brits would have pronounced Majorca 'ma-jorka', with a 'j' as in 'john'. We aren't so up on our latin sounds, generally.

I think I've worn out the ' key...
posted by dash_slot- at 5:20 PM on March 8, 2005

PS: worcestershire is most definitely NOT pronounced 'woo-shes-ter-sher' - it's 'Woostersher' or 'Wustersher'. Only a yank or a comedian would say it like that!
posted by dash_slot- at 5:23 PM on March 8, 2005

Richard - check your Email given in your profile.
Mygothlaundry has it wrong about Palma
posted by adamvasco at 10:07 AM on March 9, 2005