Mallorca, often jokingly referred to as Germany’s 17th state, seems to have a lack of Spaniards nowadays. In Cap Ratjada, where we spent two days as tourists, we heard English spoken once, Spanish twice, and the rest was all in German.
Before the trip, I had joked about this with my Welsh travel companion. I hinted at the fact she might learn more German on Mallorca than in our expat bubble community around the Frankfurt area.
I was right. All communication was conducted in German. Even at the supermarket, when the cashier asked whether we needed a borsa, and she noticed our confused look, she continued with, “Brauchen Sie eine Tüte?”
I also like getting haircuts while traveling. So I ventured into a hairdresser’s and asked in very simple German for a hair cut. Well, she was from Germany and probably initially wondered about my limited language skills.
Fortunately, I spotted two Spaniards and took their photo as proof. Yes, we were on a Spanish island!
