Back in July, six of us with tickets to the cancelled exhibition match in Madrid decided to exchange our flights so we could have a quick trip to Mallorca in November. Last Wednesday we set off and had a wonderful few days on Rafa's island; staying in a fabulous house in the old part of Palma. No self-respecting Rafa fan can visit Mallorca without going to Manacor to see where Rafa spent his formative years so we hopped on a train across the island.


The approach to the town via rail is not exactly glamorous but the train station itself has an imposing entrance from the small platform.


The walk to the centre of town takes you up narrow streets from the main road and you begin to notice posters in shop windows.


Some of the architecture is lovely and often enhanced by flowering trees and shrubs.


The first sight of Rafa interest that we spotted was the balcony when he was received with his Wimbledon trophy back in 2008.




It's a smaller square than you expect since they must have suspended parking for the celebrations.

On the opposite corner they have a lovely poster giving Rafa the thanks of the town.



In the window beside the entrance to that building they have a signed poster.


You carry on meandering through the maze of streets (the layout of Manacor bears a strong resemblance to those games where you have to manoeuvre a small steel ball to the centre) until you see the church that dominates the square that contains the Nadal family home. (We can recommend the restaurant on the left of this picture if you want to linger for hours as we did.)


Here we are trying to look inconspicuous outside said home. (The cafe on the ground floor does lovely cakes and has free wifi should you have the need to tweet when you're there.)


The tree in the square.


The church viewed from a side street.


More examples of the wonderful flowering trees in the town. (Remember this is November.)





If no visit to Mallorca is complete without a trip to Manacor, then no trip to Manacor is complete if you haven't seen the tennis club.



It is situated right on the edge of town overlooking fields and hills.


And boy, they are proud of Rafa! The whole place is plastered with posters.

This large one is right beside the courts.


They still have a faded poster celebrating the Wimbledon win in 2008.


Every window of the office is covered with them.





Of course they sell Rafa's book.


We did wonder if this was there before Rafa became a member.


We couldn't go back to Palma without first getting the bus out to Porto Christo to soak up the last of the afternoon sun.





We can see why Rafa loves the place.