Unfortunately, no update on the Mallorca flag story. Alberto and Nuria hadn't realized that their flag features that angel-like figure until I pointed it out to them:) They've promised to research into the matter once they're back in Palma and I'll hopefully update you on it when I get the information. Of course, that is if you are still interested.

But our Mallorca story and the time spent with our lovely guests goes on. On their second day in Skopje, Nuria and Alberto explore the city's downtown area on their own while we're at work. Understandably, they like the old part of the city more than the new side and they are particularly fond of the price of strawberries here (in Palma they cost about 3 times more). However, Mallorcans can't complain as the two most typical local products are olives and almonds, which are an important part of their diet. There are nowadays over 4 million almond and olive trees on this Spanish island. The almond trees must make for a incredibly pretty scenery...especially when they bloom between January and March.

The Skopje weather is nothing like that of Mallorca and the rain makes us run back home after a quick detour to the supermarket to stock up on ingredients for our dinner. Alberto and Nuria have very generously offered to cook for us. The menu features a very tasty Spanish Tortilla (which is actually fried potatoes to which eggs and onions are added to make a thick and delicious omelette) as well as Spanish-type tapas (albeit with local ingredients:))

I cook dinner almost every night of the week and having someone else cook feels very strange. Alberto and Nuria are in the kitchen, slicing up onions, chopping potatoes and miraculously cleaning up after themselves as they go along....

We sit down to dinner about an hour later. My brother Zlatko, who's just recently became a couchsurfing member himself joins us so that he can practice a bit of his Spanish. The end result looks and tastes absolutely amazing, and we gobble everything up really quickly. 

Strangely enough, Alberto tells us that this Tortilla is one of the best they've ever made, perhaps because of the good quality ingredients. Well yes,  good potatoes and onions - we do have!:) They also fall in love with our local white cheese. Actually, I don't think we've had a couchsurfer yet who has failed to fall in love with it.

There are local delicacies in Mallorca which are worth mentioning as well. One of them is the Ensaimada, a type of pastry made with "saïm" which is pork lard (doesn't sound like my cup of tea but...) which takes up to 24 hrs to prepare and, in order to be authentic, "must stain a piece of paper". Well we grew up with Burek so we know a thing or two about greasy pastries...If you want to learn more about Ensaimadas, head here.

Our new friends from Mallorca have to leave the morning after our Spanish/Macedonian dinner to take a bus to Ohrid. They are on a very tight schedule to make it to Central Europe in a little over a week (all by bus/train), so we go through the worst part of any couchsurfing experience - the goodbyes...

Our couch will also be traveling a little for a change: we're going to our house in the mountains for a long weekend to escape civilization and breathe some fresh air. Will be back with more couchsurfing adventures!