The City of Palma, on the island of Mallorca, of the Balearic Islands, off the coast of Spain—an unplanned but most enjoyable stop.
We endured a relatively rough ride getting here from Sardinia, but not nearly as bad as our first night at sea nine nights ago.
The seas were calm as we entered the port of Palma de Mallorca as scheduled, or rather as rescheduled. The day was occasionally overcast, but otherwise quite pleasant
Winds and waves
We enter the harbor of Palma. In every harbor we visited there has been at least one mega-yacht.
I’ll spare you for once the thumbnail history of the Balearic Islands, but if you put together the usual confused combination of Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Moors, Aragonese and Spanish, plus add in the British, you’ll be on the right track. The years under Aragon/Catalonian influence resulted in the foundation of the local language, Mallorquin, a dialect of Catalan. Most residents in the tourist industry speak some English although German tourists apparently are quite common and it is a local myth that Germany tried to buy Mallorca. They merely tried to lease it.
Standing sentry above the town is Bellver Castle, a circular-shaped fortress.
Left: Bureaucracy at work. The manager on duty would not let us enter the main gate, so we then went around back just to be routed to just inside this otherwise functioning gate. Right: Looking down into the inside of the castle.
There is little inside the castle, although there were several rooms with artifacts from antiquity.
The view from the fort, with the usual suspects blocking that view.
We then moved on to the imposing cathedral (right, Basilica de Santa Maria de Mallorca) and, beside it (left), the Royal Palace of La Almudaina.
Left: The statue on the top of the palace supposedly turns with the wind. Given its apparent mass and lack of vanes, I don’t see how. Right:The Balearic slingers were famous mercenaries in the wars of antiquity. Caesar used them effectively in his conquest of Gaul.
Below the palace and castle are three levels of construction, the lowest level being Roman, the middle level Moorish, and the upper level Spanish Christian. Our guide said the arch was Moorish, which I don’t doubt, but the design is clearly Roman in architecture.
The Cathedral and its bell tower. The cathedral is so tall (44 meters) that the bell tower (48 meters) can’t be seen from the sea side.
The main entrance to the cathedral and the cathedral’s two rose windows. The entrance is due for some cleaning.
Gaudi (of Familia Sagrada fame) remodeled much of the interior of the cathedral, opening it up to more light, moving the cleric’s choir from the middle to the apse and completely redesigning the altar area. This opening allowed parishioners to view the Madonna above the altar.
Left: The cathedral has three levels of windows. Right: This strange-looking (by my eyes) contemporary chapel to the side of the apse was designed by Mallorca’s Miguel Barceló. Double strange, given Barceló, unlike Gaudi, was an agnostic.
Left: Gaudi designed a “crown” over the altar. Right: After the cathedral we went to a coffee/hot chocolate shop and were treated to a cup of the best hot chocolate we’ve ever had. The accompanying pastry was equally fabulous. Or maybe we were hungry. Regardless, if we ever come back, we’re finding this shop.
The downtown is a most attractive one, with colorful and well-maintained buildings. Here is a slew of pictures of the area we passed through.
The (bottom left) roof tower was to spot approaching ships.
An ancient olive tree and its gnarled trunk.
The town hall and the Balearic parliament building
Other sites: Middle: Another olive tree, with little canopy left. Right: One of the more unusual electric cars that we’ve seen.
Sights from the bus window during our return to the ship.
This has been our most pleasant day this entire voyage, with an excellent tour and a good, nearly understandable guide. We finished the day with a wonderful meal (Korean cuisine this time) at the “Chef’s Table”. This restaurant was not very busy this evening, perhaps reflecting wariness over the offered cuisine. But they missed something quite good.
Now it’s a sea day and then Cádiz.
