May 1 - Palma de Mallorca

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 This morning we arrived in Palma de Mallorca.  Mallorca is the largest of the Balearic Islands which are an autonomous region of Spain located in the western Mediterranean.  Palma is the capital city and has about half of the total population with about 480,000  inhabitants.  The official languages are Catalan and Spanish, but in schools Catalan is used.  The principal industry is tourism with more than 10 million visitors a year.

The island changed hands a number of the times over the years from Roman to various tribes to Moors and back again to Christian.  The last turnover happened in 1229 when King James I of Aragon retook the island from the Moors.  On the site of the mosque in Palma a magnificent Gothic cathedral  begun in1229 but not finished until 1601 (how’s that for a long building project?)  The cathedral can hold 22,000 people and has two magnificent rose windows which on two days a year allow the light to shine through and strike the altar.

We had a tour for just the two of us and we headed out of Palma first through the mountains to Sóller on the other side of the range which forms a UNESCO world heritage site.  The mountains are a few thousand feet tall and the change in topography is striking.  In the flatlands around Palma are many almond groves and that is the principal crop.  As you get into the mountains there are olive trees and many lemon and orange trees.   In fact the citrus crops were the impetus for building a railroad at the beginning of the 20the century to  carry the crops from the mountains and Sóller to Palma to be shipped out.

Our wonderful guide Janine and our excellent driver Ismael drove us over the mountains to Sóller and Puerto Sóller.  Today was a holiday (May Day) so there were many people out and about.  In Puerto Sóller we walked up to a beautiful view point. The clouds hanging over the mountains gave a mystical look but it was still a lovely view.  We went down to the town of Sóller and in the main square took a little break for a glass of wine as we watched the old-fashioned trolley go by.  The church in the square has a façade designed by a follower of Gaudi of Barcelona architectural fame.  It was really very lovely for a small town church.

The view from the top in Puerto Sóller

Al and Janine at the top

The trolley running through the town square

Façade of the church in the Sóller town square

Next we headed back to Palma and here the weather gods had some revenge for all the good days we’ve had.  We had rain, hail, lightening and thunder.  We’re not much to marching around in any of that.  Janine and Ismael were great!  They plotted out a course so that we could drive by and see most of the main sights.  We were able to get a view of the fort, the palace and the cathedral.  Given our tiredness after the walk up to the viewpoint we may have been blessed not to have to do a great deal more walking.  In any event we felt we got a wonderful overview of the place with a wonderfully knowledgeable guide.  Thank you Janine!

Then it was time to go back to the ship.  Of course the front passed through and the weather cleared. That’s the way it goes.  Tomorrow Barcelona.

Sailing ship ahead of us going out of Palma after the storm had passed