Mallorca, to
me, always sounded very jet-set-y. We
learned that during the summer 8, yes, 8, million people come to this beautiful
place. While in port, I had the
opportunity to speak with my cousin, Marco, who lives in Germany and he
concurred that, indeed, millions of people (many of them German) come to
vacation here.
Mallorca is
part of the Balearic Islands and is part of Spain. We arrived on a Sunday and were told not to
expect too much because most everything will be closed. Again, although many excursions were
available, Michael and I took the shuttle made available to us and headed out for
the day.
I confirmed
with our bus driver exactly where we were on the map I had and the schedule for
pick-up and started walking. Palma is a
beautiful city and decided to walk along the Av. Jaume III (James 3rd). Crossing
Paseo Mallorca, we enjoyed our first view of the landscape and well-thought-out
city planning of this island. Looking to
our right was a canal lined with palm and cypress trees. What a wonderful place to be on an sunny day
in April!
Of course,
we came upon a shop that all the ladies from the shuttle huddled into (are you
getting the idea by now that both Michael and I love to shop?) where the prices
and selections were very good. Strolling
along, we next came to my favorite store, Desigual, which didn’t open until
noon. We made a note to backtrack before
returning to the ship.
On we went
and saw some rather high-end stores, turned right and came upon a very tall
obelisk and fountain in the middle of the circular roadway. A magnificent tree-lined walkway was just to
the right called Passeig des Born, either side being adorned with huge matching
marble sculptures of a reclining lioness with a woman’s head (there’s probably
a name for such a creature but I don’t know what it is) and within just a few
minutes came upon the La Seo Cathedral, which is Spain’s second largest Gothic
cathedral and dominates Palma’s waterfront.
The grounds
around the Cathedral were absolutely lovely and we strolled along one side of a
magnificent man-made pond surrounded by succulents and other flowers and which
contained several fountains streaming water about 4’ into the air. It doesn’t surprise me that the city has so
many picturesque displays like this considering the number of tourists it
welcomes each summer. A little dog peacefully rested under a small
blanket on one of the benches alongside the area, patiently waiting for his
master to return.
Even one of
the souvenir shops had a fountain in the center of its display room. The sound of water from the fountain and all
the wonderfully colorful plates, dishes and bowls and other items for sale made
it all a very enjoyable experience.
Michael, of
course, offered to take “together photos” to those who were taking pictures of
one another. A marathon was being run
at this time of the morning and the music we heard playing at the finish line
made the morning very festive. We could
not have asked for better weather.
(Actually, throughout the entire cruise, we have not encountered one day
of rain.)
The
Cathedral, which is so large and took 300 years to build, was completed in
1587. Michael actually bought a postcard
of it because, except from the ship, a photo of the entire building could not
be taken unless we were somewhere other than at street level. I was dwarfed standing in front of one of its
doors. Because it was a Sunday, Mass was
being said at noon, and, therefore, closed to lookie-loos.
Our visit to
Desigual was satisfying and just when I was finished shopping, our waiter
arrived. Our waiter, who is a
self-styled “shopaholic,” was on his way to do his own shopping, but said, when
he saw “Desigual,” he had to stop knowing we would be there! The clerk told us there was a larger store
not too far away so we decided to skip lunch, enjoy one of our power bars, and
headed to a different part of town. The
other store offered nothing different than what we had seen in other ports, but
we enjoyed our leisurely walk back to the meeting place looking forward to
hearing the ship’s entertainment of the evening, a female impressionist, and
our next port o’ call, Cartegena.
Note: The next day, I heard people complain about
this wonderful entertainer, Karen Grainger, who were wondering why she kept
singing in different voices. “Why
doesn’t she sing in her own voice?” I heard people say. I guess somewhere along the way these folks
missed the headline “Canada’s foremost Vocal Impressionist.” ????
Michael’s Observations: La Seo Cathedral is so
big, I think it would fit the entire area of St. Peter’s Square in Rome. I have never seen a church this big in my
life. Thanks to my T-Mobile service
which gives world-wide data and texting, I was able to search the difference
between a church and cathedral – apparently, a cathedral is the seat of the
Diocese and usually where the Bishop lives.
If you have a chance, google this picturesque town and the Cathedral –
they are amazing. The other fun part of
this visit was the opportunity to practice my Spanish since not too many people
on Bainbridge Island are of Spanish descent.
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