Palma de Mallorca

Palma is the major city and port on the island of Mallorca and capital of the Balearic Islands in Spain. My Dad has been a couple of times so Ali and I decided to follow him along for a few days. What a wonderful modern and vibrant city yet ancient and charming too. The city itself has lots of things to do with fantastic restaurants; tapas is now officially my favourite food.

The Hotel we chose is located at the top of the Passeig de Born and is a converted 16th century mansion, with a grand entrance hall, and internal, typically mallorcan, courtyard which our room looked over. If you are looking for a busy family hotel then this is not the hotel for you but if you are after a less imposing, traditional place to stay then I would heartily recommend it. If you do visit this hotel then remember and ask for a room overlooking the courtyard.

Passeig de Born is a tree lined avenue with lots of grand sculptures all the way down the street. It has various boutiques and shops and is one of the older streets in the heart of the city and only 5 minutes walk to the cathedral. On the corner opposite is a convenient well known bar called the Bar Borsch, which was a great stopping point to rehydrate before and after our wanderings. Also a great place for avoiding the midday sun and watching the locals and tourists passing by. This is where we bumped into Richard Wilson, alas no pictures but I think we did worry him with our three cameras and tripods sitting next to him!

Having our own personal tour guide (aka Dad) was extremely useful and as soon as we arrived he whisked us off to the cathedral (La Seu). This impressive cathedral was constructed from the limestone of the Santanyi quarries, it was designed in the French Gothic style in 1230 but was only completed in 1601, with the interior being finished off by Gaudi. It overlooks the harbour and the ‘Parc de la Mar’ with it’s impressive fountains and statues. Until the 1960s the sea reached up to the city walls. When the building of a new road occurred, an artificial lake was constructed to reproduce the effect .

We could have spent all day taking pictures of this imposing building and it looked just as spectacular at night.

I wanted to get a night shot of the cathedral with the famous water fountain but every night it was switched off because of outdoor concerts. I was still happy with my night shot anyway and I think this is my favourite picture of the trip (see top of page for this one).

Next to the cathedral is the Palau de l’Almudaina which was the Royal residence in the Middle Ages. I loved the reflection of the palm trees on the right hand side of the building .

My ‘slow water’ shot of the trip was taken in the S’Hort del Rei gardens at the bottom of the cathedral and the royal palace where there are lots of sculptures and fountains and this one was particularly pretty.

Bellver Castle was our next stop, it is located 3 km from the city centre and is 112m above sea level. It is one of the few European circular castles and the Gothic style was constructed between 1300 and 1310. The building is now used as a museum and the auditorium is used for public recitals including classical music.

The castle is only a couple of euros to get in but is definitely worth it to wander round the different rooms and head up to look down on the auditorium. You get spectacular views of Palma Bay with the huge boats berthed in the marina. It is quite windy up there so watch if you happen to put your husband’s lens hood on the wall… make sure it doesn’t blow away and land in the moat below…oops!

An unexpected hit of the trip was a visit to the Pueblo Espanol or Spanish Village (architectural museum designed by architect Mr Fernando Chueca Goitia) where reproductions of famous buildings from Cordoba, Toledo and Madrid are located with typical houses from the Spanish regions. I was quite surprised regarding the detail and size of the reproductions and the visit gave us an interesting mini tour of Spanish architecture showing its development through Muslim and then Christian influences. The Chapel (below left) is a reconstruction of the Iglesia de S. Felix De Torralba de Ribota in Calatayud, originally built in 1367. Each different building had a traditional Spanish sign on the outside to let you know what the building was (see bottom right picture).

The mosaic tiles with the sun streaming in the window (below left) is a reconstruction of the Patio De Los Arrayanes (Royal Palace) in Granada, built in 1333. I definitely need a bigger zoom to capture the detail on these fascinating gargoyles, the one on the right looks like it is waving at us ;0)

Part of the Spanish Village includes the Congress Palace which is a conference centre, it is usually open to the public but was closed for renovation while we were there. Fortunately for us the signs were in Spanish so we managed to wander in and take a few photos before being huckled out and the gates locked after us.

During the hottest part of the day we took a wander down La Rambla, another tree lined avenue offering welcoming shade. This street has a huge flower market everyday and it is was nice to have a jaunt down the street looking at all the wonderful flower stalls.

Round the corner from La Rambla is Placa Major (bottom right picture) which is an enclosed square and has a craft market every other day. It is also very hot and busy, so we just had a quick visit here. The streets next to this square are quite interesting and typically Spanish so I would recommend wandering round them.

On the Wednesday of our trip we decided to head 40 miles east for a day trip to the Caves of Drach just south of the marina town Porto Cristo. The caves are known for their peculiar limestone formations and underground lake, they have thousands of spectacular stalactites and stalagmites which are artistically lit up. At the bottom of the caves there is an auditorium, in front of the Martell Lake. When the lights go out, the lake is illuminated and you are given a short classical concert (actually it was a guy with keyboard) as they float past on illuminated boats.

Very pretty but extremely commercial and we were not allowed to take photos, not because the flash would affect the formations but so we could buy postcards at the exit, humph! Nobody paid any attention to the guards but they did shine their torch and shout ‘no photo!’ if you were caught; very amusing, especially as dad kept getting caught. I managed to sneak these two past the guards. The photos are quite grainy due to the ISO being set at 1600 and the pictures I got don’t do the formations any justice.

I uploaded this picture because of the story behind it rather than it being a good picture. I gave up trying to get it right because as I was standing, in a pedestrian area I might add, people decided to walk in front of the camera instead of behind me. I packed up after a scooter, unbelievably, squeezed in front of me nearly knocking my tripod over – as you can see from the light trails!

My last shot of the trip is a night shot of the city wall. Palma certainly knows how to light up their architecture.

I thought I would also include Ali’s fantastic night shot of Bellver Castle and the moon. He took this while we dined at a restaurant overlooking the marina which has this view as the backdrop. To see more of his photos check out his flickr page.

Thanks to Dad for showing us around Palma, we had a wonderful time. Here is one of his long exposures of a fountain at the bottom of Passeig de Born, overlooking the Cathedral. Good one dad, it looks like a scene from a fairytale!

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