Palma de Mallorca 1

It was now time to devote some attention to Palma's sights. The top two on my list were Bellver Castle and the Cathedral. Sunday services prevented viewing its interior. Never mind, not of that much interest to me. The Castle was trickier. It's a 30 minute uphill walk from the nearest bus stop. I did not fancy this as it was a bit humid. So I decided to pay for the Hop On Hop Off Sightseeing Bus, which visits this site. You have probably seen these open top buses laden with gawking tourists circulating in your city. Normally I hate guided tours, but these had enough flexibility.

As the services didn't start until 1000, I had an early morning walk in the city. I found Plaça Major where stalls were setting up. There were buildings nearby with Gaudi-esque features.

Then I had to find the starting point of the buses. A false start found me at Es Baluard, the contemporary art museum, near the western end of Avda. Jaime III, a well known shopping street, looking in vain for the sales desk. (I later discovered that I could have joined at any stop.) No luck, so I retraced my steps to Passeig del Born, and found the service nearby. Later I found that I had made an error with the location name. It was Antoni Maura, not Antoni Jaime or Jaume. I should have remembered, because of Carmen Maura.

But it was not all wasted effort. During the walk I passed a patisserie and bought an ensaïmada, dusted with icing sugar. I ate it while sitting on a bench near the Passeig. It was not as filling as I had feared. It was light, almost insubstantial and not greasy at all.

I enjoyed riding in the breeze on the top deck. The bus took us past familiar points, such as the Plaça Espanya, then passed the Cathedral from the seaward side, on Passeig Maritim, which is built on reclaimed land.

We ascended the hill to the Castell Bellver and were deposited to the car park. Entrance was free because it was Sunday and there were no tour services (another reason for visiting it today). After ascending several staircases you reach this viewing area.

From here you have a view of the port of Palma. It was a bit hazy due to the humidity but the Cathedral could be made out in the distance.

The interior of the castle is used these days for concert events.

Then it was back east along Passeig Maritim. This harbour area is where many nightspots are located, presumably within easy reach of the pleasure craft in the marina.

At Avda. Jaimie III I left the tour bus, intending to rejoin for an evening ride, and walked back to Passeig del Born. About this time I also decided that I wasn't really that interested in seeing the Cathedral close up. Maybe later, in a couple of weeks. I entered the narrow alleyways of the old city and encountered this monastery selling confections from its bakery. It was only on weekdays and at very particular hours so there were no sales happening.

I tried to find a place offering a three course menu of the day, typically salad, a main and desert plus a drink, but to no avail. I settled for pizza at an open air cafe. But even that was denied me, the waitress said they weren't making any at that hour but offered a substitute called cruji, which was toasted bread with pizza topping. It was quite alright. The implement is to slice the cruji, and the text warns not to burn oneself on the metal, hot from the oven.

In the evening, after a siesta, I went to rejoin the tour bus for an evening ride through Palma. On the way I passed a gathering of fantasy fans in the station's plaza. They were pretending to be medieval warriors, their comic book character, trekkies or whatever took their fancy. I suppose it gives them something to do, as employment opportunities are dire with half of Spain's youth out of work.

Nearby was a jumping castle and other amusements.

No tour bus arrived during the time I waited. I read the schedule at the stop and it only ran till 2000 this time of year. It was almost that time and the last run had already gone, so no evening ride for me.

I had a sub sandwich for dinner. The manager was Indian so I switched to English to avoid remembering the names of the vegies in Spanish. But I did anyway, and my sub toppings were: tomate, lechuga, pepino, cebolla, y aceitunas.

I finished the night with a café con leche at Café Món and tried my hand at reading a Catalan newspaper. With my knowledge of Spanish I could get about 30% of the words immediately and guess another 30% from context. There was news about the latest hardships due to cuts to social services. A poor girl had been run over the night before on Passeig Maritim by a drunk driver. There was commentary on the European scene and the US elections.