Palma De Mallorca, Spain. March 6, 2022

After a day at sea we arrive in Palma, Mallorca, Spain.  It was a cold, breezy and misty rainy day with temperatures to reach the upper 50’s.  I doubt it did.  Nevertheless we ventured out and enjoyed the day.

Mallorca is the largest of the Balearic Islands with a population of about 1.17 million:  Palma has about  500K;  and all of the Balearic island have 1.28.  Tourism is 80%  of it  economy, with agriculture also playing a major role.  It has numerous daily flights from Palma ( which is Spain’s third largest airport) to mainland Spain.  It also has daily flights to various other major European cities.  No wonder it is so popular, it is so easy to get to.  Our tour guide boasted that she had flown from Palma to Madrid for 4 Euros as the inhabitants of the Balearic Islands get a 70% discount for flights between Palma and mainland Spain.  Wow, what a deal.   It is an island for the rich and famous for I have never seen a harbor so full of mega yachts and sailboats.  Rumor had it that there were many Russian owned vessels that hightailed it out of there the other day as threats of confiscations were passing through the marina community.  

Mallorca is a mountainous paradise with pine forests, almond groves, olive orchards, hiking trails, beaches and most of all charming villages.  With all the plantings you could very well imagine just how gorgeous this island will be once spring has sprung.  For now in early March it was definitely  winter scenery with only a hint of trees and flowers budding out.  

Our organized tour took us along the waterfront and into the interior to the charming village of Valldemossa.  It was a lovely village with all the roads, narrow sidewalks and steps made of a type of cobble stone.  It was not an easy place to navigate if you were handicapped or in a wheelchair. And we did have a wheelchair guest on the tour and everyone was patient and helpful.   It was Sunday so not too much traffic and the stores were closed except for a few souvenirs shops and restaurants.  At one of those restaurants we were treated to the best hot chocolate I have ever had.  Pure chocolate delight.  As it cooled it formed a skin, it was so thick you wondered wether you should spoon it or drink it.   Also had one of their local bakery delights, called Potato Cake.  It had just come out of the oven, made from potato flour and was light and the round shape of a doughnut.  Ever so delicious.   We did a little browsing in the shops and then our bus brought us back to the city of Palma.   There we had a panoramic tour of the city with a final stop at the Castle de Bellver.  It’s a Gothic style castle built on top of a hill,  in the 14th century by King James II of Majorca.  It is one of the few circular castles in Europe.   Margit and I climbed all over it, one also had a great view of Palma from the top level.  

While we only passed by it, another impressive structure was the Royal Palace of La Almundaina.  It’s of Moorish design and was originally an Arabian Fort.  It dates back to the 14th century and is the official residence of the King and Queen during their stays in Mallorca.  

We enjoyed our visit and would love to come again, next time hopefully when its nice, warm and sunny.

View of Palma from the round Castle de Bellver

Typical road in town 

Typical architecture of many of the buildings in town 

The round castle de Bellver, one of few round castles in wester Europe

View into the center of the castles from one of the top walls.  

The lovely town of Valldemossa where we had the wonderful hot chocolate drink

One of the many almond groves we passed on the way to the village of Valldemossa,  they were in bloom.  IF the bloom is white the almonds are sweet, if the blood is pink then not sweet and those almonds are used for soaps, and other cosmetics.  

The old city wall of which most of it is still there.  One of the many watchtowers on the city wall.

The Royal Palace La Almundaina.  This is still used by the King and Queen of Spain when they visit Mallorca.

Another view of the village Valldemossa 

One of the parks in the village of Valldemossa,  in the summer it would be a rose garden.

To brighten a winters day people hang lovely flowers in pots on their entry ways.  

Crazy wall decoration on one of the buildings we drove by

A pedestrian zone area, a whole lot of people in red tops were in a charity race,  there must have been over 500  some people, the stream of participants was a far as we could see.