Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Last real day in Mallorca and Spain




Hard to believe it was the last real day of our holiday!




But once again due to our great hosts we had a fun day planned.





I loved Adele's hat hung on the wall.  We had a nice drive in the pretty countryside-this time going north east of Llucmajor rather than west.





Our first stop was Arta to take in a market.  And another Mallorcan cat!







I love markets and this one was great!







Above we have Mallorcan salts and spices.









I liked the baskets but I really didn't think I had room in my suitcase.  I did buy a a couple of pretty bowls that did fit in my suitcase!





The bigger one is quite typical of ones I had seen in Spain.  I had bought of smaller ones for friends.  The turquoise one is in a typically Mallorcan pattern and made by the girl from whom I bought it at the market.  Now why didn't I take her picture?



The market was kind of never ending winding through the streets of the town.

















Delicious fruit of course!









and vegetables








and how about some livestock?







Very fun…

Sue had one thing she wanted to buy-shoes or something made of leather  so we checked these shoes out-they were really cute but not quite what she had in mind.









And then we had a concert-I certainly have had some unique street concerts in Spain.








Our next stop was Inca.  Inca is known for its leather factories and its history is shown in these statues.








I had never heard of Camper shoes until I visited Mallorca but when I came back to Vancouver I discovered a Camper store here!  We visited several factories and Sue did get a pair of shoes!










Inca is the third largest town in Mallorca with about 29000 people.  And it is known for its wine cellar restaurants but we found a nice patio to enjoy our lunch!









This was actually our second visit to Inca as we had passed through here coming home from Deya. It is directly north of Llucmajor in a central location.







When asked if there was anything I would like to see.  I wanted to see Randa where Mike had gone biking early that morning.  For you bikers here is a link and you can check out the view as well.  This mountain is quite close Llucmajor and there is a pretty little town on the way up to the monastery.



I have to be impressed how they always seem to build monasteries on the top of mountains-it couldn't have been easy 800 years ago.







Adele and Mike, our local experts!!!









You can see all the way to the sea.






It was beautiful up here but I think I preferred a drive to riding a bike up there.







You can even stay here if you like.  Here's a bit more information.










And yes, of course I found a cat!



Let's give you a bit of the atmosphere!







It is hard to believe that I didn't take a picture of our desserts we had with cafe con leche.  I remember delicious cake, perhaps thanks to the many German tourists!


So lovely!


I was very pleased with my choice (and I was just curious to see where Mike had biked, training for a big race).  We went back to Mike and Adele's and then went back to Llucmajor for a final dinner.  The restaurant we had planned to eat in was closed on Tuesday so we ended up back in our favourite Italian restaurant.



It was another great day.  I have to say this was as good as a vacation can be.  I loved my almost three weeks in Spain (and including three days in Portugal).  I really enjoyed my first visit almost four years ago, a very different experience walking the last 100 km of the Camino to Santiago and then another week using San Sebastian as a base and having a car.  This time our Insight tour  was excellent as was our extra day in Barcelona, and I was happy to have an opportunity to visit Mallorca.





Thanks  to Adele and Mike for being great hosts and to Sue for being a great travelling companion!

Hasta la vista!

Friday, May 6, 2016

Day Two Mallorca-Palma



Our hosts, Adele and Mike met us at the train station and then led us through the streets of Palma, the main city of Mallorca.


There were lots of people out and about on Easter Monday, a holiday.



Palma has a population of about 408,000 people, about half the population of Mallorca.



Palma was founded by the Romans in 123 BC and was named Palmeria.  It wasn't very important until the Moors arrived in AD902.  They built mosques, bath houses etc.




Today we had a good stroll through the old city.




archways




and plazas




more lemons and oranges and peppers as well...







More neat balconies












Beautiful detail
















I didn't see the famous tennis player but Nadel is quite a common name...




This is Basilica de San Francisco













Here you can see the Moorish walls




and finally the sea…









looking up at the cathedral 


down  to the sea...




I guess we had seen enough cathedrals because we didn't go in!  It does sound interesting but we had seen a great many cathedrals at this point!




This was as close as I got to buying Mallorcan pearls!














A plaque commemorating Chopin's and George Sand's visit to the island






An interesting display...





We went to the nearby marina to look at the sailboat that Adele and Mike had sailed and taken care of for the last seven years.


It was the largest and most impressive sailboat I have ever been on...







It was fun to explore and you could probably buy it if you had 2.8 million dollars...




We walked back into town to have a nice  dinner, though not at the exclusive restaurant we peeked in above.



This is Sa Llotja, built in the 15th century as the merchants' stock exchange and is now used for free art exhibits.







I thought this looked so beautiful as we walked back to the car in the marina.



I loved this silhouette




Another great day in Mallorca!