Overnight apparently we sailed through a thunderstorm that has changed the weather that we were expecting for Palma. We arrived to a threatening sky of dark clouds and a chill breeze. Thankfully as the day wore on the clouds dispersed to a degree and the breeze abated.
Mallorca is the largest of the islands at 1,405 sq. miles and there are around 600,000 people living there. Palma is a fine old city full of interest with plenty of twisting and turning alleys. The oldest part of the city sets out from the cathedral and is particularly interesting.
If I turn around and now with my back to the cathedral we find the Almudaina Palace that was built on the site of the Roman citadel. This is now the military headquarters of the Balearics.
Photographs taken let us now turn left and stroll along which will bring us to the Town Hall, a rather grand baroque style, probably one of the finest town halls in the Mediterranean.
On the outskirts of the city is Palma’s finest military building, the unique circular Bellver Castle, designed by the same master builder who redesigned the Almudaina Palace.
I had decided to accompany a group of our passengers on the tour that travelled up to the small town of Soller on the western side of the island a little further up the coast from Valldemossa.
The journey up from Palma was most enjoyable and really showed our passengers the greener side of this island idyll.
Once there we could all enjoy a quiet meander around the streets and maybe taken back in time a little by the buildings and the individual shops.
We were recommended by our local guide to try some of the home made ice cream that one shop sells here or if that did not take our fancy there were some delicious home made pies. It all looked very tasty I must say.
I was taken aback a little when I found a shop selling a really good choice of English teas. It would appear that it is not just us that like our refreshing cuppa.
The area around the town square was alive with action, people going about their daily lives, children on a school outing and the little tram plying back and forth to Port Soller. This tram is always popular and is offers a ride of a few minutes down to the coastal town of Port Soller where visitors can enjoy the scene there. How very pleasant to see this old form of transport still being used for its intended purpose.
Some of the major buildings in the square are built in a modernist style somewhat akin to the style of Gaudi in Barcelona. This is not surprising really since the man himself did have a hand in the updating of the cathedral in Palma.
The Town Hall is a little more modern but still sits nicely alongside the older buildings. The fountain looks well too, the whole area very pleasant and clean.
It was now time to make our way to the station for our long awaited train ride back down to Palma. The train is overhead electric powered and the wooden carriages do not have toilet facilities and are not air conditioned; but all of that does not matter really since the journey takes about 50 minutes to complete.
The Hidgkiss family enjoy the ride.
En route we were able to enjoy the lush green countryside passing small stations, rushing through 13 tunnels and crossing viaducts that gave us all a different perspective of the area.
Now two days at sea and we exchange Spain for the hot climbs of Greece and the island of Corfu.
Graham
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3 comments:
This is great. i cant imagine all this wonderful edifice. i hope to be in any of this. is quite an interesting and exiting experience. thanks
Thank you for this very informative piece James.
Apart from P&O's really lovely ships; passengers will also find that the "tipping" or "gratuity" situation on P&O is generaly preferable to their competitors. The suggested gratuity on P&O works out at £3.10 per person per day. This is less than half the cost of most of P&O's competitors. In addition, whilst P&O will deduct this amount from the passengers credit card; if the passenger visits guest relations on the ship; they will re-credit all or any part of it.
I hope you find this useful!
harley
Thank you for this very informative piece James.
Apart from P&O's really lovely ships; passengers will also find that the "tipping" or "gratuity" situation on P&O is generaly preferable to their competitors. The suggested gratuity on P&O works out at £3.10 per person per day. This is less than half the cost of most of P&O's competitors. In addition, whilst P&O will deduct this amount from the passengers credit card; if the passenger visits guest relations on the ship; they will re-credit all or any part of it.
I hope you find this useful!
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