"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report #102 Palma de Mallorca, Spain April 11, 2017 Tuesday Sunny & 74 degrees Part #1 Of 4 87 Pictures

Today's port of call was in Mallorca, one of the three islands consisting of the Balearic Islands of Spain. Palma de Mallorca, the capital, has a population of 300,000 residents, most of whom must own a boat of some type. We have never seen so many yachts, fishing and sail boats in a harbor, except for maybe in Auckland, New Zealand. Incredible.

The Amsterdam docked in Terminal # 6, the furthest away from even most of the ferry boats. Coming in right behind us was the Costa Diadema, one of the 15 or more ships in the Italian Costa fleet. This ship made us look tiny, since it was 114,500 gross tons with a capacity to have up to 3800 passengers. Like us with Holland America Lines, they are also part of the Carnival Corporation. Anyway, they pulled alongside Terminal # 1, their assigned slot. Terminal #2 and 3 are for Mein Schiff, while #4 is reserved for Silver Seas and Sea Cloud. Terminal #5 had a large ferry ship, and other lines using #6 are Aida and Royal Caribbean. The main reason we are mentioning this is because there was a shuttle provided that would take passengers to the center of town, but it was not complimentary. The charge was 8 euro for a round trip. We could tell when Barbara H mentioned this in her port talk, she did not get a good response. In fact, she said please do not kill the messenger. You would think that this cruise, being a "grand" voyage, something could be arranged to provide the shuttle for free. Even if we had to pay, then be reimbursed onboard our shipboard accounts. Most everyone we know, the seasoned annual cruisers, really objected to this, and even decided to protest. Some walked, like us, or they did not leave the ship. Some other folks we know told us that when they were here on the Prinsendam recently, the shuttle was free. Honestly, we are chopped liver in some ports, and it does not make for happy cruisers.

We were blessed with a wonderful sunny day, accompanied by a cool breeze……the best weather for a long walk, we decided. After a light breakfast, we left the ship around 9:30am. Most of the people that had booked tours had left by then. They ranged from $70 to $120, and lasted from 3 ½ to 5 hours. There were many local sights to see such as the Castle Bellver, built in the 14^th century. It is situated above the town overlooking the marina and city. The other highlights are the La Seu Cathedral and museum, which was built on a former mosque in the 13^th century. Across from the cathedral is the Almudaina Palace, which is closed when the king is there, or else it cost 6 euro to tour it. There are several museums, and The Arab Baths, remnants of the city's Moorish past. The charge for the baths was 3 euro.

Out of town, some folks went to caves, vineyards, and even an olive oil mill in Soller, which they reached by a vintage train. We heard there were beaches and coves, but not in this immediate area, or so we thought.

Getting a map of the city and the island, we made our way towards town. In fact, we were half way there before the shuttle bus even left the pier. The water front had a wide walkway, nicely paved for strolling and riding bikes as well. We realized that we saw many families from Northern Europe on vacation, probably spring vacation. Half of them must have been on bikes. Our walk took us out of the port area, past a castle and fort, and a naval base, before reaching the Paseo Maritimo Blvd.

Turning right, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the harbor full of boats, hundreds of them. This harbor front street was lined with many hotels, modern, but not really new. It was obviously a very touristy place. Checking the map we picked up, we discovered that there was a Hard Rock Café near the cathedral. Nice surprise, as we did not even think there would be one here. By the time we reached a series of old windmills, similar to the ones we saw in Mykonos, we found that the HRC was located right near to them. That would work out perfectly for lunch, with a stop at the cathedral first.

So we continued walking to the vast cathedral, La Seu, actually built on a former mosque. Going around the front, at least we think it was the front, we found a huge lake and a fountain in front of it. This church resembled La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, because Gaudi had his hand in the architecture. It is very Gothic in design, and also very crowded with tourists. And with so many people here, so were the street vendors, the ones who come from Tunisia. We always see these fellows in Barcelona, selling purses, t-shirts, and shoes, as well as souvenir trinkets. They will lay out their wares on a big sheet or blanket on the ground, then roll them up quickly in case they are rousted by the local police. Think we read somewhere that selling knock-offs is illegal in Spain. Not that it stops them.

On another side of the cathedral, there was a nice craft fair, where the local vendors were selling art work, scarves, tiles, and costume jewelry. Another big treasure we saw were signs or trinkets made with your name printed on them. We happened to run into Barb, Ellen, and Aart, who were wandering around the church like us. We never did find the front door, but if we had, it might have cost 6 euro to go inside. So we took all of our photos from the outside.

Heading back, we passed by the Almundaina Palace, a monument that was converted from an Arab fortress, and made into the residence of the Kings of Mallorca. Many museums surrounded this area, but we passed on the idea. We knew there were two large beers with our names on them somewhere.

That somewhere happened to be the Hard Rock Café, of course. But first, we visited the rather small shop to see if they had city tees, something one of us collects at every HRC. Today, both of us got one. Then we went inside the café to sit in the bar area where there were round tables with high stools. These work better for one of us that has back problems. Once again, we ordered the haystack salads and two local draft beers. Ice cold, they sure tasted good. And being able to sit and relax was priceless. We figured we had walked over 5 miles at this point, so lingering over good food and beer was OK.

Also at the HRC, but sitting in the very back section, was our guest chef, George Geary, along with a group of his closest buddies from the ship. We talked to each of them, as they passed by, catching up on shipboard gossip and independent tour news. Seems like we always cross paths when in port, as George knows the best places for lunch.

Going back always seems easier. We followed the water side of the street, so we did not have to wait at stop lights. The bad thing is that we missed seeing the Mallorca pearl shops that must have been on the store side with all of the hotels, cafes, bars, taverns, and restaurants. Can't imagine that they are any different than the cultured pearls, just created differently.

We did cross the street to go into the Porto Pi Commercial Center, which turned out to be a modern mall with some typical boutiques as well as some high end shops. The main draw for us was the Carrefour giant supermarket. It resembles Walmart with a grocery store. Since we had not walked by any souvenir stores, we had forgotten the required shot glass we collect in new ports. Lucky for us, they had some here for a mere 1.50 euro. We located some potato and tortilla chips we wanted for room snacks, which we found to be quite affordable. Another nice thing was that there were large and clean restrooms for free. Something that is always good to know in these foreign ports.

Turning left from here, we hiked up and over the hill towards the pier. On one side of the cliffs, we looked down to the rocky water's edge to see some locals on a narrow beach with little clothing on….some with nothing on. They could care less that a few other people were sitting on a ledge watching them trying to navigate into the water. Sure looked cold to us, but perhaps it was sheltered down there. We did hear that nude beaches are all over these islands, also a big draw to summer crowds of tourists of all ages.

Sure was good to get back to our room, where we worked on photo down-loading until 5:30pm and sail away time. Although the newsletter stated that sunset was at 6:17pm, once again, that was not correct. Without a clock change, the sunset time for tomorrow will be 8:28pm, which is more like it. So taking pictures of our exit was perfect with the lighting. As the crow flies, the cathedral seemed much closer. Too bad we are not crows, as it was one long walk. Needless to say, we shall sleep really good tonight. It was nice chatting with friends, who went in a different direction today. They saw the countryside and the nearby mountains, which they admitted was beautiful scenery. A good spot to come back someday. But not in the summer, as we were told that the temperatures frequently exceed 100 degrees with humidity almost as high. Glad we are here in April.

We had only six at dinner as Jim and Maureen had gone on a tour, and were "no-shows" for dinner. In fact, many folks were missing tonight, so we figured they were tired from touring all day. One of us would never have missed the meal tonight, because they were serving spaghetti Bolognese, a most favorite dish, topped with extra parmesan cheese. Appetizers included breaded and fried cheese sticks, a double treat. The mixed grill was also good, something that we have not seen on the menu yet. Ice cream finished our meals just fine.

By the way, we had absolutely no network TV this evening. Something is not right with the feed, as we only got ship channels and movies, which was better than nothing. Sure hope it gets fixed soon, as there will be some very unhappy folks.

Bill & Mary Ann

Welcome Palma de Mallorca