Palma de Mallorca, Spain

Today was the day that Bob was looking forward to the most. Unfortunately the hike he was to go on was cancelled due to low participation. We figured he was the only one signed up for it. So instead he went on the excursion I had signed up for – visiting Valldemossa. It unexpectedly turned out to be one of the best tours we have had so far.

We first went to Castell de Bellver. It was a view point above the city of Palma. The building was started in 123 BC by the Romans. It was taken over by the Moors in 902 and held for more than 300 years. In 1229, James I, a conquistador, invaded and the castle was captured. The name means castle of the nice view. It sits 100 meters high on a hill and is currently a museum of the history of Palma.

Palma is the capital of the Balearic island group (4 islands). Palma’s population is around 400,000 while all the islands are about 1 million. There are 3 official languages – Spanish, Catalan and a local Mallorcan dialect. Tourism is the main industry with the season going from April to October. It is a short flight from most of Europe and is popular with Germans and British for a vacation spot. It was a cool, windy day but in the summer the temperatures can go up to 107 degrees. They have a small agricultural industry growing almonds, olives and carob. They have 70 vineyards and citrus is grown in the mountains. Most things need to be imported because they can’t grow enough to support the population.

The drive to Valldemossa was through the mountains. They are protected since 2011 as a world heritage site. Saint Catherine, the only saint from Mallorca, was born here in 1531. Frederic Chopin and George Sands lived in Valldemossa in 1838. They came to the island to help him get better from tuberculosis and stayed for 3 months. Unfortunately it did not help him, but during that time because of the isolation he composed many of his works. We toured the old and new charter houses. The old one was from the 1300s and the new one was from the 1800s. These building were originally part of a monetary. The outsides were very plain, but the insides had gardens. The rooms were small. During a financial crises in 1835, the government took the buildings from the monks and sold them in pieces to wealthy individuals to raise money. Those areas had been converted to homes and that is where Chopin stayed. Those areas were furnished very lavishly. We had a surprise at the end of this part of our tour, a piano concert.

We then went to a store to learn about Mallorcan pearls, which is one of the famous industries on the island. We then returned to the port, passing the huge main cathedral.

The port is composed of 3 sections. The small boat area – the kind you would see in a marina in Florida. The large boat area – think huge mega yachts and the working port for cruise ships and ferries and cargo ships. Docked across from our ship was Jeff Besos new yacht called the Black Pearl. It cost 200 million dollars and is 145 meters long. It was beautiful and amazing to see.

Although, this was not the tour Bob had planned to do, we were both happy to have done it.