PalmaA view of the port and the Cathedral in the distance from our hotel balcony.
When my friends and I saw that Ryanair was having a special promotion - round trip flights from London to Mallorca for 1 penny (came to less than $40 with taxes and fees) - we couldn't pass it up. We took Friday off and headed to Palma de Mallorca, the largest city on Mallorca and capital of the autonomous Balearic Islands.
February is definitely the off-season. It only got up to around 63 degrees Fahrenheit in the sun but that meant the restaurants, hotels and roads were relatively quiet which suited us just fine. On Saturday we went to see La Seu, the Cathedral of Mallorca. It's a very impressive building - huge inside with separate chapels off the main body of the cathedral and a crypt. We were especially fascinated/grossed out by a relic housed in one of the chapel wings - a human femur (or some other long bone) preserved in a silver and glass cylindrical case filled with liquid. Not sure which saint it was supposed to belong to but it was awesomely gross. Work on the Cathedral was begun by King James I of Aragon in 1229 and was finally finished in 1601. In the early
The CathedralPalma's large Gothic cathedral. Love those flying buttresses.
1900s Gaudi even did some restoration work on the Cathedral, adding some interesting touches like a huge chandelier that looks like a crown of thorns over the altar.
We felt pretty cultured after touring the cathedral so it was time to head out of Palma and see the rest of the island. We drove to Soller - a town on a pretty horseshoe shaped port - and had lunch at a fancy place up in the mountains. Great view and great fresh fish. From there we drove on to the cute little towns of Fornalutx and Biniaraix. We fell in love with the little towns - cute stone houses nestled in acres of lemon and orange tree orchards leading into a precious town center with street cafes and pretty churches. The perfect place for a vacation home (too bad tons of Germans, Spaniards and Englishmen beat us to it).
Saturday night we had tapas in Palma followed by a visit to Palma's famous night club - previously called Pacha, now Abraxas. It was described as built into the cliffs overlooking the port in Mallorca. I guess one of the walls looked like it was made of rocks but
FornalutxCute little town along the coast. We drove from Palma to the port of Soller and then along the coast through adorable little towns like this. Would be a great place to have a vacation home...
I was expecting something more spectacular. In any case, we got 2 free drinks each with entry and the music was great so no one complained.
On Sunday we went down to the beach in Palma on the far side of the Cathedral from the port. We had lunch at a little outdoor cafe and watched the bikers and runners and dog walkers go past on the trail along the beach. Heavenly. Something about the juxtaposition of the mountains and the sea made it feel very much like California. The rollerbladers going past confirmed that feeling.
Final analysis: Mallorca in the off-season gets two thumbs up. Maybe I'll even make a trip back to the Balearics in the spring or summer... Ibiza or Menorca anyone?
Switchback RoadsThe roads were like this all along the coast from the little towns out to the cape. Needless to say I was feeling a little car sick by the end. Even Erik, who was driving, was feeling green.
The capeSara and I at the look-out point from which you have a great view of the Cap de Formentor - the northernmost point of Mallorca.
Sunset stepsSteps leading out to the cape look-out point. The winding roads, the look-out point and the location of the lighthouse at the cape were all built out of the rocky cliffs at the edge of the island.
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