Palma del Majorca

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Palma del Mallorca

This morning exploded with color as we sailed into Palma, the capital city of the Balearic Islands. Out catamaran tour was cancelled due to low interest so we were on our own. The Queen Victoria docked just after us. She is a stately and elegant vessel about twice our size and she can maneuver her way to the pier like a rowboat. There was a conspicuous lack of visitor information on the pier and the map on the city provided by the ship was impossible to relate to the public bus map. We decided to taxi to the Cathedral area. The gothic structure looms above the skyline surrounding it. It is the old part of the city with narrow lanes and many, too many, souvenir shops.

The Cathedral was beautiful, soaring gothic ceilings and lovely stained glass windows, some very old and some more recent. The sunshine through the new glass reflected in little pools of color on the floor. A little boy was bathed in blue light as he sat on the floor. Too Cool! The altars reflected the wealth of Spain when the gold and silver of the new world was abundant. Gaudi worked on it from 1904-1914 and his influence is apparent. Both of the museums I wanted to visit were closed on Monday so we strolled about checked out the swans and the fountains, enjoyed the street musicians and street vendors and then stopped for tapas and beverages.

This time we were a bit more adventurous. We had delicious dates wrapped in bacon and anchovies in vinaigrette and some meatballs. We tired the local beer and the local wine and everything was wonderful. Love grazing for a meal. Headed back to the ship for another afternoon on deck in the sun, enjoying our private yacht.

Formal night is really observed on board with many gowns and tuxes. The guests are of all ages, most over fifty but some young families and a few young single men as well. Even the little ones were dressed to the nines. We had duck pate, Joe had beef Wellington and I had quail, small bites but very tasty.

Finally I got some good cards and left the poker table with more than when I sat down. May the trend continue.

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