Mallorca Travel: The West
Coast and the Capital of Palma de Mallorca
Our location in Palma Nova on the western bay of
Palma was very convenient with one exception: several
of the hotel guests came home between 3 and 6 am
in various states of inebriation and were hollering
loudly to each other. Their incomprehensible utterings
reverberated in the concrete hallways and inevitably
woke me up. Just as I was ready to fall asleep again,
another group of “lager louts” was coming
in and making their presence known to everyone.
Apart from that our little apartment at the Torrenova
Aparthotel had been a great choice, because in the
morning I could sit down on our large balcony overlooking
the Mediterranean and enjoy a good home-made breakfast.
The weather so far had been perfect and not a cloud
covered the sky.
Beautiful cove along Mallorca's western coastline
Shortly before noon we started our drive to explore
the western side of the island. West of Magaluf
are a large number of tourist developments, many
of which are still under construction. We drove
on the C719 highway to Santa Ponsa, a pleasant resort
town on the west side of the island.
Santa Ponsa is particular popular with tourists
from Ireland, Scottland, Wales, Holland and Germany.
Many of the store windows feature English or German
advertisements. This town also occupies an important
part in Mallorca’s history: it was here that
King James the First landed in 1229 to reconquer
Mallorca after more than 300 years of Moorish rule.
A big festival celebrates this historic event every
September with a mock battle between Christians
and Moors on the beach.
The harbour of Port d'Andratx
From here we drove further northwest to Port d’Andratx,
another popular coastal village. As in many other
Mallorcan towns, the harbour is fringed by an attractive
promenade and several restaurants. Port d’Andratx
is generally not a mass-market destination and attracts
more independent travelers as well as Northern Europeans
who have bought holiday homes here.
Real estate prices in these coastal towns are extremely
expensive. I picked up a local real estate magazine
that showed many villas and apartments that were
selling for hundreds of thousands of Euros. Many
properties were listing for amounts way above the
million Euro mark.
Restaurants along the harbourfront in Port d'Andratx
Mallorca is particularly popular with German and
British home-owners who either own vacation homes
here or have permanently relocated on the island.
As a result, real estate prices in Mallorca have
increased dramatically over the last few years.
During our stroll through town we came across an
Eroski Supermarket and decided to do some food shopping.
We were amazed at the reasonable prices for fruits
and seafood. What really surprised us was that the
price of food was so low while prices in the local
restaurants were much higher than in Canada. Most
main dishes and seafood dishes were priced at a
minimum of 20 Euros and going up into 30, 40 or
even 50 Euros. Supermarket food in contrast was
significantly less expensive than in Canada.
Church in Andratx
We drove back through the historic mountain town
of Andratx and stopped briefly to explore the historic
town core. We arrived back at our apartment with
our loot, made a comfortable lunch and relaxed on
the sunny terrace of our apartment, overlooking
the glistening blue waters of the Mediterranean.
In the evening we decided to explore the capital
of the island, Palma de Mallorca.
View over the centre of Andratx
With about 400,000 inhabitants, Palma is by far
the largest city on the island; it is also the commercial
and cultural centre of Mallorca. Its history dates
back all the way to Roman times when Palma was founded
as a Roman camp. The Moorish period lasted from
902 to 1229 when King James the First reconquered
the island.
Colourful tiles promote the glass factory Vidrierias
Gordiola in Palma de Mallorca
From the 1600s to the 1800s the city suffered
many pirate attacks. Economic growth occurred in
the 19th century and from the 1950s onwards, mass
tourism started to have an impact on the city. In
2001, almost 20 million people passed through Sant
Joan International Airport, which is located 8 kilometres
from downtown Palma.
Beautiful courtyards in Palma de Mallorca
Despite these enormous changes, Mallorca has managed
to retain its historic ambience. We parked our vehicle
on the Avinguda de Gabriel Alomer, one of the so-called
“avingudas”, or avenues – a ring
road that was built after the city’s fortification
walls were taken down. From here it was a convenient
walk into the centre. We walked past the Arab Baths,
the only building left that dates back to Arab times.
View over Palma's Parc de la Mar
Through the narrow streets of the Old City we reached
the jewel of Palma: La Seu, which was built between
1229 and 1601, on the site of a pre-existing mosque.
With its length of 155 metres and its 44 metre high
nave, it is one of the largest cathedrals in Europe.
Western facade of La Seu, Palma's magnificent cathedral
The Gothic exterior with its flying buttresses
is impressive, and the golden limestone was glowing
in the late evening sun. The interior features 14
octogonal pillars that support a vaulted ceiling.
The magnificent rose window on the east side has
a diameter of 12 metres (40 feet) and contains 1,200
pieces of stained glass. A wrought-iron chandelier
designed by Antoni Gaudi overhangs the altar. The
cathedral also holds the tombs of Jaume II and Jaume
III. An organ concert was just starting as we admired
this imposing cathedral, and we sat down for a good
twenty minutes to enjoy the impressive sounds of
the organ.
View towards the altar of La Seu, with Gaudi's chandelier
Across from La Seu is the Palau de’l Almudaina,
an Arab word for “citadel”. Built on
the walls of the original Arab fortress, this was
the royal residence of King Jaume II. The Gothic-era
palace also includes a variety of Moorish-style
details. Just north of this palace is the Plaça
de la Reina, a large public square that adjoins
the gardens of the Palau de’l Almudaina.
Monument on the Plaça de la Reina
Further up the Calle Conquistador we saw the government
building of the Balearic Islands and Palma’s
City Hall on Plaça Cort. This public square
features a very large, gnarly and old olive tree
which is a favourite spot for tourists to pose for
photographs. Through the narrow Calle Colom shopping
street we reached the Plaça Major, Palma’s
main square, which is surrounded on all four sides
by adjoining buildings with an identical façade.
A lone guitar player was entertaining the café
crowd with his passionate Flamenco melodies.
City Hall of Palma de Mallorca
We continued on through more narrow streets to finally
reach the Plaça d’Espanya, Palma’s
transportation hub. This large square is anchored
by the Estació Intermodal, which is the city’s
bus and railway terminal. We went down the escalators
and explored this ultra-modern public transportation
complex and admired the colourful artistic armchairs
and furniture arrangements that were exhibited in
the station’s café.
Colourful armchair at the Estació Intermodal
As it was now starting to get dark we turned around
and made our way back through the narrow streets
of Palma’s Old City. It was amazing to see
cars coming at us in these very narrow passageways
although on this Sunday the streets were extremely
quiet. We continued to be fascinated by the “garbage
machines”, bronze-coloured metal garbage collectors
that, with their round heads and square bodies,
appeared like aliens, ready to devour civilization’s
garbage.
Walking through the old streets of Palma: the alien-looking
garbage machines
The sun was setting by the time we had reached our
car and drove back westwards on the Passeig Maritim
towards our home base in Palmanova. The sunset produced
orange-coloured flames that were dancing playfully
in the waters of Palma Bay. We had spent another
beautiful day in Mallorca.
The sun is setting behind the Cathedral in Palma
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