Ask any Mallorquin person, and they will tell you they are NOT Spanish. They are Mallorquin, which has a distinct culture, a distinct dialect, and a very different history. The Mallorquin language is a dialect of Catalan, but most people speak fluent Spanish, as well as English and/or German for tourists. Most of the tourists who come to Mallorca are German, but the island is also popular with the Dutch, Polish, and English. We heard American English only once our entire trip!
Our neat room in Palma de Mallorca, the main city of the island of Mallorca.
Quiet neighborhood at the back, really nice to see "Mallorcan normal life". Our "neighbors" had birds in cages in their open windows and curtains flowing out with the breeze (temps were about 70 degrees F - perfect!). We saw kids playing ball in the street and lots of moms walking by with baby carriages. We woke up in the morning to the pet canaries and parakeets in the windows singing.
Almost all the other tourists on the island were German. All the menus are also in German and there are more Mallorquines who speak German than there are English. Thank goodness D speaks German for when we were in a bind! This is the menu from our first night's dinner - we went to a Thai restaurant called Sambal.
D is in shock that he's going to eat Thai food! He hasn't had Thai since we left San Diego!
Simple pleasures, really. We got yum nua and satay, of course.
The waiter made a mistake on my first order and brought me a dish with soy sauce in it, which I started to eat and then very quickly realized it tasted suspicious. He brought me a pad Thai instead, which was delicious! I didn't get too sick from the mistake, thankfully (I only had a bite).
Heading to the lobby of our hotel. Mallorca is very modern-art friendly, which was a really nice change from all the traditional and ancient statues and stuff that are featured heavily in Italia.
Walking out of the hotel and towards the bay of Palma.
Mallorca has a lot of windmills, which surprised me.
Walking towards the cathedral and other sights.
Pretty little stray gatto on our way.
D in front of the Palacio Real de la Almudaina, the palace of Palma.
By the Palacio.
Grabbing for statue-boob in the Parc Sa Faixina. :)
The Palacio. Very strong Arab influence in this city - beautiful!
Resident swans in the pond at the Palacio.
Palacio and the Cathedral.
Playground at the palace? I would have LOVED this as a kiddo! Neat!
Walking towards the Cathedral, D found an Invader sticker... We didn't actually see any tile Invaders on the island (we found a spot where it looked like one had been placed and later removed), but came across a lot of these stickers!
Walking up to the Cathedral with the gorgeous Mediterranean behind him.
Le Seu, the Catedrale de Palma.
Another Invader sticker...
At the house of Salvador Dali and the Dali museum - neat!
The Banys Arabs (Arab Baths in the Mallorquine Catalan dialect) were built hundreds upon hundreds of years ago when Arabs ruled Mallorca. They survive today and are very well preserved.
Banys Arabs bathhouse. The description was interesting in this room - according to researchers, the caps on the 26 pillars in this room are all different, which suggests a recycling of the pillars from several sites of ancient Roman ruins were used in the construction of this room. Waste not, want not!
Legit antique Spanish damigiane! I wanted to steal them all! These are worth a FORTUNE!
Neat.
Earlier that morning, Palma had hosted a marathon!
Walking through the Parc de la Mar.
We happened upon a high school group performing a percussion concert in the Parc Sa Faixina. They looked like they were having so much fun!
Church converted into art gallery!
Romantic dinner at a Peruvian restaurant called Sumaq - delicious!
Ceviche with mango salsa... ::drool::
So, we arrived for dinner at 8:00. This is only slightly early dinner in Italy. Little did we know that dinner time in Mallorca really doesn't start until 9:30 - 10:00 pm. The place started filling up around 9:00. Fortunately, dinners last a good three to four hours, so we were still rocking the wine at midnight!
The next day, we headed to the town of Soller on the Mallorca Ferrocarril, the "Iron Carriage" train that is the only working historical train on the island. It dates back about a hundred years.
Heading out of the city and through orange, lemon, and olive groves. To get to Soller, you must pass through a small mountain range.
The landscape is just lovely.
Happy TravelD!
I see a lot of this on my vacations. :)
Passing through Bunola, about at the halfway point.
At the train station in Soller.
Station gatto!
Our two nights in Soller were spent at the Hotel la Vila, a cute little boutique hotel decorated in the Art Deco style. Very historical building, nice staff, ideal location by the square, great breakfasts, and cheap! Highly recommend this hotel!
At the Hotel la Vila.
The Placa in Soller.
We went for a quiet little walk to explore.
This house is for rent - yay!
This rooster was so confused. He was hanging out with a bunch of ducks on a streambank.
French bulldogs are very popular in Mallorca. We saw a lot of them!
We were shocked - the small town of Soller has the only Malaysian restaurant in all of Spain! And it was DELICIOUS! The restaurant is called Kopitiam, and is owned by a Spaniard and his Malaysian wife. She's an excellent chef, and her blog is http://www.vi-vian.com/.
D about had an aneurysm when he bit into these short ribs at Kopitiam. I couldn't try them because they had gluten in the marinade, but he says they were so tender they fell off the bone.
The Catedrale in Soller.
The next day, we walked from Soller about three miles to the Porto de Soller. On our way, we passed a yard with turkeys. We got the whole thing on tape, but the turkeys liked my laugh and liked it when D talked - lots of gobbles!
Another frenchie! This little guy was the mascot for a motorbike rental place, and the business was actually named after him. He's paralyzed in the back end, and his dad has a cute little wheelchair for him to roll around in.
Panoramic of the Porto de Soller.
The water was pretty warm! So refreshing!
Picking out sea glass from the sand! I took some home!
No way! Some lucky duck wealthy yacht owner from Newport made it across the Atlantic and to Mallorca on this beautiful 26-footer!
Passionflower.
Looking down to the port from the hillside.
Somewhere that direction is mainland Spain!
I'd move here tomorrow, if I could!
Neat stucco on this house. I'm not sure how they did that!
We finally stopped for traditional Mallorcan cuisine for dinner. Suckling pig and oxtail are very common dishes around here and are delicious!
Feeding some pate to a cute little gattino at the restaurant.
At our hotel after a long day of beach and sightseeing.
Love the shadows of the chandelier behind D!
Sadly leaving Soller and heading back to Palma. What a great little town!
Those powdered-sugar-coated tasties on the bottom left are traditional Mallorcan pastries.
Little gattini at the train station.
Back in Palma, D collapsed for a nap.
Octopus salad at the Japanese restaurant for lunch.
D's opulent sushi plate for lunch!
Spicy tuna sushi with avocado and mango.
LOVE this decorating scheme.
Another neighborhood in Palma. This is the "old town" with historical Art Deco and Modernismo buildings. Nice!
200-300 year old olive tree downtown.
Dancing around the Parc de Ses Estacions in Palma.
Our last night in Palma, we went to an Argentinian restaurant for dinner. It was so opulent and filling, and very good. The server's grandmother was from Napoli, so we spent a good amount of time chatting and speaking in a hodge-podge of Italian, Spanish, and English. Fun and good practice for me!
Leaving! SAD!
Thought the shadows of the clouds on the water was just lovely!
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