A PERFECT DAY IN PALMA, PART I

Friday we flew in to Palma De Mallorca to meet up with brother Chuck and sister-in-law Nancy and their traveling partners from Cuenca, Brenda and Clarke. You can follow their adventures in Spain and Morocco here (Chuck and Nancy) and here (Clarke and Brenda). Mallorca (also Majorca) is one of the Balearic Islands off the east coast of Spain (35 minute plane ride from Barcelona) and the port where we begin our cruise. I have been pleasantly surprised that Mallorca is nothing like I imagined. I had pictures of the Beautiful People in expensive cars and tans but I have seen just regular folks Spanish and otherwise.

We are staying in a neighborhood instead of downtown and are appreciating the quiet! On a quick walk nearby we spotted the first of many lovely tiles.


And, by chance, we lucked onto a really good inexpensive place for dinner, a Turkish restaurant which served amazing food and lots of it. Chuck and Jim tried something which seemed like it would be a pita filled with meat. It was, sort of:

and Nancy and I opted for pizzas. Here is mine - shaved chicken with mushrooms and the stuff in the middle is SOUR CREAM with dill. Really yummy and really rich.

Had we known the size of these dishes we could have split two between the four of us.

Saturday we all got a slow start and had no real objective to the day. This was our one whole day to explore Palma. Jim and I set out on foot to see what we could see with a vague goal of "downtown." After a bit we came to Plaza Espanol where we noticed large air shafts alongside elevators. We decided we had to explore. We took the elevator down and opened onto a HUGE underground transportation plaza where one could catch the bus, train or metro. A quick look at this big map showed that one could go nearly everywhere on the island via public transportation.

We toyed with taking a metro ride to another town but decided to keep walking. Good thing! We encountered a small flea market (more of a charity garage sale) that was packed with people. I was thrilled to find this framed tile in the 50 Euro cent pile:

By this time we had formed a plan to go to the port, which was several miles away. The bus system is extremely civilized and easy to use - even to the point of having a digital read out of how long until the next bus. Soon we were at the waterfront looking out at hundreds of boats of all kinds, and storm clouds.

Just as we walked below this windmill it started to pour, even while the sun was still out.

Luckily, there was a restaurant with outdoor seating under covered gazebos. Our dining Karma was with us today! This restaurant was serving a 3 course "menu" of the day for only 12 Euros and also included a beverage, bread and olives.


After Barcelona this seemed practically free. As our first course we both chose the salad of vegetables. The menu didn't specify any further than that. Oh my, were we in for a treat!

This was an amazing concoction of alternating layers of thick slices of perfectly done eggplant, tomatoes, and roasted red pepper topped with watercress and laying in a bed of olive oil and a paste of sun dried tomatoes dotted with pine nuts. Our 2nd courses were also lovely - Jim had "fajitas" of pork and green and red peppers and I had a large piece of perfectly cooked tuna with potatoes. There was still dessert to come....All the while we were savoring this delightful meal we were entertained by the Spanish family enjoying each others' company at the table next to us. They ordered two kinds of paella and our waiter dished it up for them.

We liked this restaurant, Bar Maritimo, so much that we determined to convince the others to come back in the evening for Nancy's birthday dinner. After spending several hours at lunch the rain was over and we continued our exploration of the water front.

And saw lots of fishing nets out drying.

Palma is so civilized they have the same bicycle system we saw in Barcelona and Madrid - residents pay 50 Euro a year (roughly $75) and have unlimited use of bicycles which are available everywhere.


You just swipe your card and it unlocks a bike. When you get to your destination, you park the bike back into the locks. You can't use the bike for more than 2 hours at a time but then if you wait 10 minutes you can check one out again. These bike stations are everywhere.

And so are the bicycle paths.

We understand many cities in the EU are taking up this style of transportation. What a great incentive to get out of the car!

In Part II we'll see the Gothic Cathedral, the Royal Palace, more Miro and celebrate Nancy's birthday.

Audrey

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Most people come to Barcelona specifically to view the fabulous Gaudi and other moderniste-style architecture.

The moderniste building style is seen everywhere in this city.

Even in these Gaudi-designed light fixtures.


Even before this influential architectural style Barcelona had a flair for beautifying buildings.




As long as I can remember I have wanted to see Gaudi's masterpiece, Sagrada Familia, which he worked on for 40 years until his death in 1926. It is now projected to be completed in 2026.

The first glimpse is truly breathtaking as you get a sense of the breadth and height of this massive cathedral. As we approached it, however, we saw hundreds and hundreds of people packing the sidewalks ringing the cathedral and realized they were in the ticket line. Time to reassess a visit.

If you have followed my blog very long you will know that I don't like crowds and I don't like waiting in line. I do like exploring what is different about each new place I visit, which is how I end up with photos like this one:

Yes! It's a urinal!

And I haven't seen any mention in any of the tourist stuff about this amazing Roy Lichtenstein sculpture at the water front.

It is called "The Face of Barcelona" and was an integral part of Barcelona's waterfront rebirth for the 1992 Olympic Games.

I do love modern art, and especially the work of artist Joan Miro. Like Picasso, Casals and Gaudi, Miro is another native son of Catalonia whose influence is everywhere in the city, including on the ground.

So of course I had to go to the Miro Foundation.

Uh oh.

I didn't realize there was a special retrospective which had just started the previous week. I had worked hard to get to the museum (several metro lines, walking and a taxi) and I really, really wanted to see the Miro stuff, so I did wait in line for about 40 minutes. (When I came out of the museum several hours later there was still a line)

Apparently every child in Barcelona from age 4-7 was also going to the museum that day. However, I persevered and I wasn't disappointed. The show had many paintings from the Guggenheim in NY, among others. Of course I could only photograph outside.

On the way to this museum I had spotted an interesting building which houses CaixaForum (by the way, with a Miro logo, same as on the Caixa bank below).

I had read somewhere that the CaixaForum, a sort of arts educational place, was doing a show on Diaghilev's Ballet Russe. This has been a passion of mine since college when I was deep into the art and music scene of Paris in the 1920s. So, I had to go.

The CaixaForum is in another building with Moderniste touches.

I was so excited when I saw the banner advertising my exhibit.

When I got inside I learned that it was FREE.

Translated from Catalan it means When Art Dances With Music. This was an absolutely amazing exhibit with original ballet posters from the early 1900s, programs, Diaghilev's hotel bill for his suite at a Venice hotel, original scores of music, original costumes from many, many early ballets, original paintings of set designs, original photos of the dancers in their roles, etc. Collaborations of artists such as Picasso, Chanel, Miro, Bakst, Stravinsky, Satie, Cocteau, de Falla, Nijinsky, Massine....Many things were on loan from private collections and from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. I almost swooned when I realized I was within inches of touching the actual costumes from the Rite of Spring, that famous ballet which premiered in Paris in 1913 and caused a riot.

What I hadn't known before this exhibit was that the Ballet Russe had a close relationship with Spain through many performances both in Madrid and here in Barcelona, just a few blocks from where we are staying, at the Teatro Liceo.

I was so amazed by the educational component of this exhibit. Not only is there the visual part of it, which runs through January, but also lectures, concerts, films, discussion groups and family activities. All free. And, this was only one of several exhibits going on at the Forum. If I lived in this city I would certainly come here over and over.

While I was hyperventilating over the Ballet Russe, Jim was having a different sort of day. He explored the fabulous mask shop on our street

and went to the huge park at the end of the street, which houses a lake, the zoo, the science museum, the geology museum, this dragon fountain AND the parliament of Catalonia.


Oh, and a Woolly Mammoth!

I am sad that we have to leave this beautiful city tomorrow as we are heading to Palma de Majorca for a few days before we board our cruise ship.

I am not sorry to have missed the crowds at the Gaudi icons and have thoroughly enjoyed the alternate road I took.



Adios,

Audrey

THE RAIN IN SPAIN....

Yesterday started out a bit overcast but basically a really nice day. After our good success in Madrid with the city bus tour, we bought a two day ticket for Barcelona, as there is so much to see here and it is really spread out. Our second stop was Plaza Catalonia (Placa Catalunya in Catalan, the local language) and the beginning of La Rambla, the famous walking street which is one of several by that name, that goes from this plaza to the water front. Rambla actually means stream in Arabic - this used to be the drainage ditch along the medieval wall.


We got off to see what we could see. We saw lots of tourists and lots of vendors and shysters trying to separate them from their money. However, half way down was a very cool, huge food market, La Boqueria. This is like a Pike Place market with Les Halles thrown in for good measure.


Every possible food group was represented here.

Some of the meats -


(Catalonia is known for these sausages):


Lots of fruit, ready to take away and eat while shopping. This one is called pitaya.

Here's the egg market.


And the cheese market



Whatever kind of shellfish this is, it is quite expensive...about $50/kilo!

The dried fruit and nut section:

Marzipan. I was disappointed that there were no marzipan poodles, a phenomenon I have only ever seen in Heidelberg, Germany.

Rabbit, anyone?

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to this market, including a great conversation with a vendor about Ecuador - she is Israeli and married to a man from Guayaquil (but hasn't yet made it to Cuenca). Here's what we tried at her stall:


Back on Las Ramblas, this is about the last photo I was able to take in sunlight.

As we walked toward the port the sky got darker and darker.


Here's Columbus again, who stands near Barcelona's waterfront. This is reputed to be the biggest statue of him in the world and is erected on the spot where he brought the goods back to Ferdinand and Isabella. It makes a good story anyway.


It finally started to rain BIG DROPS so we hopped back on the city tour bus. Unfortunately the only seats available were on top. The bus did have a vinyl cover but it was ineffectual; every time we turned a corner, all the water would whoosh off the top of it onto the person (me) sitting in the outside seat.

Before long there was a full blown thunder and lightening storm underway.

It was quite some time before we were able to find seats on the inside of the bus and tempers were getting frayed as everyone was wet and grumpy. Eventually we made it back to a location where we could make a run for it between squalls without getting completely soaked. The whole rest of the day and even through the night there were torrential rains, thunder and lightening. I finally succumbed to a pathetic umbrella vendor who was even more of a drowned rat than I was.

Next, a sunny day! and more fabulous architecture (Gaudi and others) in Barcelona.

Audrey