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
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