Spanish Life, Island Edition

LOCATION:

Mallorca, Spain

 

About twelve hours after I had touched down in Barcelona, I was off again! Erin had planned a cool weekend trip to the island of Mallorca, about a 45 minute flight from Barcelona. When we got there, I was super excited to see ocean and sunshine. Not only was Mallorca beautiful, this is probably the first time in a month I was able to go outside without a jacket! So happy!

Blue sky, blue water, so nice!

 

Stepping out to get a little closer to the water.

We stayed in the town of Palma, and our first stop was its massive cathedral. The cathedral was finished in 1601, but took almost 400 years to build! Inside, it has an altar canopy built by Gaudi, one of the world's largest rose windows, and a relatively new (2007) chapel with a very modern and surrealist depiction of the miracle of loaves and fishes.

It is huge!

One of the walls of the chapel, see the fishes?

Look at the sun coming through the window!

So this is what sun does for stained glass.

 

An artist I was not familiar with prior to Mallorca was Joan Miro, though he is one of Erin's favorites. He spent the last few years of his life on the island, and his influence can be seen in lots of places around the various island towns. We stopped in the modern art museum in Palma to check out some of his work, and also had fun goofing around with the seemingly endless array of outdoor sculpture.

A Miro drawing. Looks simple, but he apparently took a very long time with each piece.

A roly-poly? A football helmet?

Oh no Erin, watch out for that falling house!

My favorite thing about Mallorca so far? Sunshine!!

 

The next day we were excited to take the train to the other side of the island to visit a town called Soller. We had heard there was great hiking, so off we went. The weather was unfortunately not as cooperative on day two, so our hiking consisted of walking around the town and taking a tram to the little port. Though we were cold, we tried to make the best of it! And the train ride over was pretty cool - it was on a 100 year old wooden train.

Erin decides to drive the train!

The port was charming, but so cold!

Finally a break in the clouds!

The next morning we were excited to see the sun back out, so decided to check out the round Caste de Bellver. After climbing the 645,856 steps (I may have lost count and over-estimated a little, but it was a lot!) we were rewarded with stunning views of Palma, the Mediterranean, and the circular castle itself. There was also a fun little street fair happening up there, with vendors of all kinds, and lots of Spanish music and dancing.

One of the only round castles in Europe!

A Mallorcan specialty - a sweet bread called an Ensaimada.

 

Fresh shaved ham from the fair!

 

This unexpected side trip was really fun. I was so excited to be in sunshine and warmth again, and the slow island pace was nice after the busy cities I have been in over the last week. And though traveling solo was fine for a while, it was great to have company again and Erin is an awesome travel buddy! Now it's back to Barcelona for a few days to explore!

 

 

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