Week 17 (Sidería and Palma de Mallorca)
Trip Start
Aug 21, 2010
1
18
Trip End
Dec 22, 2010
Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain
Monday, December 20, 2010
Friday afternoon I took the bus to Bilbao to catch my flight to Palma de Mallorca. I arrived around 7pm at my hotel, unpacked, and went downstairs for dinner (dinner and breakfast included). I have never had food so bland. It wasn''t terrible, just bland. But, then again, I guess I can't complain for flight+3 nights at a 3 star hotel that includes breakfast and dinner for $204! I relaxed, read a little, and went to bed. Saturday morning I took the bus into the city (my hotel was 10km outside but the bus was easy) and walked around the older part of Palma. I bought some pearl earrings for 30 euro but not more than a few hours later, while shopping, I realized that I must have set the bag down while looking at clothes/jewelry/etc and someone must have sneakily taken it! Ugh! FUCK. I gave the store my number and went around to a few other stores that I had been in and did the same. No luck. I even went back to the store that I bought it from (the store has notable red bags) but no one had turned it in. Oh well, after 4 months in Europe if that is the worst that has happened I really can't be too angry. I made my way to the Moorish baths and to a few cathedrals. The baths are pretty small but the cathedrals are beautiful! Gaudí even worked on a part of the main one in the early 1900's-you can definitely tell! I then went to the Palau L'Almudania (Palace)-it was nice but not much compared to the amazing palace in Madrid. For lunch I stopped at [+]natural (más/more natural). They have pastas and salads and you can also create your own. I had a delicious pasta salad that had pesto sauce, olives, mushrooms, chicken, and goat cheese! By late afternoon I was pretty tired from walking all day (I had started my Saturday adventure at 945am!). I stayed in the city, exploring, wandering, and window-shopping until the Christmas lights were turned on-how pretty! On my way back to the bus stop I passed a churrería (churro place) that I had seen earlier and I caved and got a...wait...not just a churro but a CREAM FILLED CHURRO! Wow, YUM! I headed back to the hotel, had a bland dinner (salt and pepper REALLY help!), relaxed/read my book and then went to bed. I finished reading Boy in the Striped Pajamas (Niño con el pijamas de rayas) in Spanish-I liked it but very sad, an easy read with not too much vocab that I didn't know.
Sunday I slept in a little and headed out around 10:30. Unfortunately it was raining but it didn't last long. I took the bus to the other side of town to go to the Miró museum. It took a while to find it but with directions from nice locals, I found it. Sunday the 19th was the anniversary of the Miró foundation so admission was free (YAY). The building was designed by famous Spanish architect, Rafael Moneo (I studied him in my art class and wrote my final paper on him, oh, the final paper was 2.5 pages double spaced). The inside is very nicely designed and I liked this Miró museum much more than I that one in Barcelona with regard to the work of Miró that are displayed. I then took the bus back to the center and, uh oh, left my umbrella on the bus!!! I don't think I have ever really "lost" anything in my life, usually it is just "undiscovered" in my room! I'm just going to blame all the smoke in Europe (aka Spain) and conclude that it 1) makes me do stupid things, 2) makes me forgetful, and/or 3) is giving me old age/Alzheimer's...take your pick. After that I decided to do one of those tacky "hop on, hop off" bus tours (it was the ONLY way to get up to the castle other than taking a taxi). Before the castle, I decided to hop off at "Poble Español", Spanish Village/Town. There is one like this in Barcelona but I didn't go when I was there. The "town" was built in the 70's and was an architect's idea: build a "fake town" that has buildings and architecture from all over Spain. I paid 4 euro and I want my money back! It was cheesy and weird, especially since I have seen a lot of the "real" places. It was a little creepy and somewhat like Disneyland, but deserted. Oh, and there were weird pop songs being played but they were done "gregorian chant-style." After that I got on the very next bus up to the castle. The castle is one of the few round castles in Spain and was used as a prison for a while-you can see the etchings made by prisoners. From the castle there is an amazing view of Palma! After that I took the tour bus back into the city and got something to eat, a very very late lunch at 5pm. I stopped by a bar and had a caña (beer) and some sauteed mushrooms, just something to tide me over for a few hours. I again stayed in the city until the Christmas lights were turned on and then took the bus back to the hotel, had some food, relaxed, and watched BBC.
I woke up at 6am and took a taxi to the airport at 630 for my 805 flight. Oye, it only took 8 minutes to get to the airport, I could have slept in a little! Flight to Bilbao, bus to San Sebastian. I then closed my bank account and then went to the other side of the city to take some pictures of the Peine del Viento statues by the ocean. I then walked around the city for a while, doing some last minutes souvenir shopping and then headed back to my apartment and started packing. PACKING IS HORRIBLE. Tuesday is supposed to rain so I'll probably just hang out and pack/clean. I had a list of things to do in San Sebastian before I left and they're all checked off! I'll be taking the 5am bus to Bilbao (oh joy) with Jane (who I live with) and another girl from the program and I'll be back at SFO at 9:30pm Tuesday..YAY. looking forward to being home.
**After the Moors had lived on Mallorca for quite some time, the Catalonians took over; Catalan is one of the official languages on the island, I didn't hear much of it but all the signs and menus are in both Spanish and Catalan. Bellver Castle was the first circular castle in all of Europe. La Seu cathedral was built on top of a mosque and the water next to it is called "ocean/sea park" and is a man made inlet so the cathedral is the only cathedral in the world that is reflected in the ocean.
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Looking forward to seeing you in a day or so!