48 hours in Palma de Mallorca
DAY 1
10:00 TO HONOR THE TOPICS
Go salivating until Sea Park can generate the same foreigner guilt as anxiously scampering to Pisa's Piazza del Duomo to see the famous Leaning Tower. But, in the end, the great monument of the city it is a necessary obligation that has much more than the gothic gallantry which it boasts on the outside. However, to begin with, saying good morning with the city contemplating how the sun is roasting the skin of this temple in shades is not a bad plan. Furthermore, it friendly, approachable, photogenic And till terracer that remained in this park make it a perfect companion for this morning idyll before climbing the stairs and crossing yourself with emotion.
Parque de la Mar, impossible not to go through one of the emblems of the city
Saint Mary's Cathedral It is one of those that convert an atheist and surprise even the most 'gamer'. Its spaciousness, the Mediterranean light and the delusions that the different construction stages left inside make it an experience incapable of being simulated with virtual reality. On the tour, accompanied by an audio guide that never borders on pedantry, cheerful facts are learned such as the fact that the rose window is the largest of any Gothic cathedral in the world or that Gaudí was to blame for removing the choir and for it to arrive modernism through bars, lamps and even a canopy with which to challenge the limits of the aesthetic conservatism of the clergy. Something that, on the other hand, raised to the maximum power Miquel Barceló in the chapel of the Santísimo , where a ceramic skin covers everything and, incidentally, unleashes a cavalcade of entertaining and overwhelming expressionist and religious allegories.
It is inevitable not to run into, when leaving, the Almudaina Royal Palace . Entering its courtyards is, on the one hand, cursing the Christian occupation and the destruction of the old Arab fortification, but, on the other, enjoy the delusions of their little caliphs who reached their rooms by boat thanks to an arm that connected them to the sea. Today it is an idyllic pond which, next to the wall and the King's Garden make up distant and exotic exteriors. Before leaving this complex behind, it is worth strolling through the old battlements that today enclose the old town and have become an entertaining walk with which enjoy the views, the sea and the beautiful gothic caramel.
Almudaina Royal Palace
The sea can be enjoyed in all its extension and grandiloquence walking through the port, envying the large yachts that moor in the royal club and remembering the ancient sailors who they used the gothic market to sell and buy the fish, even though today it seems a bit soulless.
13:30 PASSION FOR THE MARKETS
If you ask any Majorcan what is the last great novelty that they would recommend in the city, that is the fever for the markets. Following the example of other cities, these spaces have been given over to gastronomy rather than to buying and selling, but without ever losing the industrial aesthetic. While the one in Santa Catalina still retains its itinerant character (although very refined) and allows the double enjoyment of shopping and trying out, the one in San Juan is the perfect example of a second chance. Reopened in 2015, and with more than 110 years in its walls , this space responds to the new wave of gastronomic markets in which there are restaurants, spaces for events and showcookings, terraces and stalls where you can buy food that is later tasted in long benches.
It has not lost its traveling character
16:30 CENTRAL FINDINGS
The old town It is much more than the beautiful façade that forms the cathedral, the walls and the Almudaina Palace. In fact, behind it expands a labyrinth of alleys that are not far from being a medina, although its premises are modern and international. From the imaginary of One thousand and One Nights conserves the Arab baths, while the rest of the tour through the neighborhood that guards the Avenues (old layout of the wall) pecks at all styles. In addition to more or less prominent churches and placetuelas where the sun and sundays rule , there is an architectural feature that surprises at every turn. Playgrounds They have always been the best showcase of Majorcan posture throughout history. A symbol of power, the central part of the mansions maintains its gallantry and, in some cases, even its original appearance.
Treat yourself to a stroll through the romantic center
In Can Savellà street you can look through the cracks and the bars to find uncorrupted examples and attend a class on how to differentiate between Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque features in civil architecture. Before traveling a few centuries, the impressive Town Hall requires a couple of minutes of pinpoint observation thanks to its explosion of Renaissance beauty in which Palma is closer to Italy than to the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, for a few months, ** an organized tour allows you to get to know the consistory inside in what is a mixture of political voyeurism and art history **.
Modernism defines another route to advance in time . Here the style from Barcelona at the beginning of the 20th century had its small branch and today it justifies that the steps are guided to buildings such as the Gran Hotel (current Caixa Fórum), the Can Casasayas twins or the old warehouses El Águila . And already in the lower part, the Paseo del Born alternates the best-known shops with buildings in which it is worth getting lost, such as the Casal Solleric house of culture, an old Majorcan palace in which today it is exhibited, sold and claims the current creation or the splendid store of everything that is Rialto Living, in which products of all kinds are exhibited in a setting, this time, incomparable.
The Grand Hotel building
19:00 THE HOTEL BOOM IN THE OLD TOWN
In few cities looking for a hotel (or, simply, browsing through them with your eyes out) is as stimulating as in Palma de Mallorca . Especially in the oldest part, the one that did not reach the low cost tourist voracity of other places and where the palaces and mansions are now taken over by boutique hotels in which it is worth retiring for a week. In fact, its main audience is those who in the 70s and 80s spent their youth cuddling in the sand and who today seek the tranquility of a golden retirement with a seal 5 *****. In this hotel safari It is inevitable to enjoy the rooftops of the pioneer, Ca Sa Galesa , a regal, somewhat labyrinthine establishment that occupies several buildings and whose rooms have the name of a composer. The Hotel Cort cannot be ignored either, where the barcelomodernismo of its common areas is overshadowed by rooms that look like ships stranded on land . From the highest suites, you can contemplate the checkerboard of terraces and roofs that this fantastic hotel draws from the top.
In the case of Posada Terra Santa, its eighth wonder is making the guest live with a 16th century palace that does not distill the past, but is based on it to combine its future thanks to a risky but tremendously beautiful design. In Can Cera , its patio seems like the best place to spend a lifetime while in the Hotel Sant Francesc you continue to enjoy the boastful neoclassical ostentation of the 19th century with the greatest comforts and a predilection for contemporary art and design that haggle over any eclectic aberration.
Its roof terrace, reason enough to stay here
22:00 SANTA CATALINA, YOU ARE FULL OF GRACE
the neighborhood of Saint Catherine transforms its seafaring essence into a scoundrel at sunset. Without becoming a red light district, it does summon the new generations who seek to dine in a cosmopolitan way and indulge in revelry. Hence, it has the same queues as Malasaña or El Born on a Saturday night, as well as similar gastronomic arguments. The hamburgers of the Gin Burger, the Canarian and Majorcan pairings of the Wine Industry, the traditions of It's Mercat and the trips to other latitudes that suppose the A Casa Mía, the Bindi or the fantastic Sumaq are added to some modern classics like the Duke or the Vietnam Café to open up a wide and tasty range of possibilities. And in no time, the streets are filled with marching and joints appear out of nowhere , especially in the area closest to the sea.
Views of the cathedral from the Santa Catalina neighborhood
DAY TWO
**09:00 ENSAIMADA AT CAN JOAN DE S'AIGO **
Although he has built his fame thanks to the Sunday snacks , this classic establishment is a mandatory stop to start a day with strength. His nineteenth-century appearance is nothing more than props when his pasta, ensaimadas, coffee and ice cream . Everything else doesn't matter, even if you're out in a city that's waiting.
10:00 HEADING TO CALA MAJOR
There are two main reasons to leave behind the city and the port and reach this ledge that closes the bay. On the one hand, there is the curiosity to know what the famous Marivent Palace where the Royal family spends their August , a set that, by the way, should be exhibited when the Bourbons do not inhabit it, to the delight of all. On the other, there is the small Joan Miró theme park made up of a recently opened hotel and the Pilar i Joan Miró Foundation.
Whether or not you are an absolute fan of the great exponent of abstract art in Spain, entering this complex serves to approach his work in a different way and capture the painter's relationship with the island. In addition, the museum designed by Moneo and its games of forms and illuminations make contemplating paintings a more joyful and intelligent experience. To this we must add that the ticket includes knowing the artist's two workshops, also on the premises. The first is the large workshop where he painted and, mythomania aside, it is a building Bauhaus-Mediterranean of one of those architects forgotten by school books: Josep Lluís Sert. In a single façade, that of primary colors is understood, of less is more and of forms as a summary of the whole. The second is Son Boter, a farmhouse in which he looked sculpted and on whose walls doodles and sketches can still be seen.
Majorcan ensaimada
13:00. FORTIFICATIONS FOR EVERYONE
From the top of Cala Major you can access, without too much effort, to Bellver Castle from where to conquer the city and get the best views. But this construction is much more than a viewpoint. Its circular plant is a very photogenic and surprising rarity while inside, the history of the city is told in a more or less entertaining way. Upon returning to civilization there is another fortress that has been reinvented for tourism and culture. Es Baluard is, today, an essential visit. Its merit lies in mixing contemporary art with boulders and, incidentally, being popular thanks to a restaurant and a terrace where it is very difficult not to believe the Jep Gambardella de Palma . In addition, the cultural center that hides between its ribs, with works from various local private collections, puts the icing on the cake of what seemed like another scramble between walls.
3:00 p.m. MALLORCAN FAST FOOD
If you have to stock up quickly and effectively, it's best to surrender to the success you've achieved. reboost with its magic formula of simple dishes of local cuisine. In his letter the cookies shine with local sausage, hamburgers with sobrasada and homemade desserts . A good binge of Mallorcan flavors but with the most popular and youthful atmosphere and recipes.
Bellver Castle
16:30 MORE CONTEMPORARY ART
Take the test. Even if you go to the oldest establishment or hotel on the whole island, you will always find the replica of a miró or similar decorating a moth-eaten room. Here the new creative language is assimilated and is even classic, depending on how you look at it. The person responsible for this openness was always trade and insularity, with a sea that defends it from the exaggeratedly archaic and that brings all the new avant-gardes both from the Peninsula and from Italy and France. That is why the city today is an infinite trail of foundations and museums that collect the art of recent decades. Spaces such as the Juan March Foundation, the Bartolomé March Servera Foundation or the Barceló Foundation exhibit their most representative works in old buildings, proposing a visit that combines Arab wanderings with the most contemporary and surprising languages.
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Pilar and Joan Miro Foundation