Monday, October 24, 2011

Mallorca Without a Map Part III

Here it is, the long awaited conclusion to my trip to Mallorca, which feels like it was ages ago now.

So. Sunday. Most importantly about Sunday, it was finally sunny! Finally Palma looked like what I thought it would. I got up early to go to mass at the cathedral, which was about the most beautiful thing that's ever happened. It was of course entirely in Spanish, but the only other Catholic mass I've been to was also in Spanish, so... And I actually followed most of what was going on, I think. The organ music was incredible, the atmosphere was perfect, and the stained glass lighting was so incredible. All buildings should have stained glass and face east. I don't really know how to put the rest of it into words.

After the cathedral I went to the Arab baths, because my little tourist guide that I acquired the day before said they were the only remaining example of Muslim architecture in Palma. Well, they turned out to be two little dark rooms that weren't very interesting or different in any major way I could tell, but the gardens outside them were pretty and I sat there for a while and enjoyed the fresh smells. It actually smelled a little like my grandpa's garden. Maybe there was dill somewhere?

By the time I left the baths I was really hungry, so I sought out a place to have breakfast, which was coffee and a croissant as usual. (I have a picture of this somewhere but I'm writing this blog at school, where I do not have my pictures.) After breakfast I made a quick stop at Caixa Forum, which is a free museum (there's one in Madrid, too) but it was kinda lame. There were only two exhibitions open, and neither of them interested me very much. But it was in an old hotel, so the building was kind of interesting.

From there I took the bus to the Miró museum, which was really cool. There was a lot of his work there, and a sculpture garden which was pretty, and I got to see his studio and his house. I don't think any of his better known works are there, but there were a lot of little drawings and paintings with bright colors and funny figures.

I spent a couple hours in the museum, but then the sun was calling me to the beach. I had brought my bathing suit in my bag, so I changed clothes and headed to the beach, Cala Major, one of the best beaches in Mallorca according to my guide. And also in between the Miró museum and my hostel. There will of course be pictures of the beach in an upcoming post: I've never seen such clear water. I swam out past where I could stand and could still see the bottom. The beaches were also so clean, and I spent some time just laying in the sun and reading Harry Potter (and drinking my giant 1.5 litre bottle of water that I bought for 70 cents). It was also fun to watch kids playing with families. After about two hours though I was getting hot and figured I should try to avoid getting really sunburned, so I went back to the hostel to shower before finding food.

By the time I was looking for lunch, it was around 5 pm, and everything was closed or only serving drinks. It didn't help that it was Sunday, when everything is closed anyway. I couldn't even buy something from a grocery store. I ended up eating some mediocre but reasonably priced food at a little place across the street from the hostel. Later I went for another walk to watch the sun set, but then went back to the hostel, made sure I was all packed up, and went to bed early since I knew I had an early morning.

Monday morning I was up and out before the sun. I took the bus to the airport and got to see the sun rising a bit over the sea from the bus. Quick breakfast at the airport, quick flight back to Madrid, and then straight to class and on with life... (Pictures soon to come, I hope, but I'm in the middle of midterms right now, which is really confusing since I've never really had midterms.)

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