Mallorca - Day 2
Sóller not only has an old tram going to the port, but it is also served by old trains, linking the town to Palma, the island's capital.
We had an early breakfast in the hotel's garden, and then used the garden door to get to the station (one could not think about the naughty stationmaster returning to work after his 'illicit' liaison!), where we caught the 9 am train.
The trains are not very frequent, and the ride not particularly fast, but, well, it's all quite atmospheric.
There are a few short tunnels and a long one under the mountains before emerging on the flatter south of the island.
And we enjoyed some nice views.
In Palma we did quite a bit of walking and visited a number of churches, the town hall, the cathedral and the royal palace.
These rose windows were in the first church we visited (San Miguel?)
There were some really interesting Modernista buildings such as these ones:
(I thought it very appropriate with being now a 'clinica dental'!)
The town hall is made up of 2 buildings, one from the Renaissance and one neo-Gothic (not visible in these pictures).
Inside the hall, there are some 'giants and big heads' which are taken out to dance in the square during some public holidays:
Some look much modern than the others:
After a comfort stop, we visited two Gothic churches (Santa Eulalia and the Basilica de Sant Francesc) and attempted a 3rd one (the church of the Knights Templar) but it was shut.
Santa Eulalia:
A narrow lane which had just been washed
along which there were some large palaces with beautiful courtyards:
We spent quite a bit of time visiting Sant Francesc and its cloisters.
In front of the basilica, there's a statue of Fray Junipero Serra with an 'Indian': Junipero Serra founded the mission in San Diego (and many others in California) and was a native of Mallorca.
(I recall that when we were visiting the Mission of San Diego de Alcalá back in February I spotted a map of Mallorca in the museum and thought that we were going to be there for Adrian's birthday).
The next stop were the old Arab Baths which also had a small but very agreable garden:
Next on our itinerary were La Seu (the Cathedral) and the Royal Palace of La Almudaina. The former was built on top of a mosque and the latter started its life as an Arab fortress.
It was interesting to see some old pictures later during our stay that showed La Seu being right by the sea. Now there is a wide road (part of the motorway, I believe) between them, but in other to soften the impact they built the Parc de la Mar, so that the cathedral can still be reflected in a pool of water.
Before tackling these two large buildings we had a spot of lunch in a cafe' opposite them and across the 'lake'. We had burgers with a shared portion of chips which gave us some energy to walk up the city walls to the cathedral.
La Seu is a superb building, and it has one of the highest naves of all Gothic cathedrals, and an enormous rose window made up of 1,236 pieces of glass (no, I didn't count them!)
Antoni Gaudí was involved in some restoration works in the early 20th century and created a large canopy over the main altar.
(It must be spectacular when the sun shines through it in the morning).
A modern chapel:
(The canopy)
The Royal Palace was a bit of a disappointment.
You couldn't take pictures inside (apart from the courtyard and on the terraces) and you felt that you were being watched all the time.
If I wrote a guidebook, I'd say "save it for a rainy day, and if you don't have anything better to do".
Our train back to Sóller was at 7:30 pm, so we decided to have tapas at an old bakery-cum-cafe' before
All very nice apart from the annoying flies!
As we were a bit tired, we took a taxi to the station: 5 euros well spent!
The train was about 15 minutes late but it was quiet (it was certainly a good idea to do the train journeys in the opposite direction compared to most tourists).
We even managed to sit in the comfy 1st class carriage:
Back in Sóller we had time for an ice-cream
It was a full day but very enjoyable.
We had an early breakfast in the hotel's garden, and then used the garden door to get to the station (one could not think about the naughty stationmaster returning to work after his 'illicit' liaison!), where we caught the 9 am train.
The trains are not very frequent, and the ride not particularly fast, but, well, it's all quite atmospheric.
There are a few short tunnels and a long one under the mountains before emerging on the flatter south of the island.
And we enjoyed some nice views.
In Palma we did quite a bit of walking and visited a number of churches, the town hall, the cathedral and the royal palace.
These rose windows were in the first church we visited (San Miguel?)
There were some really interesting Modernista buildings such as these ones:
(I thought it very appropriate with being now a 'clinica dental'!)
The town hall is made up of 2 buildings, one from the Renaissance and one neo-Gothic (not visible in these pictures).
Inside the hall, there are some 'giants and big heads' which are taken out to dance in the square during some public holidays:
Some look much modern than the others:
After a comfort stop, we visited two Gothic churches (Santa Eulalia and the Basilica de Sant Francesc) and attempted a 3rd one (the church of the Knights Templar) but it was shut.
Santa Eulalia:
A narrow lane which had just been washed
along which there were some large palaces with beautiful courtyards:
We spent quite a bit of time visiting Sant Francesc and its cloisters.
In front of the basilica, there's a statue of Fray Junipero Serra with an 'Indian': Junipero Serra founded the mission in San Diego (and many others in California) and was a native of Mallorca.
(I recall that when we were visiting the Mission of San Diego de Alcalá back in February I spotted a map of Mallorca in the museum and thought that we were going to be there for Adrian's birthday).
The next stop were the old Arab Baths which also had a small but very agreable garden:
Next on our itinerary were La Seu (the Cathedral) and the Royal Palace of La Almudaina. The former was built on top of a mosque and the latter started its life as an Arab fortress.
It was interesting to see some old pictures later during our stay that showed La Seu being right by the sea. Now there is a wide road (part of the motorway, I believe) between them, but in other to soften the impact they built the Parc de la Mar, so that the cathedral can still be reflected in a pool of water.
Before tackling these two large buildings we had a spot of lunch in a cafe' opposite them and across the 'lake'. We had burgers with a shared portion of chips which gave us some energy to walk up the city walls to the cathedral.
La Seu is a superb building, and it has one of the highest naves of all Gothic cathedrals, and an enormous rose window made up of 1,236 pieces of glass (no, I didn't count them!)
Antoni Gaudí was involved in some restoration works in the early 20th century and created a large canopy over the main altar.
(It must be spectacular when the sun shines through it in the morning).
A modern chapel:
(The canopy)
The Royal Palace was a bit of a disappointment.
You couldn't take pictures inside (apart from the courtyard and on the terraces) and you felt that you were being watched all the time.
If I wrote a guidebook, I'd say "save it for a rainy day, and if you don't have anything better to do".
Our train back to Sóller was at 7:30 pm, so we decided to have tapas at an old bakery-cum-cafe' before
All very nice apart from the annoying flies!
As we were a bit tired, we took a taxi to the station: 5 euros well spent!
The train was about 15 minutes late but it was quiet (it was certainly a good idea to do the train journeys in the opposite direction compared to most tourists).
We even managed to sit in the comfy 1st class carriage:
Back in Sóller we had time for an ice-cream
It was a full day but very enjoyable.