Last full day in Palma

When we would walk toward the Cathedral we could see what looked like a fortress up on the hill. Looking it up, it was called Bellver Castle, a 1300s castle built by King Jaime II of Mallorca, used as a prison for two centuries but now housing a History Museum. It also apparently had a breathtaking view of Palma. We looked at going there by public bus but we couldn't really understand the directions. Plus, apparently the bus let you off at the bottom of the hill and it was a 15-minute climb to get to the Castle. So we opted to pay for the red Hop On, Hop Off double decker bus that we had seen around Palma for the past few days. And we were quite glad we did. We rode the whole route and saw some great Palma neighborhoods as well as getting off at two places--Puebla Espanol and the Castle--that were so interesting to visit.

We actually got off at the Puebla Espanol by mistake, thinking it was the Castle but golly it was gorgeous. I haven't been able to find much information about it on the Internet so really don't know what it is about. To me, it is like a living museum.

Absolutely no one around. So beautiful and quiet.

After wandering around for about 45 minutes, another red bus came and we hopped on and this time DID make it to the Castle. Which, again, was so wonderful (really need to come up with another adjective.) The Museum was very interesting, all about the succeeding settlements, influence of the Arabs, the Spanish, modern challenges for Palma, balancing tourism with maintaining its beauty.

And that was the end of our last full day in Palma. Another walk through its magical evening though.

Comments

Life on board the Queen Mary

Passenger's log on the Queen Mary 2: Dec 9th - First Day at Sea Didn't sleep well--think it was the soused mackerel at dinner. Anyway, R and I woke up at about 6:00 am and discussed the order of the day. Quite the swell outside and I can feel the roll of the ship. (No seasickness thank goodness!) Despite the mackerel, I was hungry so we went to King's Court at 6:30 a.m. Buffet with loads of choice of course. We sat in an alcove looking out at the ocean. Our server was from Croatia, Slavan. I asked him my burning question of the day--why did we get a free bottle of wine but a regular bottle of Diet Coke cost $3.75? Diet Pepsi is $1.00 less. Fruit juices are free on tap. Coffee, tea, milk, ditto. But you have to pay for soft drinks. Very odd. Slavan says it is because Cunard can't get a good contract with Coke. Hmmm.... our local School District back in Sierra Vista can negotiate .50 a can for the soda machines in the teachers' lounges but Cunard has to cha...

Sunday in Richmond Park & Memories

One of the reasons I came back to London after Ireland was to keep a date with my cousin Elizabeth: a Sunday morning walk in Richmond Park. When I moved to England in May of 1978, I rented a room in a house near Richmond Park. I'd heard of the room through a colleague at McGill University's Human Resources Department, where I was working as a Senior Clerk. Montreal had become a bit difficult for me to be in owing to a twice-broken heart and a feeling I wasn't going anywhere at McGill. It seemed like an omen, then, on the plane returning from South Africa in January of 1978--I keep promising to write about that--that I came across an article in a magazine about young Canadians living in London. I'd always loved the idea of being in London what with growing up on a diet of British movies and then all of the articles about Swinging London in the 1960s/early 1970s. By the time I arrived at Mirabel Airport, I had the perfect antidote to my wounded pride over South...

Duckett's Grove/Castle, Co. Carlow

Golly I am tired tonight! We had a really busy day. We went into Carlow town to return a pair of sweatpants that R. bought and didn't like. I also went to the Bank of Ireland and started up my bank account. They do things very differently here than in Sierra Vista. There are no tellers for simple deposits or withdrawals; the bank branch in Carlow consists of four ATM machines and one international exchange cashier. And three personal bankers who are extremely helpful. I discovered that you don't make a deposit, you make a lodgment. Weird, eh? We went to Tesco's after the bank to get our every-other-day food shopping done. Small refrigerators--have to be careful in buying. We also bought some new "orthopedic" pillows that will hopefully help our neck issues. Bought a couple of pre-made sandwiches and ate them in the car when we parked at Duckett's Grove. Duckett's Grove is a ruined 19th century great house whose owners kept redesigning the original house ...

valeriesbookofme

Search This Blog