| WHAT
TO SEE IN PALMA Contents: Banys Arabs (Arab Baths) - Basilica de Sant Francesc - Castell de Bellver - Colleccio March - Fundacio la Caixa - La Llotja - Mercat Olivar - Museu Diocesa - Museu de Mallorca - Palau de l' Almudaina - Parc de la Mar - Passeig des Born - Poble Espanyol (Spanish Village) - La Seu (Palma Cathedral). |
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BANYS ARABS(ARAB
BATHS) **  These 10th century
baths are virtually all that remain of the Arab city of Medina Mayurqa. They were probably
part of a nobleman's house and are similar to those found in other Islamic cities. The
tepidarium has a dome in the shape of a half orange, with 25 round shafts for sun light,
supported by a dozen columns. Notice how each of the columns is different - they were
probably salvaged from the ruins of various Roman buildings, an early example of
recycling. Hammams were meeting-places as well as wash-houses, and the courtyard with its
cactus, palm and orange trees would have made a pleasant place to cool off after a hot
bath. The facade of this 13th century church (remodelled
after it was struck by lightning in the 17th century) is typically Mallorcan - a massive,
forbidding sandstone wall with a delicately carved postal and a rose window at the centre.
You enter through peaceful Gothic cloisters with orange and lemon trees and a well at the
centre. Inside the church is the tomb of Ramon Llull (1235-1316), the Catalan mystic who
became a hermit following a failed seduction attempt and was later stoned to death
attempting to convert Muslims in Tunisia. His statue can be seen on the Palma seafront;
outside the basilica is a statue of another famous Mallorcan missionary, Fray Junipero
Serra, who once lived in the monastery here. The streets behind the church, once home to
jewellers and Jewish traders, are now run down and seedy and best avoided after dark. This small collection of 20th century Spanish art
belonged to the Mallorcan banker Joan March, once one of the world's richest men. There
are just 36 pieces, each by a different artist, including Picasso, Dali and Miro. Some of
the exhibits are the sort of thing that give modern art a bad name, but do go with an open
mind. The Gran Hotel was palma's first luxury hotel when
it opened in 1903. Designed by the Catalan architect Lluis Domenech i Montaner, it was the
building which began the craze for modernists (art nouveau) architecture in the city.
Restored by the Fundacio la Caixa and reopened in 1993, it is now an art gallery featuring
changing exhibitions and a permanent display of paintings by Hermen Anglada-Camarasa, the
founder of the 'Pollenca school' on the ground floor there is a bookshop and a trendy
cafe-bar. With twin turrets and an angel over the door, this
15th century seafront building looks half-castle, half-church. In fact it is neither. It
was designed by Guillem Sagrera (the architect of the cathedral's Portal del Mirador) as
the city's exchange. Stand among the Spiralling pillars, gaze up at the rib vaulting, and
try to imagine the merchants of 500 years ago haggling over silk, spices and silver.
Nowadays La Llotja is a cultural centre, hosting temporary exhibitions.
This small museum of religious and historical
antefacts is based in a wing of the former episcopal palace tucked behind the cathedral.
Among the paintings, pulpits and prayer books are splendid Arab tapestries, a collection
of ceramics spanning five centuries and a 17th century painting of baby Jesus carrying a
cross. Look out for the portrait of St George (Sant Jordi) with meddieval Palma in the
background. Billed as Mallorca's most important museum, this
undoubtedly contains some fascinating exhibits but the displays lack imaginaton and it is
difficult to get excited about bits of stone in glass cases if you do not understand the
captions Talaiotic and Roman remains are followed by Moorish ceramics and Christian art,
providing a quick overview of Mallorcan history. It's worth the entrance fee just to see
the building, a 17th-century palace built on the foundations of one of Mallorca's earliest
Arab houses. A royal palace has stood on this site since the
Muslim walis (governors) built their alcazar soon after the Arab conquest. It was
convected into Gothic style under Jaume II, but elements of Islamic architecture remain -
like the Moorish arches seen from the seafront, lit up at night like a row of lanterns.
The courtyard, laid out in 1309 and flanked by palm trees, is at its best in late
afternoon when the sun falls on the cathedral towers overhead. Just off the courtyard is
the royal chapel, Capella de Santa Ana. Until the 1960s the sea reached up to the city
walls, providing the perfect reflection for the cathedral. When the building of a new road
changed all that, an artificial lake was constructed to reproduce the effect. The park
around the lake is now a popular weekend and summer spot, with several cafes, outdoor
concerts, a mural donated by Joan Miro and an art gallery in the vaults of the old city
walls. Sit beneath the palm trees gazing up at the cathedral and try to imagine the
travellers of days gone by arriving at this same spot from the sea by boat. For more than a century this short, tree-lined
promenade has been at the heart of city life; it has witnessed festas, demonstrations and
countless generations of families enjoying an evening stroll. During the Franco era it was
renamed after the dictator, but everyone still called it 'the Born'. Come here to take the
pulse of Palma from a seat at a pavement cafe - Bar Bosch, near the top of the Born in
Placa Rei Joan Carles I, is the traditional place. Near here is Ca'n Solleric, a modern
art gallery which opened in 1995 in a converted mansion. Spain gets the theme-park treatment at this
'village' in the outskirts of Palma, where reproductions of famous buildings from Cordoba,
Toledo and Madrid are gathered together with typical houses from the Spanish regions. You
can eat Spanish food in the Plaza Mayor (Spanish spellings here) or sit outside a cafe
watching the tourists buy pearls and souvenirs at the village shops. A visit here gives
you a whistle-stop tour of Spanish architecture, showing its development through Muslim
and then Christian influences. If you have never been to Granada, it's worth coming just
for the reproduction of the salon, baths and patio from the Alhambra Palace. Various
artists give displays of handicrafts in workshops scattered throughout the 'village'.
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 BACK TO PALMA. |
When you're tired of tourist sights and want to meet the people
of Palma instead, head for this covered market. It is a feast for the eyes - dazzling
displays of flowers, huge piles of oranges, buckets full of olives, fish you never knew
existed. Those of a squeamish disposition should avoid the upstairs meat counters, where
the pigs and rabbits look like pigs and rabbits rather than sterile pieces of packaged
flesh. A good place to buy ham and cheese, or to stop for tortilla at one of the tapas
stalls, where the workers drink brandy with their breakfast coffee.