Grove Koger

Over the years, Palma de Mallorca has turned out to be one of our favorite destinations, and we’ve been lucky to have sampled it as often as we have. This week’s blog is drawn from articles I wrote about Mallorca and Catalonia for Boise Journal and Art Patron, both now sadly defunct.

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We found much of Palma nondescript when we first visited it in 2003. As we wandered down its streets, we discovered that its old quarter could boast a few modernista architectural gems, but the best was yet to come, as the manager of our pleasantly rundown Spanish hostal gave us permission to enjoy the building’s roof. After climbing flight after vertiginous flight of stairs, we found ourselves outside, facing the great façade of the city’s Cathedral of Santa Maria. Built of yellow sandstone over the course of several centuries and completed in 1601, the structure is one of the largest cathedrals in Europe and seemed to fill half the sky, even from several blocks away. As the sun set slowly behind us, its ornately carved stone faded from tan through pink to violet; Monet’s famous cathedral, we thought, had nothing on “ours.”

That evening a stream of seagulls wound its way overhead from the interior of the island. As they neared the cathedral, they banked to float in lazy circles. Perhaps they were taking advantage of the thermals rising off the enormous stone structure and the adjacent Palau d’Almudaina, but it looked as if they were making a kind of avian obeisance. That night we observed a startlingly different spectacle across the street. The barred gates of the palace were closed, but above the pond just inside the entrance, dozens of bats swung in silent, frenzied circles, chasing the myriad insects attracted by the water.

On later visits to Palma, we stayed in another hostal offering an elevator and a comfortable roof terrace furnished with tables and chairs. While our room itself was tiny, we were able to enjoy morning cappuccinos and evening cervesas on the terrace as we once again watched the play of sunlight and shadow on the cathedral’s magnificent façade. No five-star hotel could have offered us a finer luxury.

The photograph at the top of today’s post shows the Cathedral of Santa Maria from the roof of the second hostal I mentioned (now upgraded to a hotel and renamed Apuntadores 8), while the others were taken from the streets around it.