April 14 - More Exploring in Palma

A better weather day today, although still cool at times (maybe around 15-18C throughout the day).  It was another very long day for us.  We started out trying a different restaurant for breakfast.  I went for the three-egg omelette and that kept me going for hours!  The four of us set out together, heading towards yesterday's shopping district.  Along the way we popped in to the City Hall building where there was a display of "the giants".  I'm not sure what the significance of them is, but they're very imposing!  After a bit of browsing and a quick look at the craft market in Placa Mayor, Joan and I left the true shoppers and headed over to the local market via some buskers and a couple of more churches.  I saw my first of the "floats" that we would see later in the day during the evening's parade.  Oh my - Mercat de l'Olivar was amazing!  It was a huge market full of fresh goodies - meats, cheeses, fruit, veggies, and a whole wing of fresh seafood.  There were also stalls of wine, spices, olives, salts, spices, etc., as well as some small restaurants.  After several hours of browsing, we had a quick lunch there and were then off to Iglesia y Claustro de San Francisco - San Francisco Church.  It's huge, old and beautiful.  Just before reaching the church, though, we found a cyclists' coffee shop - Espresso Ciclismo.  Fran has been pining for peanut butter since we landed, so in addition to buying her a jar of PB at the market, we popped into the coffee shop and Joan sampled the peanut butter latte.  Two thumbs up, apparently.  It was a funky little cafe, and obviously catered to cyclists.  We crossed the street to the church, got there just in time to watch another one of the floats exit the building, bought tickets for a tour and finally saw a second, larger float be literally carried out the door.  The first float was rolled out on wheels, but the second one was carried by, I'm guessing, around 20 to 24 strong young men.

The floats are, apparently, an Easter tradition in Spain.  Easter/Holy Week is a huge celebration in Spain, particularly for the Roman Catholic Churches - of which there are many in the relatively small space of the Old Town.  

We then booted it back to Placa  Mayor, where we met up with our guide and group (including Karen and Fran) for a walking tour of the Old Town.  We finished that just in time for the parade, which started at 7pm.  

There is no end to churches in this town, but the Cathedral is a pretty impressive presence.  Apparently it dates back to the 14th century, and it is one of Europe's tallest Gothic structures.  It is 121m long, 55m wide and its nave is 44m tall.  King James I of Aragon ordered that the Madina Mayurqa mosque be knocked down and a large temple devoted to Saint Mary (Santa Maria) be built in its place.  It was one of his first decisions after conquering Mallorca for the Christian kingdoms, thus keeping his vow to the virgin for saving him from the strong storm which battered the ships of the Crown of Aragon heading towards the island.  The result was this beautiful Mediterranean Gothic cathedral, which was built over three centuries, although with subsequent changes and expansions.  King James I ordered the consecration of a cathedral in 1229, but first the former mosque was converted into a Christian temple and used for many years.  It was around 1300, under the reign of his son, James II, when the construction of a new Gothic cathedral began.  The work started with the Royal Chapel, where the remains of the monarchs of the former Kingdom of Mallorca now rest, and lasted three hundred years until the consecration of the temple in 1601.  The temple has a lot of light thanks to its 87 large windows and 7 rose windows, which is why it is also known as the "Cathedral of Light".  The interior decoration is mainly Baroque and most of it dates back to the 17th and 18th centuries.  It was not open for tours (perhaps due to Holy Week or perhaps we're too early in tourist season, or maybe we were just looking to save the entrance fee), but we have plans to go to a Good Friday service there in order to see inside.  It's hard to get good pictures of the exterior, given its size and close quarters with nearby buildings and structures.  

We finally left there (the parade route) after a few hours, but before the end of the parade.  Yes, it was fairly long, but it was slow because they stopped very frequently - probably to let the people carrying the floats to rest.  Each float represented a church, and also had a band and a group of people dressed up like the KKK (aka carapunats) and carrying long candles.  Thousands lined the parade route; quite an event!  BTW - today is known as Maundy Thursday.

Back to the hotel, dined on leftovers and snacks, and then took our weary bodies to bed.