Wednesday/Thursday, April 3 & 4: around Palma

April 3, 2013 to April 4, 2013

Weather: mostly sunny, high around 20C

We slept until noon on Wednesday and woke up reasonably refreshed and very hungry. Our first foray outside took us around the block to the Forn des Theatre, a bakery and outdoor cafe in a historic building near one of the main theatres in the city. It was just warm enough to sit outside, and we enjoyed a selection of tapas, including grilled vegetables, shrimp in garlic butter, bruschetta and Spanish potato omelet. We learned that tap water is never served in Mallorcan restaurants (in contrast to France) so we ordered “agua sin gaz”. After cheesecake and cappucinos for dessert we felt well fortified and ready to explore the compact city centre on foot. It was a short walk to the impressive and somewhat severe stone cathedral near the waterfront, and we sat on a bench there for awhile watching groups of tourists of all ages, many speaking German.

Late breakfast at Forn des Theatres near the Plaza Mercat

The Palma cathedral from the bike path along the shorline

On a previous visit (with no bikes) we had toured the interior of the cathedral mainly to see the restoration work done in the early 20th century by Antoni Gaudi, the most famous Modernista architect. This time we skipped the cathedral, but walked past the other major Modernista buildings in Palma, including shops with curved balconies just 50 metres from our accommodation.

An example of modernista architecture. El Aguila in Plaza Marques del Palmer

More Modernista architecture in Plaza Mercat near our apartment

Later in the afternoon Al put the bikes together in the apartment. In the evening we ventured out for more tapas to nearby Tast, a very popular and reasonably priced restaurant. We arrived there before they began table-service at 8:00, so we sat on high stools at the bar where we had a good view of the pinxo-making activity while we ate. (Pinxos are small, artistically presented tapas served in Catalan and Basque areas of Spain.) By about 8:15 the whole restaurant was full of people mainly speaking Spanish. We had shrimps with garlic, a plate of grilled wild mushrooms with small pieces of serrano ham and eggplant salad with anchovies (escalivada). Wine was cheaper than water and their house red was hearty and very good. Food-wise it had been a very satisfying day and boded well for our stay on the island.

A really good escalivada at Tast - eggplant, roasted peppers, anchovies.

We planned to leave Palma on Friday, so Thursday morning we rode our bikes a short distance along our planned route east out of the city on the waterfront cycle path and then along the path in the other direction, passing beaches, marinas, hotels and restaurants, all the trappings of an intensively tourist-based economy. Neither of us had slept well on Wednesday night and we were both tired, but it felt good to get back on the bikes. We returned to Tast for a late lunch of wild mushrooms and scrambled eggs with serrano ham--delicious. Once again the restaurant was completely full soon after they started serving at 1:00. In the afternoon we walked more around the city centre exploring areas we hadn't seen and searching for a bakery to purchase pastries for breakfast.

Bicycle path heading south along the shore in Palma

We wanted to go to bed reasonably early, and dinner at 8:00, when most of the restaurants started serving, would have been too late, so we tried bi bap, an Asian restaurant which served meals all day and was just across the market square from our apartment—a good choice. The atmosphere was comfortable and quiet, and we were pleasantly surprised by the high quality of our meal--a classic Tom Ka Gai soup to start, followed by a French/Asian fusion style dish of duck breasts teriyaki with vegetables, accompanied by a glass each of red wine made from a blend of tempranillo, merlot, cabernet and syrah grapes. Very satisfied, we returned to our apartment for an early night. The weather report for the next two days was not encouraging. Rain was predicted both days, so we were prepared to start out the next day fully suited up in our wet-weather gear.

Duck breast teriyaki at bi bap asian restaurant on Plaza Mercat

Today's ride: 19 km (12 miles)
Total: 19 km (12 miles)

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