2019 Western Mediterranean and Transatlantic Cruises on MSC
Day 3 MSC Seaview - Palma de Mallorca, Spain -- November 1, 2019
Please click here for video of our trip on this day in Palma de Mallorca.
Off the coast in the western Mediterranean, east of Valencia and south of Barcelona is the island of Mallorca. This second stop on our itinerary had us curious because none of us had been here before.
Seaview was scheduled to dock at the terminal in the resort city of Palma at 1:00 P.M. It was nice to enjoy a relaxing morning on the ship on this port-intensive sailing. We decided to have a nice lunch on the ship first before heading out to town.
They mistakenly delivered this information sheet for Diamond members to our cabin but at least we received our gifts and fruit baskets as promised for Gold members.
Time for breakfast!
Our regular breakfast food.
Then it was lunch.
A healthy salad..
...and not so healthy fried seafood plate Italian style.
Hazelnut Eclair
Peach Cobbler
At around 2:00 P.M. we left the ship and took the 10-minute walk to the cruise terminal.
The beautiful Seaview!
An escalator that leads up to the terminal.
Walkway to the main building.
Options on Transportation:
The cruise terminal situated a couple of miles away from town center. MSC was selling shuttle tickets for 13E round trip. There was a HOHO bus that was going for 18E for the day; and then there was a special cruise bus between port and town center for 3E each way. All of these were available right outside the cruise terminal. (There was also a bike rental stand right outside the building for those who might want to do some paddling.) For us, we wanted to find the #1 bus which would take us to town. The route map showed that there should be a stop right at the terminal but we were told by the cruise bus driver that the stop for this bus was about 300 meters from the terminal out on the main road. Not sure if it was a temporary change for the day or just the driver fooling us. No matter, we walked out, found the bus stop and boarded the bus which only cost us 1.5E each way.
We got off the bus at the stop near Sa Feixina Park on Avenue Argentina, walked across the park toward the Pont de la Riera, with a nice view of a bridge and the small river.
Pont de la Riera
The next building that caught our attention was the Consulate of the Sea (Consolat de Mar), now a government building.
Not far ahead was the Lonja de Mallorca, a 15th century Gothic building with unique arches which used to be a merchant guild.
La Mar Park (Parc de la Mar) with the fountain in the backdrop.
All along the Mirador Parc de La Mar, with the Royal Palace of La Almudaina on the left and the Cathedral of Mallorca on the right.
This was the most crowded place that we saw that day with many vendors lined along the promenade selling everything from tennis shoes to little plastic toys.
Stairs leading up to the palace and cathedral.
The Cathedral was not opened for some reason.
But the Palace was, at least certain parts of it.
Majestic view of the entrance to the Cathedral.
As son leading our way looking for the bakery, we came upon this beautiful church (Parroquia de Santa Eulalia) in a quiet neighborhood.
Finally found the bakery Ca'n Joan de Saigo after winding through the small alleyways.
(Address: Carrer de Can Sanc, 10, 07001 Palma, Illes Balears, Spain)
A unique and tasty find indeed.
We bought a few different kinds of ensaimada to try but we liked the regular ones the best.
Ensaimada is a Mallorca specialty pastry, and only cost about a couple of dollars each. These should be must-haves when in Mallorca just like the egg tarts in Lisbon. One good thing was we didn't have to get in line for these.
After our afternoon tea, while walking around town, we came upon this beautiful building, Can Forteza Rey, at a street corner. Kind of reminded me of Gaudi but this was designed by another architect Luis Forteza Rey. This is supposedly a well-liked building in Mallorca.
Then we walked around some more, around the Placa Major area and then the Gran Hotel. I must be really tired because I did not take any picture at those sites. Seeing that we were not near any stops for Bus #1, we took Bus #3 back to port. Bus #3 had stops a little up on the hill near the port, only a couple more minutes walk back down to port.
We made it back to the ship about 15 minutes late for our dinner seating. Our ship was to stay in port until 11:00 P.M. so the dining room was quite empty that evening with many passengers still enjoying their time in port.
Excellent sauteed mussels
Braised Pork Shoulder
Risotto
Broiled Mahi Mahi
Chocolate Duo Cake
Cherry Clafoutif Cream
After dinner we were all ready to hit the sack and prepare ourselves for an early start tomorrow.
"If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer." --Proverbs 9:12
Rebecca
ReplyDeleteGood for you, taking the bus! We try never to take the ship shuttle. In Malaga it was 12E pp R/T but there was a free city shuttle about a 5 minute walk along the dock!! Great photos of you day!
Patricia
Haha, Patricia, we are cheap! Trying to save a few dollars whenever possible. Well, with 10 of us, every cent adds up. Oh wow, that's even better, a free city shuttle in Malaga! I'll have to remember that! Thanks!
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