Day 69: Palma, Mallorca!!

At the beginning of this tour, I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about Mallorca... our tour guide, Julia, was a wee bit of a crazy bee-yotch. I felt a bit like cattle or herded sheep... but Mallorca shined through the craziness of the tour guide and I feel in love with it! The first stop on our tour was the infamous castle of Mallorca:

The next stop was to a tiny little town (Valdemosa?) that reminded me of a quaint, Spanish and tropical version of Aspen! There we had some AMAZING drinking chocolate and tried one of their local, yummy pastries. Nom nom nom...

The next stop was the Pearl Factory (a big bust - they're like bs plastic, over-priced pearls - wtf?) and the Plaza de Toros. Much to my surprise, the bullring turned out to be one of the most creepy, eerie and awesome things I saw on the trip - as I went off on my own to go exploring I found the Enfermaria... but one that seemed to have ceased functioning decades ago. Presumably, it was where the injured bullfighters were taken straight from the bullring - but to me, it looked like a perfect setting for a modern-day Hitchcock film. I spent a half hour there shooting pics of the place, thinking that if one day I wanted to have an exhibit of photos, these would be the photos I'd use. The place seemed SO old, but at the same time nothing had been taken down and looked as if it'd been used fairly recently. The juxtaposition, along with the looming cross, made everything that much more dynamic! Damn.

I figured a few pictures of the outside of the bullring would also be nice, just to show how gorgeous it was compared with the bleakness of the infirmary inside its walls.

Happily, my intrigue did not make me lose track of the time and I returned to the bus before everybody else. The next stop, Julia the guide explained, would be a drive by the cathedral, and then back to the ship. If anybody wished to stay in the city, however, they were more than welcome.

DING DING DING

Exploring on my own in a new foreign city?! I THINK SO!! After running over to the market that was just ending (it was worth the quick steps in the serious heat for my five euro fake, crazy colored Ray Bans - haha), I headed in the direction of the cathedral - one of four major cathedrals I studied in Little Gay Professor Man's Spanish Art History Class!! OMG!! The cathedral was absolutely BREATHTAKING! I couldn't believe it!

It took me a few hours to actually end up at the cathedral, though, as I wandered the streets of Mallorca, coming across crazy naked statues, crazy naked columns (and getting up the guts to ask somebody to take a picture of me with it), crazy fortress castle palace places, an amazing jewelery store (at which a purchased the cheapest necklace they had and that I adore - a little chain with a picture of a yellow bird on it and a dangly leaf, pearl, heart and fake diamond!) and a guy playing the guitar who reminded me so much of Jack Johnson that I just wandered around for awhile on that street soaking up his guitar playing and voice. <3 I gave my last euro to him and he smiled real big and thanked me sincerely. A euro well spent, I believe. :) I listened a little while longer and then when I went to leave, gave him the most grateful/sweetest smile I could and turned around and went on my way, taking that moment with me. Ahh... street music in foreign countries is the best.

All in all - an amazing afternoon of exploring a new place. <3 This sort of thing is most certainly one of my most favorite activities EVER!!!

Soon enough it was time to head back to the ship, where we had dinner and played a few more games in the arcade before turning in our thousand plus tickets into really dorky prizes. ;) I got a martini before heading down to dinner at the Italian restaurant (Sam had been begging to go there the whole time) and was feeling happy as a clam... but Grandma had a bad headache and went up to the room as our appetizers were served. This meant that between Sam and myself, we had a steak, a pizza and a bowl of penne pasta to eat for the main course!! It was really cute 'cause Sam took it as a mandatory task to do his best to finish it all. He ate every last noodle, three pieces of pizza and a fourth of the steak! DAMN!!! After stuffing our faces, we returned once again to the arcade to get our final prize picks done. Last night on the ship = a bit bittersweet.

XOXO
Jet-set Cupcake