Saturday, November 5, 2016
Palma de Mallorca, Spain
8:00 am to 5:00 pm
The weather forecast is for a high of 68 degrees and a low of 50.
Sunrise was at 7:23 am and sunset is at 5:42 pm.
It is 627 nautical miles from the Porto di Civitavecchia to the Port of Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
788 cruise ships called at the Balearic Islands in 2015, carrying a total of 1,996,533 cruise ship passengers.
Today the Oosterdam is in port with the Eurodam (2104 passengers) for a port load of 4,020.
For many passengers today is a pilgrimage to the Carthusian monastery at Valldemossa 12.5 miles north of Palma where the Polish pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin and French writer Amantine-Lucile-Aurore Dupin better known as George Sand spent part of their three months in Mallorca during the winter from November 8, 1838 to February 14,1839. Sand wrote about this time with Chopin in her book, A Winter in Majorca. Chopin completed 23 preludes in each of the major and minor keys. One of his more famous musical works while in Mallorca is the “ Raindrop” prelude: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8uONLM5U-I
Elizabeth Berg’s book The Dream Lover is a historical novel about the life of George Sand.
Review: http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/books/ct-prj-dream-lover-elizabeth-berg-20150416-story.html
Our tour this morning was North Coast & Wine Tasting from 8:30 am to 12 noon. We traveled by bus to the Serra de Tramuntana mountains (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1371).
It was the Serra de Tramuntana mountain range that brought the first tourists to Mallorca in the early 20th century. Austrian Archduke Ludwig Salvator (1847-1915) was enamored of the island’s north coast, where he acquired several estates located between Valldemossa and Deià. He wrote about how beautiful the countryside was and how gorgeous the views were from the top of the cliffs looking out to the sea along the north coast. Mallorca’s North Coast (Costa Nord) is a 40-mile-long stretch of thick lime rock that for centuries has been a protective wall against wind, pirates, and invasions.
After leaving Palma by bus, our first stop was for a visit to Son Marroig (http://viagallica.com/baleares/lang_en/village_son_marroig.htm), the favorite home of Archduke Ludwig Salvator. Son Marroig (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7s1fB1aUyI) is located on the north coast of Mallorca just 4.5 miles north of Valldemossa and 1.3 miles west of Deià.
Valdemossa
Interesting fact: “Son” frequently found in the names of Mallorca homes (Son Marroig) indicates that the property is a large finca (estate or country house located in a rural or countryside setting that might also be involved with agriculture).
Austrian archduke Luis Salvadore visited Majorca in the mid 1800s. His estate has been converted into a museum housing his collection of pottery, writings, and paintings. The view from the mirador (tower/balcony) looks down nearly 1000 feet to a rocky headland from which the waves have carved over time a huge sea arch called Sa Foradada (meaning perforated) that refers a huge round hole in the rock caused by water and wind erosion.
We were able to tour the mansion as well as the gardens.
Wood Duck
At an Ionic Temple made of Carrara marble situated on an outcrop, we had a wonderful view of the coastline.
Sylvia and Beauford B. J. and Henry
Some of the views of the North Coast from the ocean side of Son Marroig.
Another nearby home built by Austrian archduke Luis Salvadore is now for sale. S’Estaca (http://www.homeadverts.com/en/blog/historical-mansion-in-puerto-valldemossa-mallorca) located on 247 acres and owned by Michael Douglas is on the market for a reduced price of £34 million through Sotheby’s.
We left Son Marroig for a drive along the North Coast to Andratx for a wine tasting at Santa Catarina (https://www.santa-catarina.com/en/). At Santa Catarina, we were able to taste four different wines (two white wines and two red wines) accompanied by bread, olives and olive oil with a salt and herb mixture. We purchased wine to take back to the ship and we also purchased cans of the bodegas’ special seasoning to mix with olive oil for dipping bread.
(Right) Sylvia and Beauford inside the bodegas Santa Catarina.
Even on an overcast day, Mallorca is a beautiful island. We are glad that we had a second visit to see more of this popular tourist destination during the off season without the crowds. Back on the ship, we went to the Lido Market for lunch and had made to order salads.
At 7 pm, we met the “regulars” in the Billboard Onboard Bar for Happy Hour. Our hardworking bartenders always greet us with a smile and pour us a glass of our favorite wine as soon as they see us.
From left to right: Mike, Amy, and T. J.
After dinner, we went to the the Mainstage where the entertainment featured the comedy and ventriloquism of Kieran Powell (http://www.kieranpowell.co.uk/).
Ferdinand and Cocorico found this towel animal in our stateroom.
Clue for tomorrow’s port of call: It was from here that Hannibal set out in 218 BC with a mighty army and 40 elephants to cross the Pyrenees and the Alps during the Second Punic War.
Granbytravels 