Postcards from Jiles
Monday, 6 May 2019
Hola friends!
Greetings from the city of Palma in the Spanish island of Mallorca — also spelled Majorca like the pearls they manufacture here. Oceania actually had an excursion where you could tour the factory. My mom went to the pearl factory tour and she said it wasn’t really a tour so much as them trying selling you items. She was happy though because there were some unique pieces that you couldn’t purchase elsewhere.
Miles and I took a BIG bus that acted as our free shuttle from where we docked to the main part of town. The ride was only about 10 minutes and was quite picturesque with all the sail boats and yachts we passed on our seaside drive. Once dropped off we walked past many people selling things ranging from portraits to Mallorca hats while getting to the more main area.
We went to a cafe for drinks across from a huge beautiful cathedral. We got a couple drinks — the food is actually so good on the ship we haven’t eaten at any of the ports yet. I wrote postcards. Miles played on his iPhone. We people watched and made observations about the latest port we were visiting. It’s a very clean city. There were men in uniforms walking around picking up even the tiniest piece of trash constantly. Just like Disneyland. lol.
The spot we went to was called Lennox, the Pub. The service, drinks, and atmosphere were great. They had cute little plad blankets on all the outside chairs in case you got cold. And my Prosecco came with a strawberry. Little details make such a difference.
While sitting at the cafe Miles noticed some horse drawn carriages and thought that might be a nice way to see the city. We sauntered over to the queue and here’s the dialogue that then took place:
Miles: how much?
Some guy: 100 euros.
Miles: No way. Thanks. (Grabbing my hand and pulling me away from all the horses.)
Some other guy: Wait wait. 50 euros. We’ll take my horse.
Miles: Nope. Still too high.
Some other guy: Ok. 30.
Miles: For how long?
Some other guy: 30 minutes just like the regular tour.
Miles & I hop in. We were done in roughly 8 minutes. Oh well. At least we can say we took a horse drawn carriage ride in Mallorca.
While on our 8 minute carriage ride we saw some “landmarks” that I can’t remember. What I really noticed were the cute buildings. They felt very 1940’s to me and none of the buildings were more than 5 stories high. Nice uniformity. It’s a low city with big beautiful trees lining the streets shading you from the Mediterranean sun. And bright beautiful geraniums and other flowers sprinkled in among the sites.
From what I can gather the Passeig des Born is their luxe shopping street. It looked charming. We spotted Louis Vuitton, Bvlgari, Escata, and Max Mara while the horse was trotting us around. Passeig des Born is very close to where the shuttle dropped us off. Actually, once you shuttle in it’s very walkable.
Now in contrast to the lovely luxury boutiques they also had several hucksters either walking around to people enjoying themselves at outdoor cafes or setting-up camp trying to push their fake goods. I felt like I was in Georgetown in the 90s!
They also have these enormous panda bears and Winnie the Poohs walking around that you can take pictures with. I’m not sure what the significance of them is, other than their tip jar is not far away. lol. I can just imagine someone ripping-off the idea and Old Town being inundated by huge George Washingtons, John Gadsbys, and John Carlyles roaming about King and the Waterfront. That would be way too touristy . . . the wrong kind of touristy. And a little creepy.
We’re back on board now. Wandered around Mallorca from about 11 to 3. Weather was perfect today. Chilly enough for sweaters while touring Mallorca, then warm enough for our swimsuits poolside this afternoon. We’ve created a rather nice daily schedule. Breakfast. Fancy coffee. Touring. Relaxing poolside in the afternoon. Dressing for dinner. Could get use to this. lol. Tonight we’re going to the Terrace Cafรฉ for dinner. They serve lobster and stone crabs every night!
Besos!
xxx โ Jennifer + Miles
p.s. If youโre not already, please follow our adventures on Instagram! We get lots of positive feedback, and it makes us super happy to provide some inspiration to help others live their best life in their hometown and on their travels.
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