Emma Day 2 of our trip to Palma, Majorca
Palma was recognised as one of the best value destinations to visit in Western Europe last year by the Post Office, and we chose to go there at the start of the month using a Travel Money Card for the first time.
You can see what we got up to on day one here. The top locations for 2018 have now been revealed and can be found on the ‘City Costs Barometer’ here.
We start our day with another hearty breakfast from Melia Palma Bay.
From there we took the number 1 bus towards the Port. All city buses cost €1.50 no matter the distance, a bargain!
The best stop to get off at is 11-Passeig Marítim 33 and then continue walking to the Bahia restaurant and then walk up the stairs onto Carrer dels Germans Schembri and then onto Carrer de Bellver. At the end of this street there’s a lot of steps to walk up so take your time but it should take no more than 20 minutes to walk up to Castell de Bellver (including time stopping for photos). Here’s the view looking down the steps from near the top.
I’m afraid that there are more steps but once you get to the top you are rewarded with this view!
Bellver Castle
Bellver Castle is a Gothic style castle and is located on a hilltop overlooking Palma. Built in the 14th century for King James II of Majorca, and is one of a handful of circular castles in Europe. Bellver Castle was first the residence of the Kings of Majorca, and then a military prison in the 18th to mid-20th century.
It is now Palma’s History Museum as well as a popular viewpoint.
Top Tip!: Visit on a Sunday for free entry to the castle (like we did!)
Windmills of Barrio Es Jonquet
We decided to walk back into town and the area of Barrio El Jonquet is worth a visit as it is a historical fishing neighborhood. It is also one of the prettiest areas of the city. Grab your camera and wander around the small streets of this neighbourhood to see the quaint windmills.
Lunchtime
Not wanting to reach ‘hangry’ stage, we stumbled across La Rosa Chica Vermutería and ate some wonderful Galician squid with potatoes.
They have a wide range of nibbles and vermouth on offer, plus beer and lots more. Fresh and excellent quality food here as well as perfect vermouth. We were also able to easily pay for our food with our Travel Money Card.
Top tip!: If you like vermouth then Keep your eyes peeled for bars with ‘Vermuteria’ in the title as they generally have one on draught. In this case, the house vermouth is Yzaguirre which only cost €2.50 a glass. La Rosa also have a more central location at La Rosa Vermutería & Colmado.
A blurry afternoon and evening
Then we made the short walk to the Cathedral area there appeared to be a Balearic Island Market on. Mr. Foodie just *had* to sample the beers on offer.
We may have spent longer here than anticipated…however, Mr. Foodie did get to add a number of beers to his Untappd count but wasn’t too drunk as they all offered a ‘cata’, a small tasting sized cup! 🍺
Slightly merry, and needing some food, we made our way to Restaurante Wineing. Well, ok, we had more booze as well!
This cosy bar/restaurant is the perfect place to sample a variety of wines (Around 48 bottles!) using their hi-tech dispensing system. A ‘cata’ size glass is also available here should you want to sample a lot, and sample we did, working our way through most of the Mallorcan wines!
Place your charge card into the machine, select the size of wine you wish to drink and press the button. Just remember to remove your charge card or you will be paying for someone else’s wine! You can try as many, or as few, as you wish. From 80 cents a sample / cata, it’s worth a visit to find a new wine (or many) to love!
By this point in the evening, it was time to return to base, we had sampled far too many wares of Palma de Mallorca but we were once again able to pay with our Travel Money Card so drunken money fumbling was avoided! 😉
Click here for the third installment of our trip to Palma!
