I took the 9.30 p.m. ferry from Ibiza to Palma and arrived at 1.30 this morning. Joakim (Jack) came to pick me up. Beatrice had taken my bags from Calla San Vicente to San Eularia. I met her there after I dropped off the bike that Denny from the Cycle Shop had let me use the month I spent on Ibiza. I took a bus to Ibiza.
What I have seen so far of Palma has been a very nice surprise. It is a very pleasant city built on the hills surrounding a deep bay. Lots of marinas with huge sail yachts. Joakim and Victoria live in an apartment building not far from the water, a steep stairs takes me down to the port in less than 10 minutes. I took the bus from there to the old city center to go to mass at the Cathedral. An impressive old 14th centurychurch, built on a hill overlooking the bay. It was a high mass with 7 priests con-celebrating the service. The liturgy was said in Mallorquin, instead of the official Castilian version, a local dialect very close to Catalan and slightly different from the Ibiza dialect. A good size boys choir in their red and white choir robes with their gorgeous young soprano voices. The traditional Gothic structure has a very high vaulted ceiling and beautiful stained glass windows. Unfortunately my camera is not working. Apparently the charger that I had bought to replace the shipwrecked one is not the right output. I figure that there will be more opportunities and I expect to attend the cathedral for Christmas services. Twice a year, early in the morning, in early February and again in mid November the sun plays through the large stained glass rose window to reflect on the opposite wall at the church’s entrance. This was designed by the astrologers, architects for this special effect. My hosts are from the Island of Smögen, North of Gothenburg. The island is a vacation paradise in the summer months and my hosts then run their businesses and are this way able to spend most of the rest of the year, with their three young boys in a warmer part of the world. When I met them in March of 2009 they had a place in the Dominican Republic.