On our second day in Palma, we decided to venture back into town to visit some additional sights – given it was Christmas Eve, we weren’t optimistic that much would be open but ended up being pleasantly surprised. Of course, we had to fuel up on delicious Mallorcan pastries – including more ensaimadas – before we began our journey.

We began our walk at the Plaza de la Reina and from there meandered a few short blocks to La Llotja de Palma, which is an imposing building used as an events space. It wasn’t open, but from photos appears to have an internal structure similar to the Silk Market we visited in Valencia.

From there, it was a short walk back to the palace complex that contains the cathedral, except this time we opted to view it from the water level – the views didn’t disappoint!

Nearby, we strolled through the L’Hort del Rei gardens, which sadly had the water features shut off for the winter season. Still, a lovely place for a stroll with some nice sculptures.

After that, we began meandering through the medieval streets, ostensibly making our way to the Mallorca Museum – which unfortunately was closed for Christmas Eve. However, it was still a great way of seeing all of the impressive architecture Mallorca has to offer. Interestingly, as we made our way beyond the main streets, we began to see recurring street art from an artist known as @inkterrorist, whose work provides social commentary. It reminded me quite a lot of the works we saw in Oaxaca.

Next up, we found ourselves at the Basílica de Sant Miquel de Palma, which was a highlight of our exploration. The Basilica is part of a Franciscan monastery and is truly one of the most impressive ecclesiastical spaces I’ve seen in quite a while. The architecture is in turns austere and ornate, and they provide visitors with a view into the sacistry and other spaces.

As you move into the interior of the church, you can see the age and craftsmanship of each space.

The areas outside the worship space were adorned with different items, including beautiful ecclesiastical garments, items for worship, and fascinating artifacts from the church’s history, including an old prayer book.

The worship space itself was absolutely stunning – truly one of the most decorated churches I’ve been in, with an interesting pale blue color scheme. The pipe organ was especially impressive.

As we exited the church, we stopped in the gift shop and struck up a conversation with the manager, who gave us a couple interesting tidbits about Mallorca:

• As we assumed, Mallorquí is its own language that is quite similar to Catalan and Castilian Spanish, but not a dialect of either; he also confirmed that each of the other large islands in the Balearics (Ibiza, Menorca) have their own languages as well (he did not mention Formentera, which appears to be much smaller than these three)
• Apparently, all primary schooling for kids in Mallorca is in Mallorquí and Spanish, with many learning basic English as well

From there, we opted for a snack and headed to Ca’n Joan de s’Aigo, one of the famed chocolaterías in Palma. It was a ~35 minute wait outside in the cold to enter, but absolutely worth it. The shop is small and relatively old school, specializing primarily in ensaimada and other pastry treats, as well as ice creams. It’s been in business since the late 1600s and it shows – everything we tried was truly incredible.

We had the ensaimada (which comes with a cup of “dipping” chocolate for less than 3 Euros total!), the potato cake, and a pork pie, each of which were delicious. Unlike the other ensaimada we’ve had, these were incredibly light, with fluffy yet subtly crispy tissue-paper thin layers inside that crunched satisfyingly when you bit down on them. The potato cake was also nice – it reminded me quite a bit of Portuguese sweet bread. The pork pie was basic – pork and peas seasoned with salt and pepper – but clearly reminiscent of yesteryear and done well.

One other thing we noticed was that many people were carrying out huge, circular boxes – essentially the diameter of a large pizza. As we discovered at a bakery later in the day, these are actually “party size” ensaimada for the holidays!

After our treat, we decided to go for a full lunch at a restaurant that was effectively the opposite vibe – the hyper trendy Fervor. As always, we had to try the patatas bravas (delicious, if covered in mayo!), a fresh salad (!) with grilled octopus and grilled red peppers, and an octopus croquette. While it wasn’t the most exciting meal we’ve had, fresh produce definitely was a nice change of pace.

As we were then battling rather heavy food comas, we decided to simply wander around for the remainder of the afternoon, taking in more of the lovely facades and street sights. These included Can Barceló (top photos), the Palma Public Library (second row right), Casa de les Mitges (third row left), and one of the main shopping districts.

Overall, a great day in Palma!