Day 1 - Palma

Day 1 - Palma de Mallorca
Gelati: 1, Beer: 2 glasses (wine glass sized), Tapas: 1 (racion jamon)

The flights here were long (which is bad) and uneventful (which is good) but this all added up to being terribly boring.  The only interesting bit was watching the change in quality of the planes over time.  My first flight was on a brand shiny new A380 to Singapore.  The next leg was on a slightly shop soiled Boeing 777.  The last leg, on Vueling Airlines, was an A320 which was clearly bought second hand.  It was decidedly worn inside.  While there wasn't duct tape used to hold any bits together, there were places were the odd bit of duct tape wouldn't have gone amiss.

My hotel here on Palma was originally a 17th century palazzo.  My room is up on the top floor.  I do have windows overlooking the central courtyard but I have to stand on a chair to see out of them.  Perhaps not servant quarters but definitely for the poor relations.  Below is photo looking up from the courtyard towards my room - it is obscured by the palm trees but it is one with the small windows at the top right.

The walls here are solid stone so there is no WiFi signal in my room.  However, I can hear ever word the couple in the next room are saying (they are very boring people and he snores).  Stone has very odd propagation properties.

The customs agent who let me into the country was a very handsome young man so I made sure I spent my time in the queue wisely and practiced carefully how to say "Hello", "I am here on holiday" and "I will be here for 1 month" but he didn't speak to me at all!  He didn't even grunt.  My best Spanish would probably have been wasted anyway as it is very clear the native tongue here is Catalan.  The signs in the airport at Barcelona were in Catalan first, English second and Spanish a distant third.

I haven't done the eating (or even the drinking) part of this holiday properly yet.  However, in my defence I am very jet lagged and my stomach isn't sure what time it is and whether it is hungry.  I have had a gelati - dulce de leche and pistachio so a mix of Spanish and Italian and very yum.  Standard draft beer here is forgettable.  Dinner was a large serve of mixed salami and olives which drove the dog at the next table wild (some teasing may have occurred but no sharing).

Tomorrow should be interesting.  There are going to be parades from all the local churches with people dressed up in Ku Klux Klan-style outfits carrying icons on altars.  I got to watch one crowd take their icon out of their church.  It is in the old city so the streets are very narrow and the float very large.  Once they had it out it was hard up against the shop opposite leaving about a whole 2cm of clearance between the float and the ramps used to get it out of the door.  Once the ramps were out of the way they were able to do a 23 point turn to get it facing down the (heavily) sloping street and they were off.  I've learnt some Catalan swear words today.

The weather here is lovely.  Only 20C or so but brilliant blue skies without a cloud.  Pleasant during the day but you need a coat at night.  The bar I went to for my "dinner" didn't bother with the trendy gas heaters.  They just put blankets out at each table for customers to wrap themselves up in!  Very green (or just cheap).