I have a friend....

I am no longer alone in my travels.  Kelsey arrived on Tuesday and I must say it is a joy to have someone to hang out with!  Everything went smoothly with her arrival with the exception of one small luggage issue (it came out at the wrong turnstile) but all was fixed and we headed out of the airport towards home.  The first night and the next day we pretty much just relaxed.  Kelsey handled jet lag like a champ...no naps!  She stuck to the program of only sleep when you are supposed to in the time zone and you adjust quickly.  A great ex-boss taught me this and it always works.  After our day of rest we were planning to hit Palma hard...tourist style.  There were a few things that I had not done but wanted to so I just saved them for when Kels arrived so we could explore together.

Travel Buddy!!!

We got out the map and started planning how to do it all strategically.  We decided the best way was to just go Kamikaze style and do both the big things in one day.  Since we live a bit outside of town we have to take a bus into town before we can even connect to the others that will get us to the sights so, it made the most sense ( No transfers allowed on bus tickets...pay each time you get off and on) to just get it all done in as few as possible bus rides.  Once in town we wandered around some of the highlights I had already hit but I wanted to share with her.  We went to Placa Major, the downtown shopping streets, the little hidden fairytale park and then on to the cathedral.  I had wandered outside but had waited to go....Today was the big day.  We chose to go early since I had been told the the lighting is beautiful in the morning.  Getting up with an alarm so we could make it in time was well worth it.

Rainbows....

The sunlight shown through the stain glass windows creating rainbows along the columns and floors.  It was stunning.  I felt like each time I turned around here was a new spot that was illuminated.  As the sun rose in the sky the cathedral was bathed in all sorts of different colors.

...and more rainbows 

Taking a moment of thought

As I wandered the cathedral and took in all it's beauty I couldn't escape the grandeur of it.  Just sitting down in the pews and gazing at the alter I could only think...people have been sitting here and doing this for hundreds of years.  So many different people from so many different generations have sat right where I am and prayed, or worshiped or even struggled with their faith figuring out who and what they are.  I suppose I will never truly know what has happened within these walls...I can only imagine.  It is pretty amazing to think of the huge part of history I am walking through and sitting in.

Alter lit up

   Although the entire cathedral is pretty amazing my favorite part was the alter.  Apparently history says that it has been changed and manipulated over the years but all items are still original.  I was in love with all the iron work and hanging lights.  I think they must have been testing out the lights while we were in there because they were only one for a few short minutes.  Luckily Kelsey and I were quick on the draw with our cameras and captured a few photos.
Once we had absorbed as much as possible from the inside we headed to the museum area.  Apparently there had been an earthquake which damaged a bit of the cathedral.  It has been redone quite modern which I was not impressed with but as we walked round the museum we saw parts we believe were from the original window and walls that were damaged in the earth quake.  There also among these items were your standard cathedral memorabilia, candelabras that were taller then me, wooden boxes that stored little trinkets and glass cases with the bones of deceased people....mostly arm bones.  Ya, don't ask....I have no idea.  If anyone can answer that one for me I would love it!
We exited through the gift shop and then headed to the bus stop for our next adventure...Bellver Castle.   I had done as much research as possible on how to get to this castle and that research had provided us with the directions of take the bus that stops at either of these 2 random stops and then walk up the hill through a pine forest.  Needless to say we were kinda just guessing and hoping for the best.  I was at least able to figure out what bus we needed to get on and found the 2 possibly correct stops.  As we were riding I spotted a purple sign with a picture of a castle on it and an arrow pointing up the hill...Yes Success we thought so we hopped off the bus and followed like the good little tourists we were.  At the top of the hill we saw a very proper looking sign with a map of the castle and surrounding areas.  We found the  You are here! part and then figured out the route we were on.  We started walking up the hill in the shoulder of a 2 lane road.  After we had been walking just a bit we both kinda said..."We chose the longest route didn't we?"  And the answer of course was yes.  As we walked along the side of the road, which by the way we were the only people walking on this road,  we were passed by multiple double decker red tour buses which was encouraging and discouraging all in the same breath.  Encouraging because we knew that if a tour bus was headed that way we had to be going in the right direction.  Discouraging because we also knew that a foot path would have taken us directly up where as we were going along the driving path with was going quite far away from the castle before taking us to it.  After about 20 minutes of up hill walking in 90 degree heat through the dusty pine forest inhaling  exhaust and sweating in places we didn't know we could sweat we finally arrived at the entrance to the  

Castle entrance

castle.  All the hard work and sweat were of course worth it to see this unique piece of history.  Although parts of it are definitely in ruins the majority of it was very well maintained.  I love how the people who were building these places way back when really thought about the big picture.  There is always a view within a view through every archway, window or doorway.  This castle is know for 2 things....One is it has a glorious view and the other is that it is one of the only completely circular castles.  It is basically a circle inside a circle inside another circle. you enter through one doorway then walk the main level...take a staircase up to the next level and walk the middle circle then one more set of stairs takes you up to the top level of this castle where you can enjoy the view (and the breeze).  Unfortunately we were there on a bit of a hazy and humid day...oh ya did I forget to mention that the 90 degree heat was especially sticky....anyway, this led to not as great a view but still lovely and well worth the walk.

Small door big people...?

One thing that we kept noticing as we walked through the castle was the size of the doors.  I know I have mentioned this before about some of the palace doors in London but apparently castles follow suit.  As you can see by the photo, me at my not so tall height of 5'6" am not too far under the top of the door (this was one of the taller ones too).  It really makes you wonder how big all these people back in the day really were.  All the marble statues and supposedly life like depiction's of men during these times do not make sense with these itty bitty doors.  I suppose it will just remain a mystery for now...








When we finished our tour of the castle we were determined to find the correct exit from this place and not suffer the 2 lane road again.  We saw a sign with a picture of a church on it and also the word exit.

Stairway away from castle

We looked down, saw a winding stone staircase and figured it can't be any worse then inhaling all the exhaust again so with hope that we made the right choice we began the stairs.  As we walked I started recalling reading somewhere about a church being along the walk to the castle so when one came into view I knew we were gonna be ok.  When we descended the stars and got closer to town we were quite relived.   We found our bus, hopped on and headed home to make dinner and have a dip in the pool.
And so our day as Kamikaze tourists ends.  I am so happy to have someone along with me now to share in all the amazing moments.  It is only going to get better from here!