Palma, Mallorca: Gothic Cathedral, Old Town Lanes, and the Tramuntana Mountains

The Cathedral of Santa Maria, locally called La Seu, stands on the waterfront directly above the old Arab baths and is one of the most dramatic Gothic churches in the Mediterranean. Construction began in 1229 and continued for nearly four centuries; the building is technically still unfinished, though it has been in use since 1601. Antoni Gaudí was commissioned in 1901 to renovate the interior and introduced the baldachin over the high altar — a wrought-iron canopy hung with lanterns — along with modifications to the lighting that remain controversial among architectural historians. The interior volume is extraordinary: 19,000 cubic metres supported by 14 slender columns, the nave flooded with light from rose windows on the east and west facades. Entry is from the museum on the south side; the visit takes about an hour including the small exhibition of medieval religious art.

The Palau de l'Almudaina, the royal palace immediately beside the cathedral, was originally an Arab fortress converted into a Gothic residence for the kings of Majorca in the fourteenth century. It remains a royal residence and the interior can be visited when the Spanish royal family is not in residence — which is most of the year. The state rooms are furnished with Flemish tapestries, medieval weapons, and period furniture; the Gothic chapel of Santa Ana is the most architecturally distinguished single room. The terrace above the sea moat offers the best ground-level view of the cathedral's southern facade and the bay beyond.

The old town extends north and east of the cathedral through a series of narrow lanes connecting the Plaça Major, the Plaça Cort (the city hall square), and the Plaça de Santa Eulàlia. The neighborhood between these squares contains Palma's densest concentration of medieval architecture — palaces with stone courtyards, the Gothic churches of Sant Miquel and Sant Francesc, and the Arab Baths (Banys Àrabs), a remarkably complete eleventh-century hammam. The street Es Carrer dels Oms and the lanes off Carrer de Sant Jaume have the most interesting independent shops and bars; Es Born, the tree-lined promenade that was the city's central market until the nineteenth century, connects the old town to the waterfront.

The Serra de Tramuntana, the mountain range running along Mallorca's northwestern coast, is a UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Landscape for its centuries of agricultural terracing. The most accessible introduction for a port day is the drive or train journey to Valldemossa, 17 kilometres north of Palma: a stone village in a mountain valley where Frédéric Chopin and George Sand spent the winter of 1838–39. The pharmacy where Chopin bought medicine, the monastery cells where they stayed, and the surrounding olive groves provide the context for one of the more famous chapters of Romantic-era cultural history. The antique wooden tram from Palma to Sóller, running through mountain tunnels and terraced groves, is the most atmospheric journey on the island; the trip takes 40 minutes each way.