Mark in the old train that runs to Sóller from Palma, definitely a better way to travel than cars and planes

We’ve been to nearly all the major islands in the western Mediterranean and we’re making a pretty good dent in the Greek and Turkish islands of the eastern Mediterranean. The biggest gap for us has been the Balearic Islands off of Spain so when we decided to visit Dan & Lorraine in Barcelona we figured we would then explore Mallorca, the biggest of the island group.

Here we are, then, on the northwest coast of Mallorca for four days. Getting here was fun. While the flight from Barcelona to Palma (the main city on the island) was pretty ordinary, you get to Sóller via a classic old train from Palma. And once you get there there’s an even more classic old tram that takes you the two miles down to the port area. So moving around was a lot of fun.

We rode the tram between Sóller and Port de Sóller a bunch of times, and enjoyed it every time

And speaking of moving around… Sóller is a tourist area and for us the big attraction was some spectacular mountain hiking. The Sierra de Tramuntana is a mountain range that runs along the western coast of Mallorca. Named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011 because of its beauty and cultural importance, the area is studded with great hiking trails of which we did a couple during our relatively short stay.

The first was a maybe three-and-a-half hours to the even littler town of Deiá. We were pretty excited when our hotel manager told us about the hike. Deiá, you see, is something of an artist colony, with the great British poet and writer Robert Graves living and ultimately dying there. More to our tastes, the manager told us that Andrew Lloyd Weber has a place there and one night his wife, enjoying a drink with friends, was surprised to see Weber and his one-time musical partner Tim Rice show up and start singing Beatles songs.

The view on the way to Deiá

Our Deiá experience wasn’t quite so eventful. It was a beautiful and challenging hike, but no Andrew Lloyd Weber. We did have a great lunch, though, on the terrace of a lovely Italian restaurant and then one of us walked back, up and over the mountains again.

The next day was mostly a rest day, in part due to a bit of on-and-off rain but mostly because I was worn out. Our last day, though, was another great hike, this time nearly five hours to a little town of Tuent. Part of the attraction of doing this hike was that, at well over four hours, there was no prospect of just turning around and walking back. Instead once a day at 4:45 PM a boat pulls up to the little pier at Tuent to whisk you back to Porto de Sóller, the little port town near Sóller proper. Sounded fun.

Along the hike to Deiá and the early part of the hike to Tuent Mark and I would note that while the terrain was beautiful and the sea was, well, the Mediterranean (you need say no more), this was no Capri. Then at one point on the trail to Tuent *bam!* there it was, just a stunning view of the mountains and the sea and the trail and yes, it was just about as good as Capri. So we finished the hike just loving the natural beauty with one looming question: what kind of lunch would we find in Tuent.

The stunning trail on the way to Tuent. Now we understood why it’s a UNESCO site!

A woman at our hotel in Sóller had described the hike and boat ride to us and explained that there was one restaurant there. Just one. My expectations were low since if there is only one it probably aims for a pretty low standard. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was a beautiful place with a great terrace shaded by huge trees. Good food, good wine, lots of water, and a beautiful setting. You couldn’t really ask for much more.

In other words a great lunch, but with one exception: a group of some 30-or-so French hikers who’d been a challenge to get around on the trail. There were just so many of them, walking fairly slowly, and all of the with those silly walking poles that just take up too much room on the trail. That was OK, but they got to the restaurant just about the same time as we did (after we’d made a wrong turn and detoured by maybe 30 or 40 minutes) and were just obnoxiously loud. There were a number of other guests but somehow the French figured they had a right to chant and sing and just be noisy. Next time I hear someone complain about loud Americans I’ll have a story to tell them.

The boat ride from Tuent to Port de Sóller. Have I mentioned that I love Mediterranean waters?

After an otherwise great lunch (and they did eventually quiet down more or less) we had time to kill before the boat ride, so we just hung around reading. And then we finished it all with a beautiful little boat ride along the coast up to Port de Sóller. Close to perfect!

Besides hiking and food there was plenty to enjoy about Sóller. It’s mostly just a cute little town with cute little streets and a cute central plaza. But it has one of the most interesting train stations you’ll ever see anywhere. Two giants of Spanish art, you see, Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso, both spent time in the area; Miró in particular spent a lot of time here. So the train station has a little museum with art by both of them. Picassos and Mirós in a train station.

Sóller’s big old church right on the main square

And a typical street early in the day

The other highlight of Sóller is the tram ride down to the port. Port de Sóller is a separate town about two miles away; it’s where you go for a (modest) beach experience and the newer hotels and restaurants are down there. You can walk there (and we did on occasion) and there are buses and taxis that go back and forth. But tourists travel by an old narrow-gauge open air tram that’s just fun to ride on. Definitely touristy and more expensive than the alternatives, but fun and pretty much worth it.

Sunset at Port de Sóller

Thus our first stop on Mallorca was a success. One of the things we learned here was that Mallorcans actually have their own language. It’s close to Spanish and for a while we thought it was Catalan, which was strange because this isn’t Catalonia. At some point though someone explained to Mark that Mallorcan is in fact its own beast, a separate language close to both Spanish and Catalan but also different from both, reflecting the separate history that the island has had.

Maybe we’ll come back some day so Mark can study Mallorcan.

First, though, we’re off to Alcúdia up on the northern tip of Mallorca and then on to Palma, the major city.

Another view along the coast

Mark loves these quaint bicycle pictures

Mark at a lookout high above Port de Sóller

Mark & Lorraine, apparently having fun up on Montserrat

Somehow I don’t have a great deal to say about Barcelona which is a little strange in that it’s one of our favorite cities in the world. It’s got pretty much everything you could want in a city: great food at sometimes amazing prices, mind-blowing modernista architecture along with great 19th century buildings, vibrant culture, and an old town that’s almost eerie in its medieval feel along with more modern and hip places. Oh, and then there’s that whole Mediterranean beach thing that they opened up when they removed a bunch of old manufacturing hulls for the 1992 Olympics.

So yeah, a great city. In fact, part of our conversation during the five nights we spent there was a debate: if Paris is our favorite city, what’s #2? Barcelona is certainly in the running. Maybe New York City? Miami Beach? Puerto Vallarta? I keep trying to put Minneapolis on the list but somehow it never stays for long. Fortunately we have a couple years at least to keep doing our research.

City visits these days have plenty of time for sitting in outdoor cafés, reading and relaxing

This trip to Barcelona was mostly about visiting with old friends. Way, way back when Mark & I were young professionals, practically new to D.C., Mark volunteered on Tom Harkin’s 1992 presidential campaign. That was the start of, well, everything really, as he later got a paid position on the campaign and then – when that whole presidential thing didn’t work out so well – a position on Harkin’s Senate staff. Later, working on his 2002 reelection campaign Mark built some software tools that eventually became the VAN which is what allows us to travel like this.

At any rate, the guy who brought Mark into Harkin World, Dan Smith, wrote a few months ago that he and his wife Lorraine (another one-time Harkinista) were going to be in Barcelona before going on to a wedding in Seville. Any chance we could meet up?

And meet up we did. We haven’t spent a lot of time with Dan & Lorraine over the last 20 years or so but soon it was as though we hadn’t been apart a bit. Meeting up for dinner one night turned into museum tours, lunches, another dinner, and even a day trip out to Montserrat, home to a Benedictine abbey and a black Madonna that, along with St. George, is one of Catalonia’s two patron saints. To say we had a great time is an understatement; in fact, before we parted ways we started initial plans to travel next year in Africa. I’d call that a successful visit!

Mark, Dan, & Lorraine reunited after too many years

The big attraction in Barcelona these days is the Sagrada Familia, a big old church started in 1882 and scheduled for completion in 2026 (though with decorative elements continuing into the 2030s). It’s hard to imagine a more unusual or striking piece of architecture anywhere in the world, with original architect Antoni Gaudí blending Gothic spires with Art Nouveau/Modernista swoops and curves. Part of the fun of returning to Barcelona after a couple years is to try to identify the new pieces and figure out how far they’ve come. As much as the current status is stunning it’s remarkable to know that they are just now starting construction on the final six (six!) giant towers.

The western facade of La Sagrada Familia. Those old-looking spires are in fact pretty old; I’d bet they were there back in 1975 when I first came to Barcelona. It’s changed a lot in those 42 years and apparently it’s going to change a lot more in the next 10 years as they add six spires that will dwarf the ones already there.

Then there was a nice Picasso museum to tour and – an important part of any Barcelona experience – sampling tapas bars. We went back to old favorites like Ciudad Condal, discovered a new favorite or two like Cor Caliu with its to-die-for chicken salad. And catching up with Dan & Lorraine.

But alas, all good things must end so they’re off to Seville and we’re headed to Mallorca, the largest of Spain’s Balearic Islands. Stay tuned.

In Catalan “Montserrat” means “saw (or serrated) mountain”, with the mountain in the background just one of the “teeth” when seen from a distance

Mark with the venerated Black Madonna. She’s behind glass but there’s a cutout so you can touch her hand. I think he’s blessed now, or something like that.

The church at Montserrat with the Black Virgin up there seemingly encased in gold. If you go there you should get there early (as our guide did for us) because when mass starts they close off the tours.

A view from Montserrat down towards Barcelona which allegedly you can see on a clear day

Did I mention the food?

Ciudad Condal, Mark’s favorite tapas bar in the whole world

Our day trip out to Montserrat included a tour of the Pere Ventura winery. Mark & I have done a lot of wine tours over the year and we’re more than a little jaded. There’s only so many times I need to be shown the steel vats and the oak casks. This one was incredible, though. The architecture of the underground spaces where they store the cava (Spanish champagne) was really something, and we actually learned a lot about how it’s made. Color us surprised and happy!

This is Las Meninas (The Maids of Honor), the most famous painting by 17th century Spanish painter Diego Velázquez. Why is it here? Read on.

Barcelona’s Picasso museum includes a big display of literally dozens of studies Picasso did of Las Meninas in 1957. Some of them recreated the whole work while others were just a little piece here or there. It was pretty cool to watch Picasso play with this over and over and over.

Mark & I left our hotel one morning heading off to Park Güell, a big park northwest of the city center designed by Gaudí and part of the whole UNESCO World Heritage homage to him. Imagine our surprise when we got there at maybe 10:30 AM and saw a sign indicating that the next entrance tickets available were for 7:30 PM! So this is as close as we got.

Another view of the Sagrada Familia. Oddly we have no pictures of the exterior from our 2014 visit, so now we’re trying to document its growth from here on.

While in Paris I got a new pink shirt. Mark insisted on a picture when he saw me walking through these bougainvilleas.

Zaragoza’s Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar from across the Ebro River

The first thing I took note of in Zaragoza was as we were walking from the train station to our hotel and passed Caesar Augustus Square. Mark observed that the city was founded during the reign of Augustus and in fact was originally named “Caesaraugusta” which, if you say it enough times becomes “Zaragoza” or, as it was known in English for many years, Saragossa.

The city sits on the Ebro River, a favorite for crossword puzzle writers, and is today Spain’s fifth largest city. Over the centuries the Romans, Moors, and Spaniards all left their distinctive marks. We really enjoyed the city; though there was nothing explosively fabulous about it and we didn’t exactly start looking at real estate, it just had a great feel to it. There were lots of really attractive little plazas where for a couple bucks you could sit with coffee or sparkling water, read, and just watch a very pleasant life go by.

Here are some of Zaragoza’s hits and misses.

The first big site is the Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar, the Basilica of our Lady of the Pilar. The story, though I’m modestly skeptical, is that soon after the crucifixion (January 2, 40 AD to be precise) the apostle James was preaching in Spain, frustrated by his lack of progress. As he was deep in prayers by the Ebro River Mary – who was still very much alive – appeared, having been carried by angels to Spain. She told James to hang in there (or something to that effect) and gave him a pillar around which he was to build a church in her honor. According to legend that very pillar is still a part of the church, purportedly the first church in all of Christendom to be dedicated to Mary.

Just a few of the domes seen from one of the towers in the Basilica

Now, admittedly I’m a skeptic, but the church itself is stunning. The current building dates from the 17th and 18th centuries in the Baroque style, but the exterior, with its huge dome and 10 smaller tiled domes has a distinctly Byzantine feel to it. Not only is the view from street level wonderful, you can take and elevator part way up one of the towers and then climb the rest of the way for great views across the city. A site not to be missed.

Next on the list, and surprisingly close, is La Seo, the Cathedral. Why you need a second huge Catholic church almost literally a stone’s throw away from the Basilica is another of those mysteries, but there it is. On the site of what was once Zaragoza’s main mosque – itself built on the onetime site of a Roman temple – the Cathedral dates from the 12th century, though extensive changes have been made over the centuries giving it quite a mishmash of architectural styles. Along with other buildings throughout Aragon, La Seo is part of the UNESCO Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon World Heritage site.

The Cathedral’s Chapel of St. Bernard, built in a riot of alabaster

A third major site in Zaragoza is the Aljafería Place, built originally for the region’s Islamic rulers and later converted for use by the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand & Isabella. Another part of UNESCO’s Mudéjar World Heritage site, it is one of the oldest and largest remaining pieces of Spanish Islamic architecture. Until not that many years ago it lay mostly in ruins but over the last several decades the building has been beautifully restored. And interestingly today, the Aragonese legislature meets in a wing of the building.

Mark in Aljafería’s throne room. That ceiling was damned impressive.

Part of the city’s attraction for me was the Ebro River. They’ve built great walking/biking/running trails along both banks of the river, just inviting you down to enjoy it. As I would follow the river eastbound just a mile-and-a-half from the center of the city, suddenly you were out in the country on a little dirt road, just a great change from urban life. Cities were built on rivers, of course, for the transportation and trade opportunities but these days I love a city that has embraced its river for more pedestrian purposes.

Another great part of the city was Parque Grande, a huge public park maybe a mile-and-a-half south of the city center. The park has everything, including big fountains, long walkways, big hills and trees and just everything you could want in a park. One of the higher, more remote areas became my favorite afternoon reading spots.

The Parque Grande with fountains and, at the top, King Alfonso I, the guy who expelled the Moors in the 12th century

As mentioned above, the city’s many plazas and squares were a big part of the joy of Zaragoza. I spent decades of my life wondering who these people were who could just sit at cafés sipping coffee, whiling away the hours, while I was always too busy. Well, now I’ve become one of them (minus the coffee) and I rather enjoy it.

Mark in one of the nice little squares we enjoyed

Finally, the city’s Roman ruins – a theater, the remains of the Forum, public baths, and even the city’s river port – are allegedly part of the city’s attraction. Maybe I’m just spoiled but the ruins were really modest. As Mark put it after touring the Forum, they were the kind of ruins that make you hate touring ruins. So OK, no city is perfect.

Not perfect, no, but Zaragoza was really nice. Very pleasant. Now it’s on to Barcelona, a city we know based on plenty of experience that we will love.

Not surprisingly, we continue to love Spanish tapas. And Spanish wine.

Built in the 16th century as a trading exchange, today La Lonja is used for temporary art exhibits. The show we saw was nice, a local Zaragozan artist, but the architecture was the real star. This is a shot of soaring columns reaching up to the ceiling.

The Museo de Zaragoza includes both archeology and fine arts. Inexplicably, the rooms holding 15 Goyas was closed the day I was there – dark and roped off, though the art was definitely there – but the rest of the museum was still interesting. This ancient mosaic is titled Eros and Pan and appears to be the first fist bump in recorded history.

A temporary exhibit in the Museo de Zaragoza was work from a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, Utagawa Hiroshige. Mark took one look at my pictures and realized that this was the same guy whose exhibit we’d seen at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in Nagoya. I’d been so annoyed about the absence of MFA pieces that I hadn’t appreciated his work. This time I did.

And finally, one last shot of the Parque Grande’s great fountains