Wednesday in Palma

Wednesday would find us pulling into the port of Palma de Mallorca (Majorca) in mid-afternoon (3pm).

When we left our room earlier in the day, the utility closet between our bathroom and the room next door was open - so Carl examined it. Note that there is a fire hose stored there. Fire on board is a big concern - we are supposed to unplug any electric devices anytime we are out of the room.

The island of Mallorca as we were coming in

We took a shore excursion done through the cruise line that took us to Bellver Castle and to the small town of Valldemossa.

Our bus first took us to Bellver Castle

The castle (the excursion did not include going into the castle).

View of Palma and part of the harbor from Bellver Castle

Another view of the castle

Selfie with the harbor behind us

The Norwegian Gem in the harbor

The bus took us across an agricultural valley, through forested upland areas, to Valldemossa near the northwest side of the island.

A locator map after we got to Valldemossa

Central market street in Valldemossa

Our guide showed us this ceramic tile on a house - Valldemossa was the birthplace of Saint Catalina Thomas - the tile says, "Santa Catalina Thomas Pray for us."

Church tower and charter house (Real Cartuja) of Valldemossa

"This ancient monastery, originally a royal residence built by king Jaume II (14th Century) for his son Sancho. It was founded and inhabited by Cathusian monks from 1399 until 1835."

Another view of the church with a bust of Chopin in the garden in front...

Closer view of the bust of Chopin

"Frederic Chopin, the great Polish composer, and George Sand (pseudonym of Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil), renowned French writer, stayed at the Real Cartuja during the winter of 1838."

We returned to the main market street...

... stopped in a pearl shop...

... and got some information about the history of pearls and specifically Majorcan pearls.

Our excursion included a drink at a local shop - the almond milkshakes were recommended, and we also got a potato sweet roll.

Enjoying our almond milkshakes in front of the cafe

From a viewpoint over the valley

"Parish gothic Church from the XIIIth century devoted to Sant Bartomeu, patron saint of the village of Valldemossa."

Another view of the valley

As we walked around the town, we saw more of the ceramic tiles on houses commemorating Santa Catalina Thomas...

We guessed that they may show different aspects of her life...

Some information about her life and the tiles I found: https://www.world-in-words.com/news/tiles-of-the-blessed/

Carl in front of a house where he had just taken a picture of one of the tiles.

One of the narrow streets

Looking inside the home where Santa Catalina Thomas was born -- now a shrine.

"Natal house from 1531 of the most devoted religious figure of the island Catalina Thomas i Gallard, renowned as 'la Beateta'."

Outside the birth home of Santa Catalina Thomas

After about an hour wandering around Valldemossa, we re-boarded the bus and it took us back to Palma...

... we drove by the Cathedral in Palma before returning to the ship.

Large sailing yacht near our ship in the harbor - we were told that it is probably belongs to Jeff Bezos (head of Amazon) and it is the largest sailing yacht in the world (https://www.boatinternational.com/yachts/news/jeff-bezos-oceanco-sailing-yacht-y721). It may not look too big, but...

... look at the size of the white car on the pier compared to the yacht. The one that is supposed to belong to Jeff Bezos is the one on the right.

We were a little concerned about taking another NCL shore excursion after our experience in Lisbon (waiting 1.5 hours to be joined to our tour and then having the tour itself shortened in half due to the delays), but the excursion on Palma went a lot better. We were also surprised to find that the Shore Excursion department refunded us 1/2 of the cost of the Lisbon excursion because they recognized that a lot of people were dissatisfied. It was nice that they were proactive in taking care of this.

We are continuing to enjoy our cruise!