Hello once again! With another week having gone by, of course I needed to document it with another blog post. :) My first night going bar hopping was last week on Friday (3/13). The group of girls that I am here with and I went to an area of Mallorca called Paseo Marítimo. This is a road located really close to the marina that is home to many of the popular bars and clubs here in Palma. We originally wanted to go to a couple of bars then find a club to go to, however, none of the clubs were open due to it not being high tourist season quite yet. There was a bright side to this though. A lot of bars had promoters that stood outside of the bar that offered free complimentary drinks. So we went to two different bars where there were free drinks. My night started at 11 PM and did not end until 4 AM! Bars and clubs do not get full until midnight. This is when a typical night to go out would start. Here in Spain, the party finishes early in the morning. Luckily, there were no events planned for the next day, so I had the entire day to relax in comfy clothes.
On Sunday (3/15), we went to Valldemossa. This was by far one of my favorite excursions. I really enjoyed the town and the area. Valldemossa is one of the most popular and beautiful villages to visit in the surrounding area of Palma. You will hear many different languages while here. Valldemossa is home to a pastry called coca de patata. This pastry is more of a sweet bread made out of potatoes and covered with powdered sugar. The first thing we did when we stepped off of the bus was have coca de patatas with chocolate caliente (hot chocolate). The hot chocolate here in Spain is pretty much liquid chocolate. After we finished our pastries and hot chocolate, we walked around the village. On our walk we saw Real Cartuja de Valldemossa (a 13th century monastery that was originally a royal residence until it was changed in 1399). Many different artists, musicians, and writers found inspiration here. Among them was the composer, Frederic Chopin. We also saw a cute little market that was taking place at the time when we were in the village. I enjoyed this one much more than the others that I have visited. I sampled some candied almonds and they were so good! Ten times better than any other ones that I've had. I will definitely have to go back to check out some more of the shops that were there before I leave. We also went on a short fifteen minute hike up to la ermita (the hermitage, shrine, chapel) of Valldemossa. Here we looked out over the water and had our picnic lunch. Towards the end of our time in Valldemossa it started to rain. So, we headed back to the village to locate a cafe where we could relax until our bus came to take us back to Palma. I ordered a cafe con leche (coffee with milk) and a slice of an almond cake. Once back in Palma, I had the rest of the night to relax at home.
So, of course my friends and I had to go out for St. Patrick's Day. With St. Patrick's Day falling on a Tuesday, we were able to participate in Ruta Martiana as well. Ruta Martiana happens every week on Tuesday. Basically the concept is to go to multiple tapas places and here you can order a tapa and get wine or beer for a reduced price. We went to three different tapas places and then some of the group then headed onto an Irish pub called Shamrock. This place was absolutely jam packed. You literally had to push your way through the crowd. The atmosphere was really cool though because there were live bands that were performing throughout the night. I didn't stay out too late though because I had my internship the next morning.
Looking ahead towards this weekend, I am off to Madrid with my CIEE group! We will be spending three days and two nights here. I am really excited to see all of the different museums that we have planned to go to and to compare the differences between this city, Palma, and Barcelona (I visited here for a day many years ago.) I'm sure I will have a lot to write about in my next blog post about this trip. So from my side of the world, Hasta luego!
On Sunday (3/15), we went to Valldemossa. This was by far one of my favorite excursions. I really enjoyed the town and the area. Valldemossa is one of the most popular and beautiful villages to visit in the surrounding area of Palma. You will hear many different languages while here. Valldemossa is home to a pastry called coca de patata. This pastry is more of a sweet bread made out of potatoes and covered with powdered sugar. The first thing we did when we stepped off of the bus was have coca de patatas with chocolate caliente (hot chocolate). The hot chocolate here in Spain is pretty much liquid chocolate. After we finished our pastries and hot chocolate, we walked around the village. On our walk we saw Real Cartuja de Valldemossa (a 13th century monastery that was originally a royal residence until it was changed in 1399). Many different artists, musicians, and writers found inspiration here. Among them was the composer, Frederic Chopin. We also saw a cute little market that was taking place at the time when we were in the village. I enjoyed this one much more than the others that I have visited. I sampled some candied almonds and they were so good! Ten times better than any other ones that I've had. I will definitely have to go back to check out some more of the shops that were there before I leave. We also went on a short fifteen minute hike up to la ermita (the hermitage, shrine, chapel) of Valldemossa. Here we looked out over the water and had our picnic lunch. Towards the end of our time in Valldemossa it started to rain. So, we headed back to the village to locate a cafe where we could relax until our bus came to take us back to Palma. I ordered a cafe con leche (coffee with milk) and a slice of an almond cake. Once back in Palma, I had the rest of the night to relax at home.
So, of course my friends and I had to go out for St. Patrick's Day. With St. Patrick's Day falling on a Tuesday, we were able to participate in Ruta Martiana as well. Ruta Martiana happens every week on Tuesday. Basically the concept is to go to multiple tapas places and here you can order a tapa and get wine or beer for a reduced price. We went to three different tapas places and then some of the group then headed onto an Irish pub called Shamrock. This place was absolutely jam packed. You literally had to push your way through the crowd. The atmosphere was really cool though because there were live bands that were performing throughout the night. I didn't stay out too late though because I had my internship the next morning.
Looking ahead towards this weekend, I am off to Madrid with my CIEE group! We will be spending three days and two nights here. I am really excited to see all of the different museums that we have planned to go to and to compare the differences between this city, Palma, and Barcelona (I visited here for a day many years ago.) I'm sure I will have a lot to write about in my next blog post about this trip. So from my side of the world, Hasta luego!