Oct 30.2009 - Palma de Mallorca, Spain

DKP : Well hellooo España... Palma de Mallorca is a gem of city on an Island off the north coast of Spain. The island's capital city with a population of 325,000 and a sizeable port, Palma offers a rich mix of history, culture and nightlife. We spent the day with our fellow photographer, Martina, wandering the narrow streets around the Cathedral and town winding through the high walls of ancient buildings. The details in the architecture had me totally ensconsed straining to catch every detail along the way.

There were glass and wood enclosed balconies, oversized old doors containing smaller doors within leading to lovely hidden car patios, and windows and shutters of every quaint style under the sun and the colors upon colors upon colors - more sophisticated than South America but sunny and bright and full of life.

The amazing cathedral and royal palace are among the most prominent of landmarks. These fine monuments were built over and sacked remains of the Moorish Alcazar and mosque razed to the ground when the Christians regained the island from the Moors. Moorish design is still evident today throughout Spain and had actually played a large part in the "look and feel" of the chillout music movement and hookah lounges that have propagated throughout Europe. When you begin to understand this strong mixing of cultures, it is evident why Spain is the birthplace of Chillout and Jazz Electronica music.

After much discovering, shooting and shopping, we settled into a large sunny piazza for Italian quattro formaggio pizza, beer with a nice helping of sexy capoeira street dancers. A gelato and a ride back around the marina decked with Monaco grade yachts sealed the experience in a nice red pool of wax. We all decided we could live in Mallorca, a mere $500,000 Euro gets you a flat in the narrow cobblestone alleys with no view to speak of... we'll keep looking but we'll definitely come back.