This is: Shanghaied in Tuscany!
After
a very long Sunday, I was in absolutely no hurry to get up. I
nevertheless made it down to breakfast some time after 9am, which I
thought was quite creditable given my travel marathon the previous
day. Hilton breakfasts rarely disappoint and this one was no
exception. On the way back to my room, I sought some advice from the
front desk about parking in Palma and also got a recommendation for
an interesting drive that I could take on Tuesday morning. I quickly
got organised and decided to set off and see what Palma had to
offer.
I found the recommended car park relatively easily and abandoned the car there to explore the Old Town area on foot. I was thoroughly impressed! The well-known cathedral was an obvious starting point, but beyond that lay a whole network of interesting narrow streets that occasionally opened out into lively squares. I had an open-air lunch in one of these, the Plaça Major. After another bout of sight-seeing under the cloudless sky, I made my way back to the car and decided that I was up for trying to find my way to a well-known city viewpoint, by the Castillo de Bellver.
I found the road easily enough and made the ascent up to the castle and its viewpoint, noting that it also seemed to be a calling point for city bus tours. The castle itself was attractive, as were the views down over Palma.
Feeling that I'd given Palma a good shot, and that it had rewarded me by exceeding all my expectations, I happily made my way back to the hotel in order to enjoy my rather splendid accommodation and relax for the remaining part of the day.