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ATTRACTIONS & ACTIVITIES: Local Attractions Arab Baths These have been conserved almost without rehabilitation. They are one of the few monuments left from the Arab times in Palma. The building has a dome with openings that allow the passing of light. It is supported by 8 columns that form horseshoe arches. Can Serra Street 7, Palma de Mallorca Gran Hotel – La Caixa Foundation
This building is the best conserved example of modernist architecture in Palma. It was built as a hotel between 1901 and 1903 by the Catalan architect Doménech y Montaner. In the year 1933 it was rehabilitated and converted into an exhibition centre. Inside, it is possible to visit the permanent exhibition of works by modernist painter Anglada Camarassa, as well as temporary exhibitions that showing classical, avant-garde or contemporary art. There is also an ample program of conferences and courses. Plaça Weyler 3 Castell de Bellver
This castle, the work of Perè Salvà, is located on top of a hill and it was one of King Jaime II’s residences. It is a gothic style defensive fortress. The Castell de Bellver has had several uses over the course of history. King Jaime II ordered its construction as a royal residence. In the 19th century it was converted into a mint. Its structure is noteworthy for being circular. It has three defensive towers and a keep with 4 floors. Inside the castle there is a circular central patio with two floors and a patio constructed over a dungeon. There is a chapel on the second floor. Palma de Mallorca Cathedral – La Seu
This building was started around 1306 and finished in 1601. It has an entrance hall dedicated to Mary’s Immaculate Conception. It is a place where the Christian faith is shown with a beauty that goes beyond the human and attracts observers. As with all Catholic cathedrals, it shares the feature of being the Mother Church of the diocese, a place of prayer and celebration of the faith, primarily of the Eucharist. It is also where the Archbishop has his cátedra (a marble seat from the 14th century). Its three apses shelter three traditional parts of the Eucharist: institution, celebration and reserve. Plaza Almoina (no number), Palma de Mallorca Royal Palace of L´Almundaina
Since its restoration, the Royal Palace of L´Almundaina has become a compulsory stop for all visitors to the city of Palma, and can be contemplated from its privileged position over the bay and the city.
L´Almundaina, which means “royal compound” or “fortified precincts” in Arabic, is a building of marked defensive character that provides a résumé of the Balearic Islands within its walls and that was always the official seat of political power in due to its privileged location overlooking the bay and the city. All the civilisations and cultures that have passed through the Balearic Islands have left their marks on the Royal Palace of L´Almundaina. The building has also marked by great Moorish constructions of the 10th and 12th centuries, and the Christian transformations of the 13th century. In 1963, National Heritage started the restoration works in the palace with the aim of restoring the 16th century castle that Jaime II prepared for the King’s Court and to fit it out again as a royal residence. Palau Reial Street (no number), Palma de Mallorca De Cura Shrine This shrine to Mare de Déu de Cura is found at the summit of Randa mountain (543m) on the border between the municipalities of Algaida and Llucmajor.
It was restored at the beginning of the 20th century. The Third Regular Franciscan order is in charge of it and novices live in this Mallorcan province. The image of the Virgin de Cura was crowned by the Pope in 1955. Nostra Senyora de Cura, 07629, Randa, Mallorca Artá Caves
The Artá caves are located on the coast near the municipal limits of Capdepera, on Cap Vermell, surrounded by mountains that rise up from the sea. It has been visited since far-off times and it is very probable that the caves were known about both by the first inhabitants of the islands and the several later peoples. After passing through the very high entrance, a vast area called the Vestibule or Entrance hall is accessed in which countless stalactites of prodigious forms and extraordinary proportions hang from a high ceiling. Tall stalagmites grow from the floor, slender and elegant, vaguely ghosting the shape of human beings, mysterious immobile and rigid spectres, indifferent to the human gaze and with that imposing superiority of wonderful creations of nature. Carretera de la Cuevas (no number), Capdepera The Mallorca Mills
In Mallorca, devices moved by traditional forces have been known about since times before the Christian conquest (1229). Windmills, treadmills and watermills can be found all over the island’s territory. Today they have lost their original function, however they do enjoy an important heritage value as a testimony to the economic, social and cultural past of Mallorca. Can Marquès
Documented back to the 16th century, this is one of the best preserved stately homes in Palma de Mallorca. Its premises show the original décor and give an impressive vision of the lifestyle and private habits of Palma’s upper bourgeois class around 1900.
Narrative panels give information about the functions of the different spaces and interesting aspects of the daily life of yesteryear. This unique Mallorcan exhibition space is complemented by contemporary artistic interpretations. Furthermore, Can Marquès organises guided trips, cultural events, exhibitions, conferences, seminars, presentations etc. Zanglada Street 2A, Palma de Mallorca Els Calderers
Els Calderers is located at a junction at kilometre 37 of the road that leads from Palma to Manacor. The estate complex is made up of the main building, stables and corrals with native animals from the island, among which is the famous black pig, from which the delicious Mallorcan spicy sausage is made. The complex has other different dependencies, among which is the blacksmith shop with its original tools, the oven that bread and savouries were baked in and the laundry for washing and dying clothes. Ctra. Algaida – Villafranca, Km 37. Lluc Shrine The Lluc shrine is considered as both a religious and a civic-cultural symbol of the Mallorcan people. The “Blauets” choir school contributes to the shrine by singing to the virgin every day in the name of Mallorca. This choir of children that lives by the shrine receives a strange human, religious, cultural and musical upbringing and it is one of the oldest in Europe after the choir school of Abadía de Montserrat (Barcelona) that it was modelled on. It has recorded several records and CDs and has often sung outside the island. The image of Our Lady of Lluc is sculpted from polychrome sandstone. In 1684, Dr. Rafel Busquets published the Llibre de l’invenció i miracles de la prodigiosa figura de Nostra Senyora de Lluc, which contains the story of the finding “invencio”, and tells about eighty-six miracles, the vast majority of which were documented by a judicial process in 1642. Coves del Drac This cave was formed in the Miocene period. In reality, there are four interconnected caves: the French cave, the Luis Salvador cave, the White cave and the Black cave. The thrashing of the sea against the rock can take the credit for such a beautiful expression of nature.
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