Mallorca Day 30 - change of plans in Palma

My intention today was to go to Palma and do the Hop on Hop off  Bus to get the lay of the land and maybe visit the castle.

I got up late so had a quick cafe con leche and ensaimada at a cafe. An Ensaimada is a traditional Mallorcan coiled breakfast roll. Its usually served warmed, and is light, flaky, slightly sweet and has a dusting of confectioners sugar - yummy.

At the bus stop I learned that today is "festival" (which I learned is Balearic Island Day, when I got on the internet tonight) and the buses would be running on the Sunday and holidays schedule. OK. I did wonder what would be open in Palma but figured that the Hop on Hop Off tourist buses always run (they ran in Barcelona on Easter!!)
I took the Palma Express bus, which took about 45 mins as it stopped in Soller and a couple of places just outside Palma. 3.20 Euro. Compared with 22 Euro return on the train last week. The buses start in Port de Soller so I was able to get a seat, people in Soller were not as lucky.
The bus ends at a very modern bus station BELOW Placa d'Espagna (the square that the train station is on). The bus to and from the airport runs here too.

Down the escalators and there is a modern train station as well as the buses. The only train coming into the above ground station is the old electric one that we took from Soller.

I thought I remembered seeing the tourist bus in this square but there was no sign of it so I decided to walk down to the Cathedral area as I knew there was a stop there.

Statue in Placa d'Espagna

Amazing looking ham sandwiches ready for the lunch rush.

Not enough tourists around to play yet.

There weren't a lot of tourists around, I was hearing mostly Spanish, not German or English. 90% of the shops were closed on the pedestrian streets down to the Cathedral.

I loved the zigzag electric lines.

When I got down to the area where the tourist bus should have been it was quite clear that there would be no tourist buses. The whole area was full of market stalls and crowds of people. It had been blocked to traffic for miles.

All the usual; leather

cheese, meat and other local products, most of them with plates of samples to try.

Pottery, jewelry, children's wooden toys

and a special food and drink area where you could get locally made beer, wine etc. I got one of those pizza things with the green veg and tomato on top.

The next area had scultpures set up by the lake in front of the Cathedral

I loved these metal fantasy creatures

The artist, Jaume Espases, had a tent

with a number of his sculptures set up

As did this one, Yolanda Rodrigues.

But most of them were "one offs"

with people wandering around them

and having their pictures taken

with them.

Too much walking, too many crowds, he had to retire to the basket.

Walking along I got jostled over to the side of the path and people were lining a roadway. Stopping to try and figure it out I saw horses, so had to wait and see what was happening.

Can you get a ticket for "distracted riding"?

Such beautiful,

beautiful,

beautiful horses.

We all stood around for quite a while and then the announcer and the music started and we were treated to a demonstration of dressage and tricks.

The high point for the crowd

was when they made they horses rear.

Sometimes groups of them would do it in unison (of course I couldn't work my camera fast enough for that)

The other crowd favorite was when they were all given wooden "jousting lances"

and galloping full tilt had to try and put it though a small metal ring. There was much laughter when they missed and cheering when they got it.

All in all very entertaining.

I have 200  photos from today (while watching the equestrian demonstration the camera battery actually died and I had to replace it with my spare) so I think I am going to end this post here and continue it tomorrow (because I'm also really tired!).