The Mediterranean's golden city — Gothic cathedral over the bay, Arab Baths hidden in the old town, and pa amb oli at every corner
Palma de Mallorca is the capital of Spain's Balearic Islands — a city of extraordinary architectural layering where a 14th-century Gothic cathedral (La Seu) looms directly over the Mediterranean bay, Arab Baths from the 10th-century Moorish period survive inside a private garden, and a Baroque palace, a Renaissance stock exchange, and a 21st-century contemporary art museum (Es Baluard) coexist within walking distance. Palma rewards the visitor who stays in the old town (El Casco Antiguo) rather than heading immediately to the beaches: the Arab quarter streets around the Almudaina Palace, the…
Palma's historical identity is defined by the Arab period (902–1229) more than any other. Medina Mayurqa — the Moorish city — left the Arab Baths, the street plan of the old quarter, and the water distribution systems (aceñas) that still feed some of the old city's wells. King Jaume I of Aragon conquered the city on New Year's Eve 1229, establishing the Aragonese Crown's control of the western Mediterranean and beginning the Gothic architectural flowering that produced La Seu and the Llotja (medieval silk exchange). The island's mallorquina aristocracy — the descendants of Aragonese nobles wh…