Things to do in Spain
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Mercat de Pere Garau
Locals who love fresh produce will tell you it is the best market for fruit and vegetables, as this is where farmers from around the island converge with the fruits of their labours. On Saturday mornings it's good for gourmet products.
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Mercat de l'Olivar
This central market is especially good for fish and meat. At lunchtime Monday to Saturday, head here for several lively tapas bars serving fresh food to market workers and shoppers.
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Mallorca Canyoning
When canyoning, a local guide is essential. One group of guides to contact is Mallorca Canyoning.
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Made in Brasil
The name is a little misleading, as here anything South American goes, from salsa to lambada. A good place to give your body a shakedown while sipping on Caribbean tipples such as mojitos and caipirinhas.
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Latitud N
The rambling old building in which the poet Miquel Costa i Llobera was born, and which later housed the town's first cinema, is now the setting for atmospheric dinners amid a panoply of antiques. The menu consists of a very small selection of dishes, but each – such as the Chateaubriand – is perfectly prepared.
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La Fura dels Baus
Keep your eyes peeled for any of the eccentric (if not downright crazed) performances of Barcelona’s La Fura dels Baus theatre group. It has won worldwide acclaim for its brand of startling, often acrobatic, theatre in which the audience is frequently dragged into the chaos. The company grew out of Barcelona’s street-theatre culture in the late 1970s and, although it has grown in technical prowess and received great international acclaim, it has not abandoned the rough-and-ready edge of street performances.
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La Bóveda
You have to love this place, one of the few to transmit an essential Spanish boisterousness in this heavily touristed district. You'll find Andalucian wall tiles, high ceilings from which hang slow-turning fans, Spanish jamón, and people crammed in to munch on generous tapas and larger raciones.
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La Bodeguilla
This gourmet restaurant does creative interpretations of dishes from across Spain; try the cochinillo (suckling pig) from Segovia or the lechazo (young lamb, baked Córdoba-style in rosemary). Also on offer is an enticing range of tapas – the marinated cubes of salmon with dill chutney caught our eye.
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Kaskai
This place sells itself as something of a mixed modern cuisine experience, with Asian and local dishes, but it works better as a chilled-out bar. The dominant black and blood-red decor and candlelit tables invite you to dally over a few drinks, which might well be accompanied by a DJ session from Thursday to Saturday.
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Jazz Voyeur Club
A tiny club no bigger than most people’s living rooms, Voyeur hosts live bands nightly for much of the year – jazz is the focus, but you'll also hear flamenco, blues, funk and the occasional jam session. Red candles burn on the tables and a few plush chairs are scattered about – get here early if you want to grab one. In autumn it hosts a fine jazz festival.
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Jardí Botànic & Museu Balear de Ciències Naturals
A pleasant stroll (about 600m) west from the town centre brings you to the peaceful Jardí Botànic, with collections of flowers and other plants native to the Balearic Islands, as well as samples from other Mediterranean areas. At one end of the gardens is the Museu Balear de Ciències Naturals, housed in a once-private mansion surrounded by lemon groves.
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Idem Café
A deep, dark-red baroque feel attracts cocktail-drinking night owls. Past the front bar and deeper inside are two separate spaces. Some of the wall art is risqué and the place has something of the air of an old-style but gay-run bordello.
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Hórreo Veinti3
One of numerous good options along this pedestrian street, this trendy place is especially good if you're hungry in the early evening or late afternoon. Dishes range from risotto and grilled fish to duck breast with apple and shallots.
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Gourmet Tour
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Gibson
This chirpy cocktail bar with outside seating is still busy with (mostly local) punters on a weekday night when everything else around has pulled the shutters down.
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Galeria La Caja Blanca
Edgy Mallorcan and international artists are showcased in this stark, minimalist space.
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Forn des Teatre
This pastry shop does featherweight ensaïmades (a light, spiral pastry emblematic of the island) and is a historic landmark. Larger ones are prepared to order, but smaller, takeaway ones start from €1.30. Also on offer is a mean almond cake.
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Federació Hipica de les Illes Baleares
Its website lists 14 stables in Mallorca under ‘Clubes Illes Balears’.
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Farrutx
This Mallorca brand's exquisite leather shoes for women are guaranteed to make you drool.
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Fàbrica 23
For good market-based Med cooking, this gourmand fave (long since moved from Carrer de Sa Fàbrica) is hard to beat. The menu changes regularly and generally there is only a handful of dishes each day, covering meat, fish and vegetarian tastes. There's a menú del día for €21 and it is usually a good idea to book ahead.
reviewed
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Estadi Son Moix
The Estadi Son Moix is about 3km north of central Palma, and hosts football games, including those featuring Palma's top division RCD Mallorca. Tickets are available at the stadium or by phoning the booking number.
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Es Pincell
No sign reveals the existence of this deep-vaulted cellar where locals gather for a pomada (Menorcan gin and lemon soft drink) at long timber tables. Young rebels with causes, such as independence from the Spanish state, often gather for animated discussion.
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Es Mollet
With its covered veranda just over the road from a little bay (Cala Portitxolet), this is a classic seafood joint, where your main course, the freshest catch of the day, is sold by weight (€45 to €60 per kg). There's a price to pay, but the produce here is selected direct from local fishers and grilled to utter perfection.
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Església de Sant Miquel
Raised after the conquest of Mallorca, this church is a striking mix. It was one of the first four churches built on the site of a mosque where the island's first Mass was celebrated on 31 December 1229. The facade and entrance, with its long, low arch, is a perfect example of 14th-century Catalan Gothic. The squat, seven-storey bell tower is also a Gothic creation.
Otherwise, the church, with its barrel-vaulted ceiling, is largely the result of a baroque makeover. Note the statue of Pope John Paul II on the right as you enter.
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Església de Sant Jaume
Despite its baroque facade, this is one of Palma's older surviving Gothic churches, a grey soaring eminence, and one of the first four parish churches to be built, from 1327 'under the protection of the Royal House of Mallorca'. It is said that the Bonapart family (later Bonaparte) lived around here until they moved to Corsica in 1406. Napoleon could have been a Mallorquin!
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