Toledo and Mallorca

In between days in madrid, we visited a nearby medieval town called toledo. Situated on the side of a huge hill surrounded by valleys and Mediterranean style villas, toledo is a remnant of medieval spain. its medieval walls, fortress, nearly thousand year old cathedral, and brick homes are all hold a quaintly historic ambiance.

Hoeever, toledo is also an ungodly popular tourist destination, so these relics were beset by modern sights like mcdonalds, souvenir shops, and tapas bars. After getting lunch, we climbed the tiny cobblestone streets and explored the town. So tight are the streets that we were shocked to find cars squeezing through them with only inches to spare. We spent the afternoon mostly wandering, stopping into the 1200s toledo cathedral as well as a few kitschy shops. Before dark, we descended the side of the hill and found a scenic spot along a river circling toledo. Here we looked down at the surrounding towns as they lit up the darkening sky.

After our final day in madrid, we made the hour long flight to palma. At a permament population of a few hundred thousand, It's the largest city of mallorca, a beachy island renowned mostly for its popularity with rich british and German tourists. Even off the Spanish coast, tanning poolside wasn't an option as temperatures hovered around 60 degrees and the winds were howling as is apparently standard for mallorca. However, walking along the beaches under cloudless skies and a bright warm sun was more than enough to satisfy.

Our next stop was the cathedral of mallorca. It's jagged architecture, location along a beautiful reflecting pool, and its unique paper chain decorations were nearly as bewitching as the beach over which it looms. After visiting thus and an adjacent former royal palace, we explored the streets of palma.

Despite the off season, the palm tree lined streets were still decently busy with spanish families visiting designer boutiques, eating paella, and watching a break dance performance. A few hours of sightseeing passed before we headed back to our apartment. Unable to fall asleep, I went for a run through the beach just as the sun was beginning to set over the water. Needless to say, the scenery grabbed my attention more than my ipod usually does. I've probably repeated that sentiment for every beach I've visited so far, but whether in palma, ireland, or even chicago, the beaches have been such incredible places of serenity and unwinding for me (fair warning to my family that I'll be moving somewhere warm ASAP after graduation if it means living a box).

Despite my continuing love affair with the water, our next trip to the northern towns of mallorca was just as eyepopping. In only an hour of driving, the cosmopolitan flair of palma gives way to mountain ranges and wooded parks. Even more centered on tourism than palma itself, the narrow stone streets of valdemossa and Soller were mostly empty.

Thankfully, though, the skies were clear enough to unveil towering cascades of mountains in the not so distant horizons. Tall enough to be topped with snow, the mountains were certainly a departure from Chicago's uniformly flat landscape.

Although we really didn't do anything, the visual experience of mallorca engrossed me for an entire day. The towns themselves were adorable, each consisting of a few streets of cute sets of spanish style homes with tons of flowers and matching green shutters. Even the bus drive between valdemossa and soller offered stunning views of the northern coast, where sprawling multi million euro villas hide in the wooded mountains above a rocky shoreline and blue sea. It's a testament to mallorcas beauty that right hours of merely looking at things kept me so scintillated.

However, our more relaxed third day in palma centered on the water once again. In the late afternoon, we walked further along the strip to the German tourist hotspot beach and watched the sunset. Once it got dark, we headed to the city to visit some shops and check out its still radiant christmas lights. The next morning, we were well on our way to Barcelona for New Year's Eve!