For dinner we went into the old town area of Palma, which was the most crowded we have ever experienced. If it wasn't for being recognised as regulars by the management at Forn we would not have found any restaurant willing to take us for hours. Our meal was great - a huge bowl of gazpacho for each of us, followed by tapas of tempura anchovies, salmon sashimi, ham croquettes and of course their special dessert of fresh strawberries scooped out and filled with cream caramel.
Friday 21st was a market shopping day which I always love. The young man whose family own the special deli shop was cutting the tiny slices from the luxury hams and because he speaks English I was able to find out about how to properly keep the ham on the boat. The slices of the most expensive hams from the black pigs fed on acorns should not be refrigerated and should be eaten within 3-4 days after purchase, but the other hams can be refrigerated, at the same temperature as for fruit and vegetables. Fortunately one of the boat fridges is set to be suitable for fruit and veges etc so I am able to store the ham correctly. We certainly have no trouble eating the special ham within 3-4 days, although we definitely prefer not to eat it in a sandwich or roll because it is more chewy in texture.
During the afternoon Ginnie and I wandered the part of old town between the tapas restaurants and El Corte Inglis (the smaller store on Jamie III), discovering a fabulous store called Rialto Living. Apart from being a very interesting home decor store with the best range of bolts of all kinds of striped fabrics, especially the range of blues and the range of reds, they had all kinds of knick-knacks (such as a tin of bandaids I bought called "Ouch - call the doctor", filled with pale blue bandaids decorated with pictures of tiny ambulances and beautifully designed tins of various sized post-its with pretty themed pictures on them) plus a smart range of women's and men's clothing. Best of all was an excellent quaint cafe at the rear of the store where Ginnie and I had perfect cappuccinos and shared a slice of yummy carrot cake. We spent ages rummaging around in that store and only had time for a little more wandering before heading home to get ready for dinner.
Our dinner at Rocomar in Portixl was super special. We chose the restaurant because it is renowned for excellent seafood dishes, planning to have fish baked in a salt crust, but the waiter recommended we try Pargo. Thank goodness we took his advice. Pargo is a whole fish baked in a hot oven for a half hour on a bed of thinly sliced potatoes, tomatoes and onions, with lots of thyme (the amount was emphasised by the chef when describing the cooking method), fish stock and white wine. The fish was then filleted by the waiter at our tableside and the fillets are served on the vegetables with the sauce spooned over. It was the most delicious fish meal we have ever eaten and look forward to trying to cook it ourselves. We had no room for dessert but Greg and I liked the local herb liqueur as a digestive.
Being a Friday night the promenade outside our marina and the bars and nightclubs nearby were swarming with people (mostly much younger than we are!). Greg and I decided to walk along the promenade to the next marina to see the classic wooden yachts close-up. It was after midnight but the crews were all still enjoying a post-race drink and I thought they looked more like pirates than sailors. Many of the boats are superbly maintained even though they are very old (some were built about 100 years ago).
As we walked back along the promenade past large numbers of young women and men sitting on the pavement drinking alcohol from soft-drink bottles, I thought how sad it is that they dress-up so smartly each weekend evening just to sit on the ground drinking grog. They do not cause any trouble but someone should find out what else they would like to do for entertainment or to meet partners. It's also interesting to note that the girls wear sexy dresses and very high heeled shoes, have smart hairdos and go to so much effort with their make-up, but the guys are dressed very casually. Perhaps that's why the girls mostly sit in groups talking to each other. I would love to find out more about that whole social scene. I will ask David, a great Mallorcan guy who captains the boat next to us at the marina. He is a expert on all matters local and all Spanish language queries.
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