The six palms
Spirals opening into vault — civil Gothic distilled.
Diego Delso — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Kritzolina — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Kritzolina — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Foto Fitti — CC BY-SA 3.0
Sa Llotja is Valencia's Lonja's sister and elder teacher: Mallorca's merchant exchange, built by Guillem Sagrera (1426-47) when the island knotted Mediterranean trade — its hall among civil Gothic's purest spaces: just six spiral columns bearing the sky as stone palms without buttressed walls, sea light crossing the great windows. Outside, the Angel of Trade guards the portal — the merchant city's emblem — with sea-sprites at the corners. Today it is a free exhibition space open by season, and its closure loses you little of the essence: façade and surrounding quarter rank with old Palma's finest. Twenty pure minutes between cathedral and seafront — a jewel of the route, not the journey's goal.
Spirals opening into vault — civil Gothic distilled.
The portal's guardian, merchant Mallorca's emblem.
Plaça de la Llotja, 07012 Palma
Royal Palace of La AlmudainaThe Almudaina — from the Arabic al-mudayna, the citadel — was the Muslim wali's 3 minutes walk4.6
Es Baluard Contemporary Art MuseumEs Baluard is Palma's architectural intelligence: the Sant Pere bastion of the s4 minutes walk4.1
Palma Cathedral (La Seu)La Seu is the Mediterranean's Gothic wonder: a cathedral rising straight from th4 minutes walk4.8
Arab Baths of PalmaA small bath chamber in the old town of Palma, and the clearest thing to survive8 minutes walk3.4
Can Forteza ReyA residential building in central old Palma, and the city's best-known modernist8 minutes walk4.7Palma's came first and purer (six spirals, sea light); Valencia's is the grander complex with UNESCO rank. Truly they are one style's two lessons — seeing either explains both.