My friends decided to get massages and go shopping during the day, so I decided to go for a long walk up to the Castell de Belver, built between 1300 and 1309. I logged in 12 mile altogether.

The views from the Castell were spectacular. Since it was the off-season, the park around the Castell was virtually empty.

As I’ve mentioned before, the American retail and cultural influence in Europe is profound. They’ve even adopted Black Friday. At least they wait until the end of November to put up Christmas decorations. I did break down and buy a pair of Persol sunglasses that were 30% off, which I’ve never seen in the US. With the VAT refund, they were a real bargain. As for the VAT refund, it was the easiest ever. The desk manager at the great Arts Hotel told me to walk over to the local branch of the big Spanish department store, El Corte Inglés, and go to the VAT desk, where the very helpful agent scanned my receipt and refunded the VAT directly to my Amex. Now I don’t have to queue up at the Madrid airport on Tuesday morning.

Christmas decorations in Palma:

Since my friends had a 7:00 am flight the next morning, we met for a light dinner at a recommended tapas restaurant. Although we didn’t have reservations, the hostess seated us at a table in the annex with the proviso that we spend no more than 90 minutes. We were out in an hour.

The Spanish cuisine is heavy on meat and potatoes, so when I get to Sevilla I’m going to eat at a vegetarian restaurant at least once!

Since I had an afternoon flight on Friday, I sat in the lobby and had a nice conversation with the night desk manager, Lenka, who is from Prague. She poured me a glass of Cava and gave me an overview of life in Palma.

The Palma metro area has about 650,000 people. She said that the sections of the city are divided by nationality. For example, she lives in the German district. Tons of Germans live in and visit the island because of the superb weather and lifestyle. There are also sections that are Irish, English and Swedish. She stated that few Americans live there, although this year the number of American tourists skyrocketed. 80% of the jobs are related to the tourist industry. Many hotels and restaurants close for long stretches in the winter, so she travels extensively at that time. She loves to travel to the US, especially Hawaii.

The other front desk clerk, who was equally helpful, is from Argentina. She mentioned that many Argentines also live in Spain. She plans to spend a month back in Argentina with her family, where it will be early summer.

It was also interesting to learn that both of the hotel employees knew so much about American politics and seemed pleased with the election results. I doubt if 2% of Americans know that Pedro Sanchez in the current Spanish PM. From random conversations, it seems Spaniards dislike their government, which seems to be a common sentiment in the West these days. They are especially outraged by the incompetent response to the recent València floods. Nonetheless, they continue to enjoy their lives in a sunny and culturally delightful country.