Sunday March 20 was a mix of mostly cloud, a number of 5-10 minute rain showers, and a bit of sun. High of 18C.
We found out that yesterday was Father's Day in Spain! El día del padre is always celebrated on March 19, which is also El día de San José (St. Joseph's Day). Mother's Day is May 1 this year. It is celebrated on the first Sunday in May.
We started the day with Alano making us both espressos with his Nanopresso, the best travel device for making wonderful espresso.
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| Alano and the Nanopresso- about to make our espressos |
After breakfast, we headed into town. We have been stopping for an ensaïmada pastry (which we share) most days from the Santo Christo bakery. A Mallorcan delicacy we will miss. There are two locations of the bakery on the main street. We usually pick up our treat from the first smaller bakery on the way into the old town.
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| Our treats on the bottom rack- with the powdered sugar (no dairy!) |
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| With our ensaïmada |
We had decided that as most stores are closed Sundays and most museums that are open have limited hours, it would be a good day to do a self-directed walking tour of Palma's old Jewish Quarter. We had a few articles that directed us to the main sights. We started at the ancient olive tree (Olivera de Cort) in Plaça de Cort.
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| Olivera de Cort |
A few minutes away we were on Carrer de l'Almudaina, where the Centre Mainó ben Faraig is located.
Historians believe that Jews arrived with the Romans, after the year 70 CE. Archaeologists found a lamp that has an engraving of a menorah on it, dating back to the 5th century. In 1229, when James I conquered Mallorca he brought many Jews from the Iberian Peninsula that would eventually stay and add to the existing Jewish community who were already living on the island under Muslim rule (Muslim rule was from 902-1229). The existing Jewish community was moved from the area where the Almudaina Palace is to an area now known as the Call Menor or Small Jewish Quarter. "Call"in Catalan means Quarter. After Call Menor was established, Jews started to migrate to Mallorca and the King decided to give the Jews the area now known as "Call Major". Thus two separate Jewish quarters were functioning at the same time.
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| Both rooms at the Centre had poster displays setting out the history in Catalan, Castilian and English. There were Roman ruins visible through the floor. |
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The second room
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Yellow was the original Jewish Quarter until the end of the 13th century. The Green was Call Menor and the Orange was Call Major. The red dots were synagogues in the Calls.
The Jewish population was around 2000 at the end of the 13th century. |
On August 2, 1391, there were attacks by peasants and artisans against the upper classes. Eventually the disturbance was diverted towards the Jewish quarter. Between 200 and 300 Jews were killed. Many of the survivors fled and others converted.
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| History of the 1391 massacre |
In1435, when a rabbi and three other Jews were falsely accused of having reproduced the death of Christ in a slave, they had to accept baptism in order to escape being killed. This precipitated a mass conversion of the Jewish community. In 1492, when the edict of general expulsion was passed, there was not a single Jew left in Mallorca. Some of those who escaped went to Livorno, in Italy. There is a saying in Mallorquin that says "Once you go to Livorno, no retorno". At the time, Livorno was a merchant state and not ruled by the Papacy and Jews were accepted and welcomed there, as it was a big commercial port city.
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| The 1435 conversions |
"Converso" is a term that describes Jews who converted to Christianity in the 14th and 15th centuries. "Chueta" is the Catalan term that describes the descendants of the Jewish Conversos. The names of the victims of the Inquisition were hung in the Santo Domingo Convent until the mid 1800s. There was a story that many noble families who did not want to be on this list paid bribes to the Catholic Church to have their names removed. The family names left hanging would be the group of 15 families known as Chuetas and they would be marginalised and discriminated against up until the middle of the 20th century. They would not be allowed to fight in the army or work in certain offices even though they were some of the most devout Catholics at the time. They also married only within these 15 families as late as the 1950s. Today, a number of Chuetas are reclaiming their history and Jew/Converso/Chueta are moving away from pejorative connotations.
Before continuing our walking tour, we spotted one of the few open restaurants in this area that looked great. There were a number of locals having brunch.
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| Mocàro had a very nice menu |
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| Inside at the resto |
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| We sat at the bar--- Alano is there |
We had a version of the Mallorquin specialty pa amb oli. It starts with peasant bread or brown bread, a Mallorcan tomato rubbed into the surface of the bread and then local olive oil poured on top. Other meats and vegetables can be added. We had the vegetarian pa amb oli.
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| We shared a pa amb oli -with eggplant, sun-dried tomatoes, capers and olives- excellent |
We then walked down another street with a medieval building that we weren't able to identify (not part of the Jewish tour).
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| Narrow, very quiet streets on a Sunday |
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| Medieval buildings with overhangs |
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| Details- lots of gargoyles |
We then stopped at the Church of Montision, which was built on top of the main synagogue of the old Jewish Quarter. It was only a synagogue from 1300 to 1315 as it was then confiscated from the Jewish population as an act of punishment and then demolished in 1323. The Jesuits were granted permission to build a church on this site. The facade was completed in 1683. Today people put wishes on paper and place it between what may be some of the original synagogue foundation stones (taken after the practice at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem).
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| Carrer de la Pelleteria-- street of the "secret synagogue" or New Synagogue |
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| The former medieval New Synagogue - |
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Plague honouring Miquel Pujol Ferragut (1947-2014) who had a bakery known as Can Miquel, at the site
of the former medieval New Synagogue |
Miquel Ferragut would bring groups to show them the basement where many historians believe was the site of the synagogue.
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Interesting sculptures in these planters on a nearby house
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Signage showing direction of the two former medieval Jewish neighbourhoods-
Call Major and Call Menor |
We walked to Plaça de Santa Eulàlia where the Santa Eulàlia parish church is located. The church was built in 1236, just a few years after the Catalan conquest of Mallorca, on top of a former Moorish mosque. It was here that King James II, son of King James I took the oath when being crowned king of Mallorca.
The facade is finished in Neo-gothic style dating from the 19th century.
In 1435, the remainder of the Jewish community were converted in Santa Eulàlia and it was thereafter known as the church of conversion. Descendants of the Jewish Conversos continued to live around this church for centuries to come. Nearby Argenteria Street (Silvermaker Street) as late as the 1990s, had over 30 jewellery stores owned by families with Chueta names. With the massive tourism of the last 25 years, many of these stores were converted into ice cream parlours, restaurants and other tourist shops.
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| Inglesia de Santa Eulàlia |
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| Side of Church |
After wandering around a bit more, we headed back to the apartment.
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| The larger branch of Forn del Santo Cristo in the beautiful Art Nouveau building |
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| Signage referring to the Inquisition - near Plaça Major |
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| A view of the Cathedral |
After a brief rest, Chef Alano prepared dinner. We had the delicious octopus salad we had bought in the Market, left-over chicken, fresh green beans and the lovely Mallorcan red wine. We then had a salad and some local cookies and tea.
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| Dinner prepared by Chef Alano |
A quiet Sunday spent wandering and learning more fascinating Mallorcan history.
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