Palma Shore Excursion

The focus of this Palma de Mallorca shore trip is a walking tour to explore the history of the Majorcan Jewish community in the old town of Palma, most specifically the Call Mayor and the Call Menor.

After meeting your guide your tour starts at Plaza de la Reina, where you learn about the beginning of the Jewish community in Mallorca. You discover the Call Menor which is the oldest Jewish quarter, dating back to the Muslim domination of Mallorca. You hear about the way of life for the Mallorcan Jewish community during the Medina Mallorca (902-1229), where Jewish people were working mainly as tailors and tradesmen. Because of this they lived and worked in the most important commercial area of the old Muslim Town. Still today you can see the Almudaina Arch which was one of the entrances to the Muslim Aljama.

After strolling the old winding streets of the oldest Jewish quarter, you then reach the Call Mayor, which was the medieval Jewish quarter and still today has the remains of the Mont Sion Synagogue. You will see the monument to the famous Jewish Mallorcan cartographer Jafuda Cresques, who according to legend, drew the maps which were used by Columbus to discover America. You walk along Calle de les Escoles, or school road, which is where the Hebraic schools were located. You also see streets named because the Jews were local goldsmiths and others because they were experts in medicine, science, mathematics and astronomy.

During the Spanish inquisition the Jews were moved into a ghetto and forced to be converted to Catholicism. Many of them publicly professed to be Catholic but privately lived by Jewish tradition. These Mallorcan Xuetes (converted Jews) were divided by social status into Orella alta (upper class) and Orella baixa (lower class). They began to start synagogues in private homes so they could practice their true faith.

In the Plaza Mayor you see the Inquisition Jail, then walking down to lower Palma along the Inquisition slope you reach el Borne where the converted Jews were forced to claim their faith to Catholicism or be sentenced to death.

If you are interested, it is possible to visit the Majorcan Cathedral to see the impressive rose window which is decorated with the Star of David and the Rimmonins of the Torah.

Depending on your interests and pace, there may be some free time at the end of the tour before returning to the pier.

Mobility: NO wheelchairs