That Monday in Palma it was twenty-nine degrees. My husband, my friend from Bremen and I had arranged to spend the morning and early afternoon in the old town. Three stops have been part of my Palma routine for years: a café on the Plaça del Mercat, a small delicatessen with its salami tasting ritual, and my favourite shop in Palma, Rialto Living. Anyone who knows the Trixi Gronau Concept Store will recognise a few brands.
Breakfast at Café Sant Nicolau
We begin at the Plaça del Mercat. Café Sant Nicolau is one of the long-established addresses here, right beside the Sant Nicolau church, in a side lane in front of the market hall. Tables are set out along the lane, a stone façade behind them, hardly any traffic.
For me this morning: homemade lemonade with lemon and mint, and a cappuccino with latte art. Drinking, looking, arriving. Glasses by Komono Lana Solar, a watch by a cuckoo moment in “Rochen fuchsia”, both of them companions for the day.
Mallorca Delikatessen, a tasting ritual
A few lanes further on is Mallorca Delikatessen, a small delicatessen with a café corner in front of it. The salami hangs from the ceiling, and alongside it are cheeses, oils and preserves from the island and the mainland. What is special here is the ritual: they ask what you like, cut a few slices, let you taste, and only then do you decide. Not a quick grab on the way past, but listening, tasting, choosing.
We leave with a selection to take home. For me, the tasting ritual is my favourite part of the day, because it has exactly the pace I love about Mallorca: slower than at home, but never sluggish.
Rialto Living, my favourite shop in Palma
Then we reach Rialto Living. For many years it has been my favourite shop in Palma, a generous space with a courtyard, olive trees, old stone fireplaces, furniture, textiles and beautiful things for the table and bedroom. This is where I most like to browse without a plan.
And then there is this small bridge back to Hamburg. At Rialto Living you find brands that I also carry in the concept store in Hamburg. The leather bracelets by Pig & Hen from Amsterdam. The napkins by Paviot from France. When I see pieces like these here in Palma, it makes me happy. It confirms that these small brands turn up wherever someone buys with a discerning eye.
Café at Rialto Living
We stop at the café inside. A marble table, a glass roof, everything calm. I have a green detox drink, my friend from Bremen has a carrot Sunrise, and my husband a Rosa Blanca beer, the Mallorcan beer brand founded in 1927, served in its own branded glass.
What stays
Three stops, three tempos: the café for the beginning, the delicatessen for the tasting, Rialto Living for looking and lingering. In the evening we went on to Sóller, to Ca’n Llimona, with pasta and organic rosé. That is another story.
It was at Rialto Living, years ago, that I first came across the jewellery by Ekaterini. Today I carry the brand myself in the store and help design individual pieces in my own colours and stones.
If you go to Palma yourself: Café Sant Nicolau is in the lane behind the market hall, Mallorca Delikatessen a few steps further north, Rialto Living on C/ Sant Feliu, in a former cinema.
Warm wishes from Hamburg
