Beatrix pottering: Scooting and sightseeing with the sun on my face

Jemima woke up on day two with matching enthusiasm for school as on day one. And as we scooted around the corner to school with the morning sunshine warm on my face, I felt equally enthusiastic - this was just what we'd hoped for.

Back at the flat, Kevin was already up and about, so we managed an early departure. Our plan today: exploring Palma. I've never been, and it soon became clear it was much bigger than I'd expected - a proper city, with hustle and bustle, traffic, and horrible one-way systems that didn't feature on the sat nav.

It was also very pretty - once we'd parked up in one of the many underground carparks and set out on foot, that became clear - they call it "honey-coloured" stone, but I think it's darker than that, more amber-coloured, with the usual southern Mediterranean narrow alleyways and discreet archways through to secluded courtyards. And LOTS of shops - I'd heard the Mallorcans are keen on shopping, and this was evident, especially the Spanish enthusiasm for shoes and bags. But the best shopping was the Mercat d'Olivar, Palma's covered food market. Beautifully presented fruit and veg; fabulous fish; and my favourite, the stalls with rows and rows of hanging hams - jamón iberico bellota cinco jotas (i.e. the best there is) = €189 for 1kg. Maybe not today, but it looked extremely good. Better than the ensaimada I tried in an elegant cafe from 1910 near the Plaça Mayor - a lighter croissant-like pastry, dusted with icing sugar (yum), but then filled with a flavoured cream. I'd rather have the jamón.

We wandered south through the old town towards the enormous Gothic extravaganza of the Cathedral (to be explored inside another day), then got lost in the warren of streets around it. We followed signs towards the intriguing-sounding "Banys Àrabs", and found ourselves at the remains of a 10th Century bathhouse in the Roman style, which had apparently belonged to a rich Arabic family during the era when this was Medina Mayurka. I do love a ruin, and this one was set in pretty walled gardens that reminded us of a mini-Alcazar in Seville, so it was a lovely interlude.

Back into the old town for more wandering, then a sit-down at a sun-trap of a cafe. It was then I realised how different this was to our usual sightseeing: on all our previous trips, we've had Jemima with us all the time. While this is obviously great in its own way (she is a lot of fun to be with), there are also disadvantages: there would have been loud complaining about sore legs by this point. It was a rather nice change to be wandering about while she was being entertained (and maybe even educated) by someone else. And sitting in a charming square with the sun on my face was pretty good too.

As well as the grandeur of the Cathedral, there were a lot of churches dotted about the old town. One had a curious blank square façade with a wildly Baroque doorway, so we ventured in. A riot of colour and gold leaf greeted us: a huge screen behind the altar, with smaller versions in alcoves to the left and right down the nave - it was unusually well-designed, and very beautiful. But the best was yet to come. We had thought we were alone, but then an elderly man appeared from an alcove. I'd wandered into a side chapel, and he followed me in and silently gestured to look up. And it was spectacular: a golden dove at the highest point of a dome, with all sorts of paintings and carvings surrounding it. He and I smiled at each other.

Final stop of the day: lunch at Tagosmagos, an Italian on a little side street. More menu confusion (obviously in hindsight, "scalopa" does not mean scallops, but escalope), but it was all delicious so it didn't matter. Then back to the car, and off to get Jemima. And she was as happy as she had been the day before, especially as her new friend Guy had shared his cake with her. Sunshine, scooting to school, wandering Palma Old Town and cake - as I said (repeatedly) in that sun-trap café, what's not to like.