Palma de Mallorca with approximately 410,000 inhabitants is the capital of the island and the city with the largest population of the Balearic Islands. It is located in the southeast of the island of Mallorca in the centre of the bay of Palma and has an international airport just 15 minutes drive from the city.

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Despite not being a huge city Palma has a cosmopolitan atmosphere that the Mallorcan writer José Carlos Llop described in En la ciudad Sumergida (RBA). The author describes Palma  as a place where you could meet Robert Graves, Joan Miró or Yeats on the same terrace; a destination for many European exiles from Nazism and later, in the 1950s, a stop where Frank Sinatra came to sing. This international spirit continues to be one of its greatest charms.

The Santa Catalina area, close to the port, is one of the most cosmopolitan neighborhoods of Palma, where you can sometimes have the feeling of being in London's Soho or Le Marais in Paris. A place where the foreign community - made up mainly of Germans, English, French, Swiss, Swedish or Norwegians – have opened shops, businesses and small restaurants. There are bakeries selling sourdough, restaurants offering many different cuisines of the world and supermarkets with English, German and Swedish products. They all live happily next to Mallorcan bakeries that sell ensaimadas and traditional bars that prepare delicious llonguets (sandwiches). Head there on a Sunday morning and choose which country you want to have breakfast.