One of the qualities of Spanish city life overall that strikes an American is the way people live large chunks of their lives on the street – sitting at tables in front of cafés, taking perfunctory walks in the evening with their family, etc. Majorca, as independentist graffitti shouts loudly on walls around the island, is not Spain; and at least in this respect, the tagging is pretty dead on. When St. Paul wrote that no man is an island, I think he was ignorant of island residents themselves, or at least of residents of this particular island, where insularity seems to have the effect of turning people in on themselves to a certain degree. In comparison to, say, Madrid, Palma’s residents tend to keep more indoors.

That is not to say, though, that Palma lacks street life. Here and there one finds streets that seem to operate as pedestrian highways, major arteries directing the flow of foot traffic from one neighborhood to the other. One of the highways that I frequently employ is Via Sindicat, a comparatively straight street that stems from what was a gate in the medieval city walls, cutting through the maze of narrow alleys into the center of the old city.

I find myself walking up and down this thoroughfare rather frequently, because I live not too far beyond the one-time gate to the old city in Palma’s eixample, ‘enlargement’, which sprouted up after the destruction of its city walls. Via Sindicat is the way I get to friends’ apartments, central shops and nearly all of my favorite hangouts in the city. A large part of my experience on Via Sindicat is the brisk, still-enebriated walk home from one place or another in the wee hours of the morning, dodging handsy prostitutes who aggressively push their product along the way. Even at that ungodly hour, Via Sindicat is a commercial center.

During the day, Via Sindicat is a haven of decidedly more legitimate commerce. The street is lined up and down with shops selling clothes, shoes, toys, electronics, what-have-you. It is also the street on which the offices of two of the principal political parties – the Spanish Socialist Workers Party and the regionalist Unió Mallorquina – are located. Locals and tourists alike walk its length in droves, window shopping and providing periodic obstacles for those who are briskly on their way elsewhere.

On a hot day, all these pedestrians needs something to cool themselves down: Enter the granissat. ‘Granissat’ could be translated equally as ‘slushy’ or ‘ice’, and in its texture and mode of production it definitely resembles what you can find at your local 7-11 back Stateside; however, granissats are by no means an imported or particularly new concept here on the island.

The granissat is traditionally flavored by the citrus fruits and almonds that are grown on the island. Nowadays these flavors are complemented frequently with newer flavors, such as mango, cola, or the apparently international conundrum of blue raspberry. Of these newer imports, the majority are presented with colors so hyperreal that it is obvious they’ve been dyed – not that this diminishes their tastiness or their capacity for refreshment. The basics, though, are still the basics, and the basics are good.

Towards the top of Via Sindicat one finds Gelats i Granissats Rosaleda (Rosaleda Ice Cream and Slushies), a diminutive storefront where one can stop for cold, delicious sustenance for a euro or two. My absolute favorite is their ametla (almond), though their lemon does not disappoint. The almond granissat is perfect. It is sweet and creamy, but not so much that it diminishes its own refreshment. In the cupful of crushed ice you can discern flecks of the almonds that were themselves crushed to give you this masterpiece. The lemon granissat is as it should be: tart, sweet, and fresh. I have found flecks of zest in other lemon granissats; not so on Via Sindicat, but no matter – it’s still good.

When I last went to Gelats i Granissats Rosaleda with my roommates, we also sampled the mango and cola granissats, which were essentially as expected. There was nothing wrong with them, but nothing particularly wonderful about them either. The mango may or may have not been made from fresh mangos; the cola, well, was indistinct from any other cola-flavored product you could imagine.

After our stop at Gelats i Granissats Rosaleda we continued on our way down Sindicat to do some shopping. Drink up, cool down, keep walking. Fins la pròxima.

Gelats i Granissats Rosaleda
Via Sindicat, 45
07002 Palma, Spain

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 12:06 am and is filed under Majorca.