View of "Onja Y Catedral" in Palma, Spain
Post marked from USS Mullinnix DD-944 on 23 November, 1959
The people of Palma, Spain were very friendly to the Muxmen but most did not speak English. Most of the streets were only about 6' wide and lined with little shops of all kinds. The 'market place' was a good visit as well. In the summer, Palma is a big tourist town with many nice hotels and beaches. This time of year? Not so much, just sailors...
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Excerpt from "The Last Gun Ship - History of USS Mullinnix DD-944"
A Historical Novel By Frank A. Wood
Having steamed by the mountains of the north-west coast, with only Puig Mayor remaining capped with snow, Mullinnix was moored port side to USS Sierra AD-18 along with USS Laffey DD-724, and USS Benham DD-796 at Puerto Pi West Breakwater, Palma, Mallorca Island, Spain on 19 November. Destroyer-tenders like the Sierra are ships designed to provide maintenance support to a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships. They are the machine shop, electrical contractor, supply depot, and all around mother ship for the smaller fighting ships of the fleet.
Mallorca Island is south and slightly east of Barcelona. Palma overlooks a small bay near the southwestern finger of the island. Palma de Mallorca is the capital of the lozenge-shaped island which many call Majorca. The snowcapped mountains looked like a char-grey tablecloth carelessly dropped over a sleeping giant.
Since the 1950s, the advent of mass tourism radically changed the physiognomy of both the city and the island, transforming it into a center of attraction for foreign visitors and attracting workers from mainland Spain. This contributed to a huge change in the traditions, the sociolinguistic map, urbanization and acquisitive power. The boom in tourism caused Palma to grow significantly. In 1959, the Mullinnix sailors were accompanied by 500,000 visitors to Majorca.
The climate in Palma was typically Mediterranean with warm average temperatures and seasonal rains. With night came increasing humidity and mugginess that forced the crew to seek out the many local restaurants and bars. Palma was one of the best places on the island for nightlife. It had a wide range of clubs, bars, restaurants, sex shops and topless bars, the nightlife buzzing all night long. One of the busiest places was Sa Llotja. The pubs and bars here tended to get very packed and stayed wound up until past three in the morning. Then the crew headed off to the Passeig Maritim, where the drinking and dancing continued in the bars and dance-clubs that stayed open till 6AM. Two of the Mux favorites were the Crazy Cow and Made in Brazil.
