Palma de Majorca -- a near paradise

Palma (Catalan:Spanish), in full Palma de Mallorca, is the major city and capital city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situated on the south coast of the island on the Bay of Palma. As of the 2009 census, the population of the city of Palma proper was 401,270, and the population of the entire urban area was 517,285, ranking as the twelfth largest urban area of Spain. Almost half of the total population of Majorca live in Palma. The Cabrera Archipelago, though widely separated from Palma proper, is administratively considered part of the municipality. Its airport, Son Sant Joan, serves over 22 million passengers each year. The Marivent Palace was offered by the city to the then Prince Juan Carlos I of Spain. The royals have since spent their summer holidays in Palma.

History
Palma was founded as a Roman camp upon the remains of a Talaiotic settlement. The turbulent history of the city saw it the subject of several Vandal sackings during the fall of the Roman Empire, then reconquered by the Byzantine, then colonised by the Moors (who called it Medina Mayurqa
), and finally established by James I of Aragon.
Contemporary Age
Since the 1950s, the advent of mass tourism radically changed the face of both the city and island, transforming it into a centre of attraction for visitors and attracting workers from mainland Spain. This contributed to a huge change in the traditions, the sociolinguistic map, urbanisation and acquisitive power.

The boom in tourism caused Palma to grow significantly, with repercussions on immigration. In 1960, Majorca received 500,000 visitors, in 1997 it received more than 6,739,700. In 2001 more than 19,200,000 people passed through Son Sant Joan airport near Palma, with an additional 1.5 million coming by sea.

In the 21st century, urban redevelopment, by the so-called Pla Mirall (English "Mirror Plan"), attracted important groups of immigrant workers from outside the European Union, especially from Africa and South America.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palma,_Majorca
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Chopin in Majorca
Together with French writer George Sand, the Polish composer and pianist Frederic Chopin resided in Valldemossa in winter of 1838-39. Apparently, Chopin's health had already deteriorated and his doctor recommended him to go to the Balearic Islands, where he still spent a rather miserable winter. Nonetheless, the winter in Majorca is considered one of the most productive periods in Chopin's life. He had time enough to complete a number of works: some Preludes, Op. 28; a revision of the Ballade No. 2, Op. 38; two Polonaises, Op. 40; the Scherzo No. 3, Op. 39; the Mazurka in E minor from Op. 41; and he probably revisited his Sonata No. 2, Op. 35.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majorca#Climate
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Note by the Blog Author
Majorca has a Mediterranean climate for which the Spring (April and May) and autumn (September and October) are spectacular – representing ideal, nearly perfect seasonal weather.