The Plaza Gomila is a square located in the neighborhood of El Terreno in the city of Palma de Mallorca, capital of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. It is located near the port and the promenade, crossed transversely by the Joan Miró Avenue. Plaza Gomila is a small but compact center of the city's nightlife, the clubs, bars and shows attract both local and international people. The neighborhood in which the square is located, El Terreno, underwent a major urban and social change. For years it was a place of residence and leisure for Palma's jet set, although the lack of urban control transformed the neighborhood into a place of contrasts.
The Plaza del Mercat is located in Palma, on the island of Mallorca. This place, before the construction of the third enclosure of walls of Medina Mayurqa, in the eleventh century, was covered by the waters of a cove that was the mouth of the torrent Exequin, Arabic name of the Riera. This third enclosure passed through the center of the square, which had already dried up the creek and had become the bed of the torrent that reached the current Paseo del Borne. Since the 12th century, the time of the Almoravids, the market was held here. In the 13th century this square received the name of Santa Margalida la Vella because just after the conquest of Mallorca (1229) until 1278 in the current Can Berga house a convent of Augustinian nuns of Santa Margalida was installed. In 1302, by privilege of King Jaume II of Mallorca, the installation of the market was allowed every Saturday. Until 1613, most of the space was occupied by the bed of the torrent that hindered trade. From 1712 there is news about the fencing of oxen, old bull races, in this space. During the 18th century and part of the 19th century it was a place for public excursions, since there were the forcas, which used to be on the quay. At the beginning of the 19th century trees were planted in such a way that it became a promenade linking the Rambla and the Borne. In this square is the church of Santo Nicolau. In the center of the square is the sculptural ensemble in homage to Antoni Maura (1853-1925), president of the Spanish government on several occasions.
It is the largest of the five managed by the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands and is located in the middle of the city, just in front of the labyrinthine old town. Connected from one end to the other by the promenade, which was literally stolen from the sea in the sixties, it is divided into four distinct areas: the commercial docks, the Poniente docks, the sports docks and the West dock. It has services that, even though it has faced space limitations, have made possible the consolidation of the port as one of the most important in the whole Mediterranean in relation to cruise traffic. The combination of cargo loading, yachting (the Bay of Palma is the setting for some of the most important regattas in the Mediterranean: the King's Cup and the SAR Princesa Sofía Trophy), passenger arrivals and departures, and fishing, makes it necessary to optimize the use of the facilities and, above all, the space. With the perfect combination of tradition and technological advances, this port is the physical demonstration that the Mediterranean has its own philosophy, slow and calm; but, that it has a character that does not forget modernity and that makes it a place that both visitors and inhabitants appreciate very much.
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