Menorca
Menorca is the 3rd largest of the Balearic Islands. You are likely familiar with the other two Ibiza and Mallorca. Each of the islands has its own target audience:
Ibiza: Ages 16-30 for people who want to get wasted and go to Euro techno parties with lasers while on ecstasy.
Mallorca: You are German. That's it. Mallorca is practically a German island in August.
Menorca: You want a chill island that is a little more upscale and less German than Mallorca. We saw lots of Italians, Spanish, and French tourists, although apparently the East part of the island is popular with the British.
Menorca has been inhabited since around 1500 BC and has been duly conquered by each of the ruling European powers due to its strategic position as a port in the Mediterranean (Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Moors, and, of course, the British. Today, Menorca's economy is 60% tourism and the other 40%, according to a cab driver, are cheese and shoes. The cab drivers we spoke to said that they work everyday from May - October (no days off) and then don't work from November - April. We also met a few people who come to Menorca just to work the high-season like on taxi driver who comes every year from Ecuador.
I put a little number next to each part of the island we visited with the number corresponding to the day we went there.
Day 1: Arrive
The island itself is quite sleepy and laid back. About 90,000 residents. Other than the hotels along the coast, the rest of the island is pretty basic infrastructure. This is the super market behind our hotel. On Menorca they have their own dialect that is an offshoot of Catalan. Everyone speaks Spanish though, although it is an accent I haven't heard before.
Our hotel was an adult only hotel. No, this doesn't mean a swingers hotel or that everyone walks around naked. It just means that there are no kids yelling and splashing around in the pool. It gives the hotel a super calm atmosphere kind of like the atmosphere of a spa, except it's everywhere. You also only see couples. It reminded me of the movie The Lobster. You just see couples walking around together trying not to speak too loud to break the deafening silence. I did enjoy the peace and quiet, but it was different than the normal sounds of the pool with kids splashing and screaming "Marco!", "Polo!"
Day 2: Cala Macarella & Cala Macarelleta
Menorca's coastline is quite dramatic. Its high rock cliffs punctuated with little lagoons with turquoise water and sandy beaches. These lagoons are called calas, which I guess is the Menorcan word for lagoon. The calas are dotted all around the island and you must drive/hike to get to them. The first day we hiked 45 minutes at 1pm when it was around 90 degrees and humid to get to Cala Macarella and Cala Macarelleta, two of the most famous calas on the island. Because you have to hike to get to them, they aren't as crowded as other calas that can be driven to. It really was picturesque with the cliffs, blue and super warm water. Definitely Cala Macarelleta was superior to Macarella because it didn't have any algae in the water.
Basic beach schedule consisted of cycles of reading for 30-45 minutes until you were too hot, jumping in the water to cool off, and then drying off again.
Guess which Instagram husband took this shot
A posie. Different to a selfie.
That night we went to Ciutatela for dinner in taxi. Pictures to come.
Day 3: Cala Mitjana
This time we hiked the opposite direction for 45 minutes (see map above), again in the heat of early afternoon. I understand why some people choose to stay at the driveable beaches, because hiking in the heat on a dirt path is challenging. This beach is also very famous and deservedly so because the water is spectacular (no algae) with great views of cliffs. Some people were jumping off a high rock into the ocean, but Sandra and I opted against this. We later learned from our boat captain that while we were there someone jumped off a cliff into shallow water and had to be evacuated with a helicopter, which took 2 hours to arrive! People on Menorca also take a open posture towards nudity. I would say that 20-30% of women were topless and we saw a handful of totally nude men as well.
That night we took a taxi to Cova den Xoroi which is a club that has been built into the caves of a cliff that overlooks the ocean. It was quite a spectacular view for sunset. It was also an Instagramers dream and we saw a ridiculous number of selfies with duck faces being taken. "Just enjoying a sunset with my bae #Blessed"
Day 4: Cala Galdana
After two days of hiking to calas, we were ready to not hike and we rented two lounge chairs and an umbrella on the beach for 20 euros for the whole day. It was completely worth it. We spent most of the day reading at the beach. It's crazy how fast a day can go by when you are reading a book at the beach in the shade. It brings up an interesting question on vacations. Is it better to spend it relaxing and reading at the beach and have the vacation fly by and be a blur of indistinguishably relaxing days; or try to do activities which are less relaxing, but more memorable and make the passage of time seem slower? We had a bit of a hybrid approach, but I could be convinced either way.
Day 5: 3-hour tour
We spent the remainder of the day at the pool and then packing for an early flight the next day. We also reflected on the past 3 weeks as Sandra was headed back to reality in DC. I still had a week of family vacation so I was able to postpone the post-vacation feeling of impending doom for at least another week.
Ibiza: Ages 16-30 for people who want to get wasted and go to Euro techno parties with lasers while on ecstasy.
Mallorca: You are German. That's it. Mallorca is practically a German island in August.
Menorca: You want a chill island that is a little more upscale and less German than Mallorca. We saw lots of Italians, Spanish, and French tourists, although apparently the East part of the island is popular with the British.
Menorca has been inhabited since around 1500 BC and has been duly conquered by each of the ruling European powers due to its strategic position as a port in the Mediterranean (Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Moors, and, of course, the British. Today, Menorca's economy is 60% tourism and the other 40%, according to a cab driver, are cheese and shoes. The cab drivers we spoke to said that they work everyday from May - October (no days off) and then don't work from November - April. We also met a few people who come to Menorca just to work the high-season like on taxi driver who comes every year from Ecuador.
I put a little number next to each part of the island we visited with the number corresponding to the day we went there.
Day 1: Arrive
The island itself is quite sleepy and laid back. About 90,000 residents. Other than the hotels along the coast, the rest of the island is pretty basic infrastructure. This is the super market behind our hotel. On Menorca they have their own dialect that is an offshoot of Catalan. Everyone speaks Spanish though, although it is an accent I haven't heard before.
Our hotel was an adult only hotel. No, this doesn't mean a swingers hotel or that everyone walks around naked. It just means that there are no kids yelling and splashing around in the pool. It gives the hotel a super calm atmosphere kind of like the atmosphere of a spa, except it's everywhere. You also only see couples. It reminded me of the movie The Lobster. You just see couples walking around together trying not to speak too loud to break the deafening silence. I did enjoy the peace and quiet, but it was different than the normal sounds of the pool with kids splashing and screaming "Marco!", "Polo!"
Day 2: Cala Macarella & Cala Macarelleta
Menorca's coastline is quite dramatic. Its high rock cliffs punctuated with little lagoons with turquoise water and sandy beaches. These lagoons are called calas, which I guess is the Menorcan word for lagoon. The calas are dotted all around the island and you must drive/hike to get to them. The first day we hiked 45 minutes at 1pm when it was around 90 degrees and humid to get to Cala Macarella and Cala Macarelleta, two of the most famous calas on the island. Because you have to hike to get to them, they aren't as crowded as other calas that can be driven to. It really was picturesque with the cliffs, blue and super warm water. Definitely Cala Macarelleta was superior to Macarella because it didn't have any algae in the water.
Basic beach schedule consisted of cycles of reading for 30-45 minutes until you were too hot, jumping in the water to cool off, and then drying off again.
Guess which Instagram husband took this shot
A posie. Different to a selfie.
That night we went to Ciutatela for dinner in taxi. Pictures to come.
Day 3: Cala Mitjana
This time we hiked the opposite direction for 45 minutes (see map above), again in the heat of early afternoon. I understand why some people choose to stay at the driveable beaches, because hiking in the heat on a dirt path is challenging. This beach is also very famous and deservedly so because the water is spectacular (no algae) with great views of cliffs. Some people were jumping off a high rock into the ocean, but Sandra and I opted against this. We later learned from our boat captain that while we were there someone jumped off a cliff into shallow water and had to be evacuated with a helicopter, which took 2 hours to arrive! People on Menorca also take a open posture towards nudity. I would say that 20-30% of women were topless and we saw a handful of totally nude men as well.
That night we took a taxi to Cova den Xoroi which is a club that has been built into the caves of a cliff that overlooks the ocean. It was quite a spectacular view for sunset. It was also an Instagramers dream and we saw a ridiculous number of selfies with duck faces being taken. "Just enjoying a sunset with my bae #Blessed"
Day 4: Cala Galdana
After two days of hiking to calas, we were ready to not hike and we rented two lounge chairs and an umbrella on the beach for 20 euros for the whole day. It was completely worth it. We spent most of the day reading at the beach. It's crazy how fast a day can go by when you are reading a book at the beach in the shade. It brings up an interesting question on vacations. Is it better to spend it relaxing and reading at the beach and have the vacation fly by and be a blur of indistinguishably relaxing days; or try to do activities which are less relaxing, but more memorable and make the passage of time seem slower? We had a bit of a hybrid approach, but I could be convinced either way.
Day 5: 3-hour tour
The last day we booked a 3-hour boat tour. I tried to make a Gilligan's Island reference but Sandra has no idea what I was talking about. "A 3-hour tour. A 3-hour tour."
The morning of the tour I received a Whatsapp from the boat captain (because all business in Spanish speaking countries is conducted via Whatsapp), saying that the seas were quite rough with 1 meter waves, and that they were offering all customers a free cancellation if they wished. We decided to do the tour anyway. What was supposed to be a 10-person tour, ended up being a 4-person tour. There was one other Italian couple, but it felt like we had the boat to ourselves with our captain Nano.
We took some Dramamine to be safe, but we felt totally fine the whole time. We visited 10 calas in the speed boat and even drove inside a few caves along the coast. At two calas we stopped and went snorkeling for about 30 minutes and saw a few fish and a small sting ray. RIP Steve Irwin. One of the calas we visited requires a 1 hour 45 minute hike to reach and we still saw a few people there at 10 am.
We spent the remainder of the day at the pool and then packing for an early flight the next day. We also reflected on the past 3 weeks as Sandra was headed back to reality in DC. I still had a week of family vacation so I was able to postpone the post-vacation feeling of impending doom for at least another week.
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