Blogs from Minorca, Balearic Islands, Spain, Europe - page 2

After sleeping off a terrible day of travel we decided to head to the capital of Menorca (Mao/Mahon....everything here has two names, one in Spanish, one in Catalan). Mao was hosting British Days which meant tastings of local products, traditional crafts, 18th century costumes, and gin tastings. Lucky for me, this island is known for its cheese, wine, and gin. We enjoyed tasting our way through a wide variety of Menorcan cheeses, wines, and gin while D enjoyed dancing on the stage and petting a goat. We had traveled to Mao mostly to take a boat tour of the harbor. We bought our ticket and then went in search of lunch. We found a fabulous crepe place on the water and enjoyed feeding D her first taste of heaven (mine was chicken, menorcan cheese, and bechamel ... read more

We arrived at Minorca around 1pm. It was a beautiful day! We spent a majority of the morning sunbathing. We went to lunch with my 2 favorite new friends - Gloria (Northern Irish) and Jan (Scottish). The island is beautiful as it’s lush and very clean. The problem - it was Sunday. EVERYTHING is closed on Sunday! I would have loved to come to this island midweek as they had the cutest shops; however I am on a ship and have absolutely no say as to where we go. Either way, it was a chill day. Overall, I had a very nice time on the cruise. My mom and I were lucky to meet such great people to spend our time with. The only downside of being on a European cruise is that we were the ... read more

Our next full day in Menorca began with a nice cup of coffee on the terrace now that we had purchased caffeine from the supermarket. As we had been good little tourists the day prior we decided that this day we'd be a bit more low key (read: lazy) That being said we decided to head to the southwest tip of the island to Cala en Bosch, a popular resort area with some lovely beaches and restaurants. Either the weather was slightly cooler or the breeze was more pronounced this day, but it was very comfortable lying out in the sun and at times it almost felt like we weren't getting any color. Wrong. After a couple of hours I had had it with lying on my ass, so I got up and decided to do ... read more

Our third day of freedom began at a reasonable hour, leaving our hotel by 10 for Cala en Blanes, the cove only about a 20 minute walk from where our hotel is. We had to again walk past the British invasion but soon enough we arrived at an absolutely gorgeous inlet of turqouise-blue water and an non-overwhelming number of British people. There we remained for some three or so hours taking-in the sun and basking in Menorcan glory. Salt and Vinegar Lay’s kept us alive until finally returning to our hotel. Back at Los Lentiscos we showered and refreshed ourselves with some pomades (Traditional Xoriguer Menorcan gin with bitter lemon, in this case with lemon Kass soft drink) which certainly hit both our spots. Then it was time for Ciutadella, Menorca’s second largest city and west-coast ... read more

Kindly invited to join Gill, best friend from school, and sister and their mum for a week in Menorca. Lovely apartment in resort of Son Bou which has best beach in Menorca. Flew from Blackpool - very laid back compared to Manchester airport! Managed to hire a car for a day, which was no mean feat due to cut backs in car availability this summer. Discovered it is an easy island to get about. Beautiful coves and plenty nice wee esorts. A relaxing week including some hilarious games of knockout whist, fuelled by wine! The karate suit appreciated the beach (and I got a surprise when walking to the far end and reaching a nudist section)!... read more