The Formentera hotel was the best I'd stayed in so far. Aside from the already mentioned breakfasts, the furnishings are modern and the services excellent. There is a swimming pool, good for cooling off after touring. The major drawback was that the WiFi did not reach the rooms and I had to go down to the bar to go online. I expected and found Formentera to cost more than the bigger islands since things have to be imported but even at the higher price, the hotel was good value.
The return journey went without drama and by noon I was in my Eivissa accommodation. After lunch I retreated for a siesta, saving Dalt Vila (old city) for the evening.
Like many other desirable middle ages city, Eivissa was keenly fought over so the old city and fortress is a remnant of that time. Beneath the fortifications is an entire city with narrow passageways that is pleasant to explore.
The harbour edge of the fortified city has many fine dining possibilities. I however took dinner in a more mundane cafeteria away from the harbour because of the tourist maxim: Everything is more expensive on the main drag.
I wanted a pastry and coffee to follow, but this proved elusive. Such morsels are for the earlier part of the day and in the evening, main meals, alcoholic drinks and snacks (tapas) are in vogue.
My hostal was 4 stories up from a popular square. The hubbub of conversation reached all the way to my window. Within a stone's throw were several dance clubs and the thump thump reached this far until the small hours of the morning. Especially as posters all over advertised that this was the end of dance season so every club was holding noisy farewell parties on the weekend. Fortunately I'd been staying up late and and can adapt to sleeping with noise. There are always the ear plugs. In the popular mind Ibiza is associated with the dance club scene. DJs are like rock stars, and have parlayed fame into lucrative spin-offs, such as Kathy and David Guetta's chain of merchandise stores with the double entendre name F*** me I'm famous! (sic)
I admit I was ambivalent about choosing to visit Eivissa. I couldn't even find a current guide book for the island; one published several years ago was not renewed. It seems that those who come here know what to expect (i.e. package holiday, clubbing, and other hedonistic pursuits). However the tourism scene, including the clubs only accounts for 5% of land use. There is a lot of pretty landscape around the island.
Time to change islands. Not that I disliked Mallorca, but my research had indicated that the tourist season on Menorca was shorter and therefore I should go there earlier rather than later. Also as I was recovering from jetlag, a quieter island would be more suitable.
Inspite of my worries about check-in margins, the airport bus deposited me with plenty of time to spare. In fact I arrived at the departure lounge just as the previous flight was boarding. It was a small jet, unlike the propeller one I got. Flight time was a mere 25 minutes and we spent more time taxiing and getting to cruising height. Balearic citizens get a discount on fares as the service keeps the region united. When I was doing my trip research, I was puzzled to find hardly any ferry services after summer. Then I realised: everybody flies now.
Menorca airport was small and quiet but also very tidy and well maintained. I lucked out, the airport bus was almost leaving when I walked out with my backpack. Otherwise it would have been a 30 minute wait. So I had 1h15 to have lunch before the next bus to Ciutadella.
The first thing I noticed about Menorca is that it is windy. Did I arrive on a windy day or was it always like this? On the bus I saw stone walls around plots of land. And at Ciutadella there was this windmill, long out of use and now a bar/restaurant. They wouldn't build a windmill in the old days unless they could use it. So the wind was climate, not weather. The guide book confirmed this. It's windy because of the lack of a significant mountain range to obstruct the wind.
It took me longer than expected to find the hostal. The compass was useless. Maybe it has been demagnetised in an X-ray machine. Seeing that I was sweating hard, the hostal manager tried to upsell me, but not very aggressively, to an air-con room. I stuck with the room with a fan. And I discovered that through the expedient of leaving my door open, a pleasant cooling breeze would flow through the room. Which wasn't a problem as there were no other guests on my floor. Very nice.
That evening, after siesta, I took a walk through the streets of the old town. I had expected a sleepy little town, but Ciutadella was delightful. It was clean and tidy and there was a great variety of stores with quality goods or services. Fashion, footwear, beauty, health, books, gourmet food, appliances, phones, were just some of the things sold. Then there were the restaurants, cafés and gelaterias, many with outdoor tables and chairs, doing brisk business.
The visitors seemed to be well-to-do. Many were Spanish, but I heard English and German, among other languages.
It looked like Menorca was faring better than Mallorca in these financially challenging times. It seems that Menorca's strategy is to aim for a better class of tourist. It has always been less well-known than its bigger sibling and so has had more selective visitors.
Down at the water I found this charming little harbour built in a long natural cove. Such coves are all over the Balearic Islands and provide beautiful swimming beaches.
The harbour is lined with restaurants, so you could step off your pleasure craft, have dinner, and then not worry about getting breath-tested during the few steps to your accommodation.
I was bowled over by all this. I was expecting a sleepy little town where I might have to walk back though deserted streets after dining in one of the two decent restaurants. I had not expected such a charming gem of a town.
I found La Guitarra, mentioned in the guide as serving regional food. I had a Mallorcan soup for starters. It consisted of vegetables such as cabbage and cauliflower in a thick meat stew. The main course was roast pig Menorcan style. They were both very tasty. Generally having both a starter and a main is too filling for me, but I couldn't help myself. The bill was very reasonable for what I had.
I had another look at the harbour after sunset and it was even more beautiful, if that is possible. There are steps and a road down to the harbour, but I left it for later. Mustn't have too many good things at once.
I finished my outing with a scoop of marduixa (strawberry) gelato, made with local fruit. There were some director chairs outside the gelateria for customers. Ah, contentment.
When I got back to my room I thought I would have a little nap before having my shower and writing the blog. The glass of red wine I had with dinner must have sent me over the edge as the next thing I knew, it was daybreak. I had vague memories of waking up in the middle of the night and turning off the netbook and the light.
