Who needs a holiday when you’ve got a dictionary’s worth of adjectives and an imagination? Okay, everyone does...but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a good story in the meantime. If I could bottle a holiday to Menorca and deliver it to your door for consumption, it would go a little something like this. Make yourself a pot of tea, turn off your phone and experience a twenty four hour trip to my favourite Balearic Island.
Image: Paul Stephenson
8am
You take a sip of cafe con leche, bite down on a chocolate covered churro and soak up the view. Ahead, the sun flecked Mediterranean Sea is doing its best impression of a picture postcard. Turning around, you take in the sage-green olive trees that cradle Menorca’s mountains, smiling at [insert your favourite travel companion here].
11am
A warm breeze carries the scent of orange groves and balmy heat as you hike a sandy trail along the headland, coves revealing azure ocean pools. The north-eastern section of the 110 mile long medieval coastal path, Cami de Cavalls, leads you through copper woodland and past a ruined watch tower that could easily feature in a magical fantasy novel.
Here, you sit and soak up the scenery with a snack of fresh bread, local cheese and olives bought from the market in the Menorcan capital, Mahon that morning. As you eat, an emperor dragonfly skims over the grass and your companion spots a red kite, one of the island’s many native bird species, soaring in the distance. You pass wildflowers, wetlands and drifts of sand dunes as you continue your walk across the island's extensive biosphere reserve.
Image: Kristos B
1pm
A steaming bowl of creamy lobster stew arrives to accompany your glass of Cava. Outside the window of the restaurant families stroll by, fishing boats bobbing in Fornell’s storybook harbour. The antique whitewashed houses and traditional boats contrast perfectly with deep blue sea.
You buy an obligatory novelty key ring from one of the harbour side shops and walk along the waterfront with an ice cream in search of your next adventure.
3pm
The water laps against your kayak as the group paddles out of Fornell Bay to the secluded crystal water caves only reachable by boat. Menorca looks fresh and mysterious from this angle, deserted sandy coves appearing around rocky headland.
The water is bath warm as you leave the kayak and drift with a snorkel, watching damsel fish nose along the seabed along with a kaleidoscope of other underwater life.
9pm
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Image: Luca Sbardella
Your friend’s profile is silhouetted against the setting sun as you gaze out from the natural balcony of the Coves d’en Xoroi. Strings of fairy-lights decorate the rock face behind, the bartender emerging from one of the many caverns with your [insert favourite cocktail here]. After the horizon has swallowed up the sun, you head into the natural caverns where a live flamenco band is playing, and dance long into the night.
“This is my version of a perfect 24 hours on a Spanish Island. This post was written as an entry for 24 hours on The Balearics contest sponsored byOnTheBeach.co.uk. The prize is £500 in Amazon Vouchers and the contest runs until August 31, 2012. Please visitBeersandBeans.com to learn more about the contest and how you can also enter.”
