Menorca R & R

Both sets of grandparents joined us for a two week reunion to Menorca, a Mediterranean island just off the coast of Spain. This was our R & R. It was neither restful nor relaxing (what vacation is with a 3 year old and 8 month old?) but we did party and play hard to make up for lack of sleep. We also enjoyed developmental milestones:  Deets and Mark celebrated their 3rd and 36th birthday; Margo said her first word: Dada. As for me? Well I guess I learned about sensitive skin and salt-water-sea-itch.  I swam and snorkeled in the ocean anyway. 

We'd go back to this place in an instant. It was family friendly, gorgeous and easy to navigate. We left with much more to experience, but here are the top ten things (out of about 22 particular favorites) about Menorca according to the Schlinks:

10. Rock walls: some 2,000 years old
lining nearly 45 km of the tiny island.

9. Monte Toro: a nosebleeding elevation of 357 meters
near the town of Es Mercadal provides a panoramic
view of the entire island.

8. Market morning: delivery of carcasses
every morning to local butchers.
Local specialty: suckling pic.

7. Siestas: Menorca takes their sleep seriously,
leaving ghost towns from 1:00-5:00pm.
It forced us to drink gin slushies and nap
in the shaded garden of our house.

6. Jelly Fish: floating blithely and inconveniently near the shore
every couple of days. The island cliffs gave us aerial views
of them, clumped by the 1,000s.

5. Childless mornings with Mark,
drinking cappuccinos at Imperi, a bar on the main plaza.

4. Cami de Cavalls: A horse/hiking trail
that circles the island cliffs. We rented mountain bikes for a day,
to remind us why we road bike instead.

3. Cuitadella: the town we stayed in has incredible vitality.
Each night was graced with strolls along the port,
shopping in the pop-up shops, live music, and gelato.

2. The beaches: pick one, any one.They all rocked hard core.
 Deets went from belligerent to brilliant with swimming.
We made it to half a dozen beaches out of approximately 50.
 Our favorite got dubbed Deets Beach (in Ciutadella) which
 had a tiny 15 foot perfectly sanded cove.
We saw fish, crabs, jelly fish and boobs.  TONS of boobs.

1. Gin: All things gin in Menorca are awesome:
the gin factories, gin & tonics, gin & lemonade, gin slushies...
their gin is made from distilled wine and juniper berries
(where other places make it from barley).
We drank with unadulterated pleasure.