Menorca

 After some frustrating and expensive misadventures regarding the boat to Menorca I unexpectedly didn’t take, I was nonetheless able to get to the island around the same time I’d originally planned, arriving via a 40-minute flight rather than a 9-hour boat trip. And also arriving sleep-deprived, starving and smelly rather than rested, fed and eager to take on the day.

Ciutadella is a beautiful sun-washed town along the Mediterranean coast full of beautiful sun-washed people.

By the time I hit town, I was working on 3 hours of sleep. I was so tired that whenever I sat still, my eyes involuntarily closed and I started dozing off. But my room wasn’t ready yet, so the thought occurred to me that it would be a terrific time to rent a bike and head into traffic, and that’s what I did. Thankfully, that decision did not result in anything requiring hospitalization.

And then I decided to explore a little, just taking random roads and keeping the ocean to my left (a technique I used successfully for five consecutive days on my last bike trip). 

And only a few miles outside of town, I could see why people love this place.

Here’s a public swimmin’ hole, which I will swim in tomorrow if I can find it again. 

If you’ve ever in your life seen a picture of a house, thought the setting was too beautiful to be real and wondered where it was, it might have been here. The laughter and clinking of Zalto hand-blown wine glasses from behind the concrete walls only begin to suggest how delightful it would be to have these people as friends. I’m sure they were equally happy to see me riding past their houses, sweaty, smelly and staring at (yes, this happened) the dappled pony happily munching the grass on the perfectly manicured lawn.

Menorca is big on producing cheese so there are cows and cheeseries (my word) everywhere. I haven’t stopped in only because it’s really sunny and warm here and the idea of eating a big hunk of cheese and then getting back on the bike isn’t that appealing.

After a couple of hours of cycling, my internal systems started shutting down so I ate a bag of nuts, washed them down with a Diet Coke and took a nap, after which I ate my first real food for the day and am now going to sleep, planning for a longer bike ride in the morning.

And in terms of things happening for a reason, part of me was kind of hoping that I would get the news that the ferry I was unable to board yesterday sank in the middle of the Mediterranean last night, but I haven't heard anything yet.