Menorca 2

 When we woke up this morning, it was cold, windy and gray, with storm clouds threatening. So we thought it would be a terrific time to rent bikes and ride along the remote southwest coast of Menorca where there is nothing but rocks and scrub and you’re completely exposed to the elements.

We covered a lot of territory on this ride, as illustrated below.

We made it all the way down to the historic Cap d’Artrutx lighthouse which, when first opened in 1859 burned olive oil to power the lamp (really), was rebuilt when everyone realized that it wasn’t stable enough to survive the waves pounding into the shore, and is now a restaurant where a scrambled egg and vegetable appetizer costs $20. Plus if you’re driving you can’t go to the lighthouse or even park in the lot unless you eat at the restaurant.

But we did briefly ride our bikes in the parking lot just to challenge authority, rode all the way back up
to Ciutadella, then continued north along the coast past a lot of charming beach towns to a public swimming spot that was watercolor-worthy, which provided us an excuse to finally stop riding and do some painting (for only one of us, obviously).

Then we returned our bikes, ate a bag of nuts and declared it a successful day.