Menorca

 

We've just returned from a 6 night trip in Menorca (Santo Tomas). The weather was lovely, and we experienced the best snorkelling we've done in Europe, but the trip was still only almost relaxing due to the pandemic. 

Starting from the beginning there were a number of additional stressors which I'll outline below (for the fun of reliving!) which took away from a fully relaxing holiday: 

1.   Mark had issues logging onto the NHS Covid Pass website, which said it needed to verify his identity the day before our trip (and this could take up to 7 days) even though he'd logged in the week prior with no issues. In the end he had his information confirmed in a few hours, but it was a stressful few hours. 
2. The train to the airport was sold out - this has never been an issue, and I didn't think to worry about it (silly me!). We booked a taxi to take us to the airport instead, and realised at pick up time that the booking was for the wrong day! Luckily the taxi company was able to send a cab within 10 minutes anyway, but again it was really stressful. I'm sure Mark provided the correct details when he made the booking. 
3. There was a car wreck (and delay) on the way to the airport. Luckily this didn't slow us down too much in the end, but was another 'oh shit' moment, and it felt like we were not going to be able to go on this trip. 
4. People are assholes! Nothing new here, but on full display at the airport via the number of people who didn't wear their masks correctly or at all. We were in FP2 masks and face shields and using copious hand gel in response, but feeling the need to be so vigilant was not relaxing.

I felt pretty frazzled by the time we got there and am happy to report that once we arrived to Menorca things went pretty smoothly. Menorca is beautiful and the weather was great. If we did it again, we'd stay somewhere different, where we could self-cater as the hotel buffet was pretty mediocre. But our room was nice and we had a gorgeous view of the sea. The hotel pool was pretty great, and we were right on the beach. Also, there were no children at the hotel which was a big perk. 

The snorkelling was the best we've experienced in Europe so far. I saw two eels, no other 'big ticket' animals, but plenty of fish and lots of varieties. The visibility was amazing, the water was clear at 30+feet, and the island off the shore (near Es Bruc- restaurant) was easy to circumnavigate and provided really excellent snorkelling conditions. 

Es Bruc was the best restaurant in the area by far, but we didn't have any meals on this trip that I'd call 'gourmet'. If we go again we'll rent a car as well as there may have been better options a bit further afield. 

On the whole I think Menorca was doing pretty well with Covid safety compliance. Most people were good about wearing their masks and we were mostly outside which made things feel much safer, but there were unavoidable covid stressors due to UK precautions before returning including a covid test (not fun, but understand the reasons) and a four page document to complete 2 days before returning. We did manage to let down our guards enough to book massages, which we've not done since covid and that was really nice. 

Ultimately I'm glad we were able to go and glad to have had a week of real summer (and the suntans to show for it). 

Hamish also seemed to have a nice time with the dog sitter which was a real plus. He apparently liked them so much he was sleeping with the youngest son of the family by the last night. Little bugger.