MINORCA...Vamos a la playa!

When my son asked me to spend the summer holidays in a "blue, transparent sea where you can watch the fish with a mask and go to a different beach every day", I started thinking about where we could go, without going too far and without spending a fortune. Sardinia? Been there. Corsica? That too. Greece? After Crete my plan was the Cyclades but we had little time to visit several islands as I would have liked, so we postponed it to a future summer. So, what was left? Spain. But I didn't want to go along the crowded coasts full of monster-hotels, so we headed for the Balearics: Formentera in August is too crowded, I know Majorca, so only Minorca was left.

I start searching online and an island appears to me rich in nature, with small beaches set between high cliffs, and declared by Unesco a Biosphere Reserve...AWARDED!! Together with our travel companions we booked the car for the 10 days at our disposal, a small house in a residence through the website and the scheduled flight Bologna Barcelona then a low cost from Barcelona to Minorca. We were in the extreme west of the island in the area around Ciutadella, and with the car we visited a different beach every day. Of course in August the crowds cannot be avoided entirely, but you just have to arrive early at the most famous beaches, also because when the car parks are full, the access road is closed so you can no longer get there until late afternoon.

There are then some beaches that I think are a bit underrated and others instead overrated but not so exciting, but of course "it's a matter of taste"! The beaches that are close to urbanised areas can also be avoided in August, or at most used for a stop or for lunch, since of course they are full of bars and places to refresh yourself. Among these Arenal de Castel in the north and Cala Galdana in the south, which I suppose are much more attractive in less crowded periods.

The beautiful beaches of Cala Macarella and Macarelleta, of Cala en Turqueta and Cala Mitjana, must absolutely be seen by getting up at dawn, before a "tide" of people pours into the cove, laying down their towel, usually on top of yours! Still in this area, on the other hand, there is a beach "Son Saura" not to be confused with another one in the north, bigger than the previous ones and partly "snubbed" by tourists with cars. The beach is quite big and has only one drawback: the seaweed, which is found mainly on the beach and forms a soft, somewhat slimy and at times not exactly fragrant carpet. This, however, happens only on the first part of the beach and if you feel like walking right to the end of the inlet, you will find a freer beach and wonderful water.

Son Saura is reached by the boats that go around the south-west coast and so you just have to put up with the crowd for the half hour or so of the stop and then, as soon as the boat leaves, you find yourself masters of the beach again. One day we then visited the historic centre of Mahon, the village of Binibeca Vell, beautiful for taking photos to put on your desktop, a swim at Cala en Porter and then...not to be missed, the Cova d'en Xeroy. Towards 7 pm the bar-disco opens for the sunset show and all that's left is to relax drinking a drink at a table with a sea view and ambient music in the background, waiting for the sun to turn orange, then red and then disappear into the sea.

The coves in the residential area around Ciutadella are really small but pretty, like Cala en Forcat, where along the whole inlet there are walls you can walk along, with steps at various points to get into the water. To the north, the landscape is wilder, the beaches are not white but reddish and the sea is crystal clear. The beaches we liked the most were those of Cap Cavalleria, where we had fun covering ourselves in red clay, and the beach of Cala Pregonda. The 20/25 minute walk needed to reach it, through a lunar or...Martian landscape, we did around 5 pm, so as not to bake too much, and then we enjoyed the tranquillity and the wonder of Cala Pregonda until sunset, in a light made even redder by the colour of the rocks that surround it.

The beach of Son Bou, on the other hand, in the south, is over 2 km long and despite the period, and the residential areas behind it, it is not crowded at all. Here we spent our last day in the best possible way, between walks in the shallow, transparent waters and relaxing swims between the blue of the sea and the sky, trying to imprint the colours and scents well in our minds, to remember on grey autumn days. Ilaria