For all the friends and family I can think of: "Today in Menorca" Before I left home, I booked with "Jeep Safari Menorca" for today. So glad that I did. We set out into the countryside on miles of one lane "roads", between stone walls, that would have destroyed a sedan in a fraction of a mile. The driver/guides had made sure we fastened our seat belts; they weren't kidding. First stop, a huge limestone quarry, now like parkland in a canyon, where you could see the difference in how blocks had been cut to a certain depth by hand chiseling and then by power saws. (Most construction has been concrete for decades now). More country roads, and a maze of one-way streets in some old town. On to an overlook with a very long view of island and sea. Just after that we stoppped momentarily while the drivers manually locked up the front hubs for four wheel drive; we had come to the really interesting part of the road. Actually the ride wasn't as violent as it had been, because we were slowed way down for a ways. On to a lighthouse, with adjacent man made cave, used for armaments during the Spanish Civil War. An excellent, very Spanish, dinner at a farm with no other civilisation in sight. Final stop, an hour at a very nice beach. I laid back a while after being dropped back to my hotel, and walked a little way to one of a string of street cafes. Just as I started back to the hotel, the street resounded with brass and drums playing ...something...followed by "When the Saints Go Marching In" and other standards. I found the street totally packed with so many people following the band, kids on shoulders, that I couldn't see a sign of the band somewhere up there. After a few blocks they turned into a hotel complex and circled the pool, and I could see it was about two dozen young people in white shirts and dark slacks. They sounded like any professionals you could ask for; some of them might have been in high school, but several couldn't have been above fourth grade. It was a sublime conclusion to a good day. Then it got me. Judy would have loved it so much. I'm okay, everyone, but I'm still kind of a soggy mess. DDE
|