formenterareporteng

My trip to Formentera from 10.08. - 17.08.2000

Hi! This is my third travel report this year. I am travelling too much, don't I ? Well, I like it and I am happy, that I have the possibility this year. So this time my Mum and I were travelling to Formentera, which is a little Spanish island in the Mediterranian Sea and it belongs to the Baleares. It is the smallest island and near Ibiza. The "capital" is called San Francisco and the main tourist city is Es Pujols, which is in the north of Formentera with a beautiful beach and a small fishing port. Our hotel was in Es Pujols, about 5 minutes away from the beach. The hotel was beautiful, very new and nice to be in. The food (breakfast and dinner) was really good and there was nothing to complain about. They have a big swimming pool behind the hotel with sun umbrellas and sun coaches. Most of the tourists of the hotel used the pool and the couches and the umbrellas at the afternoon. We too! It was a great offer of the modern hotel. Our room was big enough for two persons plus an extra bath room. We liked it. It was at the third floor, so my Mum felt safe enough to have the window door open during the night! Well, there were a lot of Germans in the hotel and the most people, I have heard at the streets, talked German as well. At Ibiza I heard English, here I heard German, German, German. My Mum was happy about it, I am not really. Everytime we went into a shop, I was starting to speak English to ask for the price or so and everytime they asked me to speak German! Crazy, really crazy.... Well, all were very nice and friendly and we had no problems at all! And we had sunshine the whole week except one day, where we had some strong wind and 5 minutes rain at the evening. We had up to 38 Degrees Celsius! And that was really too much for my Mum and me. An usual day looked like that: waking up, going to breakfast, going to the beach, lying in the sun, swimming in the sea, swimming in the pool, lying next to the pool, sleeping at our room during the siesta (1pm to 4pm), swimming again, going on a walk, dinner, walking through the streets and doing some shopping and we were at the art market every evening/night as we really liked the atmosphere, and going to bed around midnight. :) We didn't do much, but it was a relaxing vacation week, so it was the right one for us! We really needed some time without doing anything!

We travelled by plane to Ibiza (2,5 hours from Hamburg) and then we took the ferry boat from Eivissa port to La Savina, the port of Formentera. The ferry boat needed 25 minutes as we took a jet one. There are older ferries, which need about an hour, so it would be a little bit more relaxing travel! Then again bus transfer to our hotel. We arrived at 9pm and they were so nice to give us dinner! It was a surprise as we didn't expect this. They had dinner until 9pm and we arrived at this time, so they opened the kitchen 5 minutes longer. :) How nice. After it we made a walk thorugh the town and looked, where we will find the beach. There were a kind of art market next to the beach with a lot of stands with "art": self made clothes, self made jewellery, cheap bikinis, .... It was funny and I liked it. My Mum and I found a nice clothes shop in a small street, where we have bought many clothes. I spent my whole money there as I bought two long skirts (in orange and green), a hand bag and three shirts with long sleeves. :) The owner of the shop knew us after the second shopping trip. Unfortunately, she didn't speak German or English (just some words), so we couldn't talk. Well, she gave me two bracelets as a present and reduced one shirt, which was very nice. I really loved this shop! I wanted to buy everything inside this shop!!! I also bought two other tops in other shops, but they aren't as great as the shirts there, but one has the trademark of Formentera on the front: a lizard! The hand bag has also a lizard in front of it. How can it be? *big smile* We saw many lizards in the walls next to the streets. And we saw bats, too! We didn't expect to see some there, but we did. Nice surprise! They were next to a big salt water sea, which was near our hotel. My Mum and I walked to it several times to see the sunset, which was always beautiful.

About sun.... I didn't get brown. I just get a sunburn on my shoulders and at my legs at the last day. I also had a sun allergy at my shoulders, which made me crazy during the holidays. So I used to wear t-shirts and no tops, which I usually prefer. My Mum had the same problems. I don't know, what we did wrong. I know, that I don't get any suntan, that's normal. But this time I had problems with the sun protection. And we bought and used a really good sun creme. We must try another one the next time. Here in Hamburg we have rain and clouds again....

At Tuesday we made a bus trip around the island. The first stop was San Fransisco, where we walked through the streets and saw the church. Then we drove to San Ferran, where is a stalactite cave. It was found some years ago under a farm house. The farmer was looking for water and found the cave! :) It is a small one with 800 square metres, but it is lovely and you can see many figures with a little bit of fantasy. The farmer's son showed us the cave and told some funny stories about it. That was nice. Then we drove to the plain of Moja, where is a lighthouse and a steep coast. The plain is about 200m high and you have a beautiful view over Formentera there. Then we had a little meal at El Pilar, which is a town at the plain. There we tried some typical island tapas, which were nice. We also got a glass of Formenterawine, which I really liked. So I bought a bottle of it. We also bought fig bread, which is really yummy! I like it very much! We will eat it at my birthday and drink a glass of wine. :) Hopefully, the photos will be finished until them! We gave it to the development at Friday, so there is a little chance! We will see. Well, back to Formentera. The bus took us home. The trip took about 4 hours, but the island is really small (16km x 25km) and not much to see. It is popular for its beaches! That is all. Well, we liked the bus trip and were happy, that we did it. Most tourists are travelling around the island by bike or motorbike, but we were too lazy and it was really too hot. We just wanted to relax and for that Es Pujols was enough.

The guide of the trip around the island told us, that there was no real rain for over 8 months! Usually they have some strong rains in spring, but they were missed this year. So the water isn't enough for the island! There are too many toruists. They are getting big water problems and are thinking about ordering ships with water from the Continent! Crazy, or? Well, we had luck and there was still enough water for us. We used to take a shower 2-3 times a day, which is too much, of course, but we needed it. One at the morning after waking-up as we sweated a lot in the night and then again after swimming because of the salt water and the chlorine.

About tapas.... I wanted to eat so many, but they hadn't very good ones in Es Pujols. I think, there are too many tourists, so they changed the tapas to "tourists tapas", which aren't as good as the ones in Madrid. My Mum and I tried them at the first evening and didn't like it. It was too less for a too high price and didn't taste very good. So I was happy, that I found at the last evening "churros con chocolate", which is a sweet dish. The owner of the shop made them fresh for us and really much! You put the churros into chocolate and then it is really, really yummy! :) I ate them once in Madrid, but only old ones as we were too late. It is an usual food for breakfast and not for the evening. But tourists eat it at every time. Well, I liked it and was happy to eat them. My Mum liked it, too. But after it, we had to go on a long walk and weren't hungry for a long time! It was really much!

Our trip home was good, too. The bus took us to the port, where we had to wait for the ferry. There were some stupid young boys in groups at the ferry, so that wasn't good. They were very noisy and thought, they are cool. So my Mum and I sat inside the ferry as it was more silent in it. In Eivissa port we saw the big cruising ship "Aida". It is very, very big and looked too big in this port! I saw it at TV and in articles in magazines, so I was impressed to see it in real life! Unfortunately, we couldn't go on a walk around it as the bus came for the transfer to the airport. The bus drove to Eivissa to some hotels, so we saw a little bit of the things, we saw two years ago. It hasn't changed much! At the airport we checked in and then we went to a coffee, coke and cake in a restaurant as we had still some time before boarding time. It was nice and we spent our last Pst. for it. Then we entered the bus for the transfer to the plane and what happened? I looked outside the window and saw my travel satchel lying on the "street" to the plane! I couldn't believe it! There was my satchel with all my things: clothes, shoes, ... I was really afraid, that it got lost, but then a car came, picked it up and brought it to the plane. I was happy to see that, but that was a real shock! Fortunately, nothing has broken. The flight home took again 2,5 hours and this time we flought over Barcelona, Paris, Bremen, Hamburg. The reason was, that there were thunder storms over the Alps. I saw the big clouds from the plane window. It looked very strange, but very mystical and beautiful! I liked it and used to look out of the window the half flight. :) It was great. The landing was good, too, but we had to wait very long for our luggage and then we took a taxi home. We had a night flight, so we were home around 11pm. My Dad and our cats waited for us, we talked the half night and then we slept again in our own beds. To travel is everytime nice, but to come home, too! So I enjoy to be home again, to feel a little bit relax and now I can start with learning and at first with writing letters and e-mails. I have to answer many ones! :)

Well, take care and I hope, you liked my little travel report. Take care and till soon!

I will add some photos later as I haven�t got some yet!