Mahon is the main town/city of Menorca.

Well, I woke up earlier than anticipated because I had to use the restroom. Instead of being annoyed though, I was super amazed. Through the little port hole in our room I could see that we had already begun entering the narrow 3 mile long beautiful harbor of Mahon. We had been warned the night before to get up early - maybe by 8, to watch the entrance into the harbor.

I got everyone else up and we ran up to the deck to watch. It was truly magnificent. The cool morning added to the overall effect. We passed by an island in the middle. It was like an island within an island, since Menorca is an island itself. At the dock, there was a black dog running excitedly in circles :-)

I went to breakfast and we sat in the outside eating area to enjoy the view. There, one of the servers asked me "Ni Yao Kafei ma?" I understood what he meant but I thought there was something about it. Then I realized that I hadn't heard Mandarin in awhile. :-) Sometimes the servers who knew a little Mandarin would try to engage us in Chinese. So we would respond but then get back to our conversations in Cantonese. I wonder if they were puzzled :-)

We then went to the Queen's Lounge (the standard meeting place for shore excursions). I got an orange sticker - which I don't anymore because I was stupid and took it off during lunch time and stuck it to the tray. I have most of my other ones that I got from the tour bus trips.

The first place we went to was a chapel of a monastery at the very highest hill of Menorca - Santurio de Nuestra Senora.

Talk about seclusion. Menorca is already way far away from the Spanish Mainland... There was a great view.

I bought postcards and two little handmade owls for.. 0.30 Euros each from the church store. That was a good deal because at other places, I think it was about 0.60 Euros each. Cassandra named her owls Schneepy and Cheepy. I said my owls had to have Spanish names. So the grey one is called Cervantes and the black, red, orange, yellow, green one is called Don Quixote. Cassandra said I was a dork. But hey, Don Quixote was a landmark publication! The first modern novel! Of course homage must be paid to it!

Then we went to Torrulba and saw giant taulas. Those are like giant stone Ts - two stone slabs, one horizontally stacked on top of a vertically standing one. So, sort of like Stonehenge but not in a circle. Just one or two by themselves.

These were part of some housing area. We saw foundations and underground "refrigerators". Actually, we don't know much about anything in Menorca because this was the most poorly guided tour of any that we had on this trip. The tour guide just sorta dropped us off in random places (and didn't even get to one of the places promised on the itinerary) but didn't say much. She did tell us some stuff (boringly) while we were on the bus, but not much about the places we got off at.

Then we went to San Bou beach. There were white houses everywhere and stone walls. All along that area of Menorca are stone walls covered with cement stuff that makes it look like snow fell on them.

Cassandra dipped her finger into some green Mediterranean Sea water and said that was now her lucky finger. I thought it'd be kinda gross if she touched me with it.

So Menorca, being an island, has lots of beaches. We drove by one of the famous ones: Lover's Beach. It's the smallest beach. A whole 2 meters' across worth of sand. Hence, probably can only fit 2 people.

Artistic Moment again - the little kid is shading her eyes to see the bus go by. Look how shallow the water is!

Then we got back to the boat. Although I was still full from breakfast, I ate lunch. I ate some of my mom's yellow fries. They were funny looking because they were so yellow! Dark bright yellow. Maybe European potatos are different.

Then my mom and Cassandra and I wandered around the city. To get into the city, you must climb steep stairs to get into a passageway that gets you into the city walls. (Mahon was a fort in the past) That was fun.

All the streets are very narrow, except for in the main plaza. The sidewalks were narrower. The walls were very white. And there were many green shutter'd windows. Cassandra and I saw a poster advertising Lord of the Rings in Espanol!

My mom bought me 2 items of Spanish Jewelry. I wear them everyday, even though I never wear jewelry at school. So, I got a silver scottish terrier bracelet. My wrist is small so it's loose. And I guess my hand is too because I can just slip my hand out of it. There are 17 little baby scottish terriers connected to each other. And a silver ring with a crystal in the middle to match. My mom was going to buy some other items for my sister Francesca but the bracelet of choice was too small. :-(

We mainly window shopped but my mom also bought a photo frame and lots of ceramic plates. Spain is supposed to be good at making those.

Street with a smiley on the wall. You go up the steep pathway behind the wall to get into the city.

I got back to the boat first because I was done looking but my mom and Cassandra stayed a bit longer and then barely made it back on time before the ship was ready to set sail.

The exit out of the harbor was wonderful to see as well. :-)

My mom and I went to the library while Cassandra took a nap. Francesca read elsewhere.

Dinner...

1. Pate (which looked like Frosting design) - I didn't eat it - I ordered it for my mom so she could try 2 appetizers since I didn't want any appetizer (still full from lunch)
2. I got something else for my mom but I forgot what
3. House Salad with Asian Plum Dressing
4. Fettuccini Alfredo with Mushroom, Broccoli, and Asparagus
5. Swiss Almond Ice Cream - Haagen Daz

The coolest thing was when they played Angklung - I probably spelled that wrong. But each instrument can only play one note (these are all strings). So you need lots of people to play lots of different individual instruments, each tuned to a different note. They did some of their songs, and ended with God Bless America.

At Sea, Strait of Gibraltar