There is nothing like traveling by boat...
Never before have we longed for the sea so much. We missed his smell, his energy and even his taste of saltpeter and summer. We had been dreaming for months of trying a little piece of its essence on infinite beaches where we could get lost and in delicious dishes to find ourselves in front of. But, why settle for just the foam on its shore and what it is good to give us to satisfy our appetite? It's time to conquer the SEA again, but with capital letters, as was done before, when the journey was as important as the destination and surfing the waves was not a phase done but a vital experience to write down in memory. It's time to travel by boat. It's time to travel with Baleària.
There is nothing comparable to the feeling of sailing in the blue immensity, looking at infinity and idealizing a happy future that begins when you land somewhere else. Feeling free is synonymous with traveling by boat with Balèaria: the sea breeze caressing your face, a sunrise at the bow with no company other than restless dolphins, a sunset at the stern to watch the sun melt into the water... but also free in its most practical and least sentimental sense: no luggage limit, accompanied by your whole family in comfortable private cabins and in large common areas (some of their ships even have a swimming pool), with your pet always close by thanks to its cabin service for V.I.P. (Very Important Pet) and your car (or caravan) shipped with you so as not to waste time at the destination...
That destiny that we have realized that we do not have to go looking so far, since paradise is just a stone's throw away, or rather, a short boat ride away. Because although Baleària has routes that link the peninsula with Africa, France, the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla (also the US with the Caribbean), the Balearic Islands are our object of desire for this invincible summer of 2020. I #MeVoySeguro, and you?
Discover the Balearic Islands at your own pace...
BALEARIC ISLANDS
The Baleària ferries depart from the port of Barcelona, connecting directly with Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza. To get to Formentera from the modernist city you must make a stopover in Ibiza and, once on the white island, take a fast ferry to the port of the small island of Pitiusas.
Just six hours with Baleària (in a seat, upper seat or in a cabin) it takes to get from Barcelona to the Balearis Maior, as the Romans knew Mallorca, for us the island of calm. There await you the enormous rose window of its Santa María cathedral, the old Call de Palma (the medieval Jewish quarter), the olive and almond trees of its Sierra Tramuntana and that immense coastline, with more than 500 kilometers of coastline, full of beaches and coves of dreams: Formentor, Mitjana, Cala Torta…
In three more hours the 200 kilometers that separate Barcelona from Ciudadela will be completed. There are no distances when on the other side of our Mediterranean Mahón awaits us, the Cap de Favàritx lighthouse, the Camí de Cavalls circular path and the rugged Menorcan coast, dotted with virgin coves bathed by water as turquoise as its seafaring past: Cala Morell, Cala en Turqueta, Cala Morell...
Recondite and intact, which has allowed it to maintain its peasant essence, Menorca is no longer as inaccessible as it used to be, which is to be appreciated, especially when one wishes to reach the island of the winds comfortably lying in the bed of one of the cabins of the 190-meter-long ship that is the Abel Matutes.
Choose a stateroom if you want privacy.
What else can we say about Ibiza! It seems that there are no more secrets in Pitiusa Island, but yes, yes there are, you just have to know where to look for them. If you have your eyes wide open, from the windows of the Baleària ship, just before arriving at the Botafoc maritime station, you will see the islet of Es Vedrà in the distance.** Legend has it that a giant monster lived in it, and they are not Few stories speak of its supposed and mysterious energy.
Once on land, nine hours after leaving Barcelona, what awaits us is an island of contrasts, one of pirates and corsairs, but also of beach clubs and electronic music. Because there are many Ibizas, you just have to know how to find yours: the one to drive along its rural roads with your family, the one to discover from beach to beach until you find your perfect sandy area (is it Ses Salines or Talamanca?) or the one to find on the plate either in the form of creative cuisine or seafood.
Traveling by boat is an unforgettable experience.
It is Formentera the fashionable island in this summer of 2020, Therefore, from Barcelona, it is worth making a stopover in Ibiza and continuing the journey (the route lasts 30 minutes and there are more than 15 daily departures) to arrive at the port of La Savina, the gateway to the small of the Pitiusas or , which is the same, to the Mediterranean paradise.
Wild, untamed and secluded, it is preferable explore its dirt roads by motorcycle or bicycle (which you can take with you in the bowels of the ship), so you can approach its lighthouses at Cap de Barbaria and La Mola and its desired beaches: Llevant, Ses Illetes, Migjorn, Cala Saona... And to end the day, a dinner overlooking the sea in Es Caló based on paella or freshly caught fish.
It is also possible get to the Balearic Islands with Baleària from Valencia or from Dénia (Ibiza and Formentera are just over two hours from the Alicante port by fast ferry), but that is another story that begins in the Levante and ends in Mallorca, Ibiza and Formentera.