Formentera out of season
autumn in Formentera should start watching sunset in the Cap of Barbaria . Perhaps a little before the magic hour so that we can walk almost alone to the lighthouse that, in the distance, will appear and disappear, imposing, lonely and surrounded by nature. With the infinite blue of the sea in the background.
The goal is to reach him to get away. It sounds contradictory, but this is Formentera, one of its essential places, and no matter how autumn it is few are the tourists on the island who want to miss the show.
Cap of Barbaria
That a rocky outcrop seems isolated and complicated it can serve as a deterrent that considerably reduces the number of people around us. Silence, the immensity of the Mediterranean is ready and the sun prepares to do its thing.
Who at that time is probably already doing his thing will be Marina Coll, in charge of the kitchen at Hostal Aigua Clara. She is the architect of a balanced and tasty menu in which they coexist in harmony vegan, vegetarian and island product options, such as squid, sobrassada, peix sec or country bread. Proximity as her mantra before it began to work as a claim.
At the table, Marina's essential is Formentera squid with sobrassada. We give faith and add its creamy hummus salad, shrimp ceviche and crispy chicken fingers with piquillo pepper sauce. Questioning whether or not to leave room for dessert is not an option. six words: bread with chocolate, oil and salt.
On the ground, for Marina, who arrived from Vic in mid-2018, Autumn is the season to go to all those places that you can't walk in summer. “Last year, the first time I went to Ses Illetes was in December and no one was there; I used to go to Cala Saona every two or three days with the dog to walk there, with no one”. We take note.
Squid with sobrassada from Hostal Aigua Clara
Autumn mornings in Formentera should revolve around the sea, with views and a soundtrack to it, like the ones you get when you open the window of your room at Hostal Aigua Clara and see Migjorn beach.
Here everything looks at the sea. Also the breakfasts on its terrace, where Mary Mayans, owner of the hotel, is pure activity. Coffee with milk for one table, juice for the other, replenish what is finished at the buffet...
So much coming and going will not prevent Maria spend time with each of her guests and until she sits at your table to talk to you about Formentera, how fantastic she gets when summer is gone and how much she likes it Llevant beach. “The water becomes so clear in winter that You can even see the corals. In autumn, the island begins to regenerate after the summer”.
Stay here, in the south, in the long and wild Migjorn and walk its infinite wooden walkway dodging the charming lizards is tempting. In fact, it is the favorite beach of Eva Oller , a yoga teacher based on the island for six years.
Playa Migjorn and its endless wooden walkway
What Eva has badly is Formentera in winter. That's why he likes the island in spring, summer and autumn. Despite the people in the summer and the lack of those same people in the fall. That's when she loves doing yoga on the beach and she loves doing it on Migjorn beach.
However, resisting and heading north will not be complicated if one understands that in Formentera there is always time to return, and if you know that you are going to enter the paths of the ** Natural Park of Ses Salines .**
As a GPS we use the promise of turquoise waters and a tongue of white sand, but first we stop before the sudden appearance of those sheets of water that are the Estany des Peix and Estany de Pudent.
Going through them becomes a necessity to hunt with your own eye and that of the camera, the pink tones that they show in some areas. Going through them alone is one of the many luxuries that the 'off-season' gives us.
Playa de Llevant: out of season paradise is all for you
This 'out of season' will also be responsible for there being a space to leave the towel in Illetas beach and that people do not crowd at the entrance of the wooden pier to take the photo that anyone would like to have on their Instagram feed. Free way to get the perfect snapshot.
The water will remain just as turquoise in autumn than in the previous months. The Posidonia, fortunately, never stops doing its job. The salt will stick to your skin and the sun will continue to press down. The tongue of sand that is this area of Formentera will continue to seem to have no end and when it is sensed it will be to give the view of Espalmador, an island on the other side of the narrow pass of Es Trocadors. Now, no swimming across.
Paradise within paradise exists. The proof of this is not only Espalmador. Llevant beach , the one in which María assures that the water is so clear that corals can be seen in winter, is the lesser-known alternative to Illetes. Kilometers of sand, few people and a calm sea of such a color that makes one doubt whether it is Mediterranean or Caribbean.
How much beauty fits in a tongue of sand? And on this island? Lots, lots. Also inside. Sant Francesc Xavier and its white houses dotted with colorful bougainvillea are the proof. It is in the early afternoon, at the moment when its streets rest and the activity passes from the hands of those who close their restaurants to those who open their little shops, when it is worth strolling through it and wander through its streets in search of local crafts to carry in your suitcase.
An artisan working in the Mercat de la Mola
In the suitcase, proof of having passed through the Mola Market. Mythical, extremely mythical and easy to enjoy out of season, the market of Pillar of the Mola brings together posts run by artisans who offer products that they make by hand.
Paintings, ceramics, footwear, accessories, jewellery, toys for the little ones, clothes... The inability to choose turned into a market. It is celebrated on Wednesdays and Sundays and this 2019 will say goodbye on October 12 until next season.
Near Pilar de la Mola, just when one does not expect to find anything else, when one has already zigzagged along the road as far as it would go and ascended to the highest point of the island, appears the Mola lighthouse. The end of the island.
Autumn sunrises in Formentera should start here, enjoying that combination of colors that are the cobalt blue of the sea, the green of the vegetation and the brown of the steep cliffs that burst unceremoniously into the water.
It may not be as famous as Lucía's lighthouse and sex and early mornings to hunt the beauty of the first rays of the sun do not have as good press as excursions to hunt the last ones, but this show, with hardly anyone around, is well worth two or three hours less sleep.
La Mola Lighthouse