Advantages of having a singing girlfriend

After a quite successful gig at Bar l'Embruix in Navàs the Saturday before, last week, Coll@ge (which is Elisabet and Xevi) gave two concerts in the stunning city of Ciutadella, located on the beautiful Balearic island of Menorca. For me, too, a nice opportunity to have some short Easter holidays there. Our plane left at 7 o'clock, meaning that our vacations started with a pretty unrelaxing wake up call at 4.30 am.

Had he known he would lose the flight, I'm sure Xevi would have spent some more hours in bed. Unfortunately he didn't. 
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Algae and rocks

Elisabet and me arrived In Maó at around 8 o'clock and after a while of queueing were we given the car we had rented in advance. Our vehicle first thing took us to a bar in Es Castell, where we had breakfast, and then we went on to the surroundings of Fort Marlborough which offer nice views over the entrance to the natural harbour of Maó, interesting eroded rocks and, of course, the remains of a vigilance tower one can freely enter and explore.

Fort Marlborough

Around an hour after midday, we picked Xevi up at the airport and soon were on our way to our rented apartment in Ciutadella.

Ciutadella is a really nice town. Its town centre is a large car-free zone that invites for some relaxing strolls through its narrow streets. The old town and commercial centre were very close to our apartment so that lots of intersting spots were well within walking distance.

Nightview of Ciutadella harbour

1st concert - Allà de Sempre

On Wednesday Coll@ge gave their first concert in a bar called Allà de Sempre. Its not located in the city centre but at the harbour, where, as we were told, people usually don't show up until 3 or even 4 o'clock in the morning. The musicians were asked to start around 1 am in front of a rather small group of clients, and although the bar wasn't crowded until the concert was almost over, the atmosphere was thoroughly positive. 

The gig was part of a deal, because it was the bar or its owner Rafa who supplied Coll@ge with the instruments and some other equipment. Without him doing so, the musicians would have had to carry their stuff, such as an electric piano, drumset and PA-system with them, and it would have been impossible for them to go by plane, which not only is the most practical way of going to Menorca, but also by far the cheapest.

After the concert a couple of Karaoke songs were perfmormed - some of them quite well. The party was still going on when we decided to retire and get some sleep.

Industrial stone extraction

View upwards from the deepest part

On Thursday, Elisabet and me decided to do some sightseeing and visited la Lítica, a surface quarry we had been at three years before, when we visited a concert of the World Youth Choir there. Due to the fact that our first visit of la Lítica had taken place during the night hours, we hadn't been able to see much of the pit, apart from the entry path down to the stage and the area the audience had its seats. This time we wanted to join the whole tour that offers free access to the pits from where stone was industrially extracted as well as to the older parts of the quarry where the material was hammered out manually by no means other than sheer muscle power. The latter, irregularely shaped areas house a botanic garden today and strongly differ from the totally deserted naked stone surfaces to be found in the more recently worked parts.

Lisa in the centre of the labyrinth

Ancient part of the quarry

Menorca is famous for its lizards

Thursday's gig's location was a bar called Sa Fideuera, whose owner Tobal, a friend of Xevi's, we had gotten to know the day before. AfryCa, one of Tobal's waitresses who had impressed us with her karaoke version of AC DC's Highway to Hell the night before, even agreed to join in for a song.

2nd concert at Sa Fideuera (featuring AfryCa)

The concert, again, was a success, and it wasn't until after a couple of bonus-tracks that Coll@ge's Balearic Easter commitment was over. The better part of the rest of the night we spent at the Jazzbah, a cool and seemingly famous nightlive location right in front of Allà de Sempre, hence at Ciutadella's harbour. Here, while watching two concerts of local artists in a row, I got hooked to Gin Tonics made of Tanqueray.

Coll@ge in blue

 













On Friday, the day of our flight back to Barcelona we still had some time to visit the village of Fornells where some more pictures were taken. Fornells is another of those beautiful places tons can be found of on Menorca. By the way, Elisabet and me once have been there during the Jaleo, the showdown of the local municipal festival and I've somehow missed the crowds of drunken people (and horses) partying in the streets.

Tanqueray meets Coll@ge

On Friday we flew back to Barcelona, only to meet again a day later, for Coll@ge gave a concert at Mara's Bar in Cambrils. I had expected a gig better than those before, because that time the musicians played on their own instruments, they obviously are more familiar with, but somehow I was disappointed. The sound was bad. Especially Elisabet's voice sounded dull and barely could be understood. Even when talking to the audience between two songs, it was difficult to make out what she actually was saying. The bar's owner, however, was satisfied wit the gig and that's what really matters for he is the one who paid for it.

Some relaxing holidays.