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Spain: A visit to Spain's calm island

MENORCA: Sun, sea and sand

Christina, my local guide, completely unfazed by this unexpected hiccup, says with a knowing smile: "Not to worry, I bet they have gone fishing."

Unlike its high-flying neighbours, life in Menorca, the second largest of the Balearic Islands, moves at a pace that makes raising an eyebrow seem a chore.

We are in the capital Mahon, a shimmering noon day sun shines down on the regal, but almost deserted, main square. "It's busy today," my guide observes. Busy? I count just 17 people lounging over drinks.

Menorca is so incredibly buttoned-down I actually start to believe the deep shadows cast by the buildings surrounding the square are yawning.

But things could be moving up a gear or three in this genteel, placid, laidback land. Monarch Airlines, the low-cost carrier, have opened up a new tourist gateway from Birmingham and Manchester.

And, in a further pioneering step this winter, they are the only scheduled airline offering direct flights to the island from Manchester and Luton.

Yes, Menorca is undoubtedly an island destination waiting to happen.

Unashamedly lazy

When we arrived at the Hotel Audax, an emblem of style and grace at Cala Galdana, you immediately feel your stress levels ebbing away. Forget the mobile, the emails and conference calls this is a haven for the unashamedly lazy.

Here, Gabriela, the stylish hotelier, wafts along cool corridors showing with delight splendid spa and well being facilities and airy balconied rooms.

"We really do have so many good things here," she emphasises with an intense smile. "Particularly peace but we want holidaymakers to discover that for themselves."

But just a few miles away. Hugh Brown, a passionate, visionary Englishman from Bramhall, Cheshire, has ploughed 20 years of his life into building and developing Golf Son Parc, the island's only 18-hole golf course.

But this is not a conventional golf course. Here the fairways sweep past outcrops of natural rock skirting reed filled lakes and wild clumps of natural flora and fauna. A true eco-friendly paradise.

"We should a have that fountain on," he says pointing to a metal masterpiece in the centre of a lake, "but there's a bird nesting on it{hellip}" Golfing certainly takes on a different slant here.

Intriguingly, the island's abundance of prehistoric structures are thought to have been constructed by people who built Stonehenge.

Mystery

Taula de Torralba, for example, offers an historic snapshot of these ancient civilisations with near perfect remains. Great T-shaped columns, still shrouded in mystery, thrust skywards. Even just sitting in these spiritual stone circles or touching the smooth-walled passageways gives a tingle of history.

The Talayotic necropolis at Calacoves, a group of nearly one hundred artificial caves, was used for burying the dead from the 9th century BC and was a place of pilgrimage until Roman times.

Later, fisherman settled in the caves and over the years they have become a haven for archaeologists revealing thousands of mind-jangling objects from the caves themselves and the surrounding area.

But 21st century Menorca has found a new use for these natural habitats.

High on a headland, Cova d'en Xoria offers a sublime twist to watching the sun set over a languid, velvet sea.

The caves have been turned into a stylish bar enabling travellers, including me, to melt into the growing shadows over palate-tingling cocktails {hellip} Ah, just peel me another grape please.

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