The Dead Sea of Europe
We were looking for a two-week holiday and ended up in Spain again. This time on the mainland — specifically the south-eastern region of Murcia. The place we stayed is a sandbar formed by the tides of the Mediterranean. In some spots it's 700 metres wide, and it's about 21 km long. On one side is the very salty Mar Menor (the Little Sea), and on the other side is the Mediterranean.
Very close by is the city of Cartagena, with a rich history. Muslims, Greeks, Romans... The number of monuments tied to that history is enormous. I can't overlook the port. Cartagena is where the first Spanish submarine was built, and the submarine fleet gets a significant portion of the local museum.
The advantage of a holiday this long is obvious — you can spend a week on the beach and still have a week left to explore the area. The beach time was deceptively risky; anyone who didn't apply sunscreen very easily ended up pink or burned.