Menorca tourist information - Balearic isles, Spain

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MENORCA Information - Balearic Isles

Minorca is the most eastern and northern island in the Balearics, and has a particularly low altitude of only 358 metres above sea level at the peak of the Monte del Toro, from where the whole of the island can be seen. The history of Minorca is closely linked to the wickerwork (a common craft in the western Mediterranean) of the Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines and Arabs. Between 1713 and 1802, the island suffered four occupations (three by the English and one by the French), though the English presence is remembered in a positive light. The whole island has been declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO.

In MAHÓN I MAÓ, the island's capital, the English legacy can still bfelt in the layout resulting from the town planning of Richard Kane, the Georgian buildings and houses with sash windows. The most famous house in this style is the Golden Farm, a red villa superbly located over the Sant Antoni cove. The port is five kilometres inland, forming a narrow, deep bay, from which different islands emerge. Well kept vegetation covers the hill slopes, where beautiful villas and chalets have been built almost on the edge of the water, and coves have been formed to improve the view and provide beaches for sunbathing.

The city centre is relaxed and elegant, with lovely views over the
bay. The Santa Maria church, with a single nave and side chapels, built in the thirteenth century but heavily renovated since, has a large organ with a superb sound. As with other churches on the island, the origins of Sant Francesc are Gothic, though its most visible features are Baroque.
CIUDADELA / CIUTADELLA. This was the island's capital until it was transferred to Mahón by the governor Richard Kane during the first English occupation. Despite an attack by the Turks, who razed the city in 1558, the Santa Maria cathedral maintains the Gothic air of its fourteenth-century construction. It has a single nave, with side chapels, and underwent considerable alterations in the early nineteenth century. The side doorway is from the fourteenth century, and is a veritable monument.

Ciutadella (or Ciudadela in its Spanish form) was always a seat for the nobility and the clergy, who built abundant palaces, the fronts of which give the old part of the town its character. The Palacio del Obispo, with a beautiful courtyard, and the Palacio Olivar date from the seventeenth century, though much restoration work has been carried out since then. Torre Saura has an excellent neo-classical appearance, with a large facade and staircase. The mansion of Baron Lluriac is the town's finest ancestral home. The Palacio Vivo has an impressive glass vantage-point. Only the Palacio de Salort, built in the seventeenth century and renovated in the nineteenth century, can be visited. This is a graceful building, with a large main front, exterior stairs and elegant rooms, such as the ballroom and the room of mirrors.

In the Plaza d'es Born, full of cafes and palm trees, stands an obelisk measuring 22 metres high commemorating the Any de sa Desgracia, the year of misfortune when Ciutadella was attacked by the Turks. The old part of the town, with narrow streets, museums, convents and imposing churches, towers and bastions, has been recognised as a site of historical and artistic value.