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Chapter 11 - Places to Visit & Things to Do
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SCENIC DRIVES
If time is limited, a drive from
Mahon to Ciudadela should include a stop at the small inland town of Mercadal,
to drive to the top of Monte Toro. The road is easy, and the view panoramic,
especially towards Fornells in the north. After passing the town of Ferrerias
a visit should be made to the Naveta des Tudons (boat-grave) sign-posted
on the left a few kilometres out of Ciudadela.
Probably the most scenic drive on
the island is to the Cavalleria lighthouse in the north (take the
signposted road towards Binimel-La at Mercadal and follow the map). The
road passes near a medieval fortified farmhouse and later the old Roman
port of Sanitja. The view southward over the island from the precincts
of the lighthouse, the panorama of sea, cliffs and hills in the background
is outstanding.
Some of the best scenic drives should
include walks. Those from Galdana through the pinewoods to Mitjana or Macarella
have few equals, and excursions along the shores of Albufera lake or Port
Addaya are equally rewarding.
MEGALITHIC SETTLEMENTS
Even the visitor who may not be particularly
interested in these should visit a few, if only to appreciate the island's
atmosphere. The sites usually command fine views, and make ideal picnic
spots.
With a car the three most important
taulas can be seen in a morning. These are:
Trepuco Talati de
Dalt Torralba d'en
Salort
Trepuco is the largest and one of
the oldest taulas, and lies on the outskirts of Mahon, a few hundred
yards beyond the end of the street called Cos de Gracia. Its main
talayot
is unusual in being partly encircled by an eighteenth-century gun emplacement,
from which the Duc de Crillon once tried to terrorise the inhabitants of
Mahon. When a Cambridge University team excavated the site in 1932, all
but the top seven feet of the giant taula were buried in undergrowth
and rubble, and it was a favourite vantage-point of small boys. Dr Margaret
Murray, the team's leader (an experienced archaeologist who subsequently
wrote about it in her autobiography My First Hundred Years), found the
remains of eleven other talayots on the site, and very early (pre-Bronze
Age) hand-worked pottery.
Taking the road to San Clemente,
one can turn off right on a country lane to Torello (signposted), where
an opportunity can be taken to see the mosaic floor of its ancient Byzantine
basilica. Returning to the main road and proceeding to Alayor via the Cala'n
Porter road, stop at Torralba d'en Salort, where in addition to a large
talayot is a particularly good example of a taula whose circulo
has recently been excavated. There is also a fine hypostyle court. A few
yards away is the ancient well of Na Patarra, probably dating to 800 BC.
Returning to Mahon via Alayor, Talati de Dalt can be visited. This is also
a major prehistoric site with much of interest. Less known are the huddled
dwellings of the prehistoric village of Alcaidus nearby.
Other outstanding megalithic sites
dating from the Bronze Age are Torre d'en Gaumes (Alayor District) and
the walled town of Son Catlar, near Ciudadela. Torre d'en Gaumes is a very
large ancient town on a hill, with three talayots, a broken taula
with sanctuary, and hypostyle courts, caves, numerous ancient streets,
and circular mounds of stones which were former dwellings.
There are over one thousand megalithic
buildings in Minorca, so that it is not practical to give a list. The best
list in English is to be found in F. Chamberlin's book, Balearics and their
Peoples (John Lane, 1927). This is now out of print, but still obtainable
from libraries.
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