With the increasing migration of country people to urban centres, it is in the towns and villages that  Minorcan life today can best be observed. All of these have their heritage in the past, their older features surviving and adapted for modern living, giving Minorcans a deep sense of history.
About 3km to the south-east of Mahon (Mao) is the neighbouring town of Villa Carlos (Es Castell), built around the coves of Cala Fons and Cala Corp on Port Mahon, and 5km inland are the growing villages of San Luis and San Clemente.
The third town in size on the island is Alayor. There are three other small towns: Mercadal, Ferrerias and San Cristobal, all inland.
 

THE ROADS

All these places are connected by good roads, the road system consisting of a main one connecting Mahon and Ciudadela (Cieutadella), and taking in all the other small towns on the way. From it, subsidiary roads radiate north and south, taking us to the harbour of Fornells in the north and to various beaches, mostly in the south. Many more roads are now surfaced, thanks to Spain joining the European Union and receiving an inject of funds for this purpose. Its caminos, as the side roads are called, were legendry for their rocky and bumpy ride.
The motor road from Mahon to Ciudadela passes through delightful undulating country, often climbing through pine forests, or descending gently into ravines with white farmhouses on hill-tops. The driver will find the traffic density pleasantly light. Proceeding from Mahon, one by-passes Alayor on its south side, and quickly reaches Mercadal at the foot of Monte Toro. Mercadal lies near the centre of the island, and is a kind of crossroads. One can turn north to Fornells, or if bound for Ciudadela proceed direct to Ferrerias. Alternatively one can make a detour to the south to San Cristobal. (This latter route is more attractive.) From Ferrerias onwards the road is straighter and traverses flat country. 

The Mahon-Ciudadela road is the traditional highway on the island. The present road was built in 1900 along substantially the same route as Kane's, though runs parallel  to it in places.  The tourists' dream of a coastal road right round the island may well become a reality, but not many people know that the French constructed one for defence purposes during their occupation of Minorca from 1756 till 1763. It is shown as a track on some of the older maps, but no sign of it remains today, except for occasional crumbling dug-outs and gun emplacements.

The motorist entering Mahon or Ciudadela will find himself faced with immediate problems of car parking. Each is full of one-way streets and pedestrianised areas, where local rules operate, and the unwary shopper returning to his car may well find a parking ticket on his windscreen, with a 10 per cent discount if he pays the fine within ten days. In Mahon there is now an underground car park below the main square. 
 At Ciudadela, however, to show there is no ill-feeling a road sign greets the arriving traveller inscribed 'Bienvenidos' ('Welcome'), and on leaving another: 'Feliz viaje' ('Good journey').

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