Arriving promptly at 7:15pm on the daily ferry from Mallorca we waited outside for about 20 minutes for even a single cab to show up and take us into the main city.
It might be best to hail one ahead of time before you dock as taxis in Menorca really do come few and far between; it’s been the only island where cabs have to be called ahead of time.
After a leisurely walk into town we then checked into our lodgings at Rifugioazul & Rifugioazul Boutique at 8pm.
And from there, we wandered. And this is a place where that’s very easy to do.
Ciutadella was the former capital city of Menorca when it was occupied by the British. It’s now the “second city” of the island and one of the best preserved medieval cities of the Mediterranean. Make sure you stop by the Catedral de Santa Maria de Ciutadella as its centerpiece.
For 6.5 euros per person you can visit both inside Catedral de Santa Maria de Ciutadella above, the Bishop’s garden behind it…
…and the Convent of Sant Agustí a few paces away:
Visiting the convent also takes you straight to the heart of the town market:
By the water (a 15 minute walk outside of the historic old town center) you can also visit the 17th century Castell de Sant Nicolau, once used as a defense tower:
Or you can walk down Avda de la Constitucio to Placa Alfons III, where you can sit and watch the world go by.
Thanks to 15minutetest.com we were able to walk 5 minutes over from our lodgings inside the old town and get our rapid antigen test for our return flight homes (good for 72 hours if you’re a USA citizen returning to the USA, regardless of vaccination status). True to its name, results came in our e-mails within 15 minutes.
At 2pm we then headed to Placa de Pau for the hourly 5 euro TMSA bus #1 to the city Maó on the eastern side of Menorca.
We arrived at 3pm to Maó, home to the Port of Maó, the 2nd largest natural deep water port in the world after Pearl Harbor. It is considered the finest natural harbor in the Mediterranean and one of the most reliable in protecting entire naval fleets at the time.
While here you can also visit Mercado del Claustro de Mahón, a market located in a former monastery in the city center of Maó. This is where you can sample their local cheeses and cured sausages, such as “sobrassada” or “carnixulla.”
But really, the theme of this trip have been the winding, evocative, alluring alleyways of old towns. And we kept to that: The group of monsooners seemed to find a favorite in Maó.
It helped Maó’s case that tonight would be a Tuesday, where live music takes place at every plaza, square and street corner in the old town beginning at 8pm every Tuesday night.
Too bad Jeanette was asleep for most of it. Good job sangria.
And with that we kicked back in the remote regions of nowhere and everywhere as the world continued to turn.
- At time of posting in Menorca, it was 29 °C - Humidity: 24% | Wind Speed: 21km/hr | Cloud Cover: sunny