Strolling around the fields of La Trinitat.

 

 

The Autumm and Early Winter that we're having in Menorca this year is being abnormally warm.  

 

An invitation to walk through fields and beaches. Both the coast and inland paths are filled these days with people, mostly Menorcan, enjoying their time walking or cycling.

 

"La Trinitat" is an agricultural area east of Ciutadella dedicated to the cultivation of cereals and fodder for livestock. There are some vast farms with large and old houses.

 

 La Trinitat.

Sant Llorens

Binipati Nou

Some trees and plants in the island are blooming, victims of the mirage  of this false spring.

 

 Myrtus Flowers.

 

Myrtus Communis, the common myrtle or true myrtle, is native across the northern Mediterranean Region. In the ancient Mediterranean Cultures, myrtle was symbolic of either, Love and Immortality.

 

On the other hand the weather conditions in parts of the UK are, as I read in the press, really rough. I do hope that you have not been affected by the floods.

Happy New Year.

Cala Morell. December 2015.

There is something in the air...

...It must be Christmas time!

A walk through "Ses Salines de Mongofre"

The Cami de Cavalls, the ancient path that encircles the island took us to Mongofre today and we found these old salt ponds, no longer used for decades.

Althought it is believed that the salt is extracted in Menorca since ancient times, these salt evaporation industry had a short life. It began operating in 1845 and by 1950 they close down due to the lack of profitability and low demand. But they left a very curious landscape of marine shallow ponds that are now a sanctuary for waterfowl.

 

 It is not unusual to see small groups of flamingos in Menorca during the winter

Grey Heron (I think) looking for her dinner.

Cotaina Gran.

Cotaina is an old farmhouse area which have been growing cereals and fodder for many years. In the area where it is located there are many paths and trails that are used for cycling or walking.

Megalithic burial chamber at Momplé.

Clematis cirrhosa var. balearica is an evergreen climber with small, very finely cut, dark green leaves turn bronze-purple in winter. Slightly fragrant, cup-shaped creamy-yellow flowers to 6cm wide, spotted purple within, produced in late winter and early spring followed by fluffy seed-head.

It was first listed in the second edition of Species Plantarum by Carl Linnaeus in 1763. 

 

Season 2015. Game Over.

It's been a long Season but it is now over.

Last Guests, Mr. & Mrs. Lee, Mr. & Mrs. Kersey and Mr. & Mrs. Houghton left on Saturday evening and the Hotel del Almirante has already closed its doors until late April 2016.

Nice meal with all the Staff in Es Casino de Sant Climent. Time to say goodbye and show out gratitude to Satur who has been for many, many years our right hand man. He retires this winter. We will certainly miss him althought he will always be in the Almirante's memories, and also I have the feeling we will keep seing him very often.

Wild berries at 'Sa Sella'

'Sa Sella' is a rocky hill whose shape vaguely resembles a saddle. It is a well known area because it produces great variety of wild mushrooms in the Autumn season.

On my first visit there this year I have seen no sign of them, but there was many wild berries. Food for birds.

 

Sa Cudia Cremada. The thirty-third Taula.

The Taulas are those T-shaped stone monument that are found scattered around the island.

Archaeologists and researchers who have worked on this subject had cited so far 32 of these monuments, although only 13 remain erect. Now one more have been found at Sa Cudia Cremada.

A methodical excavation will be required to dictate its size, but its authenticity seems it is beyond any doubt

The Talayotic people who created these megaliths never documented the exact purpose of the mysterious stone monuments they left behind. Now, thousands of years later, researchers and archaeologists are trying to identify why they were built.

The Menorcan taulas all share the same basic features. They are set in a horseshoe enclosure with a wall of surrounding stones. Its entrance lays opposite the front face of the stone monument. Another common feature of the taulas is that they generally face a southernly direction with an unobstructed view of the horizon. Additionally, these taulas are unique to the Island of Menorca and located nowhere else in the Balearic Islands.

 A talayot. Part of the same prehistorical village.

The team of archaeologist who had been running this project have made in 2015 a fieldwork and have also launched a crowdfunding campaign. You can get involved in this project and support it in the following link:

Sa Cudia Cremada Crowdfunding

End of September with an Explosive Cyclogenesis

A very intense and rapidly deepening and intensifying storm passed yesterday over Menorca.

Several minor damages were hold in the island but aparently there was nobody injuried.

Here are some of the isobaric maps already that  reflected what it happened.

 This surface map clearly shows a well developed storm that can be categorized as a wather bomb due to its signature pressure drop. 

Fortunately it is sunny and bright -althought windy- today.

Ceba Marina. Urginea Maritima.

Urginea maritima or Sea squill was also known as Scilla maritima, and is a bulbous plant with spikes of fleshy, starry white flowers, which show yellow centres and green stamens when open. Leaves are upright, green with a bluish bloom, strap-like, with an overall spiky habit, forming a fleshy clump up to 100cm.

Flower spikes come from bulbs after the leaves have gone over in the spring, and mature over the summer into the autumn, the foliage disappearing completely. Bulbs need a dry, well-drained, sun-baked soil, and are half submerged beneath the soil. 

Flower spikes can grow to a metre tall. This is a Mediterranean perennial which is common in Menorca, found on coastal cliffs, mountainous regions, and olive groves. Grow on any sun-baked free-draining stony ground, or in containers, protect from winter wet and hard frost. 

The bulbs which are as large onions often appear disinterred only attached to the ground by their weak fleshy roots.

Although it is considered a plant with medicinal uses, it can be poisonous.

Crocus Flavus

Every year a few weeks after the first rains at the end of the Summer, in the paths and trails surrounding the hotel these little yellow flowers appear as an indicater of the Autumm aproaches.

Crocus flavus (syn. Crocus luteus, Crocus aureus), (Dutch yellow crocus) is a species of flowering plant of the Crocus genus in the Iridaceae family. It grows wild on the slopes of some Mediterranean countries with fragrant bright orange-yellow flowers which Tennyson likened to a fire. It is a small crocus (5–6 cm (2–2 in), despite the names of some cultivars, compared to the Giant Dutch crocuses.

Marvel of Peru

Mirabilis jalapa also known as Marvel of Peru or 4 o'clock flower is a Perennial herb original from tropical America wich it is said was introduced in Europe from the Peruvian Andes in 1540

Mirabilis jalapa has become naturalised throughout tropical and warm temperate regions and it is common in many places in the island.

 

A curious aspect of this plant is that flowers with different colors can be found simultaneously on the same plant.

Additionally, an individual flower can be splashed with different colors. Flower patterns are referred to as sectors (whole sections of flower), flakes (stripes of varying length), and spots. A single flower can be plain yellow, pink or white, or have a combination of sectors, flakes and spots. Furthermore, different combinations of flowers and patterns can occur on different flowers of the same plant.

 The flowers are pollinated by long-tongued moths of the Sphingidae family, such as the Sphinx Moths or Hawk Moths and other nocturnal pollinators attracted by the fragrance.

September Sunset

This September is giving us colorful sunsets. According to the popular proverb, the red skies at sunset are prelude rainy or windy days.

 Sa Cudia Cremada

 Curnia

 Windmill at Sant Climent

Festes de Gracia 2015

The fiestas, which honour the Virgen de Gràcia, take place on the 7th and 8th September. 

The ringing of church bells starts the fiestas off at 4 PM on the 7th, and then all the riders gather together and parade through the streets until they reach the chapel of Gracia where they stop to pray. 

 Picture by J. Carreras

Then they make their way to the square in front of the Town Hall, where they hold the jaleo which is truly spectacular and thoroughly enjoyed by locals and visitors alike.

There is another jaleo on the morning of the 8th, followed by horse-racing down the long and straight street Cos de Gracia in the afternoon. It is really exciting and vibrant.

Click for a video of the Jaleo 2015 

It has become fashionable over the last few years to ask a famous celebrity to open the fiestas officially alongside the mayoress of the city from the balcony of the Town Hall overlooking the square. This happens on the night of the 6th and then everyone sings a song together which is dedicated to the city.

The worst storm in the last 33 years.

According to the local papers this has been the worst storm in the last 33 years. There were 460 lightning recorded in Es Castell 

between 12 noon and 3PM.

Calas Fons became a river.

Bowles Tournament Hotel del Almirante 2015. Provisional Results.

The competition has just started two days ago but...

...the Ladies are three games ahead!

 

Panerai 2015

More than 50 classic boats sailing into Mahon to participate in the 12th Copa del Rey Panerai for Vintage Yachts.

British Moonbeam IV is on first position after having won the first three races.

The fleet moored at the foot of the Hotel del Almirante.

Results

 

Most pictures from the original website

Early morning at Mahon harbour

Pictures taken from the fields surrouding the Hotel in this splendid Summer morning.

The charm of the abandoned countryside houses. Santa Caterina de Binidalí.

A former grain farm of 1800's that has certainly seen better times than the present.  

It is located next to the Cami de Cavalls before crossing the road to Binidalí.

The unceasing heat and the wind that has suddenly started to blow from the South, make me think of the approach of a Summer storm.