Merry Christmas.

Country track cycling in a glorious Christmas morning.

 

 

Burial niches in Calan Blanes.

Small set of niches of Greek or Roman origin. Apparently they are related to some type of funeral rite.

Biniai Nou

The megalithic entrance hypogeums are small artificial cavesthat were dug into the rock with a corridor of large slabs. The hypogea of Biniai Nou are, until now, the oldest buildings dating from Menorca and were used as collective burial spaces for the first communities on the island.

Starlings

Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) are winter visitors in Menorca. We do not see any in the rest of the year, but since October til February or March there are thousands of them who reach the island covering the sky with forming flocks that become authentic clouds dancing capriciously especially late in the afternoon.

Picture taken by Barbara Salva near Son Bou.

Sunrise in Mahon Harbour.

7.50 a.m. 11 08 2018, The danish sailing vessel GEORG STAGE (1935 ) moored at Port Mahón. —

Picture by José Muñoz

The Wind Star in front of the old British arsenal

 The MSY Wind Star is a motor sailing yacht, sailing as a cruise ship for Windstar Cruises. She is one of an unusual class of only three vessels (msy Wind Star,msy Wind Spirit, and msy Wind Song), designed as a modern cruise ship but carrying an elaborate system of computer-controlled sails on four masts.

More than 300 years ago a naval base was built in Mahon harbour to meet the needs of the British navy. Many of the buildings that once were the old arsenal are today part of a Spanish Navy base which is not open to the public but it can be seen and viewed from many points in Mahon town, or from the Yellow Catamarans which do the harbour trips every day.

There is also an artificial island called Isla Pinto, filled by the British in 1768 from an island, giving it its present form. Among other stories, more than fifteen ships were built there between 1786 and 1798. It was an area used to clean the bottom of the ships of the Dutch and British fleets from before 1708, as one of the safest places and sheltered port of Mahon.

 The old arsenal today.

 Pinto Island in 1870

Pinto Island today

Another end of Season.

It is only a week before the tourist season ends. The bustle of the beaches, the caravan of vehicles on the roads, the crowds at Calas Fons are all far away now.

 
Taking a walk through the city you realize this end of summer. Many shops and restaurants are either closed already or just closing now, only a few people on the streets and it seems that everything speaks to you of stillness, of peace.

...somebody is watching? Cudia Cremada stone wall.

 In Menorca there are countless kilometers of dry stone walls. They are a heritage that, although simple, must be valued and taken care of. Some of them were erected more than four hundred years ago and sometimes, if you look closely, you can find some curious detail of those who raised it.

 One of the thousands of dry stone walls in the fields of Menorca.

 odd stones in the wall.

 Is that a face?

Someone watching.

September 18th. Happy Birthday!

As simple as that. Be natural.

When the summer season ends, it is time to discover the natural values of a more unknown island.

 Menorca Biosphere Reserve 

Since 1993

The super-yacht My Shemara anchored in the port of Mahon

Ses Aubertones

Ses Aubertones is the name of an old farmhouse which already appears named in some seventeen hundreds's maps.

Erodium reichardii is an endemism plant on the botanical family Geraniaceae that grows only in Mallorca and Menorca.

Epic Trail Menorca 360. 2018

A 185KM legend

The Trail Menorca Camí de Cavalls (TMCdC) is an ultra distance event consisting of flip Menorca for coastal path originally drawn by the British over 300 years ago and whose main purpose was to defend the island.

This is a race of 185 kilometers that has a positive slope of 2863 meters in which each rider will discover their limits and enjoy the idyllic scenery in this wonderful lost corner of the Mediterranean sea, full of dreamy beaches, impossible cliffs, magical views and local cusine with which to celebrate that life is a race in which you score goals and experiences.

To overcome the challenge, each rider has 40 hours to finish an adventure with taste of an adventure. Also the organization provide 15 aid stations on the route with water, sports drinks, fruits, nuts, energy bars, among others products, or foods with the same caloric intake.

The start was last Friday, May, 18th 2018, and definitely a part in the life of any runner who took part of one of the longest non-stop test and no doubt pretty trailrunning european landscape.

Portuguese ship

A Portuguese torpedo ship crossing the harbor in front of Collingwood House.

Nature claims its own

For many decades, in Algendar Canyon, a place of excessive beauty, there were some mills that took advantage of the flow of the small river to grind cereal.

People lived in that unusually fertile area and there were some inhabited houses and caves. Little remains of that time. Some properties have been rehabilitated as exclusive residential homes and some other areas have become orchards of fruit trees.

The mills, like the one in this picture have been lost in disuse and the land they one occupied has been slowly colonized again by Nature.

 

April

3nd Internationsl Conference on Best Practices in World Heritage

3nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BEST PRACTICES IN WORLD HERITAGE: INTEGRAL ACTIONS.

2nd-5 th May 2015. Menorca, Balearic Islands, (Spain)

TOPICS of the 3nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BEST PRACTICES IN WORLD HERITAGE: INTEGRAL ACTIONS have been voted by our community to be debated during the conference!

The selected topics are:

1. BEYOND THE OFFICIAL VOICE: PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES.
2. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING: VALUE OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE.
3. A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS: COMMUNICATING OR INFORMING?
4. YOU EXPLAIN ME, I TELL YOU, WE SHARE IT: CO-LEARNING.
5. THE FUTURE OF THE PAST: NEW OUTSTANDING UNIVERSAL VALUES?



Here the most important dates to keep in mind:

- Call for papers. As soon as possible
- 30th September 2017: Abstract deadline
- 30th October 2017: acceptance of papers
- 15th February 2018: Full Paper deadline

The procedure for submitting abstract proposal to the 3nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BEST PRACTICES IN WORLD HERITAGE: INTEGRAL ACTIONS are:
The Abstract should include:
1. Title
2. Five keywords
3. Extension: Min. 500 words, máx. 1000 words. You can already send us your proposal to participate, the abstract template is here to be downloaded.
4. Maximum two images or figures (optional)
5. Maximum three references to information sources (from a research article to a news item, etc.) (Optional)

We look forward to welcoming you from the 2nd till the 5th of may 2018 in Menorca

Bike riding through derelicted farms

The countryside in Menorca has languished for many years. Since agriculture stopped being a profitable business and many of the farms opted for extensive livestock. Cows, which produce milk with which a quality cheese is manufactured that is consumed on the island and exported to many places both in our country and abroad.

Many of these farms seem to be abandoned for the simple reason that no one lives in them and soon they become ruined buildings, away from the bustle of when they were inhabited by families of farmers.

Bellver Nou

 Biniparratxet

El Rio de la Plata

In the 1800s and early 1900s, some properties on the island were acquired by "Indianos": emigrants  from Menorca who, after making their fortune in distant places, returned to the island to live from their savings. On many occasions, as in this one, they put names on their properties that evoked those places to which they had emigrated.

Rio de la Plata is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay and Paraná Rivers on the Southeastern coastline of South America.

Sunset over Collingwood House

Picture by Jose Muñoz.

Son Rotger, Lloc Nou d'es Fasser

After many days of troubled weather, the sun finally shone again yesterday in Menorca.

 Agricultural farm of Son Rotger, near Torralbenc, Biniedris and Lloc Nou d'es Fasser. A very rich area in terms of relevant archaeological sites. 

Talayot at Lloc Nou d'es Fasser. In just two kilometers around there are at least 4 Taulas, the unkown meaning T shaped stone monuments, and many talayots and other remains. 

By So na Caçana

Mahon town again lost under the fog

There it is, fog, atmospheric moisture still uncertain in destination, not quite weather and not altogether mood, yet partaking of both.

 Accurate words of Hal Borland.

 Beautiful picture by Sandra Pons.

Camí de Cavalls. Binigaus, Cala Escorxada.

In a splendid morning of January we have completed the stage of the coastal path that goes from Santo Tomás to Cala Escorxada.

The route always passes near the sea, through pine groves, rocky trails and cliffs. It is not difficult and in just over an hour and a half we have reached our goal that was Cala Escorxada -very lonely at this time of year- and found a paleontological site of what I had read, but I had never seen before.

 Cala Escorxada

Binigaus

 Gastropod fossil on the rocks near Escorxada.

What is this I found on the beach? is it a mermaid's purse?

The enchantingly named structures are the egg cases of skates and some sharks. This is why they are also known as skate cases.

While some sharks bear live young, some sharks (and all skates) release their embryos in leathery egg cases that have horns and sometimes long tendrils at each corner.

The tendrils allow them to anchor to seaweeds or other substrates. Each egg case contains one embryo. The case is made up of a material that is a combination of collagen and keratin, so a dried egg case feels similar to a fingernail.

Barranc d'Algendar and the story of "Es Capitanet"

Barranc d'Algendar, in Ferreries.

 One of the nicest walking routes in Menorca.

Es Barranc d'Algendar is a wonderful place in the area of the south of Menorca. There are few legends and stories that are hidden among the majestic vegetation and cliffs. Stories of distant times, lost pirates, looting, mysterious animals, lovely ladies ... There are many topics and stories, but there is one that arouses a special interest: the story of Jaume Soler Adrover, popularly known as "Es Capitanet".

"Es capitanet" which is a diminutive of captain that was applied as a consequence of his short stature was a very peculiar person. Is is believed that he was born in Ibiza and in Majorca is where his military career started, he bravely fought in the Carlist Wars in Catalonia and after having made a small fortune he came to Menorca where he married a woman from Ciutadella and bought the farm called S'Aranjassa in Es Barranc d'Algendar.

 An old picture of S'aranjassa. Might be taken while "Es Capitanet" was still alive.

Those who knew him, say that over the years, he lost his mind and saw enemies where there was nobody, and so, sometimes he was seen fighting with his sword in the middle of a path against .. .no one.

This situation got worse with the years and even more after his wife passed away. Then, his extreme religiosity was added his undoubted belief in reencarnation and also in the witches that he claimed were watching him.

When he felt close to dying he did not want to make a will in favor of his distant relatives -the couple never had children-, nor did he want to give his belongings to the Church in case he returned from his grave, so he finally wrote a document in which he agreed the Bishopric of Menorca could use in the following 400 years his estates S'Aranjassa and Es Canalo, (which, incidentally, was another farm that he had won to another farmer playing cards in a stormy night), but the two farms had to remain under his name, so he could recover them in case he came back.

Es Canalo.

Jaume Soler "Es Capitanet" passed away in 1922, so the Bishopric of Menorca can use the farms but not sell them. Not in the next 304 years as he might come back to claim for them. Today, both properties are carrying out enviromental education activities for children and teenagers.

Tot-Lluc

Tot-Lluc is one of the oldest farms in Menorca. It probably dates from the 11th century, when Menorca was part of the Ummayad Caliphate, because when the island was conquered by King Jaime there was already an estate here with a variant of that name.

The facade has two unequal arches and a curious system of inverted tiles to collect rainwater and channel it to a cistern.

On the grounds of this farm there is a cave with prehistoric petroglyphs representing boats.
I have only seen them in photography, never in person, but if this magnificent time is maintained next week, I will try to dedicate a day to find that cave.