Celebrities!

Hotel del Almirante had a surprise visit from Richard Branson today.  He played tennis with his coach.  Very accommodating chap.  He was very happy to have his photo taken wirh many guests.  Here'a mine. (Judith Lee)

This is a real VIP , Richard Branson came to play tennis, I hovered and he invited me onto court to have a photo, nice chat too, lovely guy. (Sue Wilson)

 Satur is the real VIP! (Reid McKillop)


Long time visitors to Almirante will know that the real VIP's for them are their regular customers. Exciting though isn't it. Two 'celebrities' so far this year. Nicholas Parsons who stayed with his wife, and now Richard Branson just popping in. Makes you wonder who's going to turn up next! (Barry Williams)

'Cel rogent, pluja o vent'

Hotel del Almirante. 5.22 AM

'Cel rogent, pluja o vent' is a Catalan proverb alluding to dawn with reddish sky presage rain or wind.

After several weeks of invariably blue skies, at little more than the five o'clock in the morning this was the color of the sky.

Clouds. Breezy South winds and some rain drops have fulfilled this portent once again. It is the popular wisdom.

A misty morning at Binixiquet

Binixiquet is a farm near San Clemente which is perched on a crag under which there is a large number of caves probably used since prehistoric times. In a walking distance there are numerous talayotic settlements such as Binixiquer, Binicalaf and Lloc nou d'es Fasser.

Experts in history and archeology agree that it is an area of the island that had human settlements since the time of the first settlers of Menorca.

 In the area there are many watchtowers also that often, as in this case, were attached to farms and also served as a fortress in case of attack. 

Purple Vetch, Vicia Benghalensis, 

With its beautiful purple flowers this plant is appreciated by farmers, a good green manure plant, it is fairly fast growing, an effective weed suppresser, fixes nitrogen and makes a reasonable bulk. A turquoise-green dye is obtained from the flower

Tamarisk

The genus Tamarix (tamarisk, salt cedar) is composed of about 50–60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Europe, Asia and Africa. The generic name originated in Latin  and may have referred to the Tamaris River in the former Hispania Tarraconensis, province of the Roman Empire.

Seven species of tamarisk normally grow in Menorca, mostly near watercourses or on the coastline as they tolerate saline soils.

These trees  are used to help to prevent soil erosion because of their deep root systems. They also have slender branches with numerous small, gray-green, scalelike leaves. Clusters of small pink flowers, hanging at the ends of branches or from the trunks, give the plants a feathery appearance during their blooming season.