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.