Favaritx, the Light in the Darkness

 

 

 

 

I hope this finds you, your family and friends, safe and well.

May the Joy of Christmas give you Light to dispel any darkness.

Picture: Favaritx, by José Orfila.

Cala d'es Pou d'en Caldes

 

 

One of the sections of Cami de Cavalls that best define the rich and varied environments that make up the island’s north coast. The itinerary starts at Cap de Favàritx, a space that is well known for its dark rocks and the scarcity of vegetation.

The course passes through typical Minorcan agricultural surroundings, formed of ploughed fields, fields for livestock to graze in and areas with Mediterranean bushes. As the path approaches the coast again, it reaches Pou d’en Caldes, a space with dense concentration of endemic plants.

 

 Arenal de Mongofre

Pou d'en Caldes

Mongofre Vell
 

Cavalleria

 

Undoubtedly, the times we are living are uncertain, but that gives us the opportunity to revisit some places that I wanted to see after some time.

The initial idea was to walk from Cala Pregonda to Cala Viola, in the Cavalleria area, trying to find in the rocks of the coast a deposit of cephalopod fossils that I had heard of.

But the area well worth a visit. 

 

 The beach at Cavalleria, also known as Cala Viola de Llevant.  A beautiful and lonely beach in these first days of November.

Although it was not what I was looking I found this set of fossils of plant appearance.

In practically the entire coastal contour of the island there are military structures that were built before the Spanish Civil War. Most of them belong to the state because they are located within the maritime-terrestrial domain zone.

 
However, in many of them, some locals have turned them into fishing warehouses or even places to spend the weekend .It's not the right thing to do, but at least they take care of the buildings and prevent their deterioration.

The stone cross at Barranc d'Algendar

When Dr Camps wrote this story in 1910, he commented that it had already happened many years ago.

 
The fact is that in an undetermined time in the middle of 1800 there was a man in the town of Ferreries who was said to be able to talk to the birds and who use to make remedies with herbs that he collected from the wild fields that wade through the ravine.

 
On one occasion in the middle of a winter, he left town. Some said that to catch a nest of real hawks, others that to collect a plant called "Jew's beard", the fact is that he did not return to town that night, and it became a stormy night

 
The next morning he was found dead at the foot of the rock from which he had clearly fallen off.

 
And even when many stories circulated through the town as a result of the people superstition at that time, their parents ordered the erection of a stone cross that even today, almost 200 years later, appears among the almost insurmountable exuberant vegetation at the bottom of the ravine.