Menorca

 

Last year I went to the island of Menorca, the overlooked and lesser-known neighbor of Mallorca, and was really taken by the beauty of the place. I was very excited about showing this little gem to Martha. We got up at 4:00 a.m. to get a 6:15 flight, landed uneventfully, rented a car and drove it to this place on the sea in Ciutadella with our own private waterfront balcony.

I changed my clothes, got my bearings and was ready for our first coastal hike of the day and discovered that Martha was here, passed out.

So, I went for a walk by myself and headed to the old port area of Ciutadella where I learned about the Stairs of Isabella II, pictured here. They’re called this because in 1860 there was a war going on in Spain and Queen Isabella II wanted to sail to Menorca to show the people here that the monarchy was behind them. The plan was for her to come to Mahon, which is the bigger city on Menorca. However, a storm forced her to come to shore in Ciutadella, where we are now. The people here hadn’t prepared for a royal visit, so the Queen had to get off the boat and walk up some crappy stone stairs used every day by fishermen to get to the town. To commemorate the occasion, the town renamed those stairs the Stairs of Isabella II. 

Fast forward 40 years to 1904 when the King of Spain decided to visit Menorca and land here in Ciutadella. Still smarting from the embarrassment of having a queen walk up some crappy stone stairs, the town mobilized and prepared better for this visit by carving an elaborate stone staircase into the rocky shore near Ciutadella. Stairs fit for a king (ha ha). And, as you have probably already guessed, storms forced the King to land elsewhere and he never used the fancy stairs. He also visited two more times but still never used the stairs. There’s a lesson to be learned from all of this, but I’m not going to spoon feed you.

Martha and I, on the other hand, had a day that more or less matched our expectations. It included some great food, a nap and a walk downtown in the rain.