Sunday 31^st August – Cala de Fornells, Menorca

40:02.979N 4:07.896E

Today we had a Sunday breakfast of pan au chocolat and croissant (Spanish style) as dinghied in fresh by Richard this morning from the panaderia whilst I prepared the coffee and jus d’orange J

After this we went ashore to walk to the old defence tower on the point, Torre de Fornells, a fortification built by the British c. 1801-1802 during one of their occupations of Menorca to guard the entrance to the port.  It is one of the largest towers on the island and has a small museum inside.

It was a nice walk, characteristically uphill, like most of Richard’s excursions, past a natural cave which had been turned into a shrine to St Bernadette at Lourdes and then up further to the tower itself which, from the top, gave brilliant views over the rugged, and apparently Jurassic, rocky landscape to either side of Fornells.

The tower itself was not large and one wonders how it could have accommodated a garrison as it claims to have done – the stairs to the roof were a tiny spiral that I could barely climb comfortably and Richard ended up with dust from the masonry on his back and had to duck to get under the eaves.

We came back via town and bought some bread from the rather nice bakery here before heading back to the boat and a relax on deck with a book.  The wind really got up later this afternoon and helped keep up cool – however in the late evening the temperatures are now abating a bit and we are having more comfortable nights.

Cala Fornells; Remains of Sant Antoni castle

Shrine, our Lady of Lourdes

Torre de Fornells

Lunar landscape

Cala Fornells

© Pyxis 2008