Sunday 7^th September – Mahón, Menorca (Festes de Gracia 2008)

39:53.543N 4:16.329E

This morning we were awake at 7am – the ferry was rumbling past as usual.  Then, just as we were going back to sleep, four large charter yachts arrived and started anchoring behind us.  Oh dear we thought, the marinaros are not going to like that.  Then a squall arrived and it rained – great.

Once again, we were just going back to sleep, happy that the anchored yachts were far enough away not to be a problem to us, when the marinaro turned up to ask if we were staying longer as he had a number of boats interested in our buoy.  We promptly paid up for the next three days and got up for breakfast – we can take a hint!

After breakfast we caught up on some admin and some more cleaning.

This afternoon things improved dramatically.  The sun came out and at 4pm we were back outside the town hall for the start of the fiesta proceedings for today.  The roads around town had been laid with sand especially for the event.  There was a wonderful display of the native Minorcan horses; they paraded around the town and made a traditional show in the town square, rearing up to entertain the audience.

Afterwards, on the way back to Pyxis for a break, we took a tour of the harbour by dinghy going past Golden Farm (Admiral Nelson is reputed to have spent a few days there), Little Venice (old customs house), and Isla del Rei (ruins of the old British military hospital).

In the evening we returned to town for the Jaleo (we are getting the hang of the steps up into town).  This time the horses come into the square where all the people are gathered and the riders make them rear up and jump on their hind legs whilst some of the audience gather under the horses hooves and try to keep them up by supporting the hooves (suicidal really). 

The horses are all strong-looking stallions and are clearly very well trained for the event and the standard of turn out and dress for the occasion is very high.  However, I can’t help thinking that in the UK the whole thing would be ‘health and safety’-ed out of existence.  Thankfully both horses and audience seemed to escape without injury.

After this as we walked back through town to the port we could hear the different bars all playing very loud music and the streets were packed with people, from very young to very old, and it was clearly going to be a late one. 

We have retired a bit earlier than we would have liked as we are both tired; not to worry, we have two more days of fiesta ahead to catch up.

Mahón harbour

Festes de Gracia:  Day time activities

Mahón harbour:  Golden Farm, Little Venice, Isla del Rei

Festes de Gracia: Evening activities

© Pyxis 2008