Morning found us making steady progress west through a two meter, six second swell towards our destination in Mahon. This was far better than the forecast last night when leaving Port Torres in Sardegnia, and a pleasant surprise for all on board.
By lunchtime the swell died as we glided through the slender entrance into Port Mahon, the largest protect harbor in the entire Mediterranean. This port is a key reason for all the military fortification ruins visible during our approach. Their reminder of a troubled past was tempered by the beauty of the Menorcan cottages, mostly uniformly whitewashed. Small fishing boats dotted the ship canal.
We tied up near the all-too-convenient home of one of Menorca’s gin distillers, a relic of the British presence here in the 18th century. Today, our onboard concierge led a team of cyclists on a two hour bicycle ride to Fort Marlborough through the streets of Mahon (Or Mao, if you prefer the Catalan spelling) that found the distillery happy to provide a tasting. Forecasts of thunderstorms failed to come through for those of us on the archaeology/history tours and the cycling exploration, but for a group that went hiking they found a steady light rain. The rain cleared the air though, and made for glorious views from the top of El Toro, where we could see the entire island, not to mention a hint of Mallorca in the far distance.
After dinner, we had an additional informal outing to the area of Es Castell, a small town at the entrance of Port Mahon where most of the restaurants and bars in the tiny harbor are carved out of the limestone in irregular grottos, just big enough for an intimate gathering around a pitcher of sangria. The whitewashed irregular walls made for pleasant acoustics from the buskers outside, although the low ceilings may catch the unfortunate tall archaeologist by surprise.
