August 23, sightseeing in Menorca by car
The rental car was delivered to the marina at 9.30 AM, giving us plenty of time to explore the island. The main highway runs through the centre of Menorca from Ciutadella to Maó, with only three towns along the way. Our first stop was Ferreries, a small town of white-washed buildings, set among rolling hills. The town is mostly visited because of the Jaime Mascaró shoe factory and shop (including an outlet section), which is known throughout Europe for their Pretty Ballerina range, but they do also make a fabulous wider range of quality shoes and other leather goods for men and women. Of course I wanted to stop there and we both managed to find shoes we liked. I actually could have bought several pairs but just how many shoes does a girl need!
Next we drove north to the Port of Fornells, on the northern coast, which is a long sheltered inlet, particularly important when the worst of the Tramuntana wind blows down from the Gulf of Lyon in France. Fornells is mostly a small but pretty fishing village, popular with summer tourists and those interested in windsurfing and sailing and it was an ideal way for us to check out the anchorage possibilities in case we travel along the north coast. There are several seafood restaurants along the waterfront of the town but most of the holiday accommodation is at a well designed resort called Platjas Fornells just to the west of Fornel.. The complex of white Spanish style small apartment groups is very attractive along the edge of the low cliffs.
We returned to the main road to Maó, passing through the other inland town of white-washed buildings, Alaior, and drove down to Es Castell, just around the harbour from Maó and the most eastern town in Spain. We chose from the group of fish restaurants on the waterfront and had fabulous whitebait and grilled sardines. It's interesting that the restaurants looked very ordinary but the seafood is so fresh that the meal was much better than we expected.
Our last stop was at the port of Maó, where we checked out the marinas and were impressed by the huge range of restaurants along the waterfront nearby. Port de Maó is on one of the largest natural harbours in the world, making it a valuable holding in the years when the English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and others were involved in naval battles in the Med. The British ruled for most of the 18th C until Menorca was finally given to the Spanish in one of the treaties. The influence of the British is still evident in Menorca, and because the island has relied greatly on British tourists it is rare to find anyone working in services industries who is not fluent in English. This is not the case in other parts of Spain.
It was a quick drive back to the boat and we don't feel the need to hire a car again.
We really chose well for dinner last night, going to Cas Ferrer, well away from the major restaurant area (Carrer Portal de sa Font, 16, ph 971-480-784), even though we could still walk to it. The female chef supports local food producers, particularly using organic foods, and is quite innovative. For entree we both chose a refreshing cherry gazpacho with anchovies ( and I have already searched for recipes) and for main courses Greg had a perfectly cooked fillet steak with sauce du Paris and potato chunks that I think must have been cooked in duck or goose fat because they tasted so special and I had the best ever roast suckling pig served with roasted fruits such as peaches, plums, apple and a tiny berry. We shared the desserts of home made ice creams (a scoop of vanilla and a scoop of mint) and a caramel foam with hazelnuts, which was really a type of zabaglione but with more eggs and crunchy honeycomb hazelnuts. Yum-yum! I was very tempted to order another dessert when we finished those because they were so extraordinary. I wish we could eat there on a regular basis. We stuck to Menorcan wine, enjoying a red by Binitord (Vi De Menorca Negre Roure 2010).