Ciutadella de Menorca

Ciutadella was Menorca's capital until the British moved it to Mahon in 1722, and it kept the aristocracy and their houses: sandstone palaces along Carrer Major and around the Placa des Born, several still owned by the same families and a few open to visitors. The cathedral was built after 1287 on the site of the main mosque, Catalan Gothic with a minaret base surviving in one tower. A narrow inlet forms the harbour, lined with restaurants below the old town. In 1558 an Ottoman fleet sacked the town and carried off most of its people, an event still marked. The Festes de Sant Joan in June fills the streets with horses that rear on their hind legs among the crowd, an event of real intensity.

What you actually see

• The sandstone palaces - noble houses along the old streets and Born square.
• The Gothic cathedral - a fourteenth-century church with a minaret base.
• The narrow harbour - a long inlet lined with restaurants below the town.
• The Sant Joan horses - riders rearing their mounts through packed streets in June.

When to go

May, June, September and October; the Festes de Sant Joan around 24 June are extraordinary but the town is entirely full and accommodation must be booked far ahead. Summer is hot and busy.

Honest expectations

During Sant Joan the streets are dangerously crowded with rearing horses among the public, and injuries occur; it is not a spectator event in the ordinary sense. Parking in the old town is impossible. Palaces open on limited schedules.

Nearby

Naveta des Tudons lies east on the Mahon road; the south coast calas are a short drive.