Ciutadella (Ciutadella de Menorca), with about 32,000 inhabitants, lies at the western tip of Menorca. It was the island's capital until the eighteenth century, when the British moved the government to Mahón, and has kept its aristocratic, ecclesiastical character, with noble palaces, churches and convents.
History
Ciutadella was founded by the Carthaginians and later became the island's main Moorish town, Madina Manurqa. After the Aragonese conquest of 1287 it became the capital. On 9 July 1558 it suffered a terrible attack by the Turkish fleet, which destroyed it and carried off thousands of residents as slaves: an episode still remembered as the Any de sa Desgràcia, "the year of misfortune". The town was later rebuilt.
What to see
- Santa Maria cathedral, fourteenth-century Catalan Gothic, built over the old mosque, with a single great nave.
- Plaça des Born, the large square with the obelisk commemorating resistance to the Turks, the town hall and the Torre-Saura and Salort palaces.
- Ses Voltes, the arcaded street of the centre, full of shops and cafés, and lanes of noble palaces.
- The covered market, the Bastió de sa Font with the Municipal Museum and the convents of Sant Agustí and Santa Clara.
- The harbour, long and narrow like a fjord, with boats and restaurants carved into the rock, beautiful at sunset. Here the rissaga, a sudden oscillation of sea level, sometimes occurs.
- The Castell de Sant Nicolau, a defence tower at the harbour mouth, a sunset viewpoint.
The Sant Joan festival
Ciutadella is famous for the Festes de Sant Joan on 23 and 24 June, among Spain's most spectacular: riders, the caixers, in traditional dress make their black Menorcan horses rear up amid the crowd in the jaleo, with hazelnuts thrown and flute and drum playing. People drink pomada, Menorca gin with lemonade (see festivals).
Nearby
Nearby are the Naveta des Tudons, the island's most famous prehistoric monument, a tomb shaped like an upturned boat, and the western and south-western coves, such as Cala en Turqueta, Macarella and Macarelleta, Son Saura, Cala en Bosc and Cala Morell, with its prehistoric caves (see beaches and places to visit). Ferries leave the port for Alcúdia on Majorca.