Day 4: Ciutadella

When we woke up in Menorca this morning, we found there had been a definite change in the weather. Not only was it cloudy, it was also unexpectedly cold and windy, with large waves crashing against the shore. Definitely a day for eating breakfast indoors!

We made the most of the hotel breakfast buffet for a final time, before packing up and getting ready to check out. Shortly before we left the hotel was struck by a power cut, which was rather unexpected. Luckily we'd already settled up our bill, so it didn't matter that the systems were down. As we walked towards the car park to retrieve the hire car, it started pouring with rain. Oh dear! I had been laughing at the locals all walking around in coats and jeans this weekend, but I guess this was a reminder that it is technically not summer yet, even here! 

Our plan for today was to visit the town of Ciutadella, which is located at the western end of Menorca. That meant we had a drive of around 40 minutes across to the far side of the island. By the time we got there, parked and began walking into the centre of town the weather had cleared up slightly.

First impressions were that Ciutadella seemed like a really pretty town.

I particularly liked this unusual windmill, which we came across on the edge of the historic centre.

Ciutadella is Menorca's second city.

With a population of around 29,000, it's a similar size to Maó.

Historically, this actually was the capital of Menorca. The British moved the capital of the island to Maó in 1722.

It remains the religious capital of Menorca, home to the island's only cathedral, which we soon caught sight of in the distance.

Apparently the bishop wasn't prepared to relocate to Maó!

Overall it's a gorgeous old town, with lots of pretty squares.

The advantage of it being such a windy day was that we got to see all the flags flying on the official buildings.

I loved how colourful the buildings were too. We found pinks...

...yellows...

...and oranges too

In the distance we caught sight of the town hall.

It was an extremely grand building, which bore more resemblance to a castle.

We were able to climb up a little way onto the ramparts behind it.

From there we had a lovely view down towards the town's harbour.

The obelisk in the centre of this square commemorates an attack by the Turkish in 1558. They laid siege to the town and captured many of the inhabitants, selling them into slavery in Istanbul.

It was starting to get a little bit damp again by this point, so we headed down towards a more modern square, with plenty of restaurants.

We found somewhere nice to eat, where I had a huge bolognese pizza while Tim had a burger.

By the time we'd finished eating the rain had eased off a bit and we set off for another walk through the town.

This time we headed in the direction of the coast, which seemed quite rocky here.

There seemed to be a small castle down here by the water.

We followed a scenic path around the edge of the harbour.

It was still quite windy, but not really raining  

Once we'd done another loop of the town we popped back into the restaurant where we'd had lunch for a coffee, then began heading back out of town to track down the car.

Then we just had to drive back across the island to the airport, where we left the rental car unlocked (as per instructions!) and headed in to departures. The weather hasn't been quite as warm and sunny today as we might have hoped, but we've still had a really fun long weekend away and Menorca seems like a lovely peaceful island, at least at this time of the year. I have a feeling we may come back one day