Today is Menorca’s National Day. Menorca is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain.
- The name Menorca simply means that it is smaller than its neighbouring island, Mallorca. The maximum distance between any two points is roughly 30 miles and it’s only about 10 miles wide on average.
- Why choose 17 January as the national day? It was the date of an invasion in 1287 when King Alfonso III of Aragon conquered the island and made it part of his kingdom.
- The capital of Menorca is Mahon, and it’s where mayonnaise comes from. Originally known as Salsa Mahonesa, it was introduced to France in the 18th century when the French had possession of the island.
- As well as mayo, Mahon is famous for its Cheese. It has an orange rind and come in mild, semi cured and fully cured varieties. There’s also the mature añejo variety which has been aged for a year.
- Mahon also has one of the largest natural harbours in the world. The second largest, say a number of sources, but they all seem to differ as to which is the largest (Pearl Harbour, Poole Harbour or Sydney Harbour) so who knows?
- There’s a path which runs around the circumference of the island. It’s called the Cami de Cavalls or The Path of Horses, reflecting the fact it started life as an ancient coastal bridleway created to provide easy access between watchtowers. It was closed for 400 years but in 2011 was opened to hikers and riders. While walking around the whole thing might take up your whole holiday there, it is divided into 20 sections.
- The island’s highest point is Monte Toro. As well as spectacular views from the top, there is a Sanctuary there built by Augustin monks in the 17th century.
- It’s the first part of Spain to see the sun rise every morning – in other words, the most easterly point of Spain.
- There are a lot of beaches. More than Mallorca and Ibiza put together. Of the 220 kilometres (137 miles) of coastline, 180 kilometres (112 miles) is made up of beaches.
- Gin is a popular drink on the island. Xoriguer is the island’s famous brand, and a popular drink is the Pomada, a cocktail of gin and cloudy Lemonade served ice-cold.
New Year New Reading Challenge?
I can help. Here are links to books which meet potential criteria:
A title with three words
- Death and Faxes
- Killing Me Softly
- Settling the Score
- Secrets and Skies
- Over the Rainbow
- Closing the Circle
A title with six words
A book with a number in the title
A book with a colour in the title
Short story collections/A book with a green cover
A book published in the last year/during lockdown
A book you can finish in a day/A book under 200 pages
A book featuring characters from a deck of cards
A Book set during Christmas
A book with a place in the title
A Debut novel
A book with a plant or flower on the cover/A book about siblings
A book with a female villain or criminal
Includes space travel
Features Royalty
Books featuring skiing or snowboarding
A book with the Olympic games in it
A book with a bird in the title
A book featuring a secret society
A book featuring time travel/alternative dimensions
Raiders Trilogy:
Books featuring superheroes
Books featuring ghosts
From an Indie Publisher/Self published/An author you've not read before/A female author/A genre you wouldn't normally read/A book outside your comfort zone/A book by an author with your initials and your initials are JH
All of them!
More details can be found here
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