ES MERCADAL

The name of this town gives away its origins it was founded in the 14th century as a central market halfway between the ports of Mao and Ciutadella. Much later it was the setting for a defining moment in Menorcan history, when a meeting of his supporters in 1706 declared the Austrian archduke Charles, pretender to the Spanish throne, to be king providing the pretext for the subsequent British invasion and occupation.

Nowadays Es Mercadal is a quiet town of plain white houses in the shadow of Menorca's highest mountain, Monte Toro . The main industries are the manufacture of abarcas, local sandals with soles made from recycled tyres, and the almond biscuits known as amargas and carquinyols.

This is the sort of sleepy place that tourism has passed by. Carrer Major, the old main street, is a long pedestrian thoroughfare which climbs gently from the central square past white walled, green shuttered houses. At the top of Carrer Major is an old windmill, one of several restaurants in the town specializing in traditional Menorcan cuisine.