We spent two short days in Minorca in October 2021 to check out the upcoming nomination to the list for next year. Presently there are 25 locations enlisted, but the selection of sites is likely to be and should be reduced.

The first 4-6 visits were nice, they added something different, but then it was too much of the same. Some of the sites are neglected and need to be maintained. It seems that the best sites were those with an admission. So which one will survive? Here is our bet after visiting 18 sites. 

The best sites overall:

Talati de Dalt: 4€ admission, well organized. Has a bit of everything. Special to the site is a taula which is a little bit different from the others and there are covered enclosures

Torralba d’en Salort: 4€ admission, well organized. Has a bit of everything with a great taula and a hypostyle chamber.

Torre d’en Galmes: 3€ admission , Mondays free, well organized. The largest complex and the best-preserved settlement. It is particularly noted for its cercles or post-taylotic houses.

Naveta sites. We visited two. 

Naveta des Tudons: €2 admission, a well preserved naveta, considered as the most iconic landmark.

We also visited Rafael Ruby which has two burial navetas. Not very organized right now, but it seems to be stepping up with several new information panels and maybe a ticket booth. It was closed, but we sneaked in. Here you are can access the chamber, which is not the case at first one.

I guess at least one naveta site will be on the final list. 

Necropolis. We went to two sites

Cala Morell. Free, organized with information panels. There are 15 caves that are accessible. We liked this one best of the two

Calescove. Free, unorganized. 1 km walk down to bay. Most caves are sealed off with steel doors. Nice setting in the bay and a lot of caves (about 90) to be seen in the cliffs.

I guess at least one of them will make the list, we opt for Cala Morell

Candidates to be left out of the final selection. No admission and most of them neglected. They are all signposted and easy to find, and there are information panels on site.

Trepuco: Nice small site with a large talayot and a taula. We liked this one, but 👎🏻

Cornia nou: Difficult to park. Close to airport. Small place with two talyots, one impressive and one you can walk through. 👎

Torello: Difficult to park. Close to airport. Only one large talayot👎

Binissafullet: Small site. It has a nice small taula, but that’s it. 👎 we stayed just across the road from this. The agritourismo was really nice though.

Sa na Cacana: close to Torralba. The only one to have several taulas, the talayot is unorthodox, so it’s believed to be a shrine. It might be a candidate, because it is different, but it was neglected and for us it didn’t stand out.

Torrellafuda: Small site, a talayot and a taula👎

Torretrencada: 400 m walk from the parking. Nice taula and hypostyle chambers. Neglected site, but nice setting in the rural landscape.

Montefi: Neglected site. Three talyots and several hypogea👎

Son Catlar: It is a large,fortified site. The best is the well-preserved wall and a gate, the rest doesn’t add something new. 👎

Torre del Ram: One hypogeum, only one with elongated floor. It has some grafitti of ships of undetermined age. 👎

Coll de cala Morell settlement: not one of the proposed sites, but the location was superb! It’s only traces of settlement, but we really enjoyed the view and the setting. Close to Cala Morell. 

With some adjustments, we think this is a worthy addition to the list.

The best way to travel is probably by car. Parking is easy at most of the sites. Even though the island is small, the km adds up. We drove round 200 km in our quest. The best ones are a bit off from the cities and main roads.

 

### Randi & Svein Elias