Menorca: A clean getaway

By Andrea Watson
Posted: 2010/06/23

It's an idyllic island and spotless too. We look at Menorca, which boasts a fine historic capital that lures the likes of Sir Richard Branson

WHEN Leeds-born Colin Guanaria visited Menorca 21 years ago with his wife Margaret, they liked it so much they stayed for good.

Though the island is perfect for the retired, this wasn't the plan that Colin, now a prominent member of Menorca's British expat community, had in mind. With a Spanish partner, he founded the Bonnin Sanso estate agency and worked hard to build it into the largest on the island.

Colin is also heavily involved in promoting Menorca as a tourist and lifestyle destination and has two simple ways of showing off its attractions. The first is to send clients on a private flight piloted by Beverly Ward, which gives as pretty a picture of the whole of Menorca as you could wish.

"I bet you make two comments when you get back, " he told me. "Firstly, everyone says how underdeveloped the island is and, secondly, how green."

He's not wrong: the one-hour flight reveals all that Menorca does and doesn't have.

There are no Magalufs or Benidorms, no motorways or mountains. There are three large resorts, the two historic cities of Mahón (the capital, also referrred to by its Catalan name of Maó) and Ciutadella (the former capital), sandy beaches and tiny paradise coves for boaters, where the indigo sea turns to turquoise. Across miles of gently rolling hills, there's often hardly a house in sight and when I asked if one such wilderness was a national park, Beverly coolly replied: "No, that land belongs to the Swarovski family."

Colin's second trick is to take guests around Mahón's stunning harbour and its outlying islands, a boat trip that goes within touching distance of Sir Richard Branson's former holiday home, Little Venice, although Menorca is not primarily about celebrities.

"It is a lot cheaper to boat here than in, say, Mallorca, " said Colin, "so we get a lot of mariners but generally not the poseur kind. They prefer Palma."

Colin's boat, a version of a traditional Menorcan fishing vessel, is just about the cleanest thing I've ever seen. That is to say, it's as pristine as the half-a-dozen moored nearby, not to mention the immaculate rows of Sunseeker yachts.

However, it's not just the boats and water that sparkle. In the entire Mediterranean Menorca is the cleanest place I've ever visited.

Along with an absence of litter and debris, there's a striking fastidiousness that catches the attention.

I'm admiring the gleaming brass knockers on a row of Georgian houses in Mahón's historic centre (the British owned Menorca for much of the 18th century) when the reason the island is so spotless suddenly hit me: it's the historic naval influence. Fans of Patrick O'Brian, author of Master & Commander (and 19 subsequent novels), will know that Mahón is where his two main protagonists, Captain Jack Aubrey and his physician Stephen Maturin, met in 1800 when Britain's naval power was at its height.

It was the British who moved the capital of Menorca from Ciutadella at the other end of the island, as Mahón boasts one of the deepest and longest natural harbours in the world. At the time it was among the most important naval bases in the Mediterranean.

Fans of O'Brian will also know that the Royal Navy, when not fighting, was obsessed with polishing, scrubbing and painting, a legacy I believe clings on in the general good order and sense of pulling together.

A prime example is the annual Citizenship Sunday at the monastery on Monte Toro, where the children are reminded of their civic duties.

Another is the restoration of Isla del Rey, an island at the mouth of Mahón's harbour and site of an important navy hospital modelled on Sir Christopher Wren's Royal Hospital Chelsea. Volunteers are ferried out weekly to undertake the rehabilitation of this magnificent building. They've recreated an 18th century herb garden while donations of books and surgical instruments capable of varying degrees of horror have poured in.

Those concerned with their health need not worry, though, as there's a pristine new hospital in Mahón.

As the euro looks set to weaken, property pricing on the island is becoming ever more realistic. Huge discounts of up to 30 per cent are being offered by some sellers, so now may be a good time to look. If you fancy something in the nautical line, at least one property is being sold with its own boat.

INFORMATION:
www.travelmenorca.co.uk
www.menorcagold.co.uk