Water, fire and stone: Beguiling island of Menorca

Cultural legacies

The ancient Phoenicians called it "Nura," or the Island of Fire. Legend has it that passing sailors saw bonfires built along the southern cliffs, which the original inhabitants used to signal each other. Signs of those first settlers - Iberian tribes that came from the mainland in the Bronze Age - are still apparent in more than 2,000 stone monuments spread throughout the island.

The Talaiotic society left stone temples, burial chambers and monuments that resemble smaller versions of Stonehenge. Some of the larger clusters require tickets and have English guides in high season, but there are so many monuments that most aren't even marked. You might stumble upon them while hiking along a walking path, hidden in tall grass. Taken together, they comprise one of Europe's largest open-air museums.

The following millennia brought ever more visitors and invaders, including the Greeks, Moors, French and Catalans, but no outside culture has left a more lasting stamp than the British. They ruled the island intermittently during the 18th century and moved the capital to Mahon from Ciutadella, which had been founded before the Romans arrived but was destroyed in the 16th century by the Turks.

The English legacy shines through in the sash windows of Mahon's architecture and in the active gin trade. The Xoriguer gin distillery is a cool spot for a pre-dinner tasting in Mahon, and I saw beach-friendly bottles of frozen gin and homemade lemonade frequently for sale, including at an ice cream shop in Cituadella.

Farm to table

Though beaches get all the limelight, much of Menorca's economy is agricultural, evidenced by the fact that there are more cows than people. Small farms, separated into miniature parcels by dry stone walls, cover the rugged hills of the interior, producing a shocking variety of produce (40 types of apples, for instance), olive oil, wine and the delicious Mahon cheese.

The cheese even made it into my ice cream cone at Ambrosia in the capital - not cheesecake, but chunks of sharp, near-cheddar cheese mixed with vanilla ice cream. Somehow, it worked.

Menorca's ecological sensibility resonates at spectacular restaurants in the atmospheric cities, which overlook natural harbors surrounded by battle-ready fortifications. In Ciutadella, check out Es Tast de na Silvia, the only Slow Food-certified restaurant in the Balearics. They serve updated takes on local dishes like fideua, a sort of seafood paella with noodles. Over the dining room, an arched stone ceiling is stamped with the year 1704.

Associated Press