Ciutadella, tradition, culture and gastronomy

Ciutadella, Menorca, the ancient capital of the island is the stately city par excellence. The old aristocratic palaces draw the silhouette of the old Madina Manurka and invite us to walk the streets of its historic center, with its pedestrian areas where businesses try to coexist with neighbors, tourism with residents, economy and rest.

In recent years, Ciutadella has seen how its small palaces and noble houses from the 17th and 18th centuries have been converted into luxury hotels that have led to the arrival of quality tourism, which seeks the charms of the island, and also the tranquility that a Menorca Biosphere Reserve should give them.

But not all noble houses have been converted into tourist accommodation, which is worth staying in, but some have opened their doors to guided tours for tourism and the celebration of social events, as have others, the least, They are still the residence of the island’s nobles and will house the senior caixers of the traditional Sant Joan festivities.

Admiring the neoclassical and Renaissance facades, signing up for a guided tour through the streets of Ciutadella to see its palaces, churches and its Cathedral is a highly recommended activity, as is visiting those noble houses that are open, as we have indicated, to the public and immerse yourself in the history of the island, in the 18th century where the island was a strategic point of the Mare Nostrum with its conquests and reconquests by the Spanish, British and French, who each left their particular mark on the architecture, the customs and gastronomy.

Ciutadella deserves to be visited in detail, and not only its old town, but also its port with its gastronomic temples of the island’s seafood cuisine, which will offer us the fruits of the sea in the form of lobster boilers, Menorcan-style baked fish. , soupy rice with fish and seafood or fill ourselves with the flavor of the sea with some fried nettles or some grilled rock mussels.

The new Menorcan cuisine in Ciutadella has a large part of the main temples to be seduced by the creations of chefs who rely on local products, for seasonal cuisine that will not leave us indifferent.

Don’t leave the island without having tried the Menorcan red veal, dishes such as oliaigua or stuffed eggplants, arròs de la terra (which is not rice but wheat) or the fruits and vegetables from the market stalls. agricultural, where we will find cheeses, sausages, honey, saffron… or when you walk through its streets enter its ovens and pastry shops, let yourself be surprised by the rich proposal of sweet and savory pastas, cokes and cakes, as a mandatory mention deserve their artisan ice creams .

Ciutadella is much more than its stately city and its gastronomy. Ciutadella is the first sunset in Spain, with idyllic places to watch the sunset with the silhouette of Mallorca as a backdrop.

Ciutadella is beaches with turquoise waters and green pine forests right up to the shore where you can swim, dive and sunbathe as you please.

Ciutadella is hiking along the Camí de Cavalls, as it is living nature and active tourism. In short, Ciutadella is everything we have written about in these lines and much more to discover.