Cala Sant Esteve, the first line of defense of the port of Mahon

PalmCala Sant Esteve is located five and a half kilometers from the center of Maó and two kilometers from the Castle (former suburb of Sant Felip), to the right of the harbor entrance. It is a small inlet of the sea, 650 meters long and 50 meters wide, occupied by two buildings of great historical interest: on the left is the Castle of San Felipe, built by the Spanish in the 16th century, and on the right is Fort Marlborough, built by the English in the 18th century. Outside the cove, on a hill to the right of the mouth, we find the Penjat Tower, dating from 1789. A series of constructions whose sole purpose was to protect the entrance to the port of Mahón from a point considered a true "Achilles' heel" for its defense. Not in vain, Cala Sant Esteve was the usual entry point for pirate raids, including that of Barbarossa in September 1535.

The itinerary we present aims to accompany you in the discovery of the historical and heritage values of the area surrounding Cala Sant Esteve; a place very frequented by bathers and hikers. We do not detail timetables, only the gradient and maximum height, because it is merely a walk, without rushing and using all five senses. Cala Sant Esteve is not connected by public transport; we can walk 2 km from the Castle, where there are regular buses from Maó (menorca.tib.org). This is an initiative of the ARA Baleares newspaper and the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands, written and guided by Fita a Fita, with the aim of making the permanent land-sea dialectic understood through the main ports of the Balearic Islands.

The route

[00 min] We set the start of our walk at the public parking lot of Cala Sant Esteve, right at the point where stage 19 of the Camí de Cavalls ends and stage 20 begins, the last section of the GR-223 towards Maó. From there, we follow the signs in the opposite direction, which will take us along a beautiful old cobbled path, and we descend to the cove. During these first steps, we are accompanied by a serene and tranquil maritime view. Suddenly, we reach the cove's edge, leave the GR, and turn left along the paved road that caresses the sea on the right side of Sant Esteve.

A must-see first stop is the 18th-century Marlborough Fort. Located on the south side of the mouth of Mahón's harbor, it was built by the English between 1720 and 1726. It owes its name to Sir John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, the most prominent British general of the time. This spectacular fortification carved into the rock was conceived and designed to protect Sant Felip Castle, built by the Spanish from 1555 and expanded by the English during their first Spanish rule (1708-1756). It's worth a visit to learn about the inner workings of this fabulous structure, a testament to an important episode in the history of the island of Menorca during the turbulent 18th century.

We continue our walk and reach the end of the street, which ends in a kind of small square, surrounded on the right by old and charming buildings such as Villa Salud, from 1934, and Villa Urbina, from 1954. To the left, the coastal plain dominates the view from the outer wall. Between the small square where we are and the sea, we see an old building, a kind of oven, which we can access via some stairs. The route continues along this path. After passing this step, we emerge onto the outer part of Cala Sant Esteve and follow a path that heads south, with the Penjat Tower as a landmark on our historical and heritage tour.

For a moment, we look back at Sant Felip Castle. Located on the southern shore of the mouth of Mahón harbor, this fortification was built in the mid-16th century following the attack by the pirate Barbarossa in 1535, following the plans of the Italian engineer Giovanni Battista Calvi, who designed the walls of Vila Real and Palma, with their characteristic features. During successive British dominations, the castle was expanded until 1782, following the Spanish siege, its surrender was achieved and the Spanish Crown regained sovereignty through the Treaty of Amiens, and Charles III ordered its demolition. A visit to the castle and the underground galleries dug by the Spanish and English during their different occupations are highly recommended.

A few simple steps following the path that runs above the tongs lead us to the Penjat or Stuart Tower, a large English coastal defense tower. It was built in 1798 by order of General Stuart, conqueror and governor of Menorca. It stands on the hill later known as the Turk or the Hanged Man, the more popular name. Its purpose was to cover the entrance to the port during the reconstruction of San Felipe Castle and, at the same time, to protect Fort Marlborough from a possible siege. It has the typical structure of this type of tower: the ground floor serves as a storage area for powder and spare parts, the middle floor houses troops, and the upper terrace serves as the artillery (cannon) and immediate defense.

From the north slope of the tower, we head into the garrigue along a tyrannosaur that borders a ditch, connected to a now-dry spring. A short walk should take us in just a few minutes to the final stretch of the nineteenth stage of the Camí de Cavalls, now descending towards Cala Sant Esteve. Here we complete the circuit, with just a few meters remaining to the parking lot.

Origin of the toponym

The origin of the cove's name refers to the discovery, in 415, near Jerusalem, of the relics of Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, used as an expression of Jewish violence against Christians. Through a series of events, these relics arrived in Mahón and were deposited in a church near the city, the exact location of which is unknown. A popular tradition places the landing of the relics of Saint Stephen at the same site as our tour. This event, which occurred in 418, is the basis of a book, published in 2018 and written by Josep Amengual i Batle, entitled The Circular of Bishop Severus of Menorca on the Conversion of the Jews (418-2018). A Mediterranean Chronicle Before the Vandal Occupation (Institute of Minorcan Studies, 2018).

@Fita_a_Fita