The Mola lighthouse, on the far landing and the hard cliff

PalmWhen we talk about lighthouses, we implicitly refer to those people who, often from distant locations isolated from all human contact, volunteered to be the "eyes of the night" for those sailing the sea. A small story, made up of daily, silent, and disciplined work, that has transcended in the form of legends and curious anecdotes. This is the case of one of the caretakers of the La Mola lighthouse, active since 1861. It was 1944, at the end of World War II, when the lighthouse keeper rescued the pilot of a German plane that had crashed about two miles from the lighthouse. He gave him food, clothing, and shelter. The next day, he was taken to the seaplane base that then existed at Estany Pudent, from where he was repatriated. For these deeds, the German government of the time awarded this lighthouse keeper a diploma and 1,000 pesetas as a reward for his rescue work. (source: farsdebalears.com)

The La Mola lighthouse, also known as the Formentera lighthouse, is an emblematic work by the engineer Emili Pou Bonet, located at an altitude of 118 metres overlooking the immense Mediterranean. Near the lighthouse, we find the monument to the French writer Jules Verne (1828-1905), planted to commemorate the 150th anniversary of his birth. His visit to the Balearic Islands is not documented. He probably never visited them, despite the strong friendship he maintained with Archduke Ludwig Salvator, whom he had met in the summer of 1884 in Venice. Be that as it may, The mysterious island (1875), Hector Servadac (1877) or The lighthouse at the end of the world (1901) seem to have, as Nicolás J. Moragues points out in his book Jules Verne and the Balearic Islands (Edicions Talaiots, 2015), a clear and direct inspiration in the geography and heritage of Formentera through the reading of the The Balearic Islands of the Archduke.

The route

[00 min] Before starting the walk, from the same bus stop (L-2), which covers the line between the port of La Savina and the lighthouse of La Mola, we can visit the 18th-century church of El Pilar. Built by the settlers of La Mola, it was dedicated to the Virgin of El Pilar by the first bishop of Ibiza, the Aragonese Manuel Abad y Lasierra, on May 11, 1784. Until then, all religious services were held in San Francisco Javier. A few meters from the church, heading towards the lighthouse, we find on the left the street of the Monastery of Santa Maria, which soon forks. To the left is the path to Les Creus, and to the right, the path to the Monastery, a dirt road between walls. We continue our walk along the latter.

Lined up alongside the path [05 min], a rectangular cistern with a well-whitewashed cistern neck, on the left, and a stalked fig tree, on the right, belonging to Can Vicenç Miquelet. From now on, we come to a straight and well-perched stretch of sandstone, which will take us to the pine forests that border the Monastery. After reaching a major crossroads, we continue on foot and shortly after the aforementioned estate, which we find on the right of the path [20 min]. The name of the Monastery seems to come from an old Augustinian monastery, located in this place in the 13th and 14th centuries. Documents indicate that Guillermo de Montgrí, one of the magnates of the conquest of Ibiza in 1235, established a group of Augustinian friars in La Mola who plowed the lands in this area.

Behind the houses, towards the sandstone, a path begins that points directly towards the sea. First, it runs parallel to a brick wall, crossing a thick pine forest. After a small gate without a barrier, we skirt a dry wall between old crops and continue with our eyes fixed on the cliff in front of us. The boundary dry wall, crowned with a cairn, ends above the Timba, above Caballero's Cave [40 min]. We turn right and, with our path and our gaze, we graze the vertiginous slope. With gentle slopes and beautiful juniper groves, we advance toward the Llençó point. Halfway along, we pass Can Graziano on the right, a chalet of no further interest. [50 min] We pass the dry wall above the aforementioned peak and, following the tyrannical path, we enter a forest area that was surely well exploited in the pre-tourist period, where we even find a damaged lime kiln. A small ravine [1 h 00 min] forces us to make a small inside turn before returning to the cliff. We approach the tip of Estrips, from where the Grossa cave begins to be visible [1 h 15 min].

Two charming spaces

We are in a setting where we can contemplate the remains of an old quarry. Shortly before arriving, on the left, it is worth descending to the Grossa Cave, which is accessed via a cart track that begins in a stunning corner. We then pass through two other spaces of immense charm and breathtaking beauty: the Figuera and Xíndria corners. A little further on, at the point of Les Roques, from where we can already see the lighthouse, we cross the Cocó Llarg, a torrent that plunges precipitously into the sea, and we pass over a dry wall. The monument to Jules Verne and, of course, the Mola lighthouse confirm that we have reached the main point of interest on the route [1 h 55 min]. Time to recall a fragment of the poem. Formentera by Marià Villangómez (Ibiza 1913-2002), included in the chapter 'Between the sea and the wind' of the poetry collection The Miranda (Ed. Moll, 1958): "Alta Mola, extreme landing, / hard round cliff, / where below, slowly, the wave dies / above, memory and clear, / deep space rests; / freed place / of a rare and ascending journey, / last step to another world." Some verses that are the perfect synthesis of the string of sensations that we have been accumulating throughout this first part of the walk.

The return route to Pilar is on the right, as soon as we start walking along the road (PM-820) that crosses the island from end to end, from La Mola to La Savina. After passing Can Toni Puig and its water tank, [2 h 00 min] we find the stone path on the right, which we ignore. At the next carrerany, five minutes later, we turn right. We wind our way between properties—Can Vicent d'en Costa Vell, Can Joan del Camp, and Can Miquelet—until we reach a crossroads near Can Jaume Maians [2 h 25 min]. We turn left, and amidst ever-changing fields, we arrive at Can Jaume Costabell, where we turn right as we savor this group of houses built in the island's traditional rural architecture. The path leads us directly to the lighthouse road, a few meters from Pilar de la Mola, where we complete the circuit and end the hike [2 h 45 min].

@Fita_a_Fita