Читать книгу Walking in Menorca. 16 day and 2 multi-day routes онлайн

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Landscape

A large car park surrounded by farmland at Alfurí de Dalt

The underlying geology and thousands of years of human influence have shaped the landscape of Menorca. Seen from the air, the island is compact and almost entirely surrounded by cliffs, broken by occasional sandy or pebbly beaches. Inland a patchwork of fields is criss-crossed by drystone walls, and there are also extensive forests, small woodlands and areas of rugged scrub. In places the underlying rock is exposed where vegetation struggles to cover it. Many areas are arid, but there are a few lagoons that attract a variety of birds.

By contrast, some fields are remarkably lush and green, ideal for grazing black and white Friesian dairy cows and native red cows. Some of the valleys, or barrancs, that slice deep into the landscape carry running water, but many are dry. Most of the countryside features houses and farms, some of them old, stone-built and ornate. Some areas are dotted with curious barracas, or circular stone-built cattle-sheds, with a stepped profile reminiscent of ziggurats.