Ermita de Sant Joan de Missa

The whitewash is what you see first: a plain white church standing out against the green fields, its front wall topped by a bell gable. Nothing else competes with it. The lanes around are farmland and stone walls, and once the beach traffic has gone by, the loudest thing is the wind in the fields.

Inside, the church is austere and cared for, dressed with the kind of devotion that comes from a parish that still uses it. It opens rarely, so most visitors know it from the outside, as a pause on the road to the coves.

In summer the hermitage comes alive for its patron-saint festivities, when local people gather here, and it belongs to the cycle of Ciutadella's Sant Joan celebrations.

• The church is locked most of the week; the door opens only in the short weekly slot given under opening hours.
• Parking is not at the door: the nearest car park is about 1.9 km away in a straight line.
• There is no public drinking water nearby, so carry your own, especially on a hot day.
• In summer the patron-saint festivities fill the grounds with local people.
• It works best as a stop on the way to Cala Turqueta or Macarella.

Sant Joan de Missa stands beside the road that runs from Ciutadella out to the coves of Turqueta, Macarella and Macarelleta, so anyone driving to those beaches passes it.

The nearest bus stop, Camí de Macarella, pq 7, lies about 1.8 km away in a straight line. The nearest car park is about 1.9 km away, and a second, for customers only, about 3.2 km away. Bring water with you: there is none to be had close to the church.

Best: the weekly morning when the church is open, or late in the day, when low sun warms the whitewash.

Avoid: the middle of a summer day.

At midday the white walls glare and the road past the hermitage carries a steady stream of cars heading for the coves, while the late light is softer on the walls and the traffic has turned for home.