Naveta d'Es Tudons

Seen from the path, the thing really does sit like a boat turned upside down: a flat trapezoidal façade at one end, a rounded apse at the other, courses of squared limestone stepping inwards as they rise. The blocks were dressed with a hammer and set without mortar, the foundation course laid on edge in stones larger still. Inside are two chambers, one above the other — the lower one for the disarticulated bones of the dead, the upper probably for drying bodies recently placed, its roof slabs pierced with holes. The excavation of 1959–1960 turned up at least 100 skeletons, one with a trepanned skull; the bronze bracelets and the bone and ceramic buttons found with them are now in the Museu de Menorca in Mahón. A stone is still missing from the top of the façade, and island legend hands it to a giant who hurled it down a well out of jealousy.

• The inside is closed. The chambers are sealed as a protection measure, so the visit is a walk round the outside within the enclosure wall.
• No facilities. No toilets, café or drinking water on site or within 800 m. A sheltered picnic area with benches stands just outside the wall.
• Livestock on the way in. The path to the gate runs through a grazed field — keep dogs close and gates shut behind you.
• Coach parties come through. Whoever arrives first in the day gets the enclosure quiet; groups unload at the same car park.
• The walk in: about 400 m on a marked path, five minutes, with wheelchair-accessible spaces in the car park.

The naveta sits just off the main road between Ciutadella and Mahón, roughly three miles out of Ciutadella and 200 m south of the carriageway, on ground that rises gently in a sloping valley. The turn-off leads to a car park with a gated entrance and a hut where admission is taken and information handed out; coaches have their own space beside the cars. From there it is about 400 m on foot, five minutes on an easy marked path with signboards along the way, and the last stretch crosses a field that is grazed. Picnic benches stand just outside the enclosure wall, within sight of the tomb.

Best: first thing after opening. Coach parties work this site, and whoever gets there first has the enclosure and the walk in to themselves.

Avoid: the afternoon. The gate closes for the day, and the hours are not the same on every day of the week, so check them before driving out.

Everything here happens outdoors, from the car park to the tomb; the only cover is the sheltered picnic area by the wall.

The naveta has been on the Spanish heritage register since 3 June 1931, and the interior is kept sealed as a measure of protection — the two chambers are not open to visitors. A modern dry stone field wall rings the monument at a distance, and access is through a single gated entrance with a staffed hut. The ground between the car park and the gate is a working grazed field, so stay on the marked path.