Santa Maria de Maó

Step in from the square and the heat falls away. The stone interior is cool and hushed, and the noise of the town stops at the door.

The organ is the reason the church is known far beyond Menorca. Completed in 1810 by Johann Kyburz, it is the instrument the recitals here are built around, and when it plays the whole nave carries the sound.

The rest rewards a slow walk round. There are sculptures and frescoes in the chapels, stained-glass windows, and a figure of the Virgin dressed in black mourning. At the back lie reclining statues, stranger and more unsettling than the rest. People still come here to pray, and the quiet holds even while visitors move through.

• The church opens to visitors in the afternoon only; a morning visit finds the doors shut.
• Going inside costs a fee, taken at the door as a ticket or a donation.
• It is a working church: keep your voice low and give way to anyone praying.
• Public toilets are about 90 m away in a straight line, and a drinking-water fountain about 210 m away.
• The tourist office is about 240 m away, a useful stop for the rest of the old town.

The church stands in the heart of old Maó beside the town hall, so the last stretch is on foot through the town streets.

By bus, the nearest stops are Pl. del Príncep, about 250 m away in a straight line, and Moll de Ponent by the harbour, about 260 m away. By car, two paid car parks with asphalt surfaces sit about 130 m away, and from either you walk the rest of the way to the church square.

Best: a hot summer afternoon, while the church is open to visitors.

Avoid: the morning, when the doors are closed to visitors.

The church only opens in the afternoon, and that is also when the old town is at its hottest and the cool, shaded nave is most welcome.