Capdepera: The Bonfires That Took Menorca

Capdepera's castle crowns a 159-metre hill two kilometres from the east coast of Mallorca, a walled village of about 8,000 square metres climbing from its gate to the chapel of Nostra Senyora de l'Esperança at the top. When James I took Mallorca in 1229 only one Muslim tower stood here, the Torre d'en Nunis. Needing his troops for Valencia, he had huge bonfires lit on this hill, visible from Menorca, so that the island's Muslim rulers would think an army was camped here ready to invade; the trick worked, and the Treaty of Capdepera let them stay on Menorca as tributaries of the Crown. James II built the walled village in 1300 to repopulate the east of the island.