Espalmador

Espalmador   (Illa de S'Espalmador)
Aerial photograph
Waters	Mediterranean Sea
Archipelago	Balearic Islands
Geographical location	38 ° 47 '12 "  N , 1 ° 25' 34"  E Coordinates: 38 ° 47 '12 "  N , 1 ° 25' 34"  E
length	2.7 km
width	1.3 km
surface	2 km²
Highest elevation	22  m
Residents	uninhabited
Islands around Espalmador

Espalmador (Catalan: Illa de S'Espalmador ) is a small island north of Formentera and belongs to the Pityuses , which in turn are part of the Balearic Islands . The island is located in the nature reserve of the Parque Natural de Ses Salines .

Illa de S'Espalmador has an area of ​​around 2 km², is approx. 2.7 km long and 1.3 km wide and is surrounded by other small islands. With the exception of a large bay in the south and another in the northwest of the island, the coast is rocky and rugged.

Beach Platja de s'Alga

The southern bay offers an excellently protected anchorage, a sandy beach Platja de s'Alga with palm trees and clear water, which is why s'Espalmador is a popular destination for tourists from Formentera or Ibiza .

Another special feature is the sulphurous mud lagoon in the middle of the island, in which visitors have always been able to take mud baths. In the course of the growing environmental and nature protection regulations in the Balearic Islands, this mud lagoon was fenced in with barrier ropes in the spring of 2008, and signs were used to point out the prohibition of entry that will apply from now on. At the highest point on the island (22 m) is the round, bulky Torre de sa Guardiola, a watchtower built in 1749. There are only 150 meters between Formentera and s'Espalmador. Since the passage to Formentera is not particularly deep, depending on the tide and current, you can also get to Espalmador on foot, but for safety reasons you should prefer to arrive by boat. During the season, Espalmador can be reached by shuttle boat from Port de sa Savina . Espalmador is under nature protection, signs indicate a large number of rules, but entry is generally not prohibited.

history

Excavations indicate the first inhabitants from the Punic period, the other artifacts found date from the period between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC. On a headland in the north of the island is another archaeological site that belongs to a Roman villa.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the island was considered uninhabited. After the repopulation of Formentera, s'Espalmador was used by fishermen and for the extraction of sandstone and a traditional farmhouse was built in the north of the island. The island has been inhabited again since the 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, s'Espalmador was also a strategic point for trade in smuggled goods.

In 1927 the businessman Bernard Richard James Cinnamond (1889–1975) from Barcelona bought the island and built a property and an oratory on a hill at the port of s'Algar , which is still called Sant Bernat today. The property is now a summer residence and is owned by Don Bernat's descendants.

In 2018 the island was sold to a Luxembourg family for 18 million euros . The attempt to sell the island to the regional government of Formentera had previously failed.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ EEIF Enciclopèdia d'Eivissa i Formentera
2. ↑ Sam Jones: Balearic island of s'Espalmador sold to private bidder for £ 16m . In: The Guardian of March 18, 2018.

Web links

Commons : S'Espalmador  - collection of images

• Torre de Espalmador