A ruined monastery on a cliff terrace above Sa Dragonera, built by Trappist monks who fled France, abandoned, burned, bought back by the island's bird society with public money. Two hours up from Sant Elm, and the best view in the south-west.
Checking the water.
Sunrise 07:43 · sunset 19:41 today at La Trapa.
In 1810 a group of Trappist monks, driven out of France, landed here and built a monastery on the only flat ground on a cliff: a chapel, a mill, a threshing floor and terraces they carved by hand and watered from a spring. They left ten years later. What is left is walls, terraces, the mill, an enormous silence and Dragonera lying below you like something asleep.
In 1980 the GOB, the Balearic bird protection group, bought the whole estate by public subscription so nobody could build on it. A fire in 2013 took the pines. They are coming back. It is a place that keeps being saved, and you feel that too.
The walk from Sant Elm is 3.8 kilometres, mostly through forest, then a rocky climb to the viewpoint, then a flat stretch to the ruins. The view from the mirador before the monastery is the reason to go. Start early: after eleven there is no shade on the climb and the sun is on the wrong side.
Park in Sant Elm, coffee on the front, water bottles full. The path starts at the north end of the village.
Into the pines. Gentle for the first half, then the climb. Forty minutes to an hour to the mirador.
The mirador. Sit. Dragonera below, the whole west coast to the right. This is the picture.
On to the ruins, fifteen minutes on the flat. Walk the terraces, find the mill, the chapel, the well.
Back down the same way, or the longer loop via the coll for strong legs. Lunch on the seafront in Sant Elm, then Cala Conills to wash it off.
The ferry to the island is the afternoon plan if you started early enough.
A side trail drops to the clay cove. Swim, then climb back. Adds an hour.
The next viewpoint north for the ones who cannot stop.
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