Castell de la Punta de n'Amer

The castle stands at the tip of Punta de n'Amer, a 200-hectare headland of pine, dune and scrub declared a protected natural area in 1985, one of the only stretches of this coast never built over between the resort towns of Cala Millor and Sa Coma. Environmental campaigners fought to keep it out of the building boom that filled in the coastline on both sides, and the reserve still shelters several plant species found only in the Balearic Islands. A footpath through the pines is the only way in, about twenty minutes each way, with the sea flanking the headland on three sides by the time the tower comes into view. It was built between 1693 and 1696, ordered after a 1611 pirate raid on this coast, though money troubles in nearby Manacor delayed the work for decades. Two or three guards, armed with muskets, pistols and swords, watched from the tower's platform 35 metres above the water, with a single cannon that could reach the bays of Cala Millor and Sa Coma on either side. It stood empty for much of the 19th century, then came back into use during the Spanish Civil War.