I'm in Menorca!

Hey y'all!
Turns out the tiny, sleepy town of Ciudadela, the one that at least some of our ancestors came from, has quite an abundance of WiFi hotspots. And that is because it is now quite the tourist hotspot.
So, here I am, retracing the steps of my ancestors! It's really amazing. I can claim ancestry from many different places...Germany, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, France, Holland...but none of those places is as exotic or intriguing as this little Mediterranean island. Mostly because it's unique, I think. Those who even know what Menorca is in the U.S. are a select few. But I've always felt a curious connection to this place apart from that, and I think it's because Uncle Roy was so into Genealogy and I actually know much more about the Menorcans that came to Florida than most of my ancestors.

I'm sure that when they arrived at the mosquito-infested Florida swampland in order to be indigo-cultivating indentured servants braving malaria and Indian attacks they all looked at each other and had a collective "WTF were we thinking?" moment.

What? We can no longer go visit the beautiful turquoise beaches? We can't make our traditional arab-influenced pastries? We can't make our typical lobster stew? Actually, just kidding about that one. They came to Florida because they were dying of hunger, so there probably wasn't a whole lot of lobster stew-making. Why else would you sign up for indentured servitude? Well, I did read that some Menorcans came over because the guys who were originally signed up for the trip married Menorcan women when they were waiting to hop across the Atlantic.

So today I heard an organ recital on a reconstructed baroque organ, then went to the diocesan museum, then went to the cemetery to try to find some of our last names. I found an entire room of Triays, but no Rogeros. But the Triays I found aren't actually directly related to us...the oldest guy there died in the mid-19th century. The guy at the cemetery said that before that, everyone was buried in the churches. But they're turning out to be quite hard to find. I'm just glad I got to at least find some cousins.

Then I went to the beach and tried to get sunburnt. I succeeded. Now I am enjoying a beer outside at a café that has wifi. Ciudadela is a beautiful little town to get lost in, and I've thoroughly enjoyed seeing it. I found out today that it has gone through a lot. Menorcan history is basically a series of conquests...the Moors, the Spanish, the Turks, the English, the Spanish again, the Nationalist army in the Civil War, etc., etc. The Menorcan language is beautiful, but incomprehensible to me. And I also found a book today from the 18th century describing the land and its people (that is, MY people). The English dude writing it had some pretty funny things to say about the Menorquines...including the fact that even though the women didn't wear corsets, they had great posture, and the men treated the women like savages after the second day of marriage and after that the women never really went outside (I guess given that fact Florida swampland might have looked appealing). He also described entertaining dances and customs and said they were really religious. Fish on Fridays must have been easy for them being surrounded by ocean.

I did my best to upload pictures, but I don't think there's enough bandwidth here for that. So for now, just google Menorca. Then imagine my sunburnt face smiling in the middle of that picture.