Menorca spends its whole summer working through a circuit of village horse fiestas, and Gràcia in Maó is the one that ends it. The horses are pure Menorquín, black and heavy-set, and the caixers who ride them are drawn from the old estates. In the jaleo the horse rears and holds, front hooves above the heads of the crowd, while people reach up to touch its chest. It looks alarming. It is centuries old and the riders are very good.
What to expect. The programme runs across several days at the start of September: the singers' procession, the pilgrimage up to the hermitage, then the two big days on 7 and 8 September when the horses come into Plaça de s'Esplanada and the old streets. Add the giants, the neighbourhood decorations, live music and a serious fireworks finish. Bring something you can drink out of and expect to be handed pomada — Menorcan gin with lemonade, and the fuel of the whole thing.
Practical bit. Maó fills up and the centre closes to traffic. Park on the edge and walk in, or better, stay somewhere you can reach on foot. If you are basing yourself elsewhere on the island, a hire car is the only sensible way back afterwards — the buses stop long before the fiesta does.
