Pirate-era watchtower at the tip of Formentera: A unique vantage point

Torre des Garroberet, historically known as Torre del Cap de Barbaria, is an ancient watchtower at the southernmost tip of the Balearic island of Formentera. Engineer García Martínez, with project design by military and engineer Joan Ballester i Zafra, constructed this cone-shaped structure in 1763 to heighten the island’s defense against pirates. At approximately 9 meters high, the two-floored building with an upper observation platform provides a unique vantage point.

Constructed of limestone and lime mortar, the six marble blocks distributed evenly around the perimeter of all the nineteenth-century towers on Formentera - including this one - add to its distinctive appearance. Although originally an active defense tower, Torre des Garroberet lost its cannon by the 1820s and now serves solely as a watchtower.

This system of defense and observation towers in Formentera, including Torre des Garroberet, was instrumental in securing the safety of the population and aiding in the island’s repopulation, which began at the end of the seventeenth century.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons