Watchtower at the tip of Formentera with spectacular views

Torre des Garroveret, historically known as Torre del Cap de Barbaria, is a watchtower at the southernmost tip of the island of Formentera. Engineer García Martínez, with project design by military engineer Joan Ballester i Zafra, constructed this truncated cone structure in 1763 to defend the coasts against pirate attacks. Standing nine meters tall, the two-floored building features an upper observation platform and a sentry box from which the views are spectacular.

Built with limestone and lime mortar, the tower is one of the eighteenth-century towers of Formentera, which feature six ribs of sandstone blocks distributed evenly along their perimeter. The entrance door is located on the upper floor, from which the lower floor and the upper platform are reached by stairs built against the wall.

After construction, the Torre des Garroveret served as an active defense tower equipped with one of the cannons from the Church of Sant Francesc. However, in 1824, it was disarmed and became a watchtower only. This system of defense and observation towers guaranteed the safety of the population and contributed to the repopulation process of Formentera that began at the end of the seventeenth century.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons