The real Menorcan sandals
Menorca has a long artisan tradition and a great diversity of ancient trades. Trades that Menorcan artisans have been able to preserve over the years, transmit their skills and encourage a taste for the traditional.
In Menorca there are up to sixteen families of craftsmen. There is a wide range of crafts in food and beverages, in wood, stone, ceramics, fabrics … and of course, in the footwear and leather sector which is where today we want to stop through the traditional Menorcan sandals.
This is the most typical and traditional footwear in Menorca, the footwear that was formerly used in the rural areas of the island by farmers and day laborers. None of them would have believed then that the rustic shoes they wore to travel around the island in summer would fit the feet of an entire royal family … But that’s right. The Menorcan sandals began to become popular in the 50s but it was undoubtedly the passion of Dona Sofía de Borbón for this shoe, common in her summers in Mallorca, which eventually launched her to world fame.
Its design is simple. An open piece of leather on the toe that adapts to the instep of the foot, and a strap, also made of leather, that fits in the heel and that also allows you to wear that strap on the instep and the exposed heel.
Menorcan sandals are mainly made in Ciutadella, Alaior, Es Mercadal and Ferreries.
Touring Menorca by rental motorbike we will easily find the genuine Menorcan sandals in the traditional shoe stores of the Island, from the tiny size 18 for children to the highest size for gentlemen, in all colors and with countless decorative motifs.
But it is important to make sure that we are buying the real Menorcan sandals because they say that their imitators do not fit properly in the heel and, therefore, do not enjoy the comfort that this shoe offers to travel any type of terrain. They are even used in the nautical sector.