Heartstopper Future

Chapter 27 - The Binissues Natural History Museum

Date: Wednesday 31st July 2024

Nick’s POV

Today we’re going to the Binissues Natural History Museum which opens at 9:30 and closes at 14:00. This is slightly problematic as there is so much to do there we are all slightly scared that we’ll run out of time so it’s our target to get there for the opening time. This results in us leaving at 9:15.

When we get there, we go straight to Museum of Natural Sciences which is a huge exhibition of over 8000 different species from the island and the entire world. We have just under 90 minutes in here as we booked a cheese making demo for 11am.

It is broken down into different sections in different rooms with one leading you to the next.

You start in the zoology section where there are more than 300 species of vertebrates (birds, mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians) from Menorca and more than 6000 invertebrates (insects, arachnids, myriapods and crustaceans) 2000 of which are from the island, and have every single species of butterfly on the island.

We all stay as a group as Charlie is able to translate most of the information signs, as he speaks Spanish, meaning we’re all able to find out everything possible about the species. 

You then move on to the malacology section where there are more than 1000 species of bivalves and gastropods, among which are all the land snails currently known in Menorca.

The next section is geology where there are around 300 species of minerals from around the world and real samples of rocks, minerals and fossils from Menorca.

After that, there is the mycology section, where there is a replication of 1000 mushrooms, of 225 different species existing on the island. Each of them made with clay and hand painted to form exact replicas of those found in the forest.

The final section is botany (which we get to at 10:30 leaving us just enough time to look round the room and get to the cheese making demo). It consists of 64 40x30cm photographs displayed in 50x40cm frames, below which there is a sheet written in 3 languages (Spanish, English and a language I'm not familiar with) with the scientific name, the common name, the date and place it was photographed, the name of the family and the characteristics and data of scientific interest for each plant.

There is also a screen which displays 300 more photographs with the characteristics and data of scientific interest for each one. 

We end up leaving the Museum of Natural Sciences at 10:55 leaving us just enough time to get to the cheese making demonstration. When we get there, there is a small gathering of people round a women in some 1800s clothing.

We join them and since we were the last to arrive, she begins. She demonstrates the production of artesian cheese from Menorca with the traditional system that has been used for over 100 years. She uses all the traditional techniques and utensils, and once it’s ready we’re all allowed to try it. It tastes amazing, and has a really unique but amazing flavour.

Once we’re done there, we only have 2 hours left before closing but 3 places still to see, so we agree upon splitting up the time evenly and spending 40 minutes at each one.

We start off with the stately home (the Manor house of Binissues) from the late 1800s. We got to learn how the Salort family spent their spring holidays, including what their rooms were like, their games and hobbies and their comforts of daily life.

After the assigned 40 minutes had been used up, we moved onto the Casa Payesa, which Charlie told us it translates to Country House. It showed us what the centre of life was like towards the end of the year 1700, and the organization of work in the countryside of Menorca.

We finish there after just 30 minutes so we decided to add those 10 minutes onto the Ethnological Collection, meaning we had 50 minutes rather than 40. The ethnological collection was composed of kitchen utensils, tools and multiple pieces that were essential more than a century ago to live and work in the countryside. We also got to see the first car that arrived in Menorca, tools for working the land and handling the livestock, everything necessary to make a typical sausage on the island and a wide collection of saddles.

Just as we got to the end of the collection, we were ushered out as it was closing time. We decided to go and have a late lunch as there wasn’t time previously to eat, before going to the beach later on this afternoon

Everything about the rest of the afternoon was normal. We went to the beach. Everyone who wanted to go in the sea went in the sea. Everyone who didn’t sunbathed. Charlie and I went on a walk along the coast and watched the sun set. We went back to the villa for dinner. After dinner we played a board game, before everyone started going to bed.

It is starting to feel normal now, and I think everyone’s enjoying the routine we seemed to have formed.