Hot, hot, hot Ibiza (28 August – 4 September 2013)

Ibiza is one of the Balearic Islands in Spain, which attracts tourists from Europe. Mainly young ones out to party and enjoy the sun. It was Cafe Del Mar that prompted me to suggest Ibiza as our holiday destination. The boys love the beach, I want to see Cafe Del Mar and Ibiza’s legendary sunset. We all got our wishes fulfilled. I thought sunsets are all the same, how wrong I was.

It was these CDs that inspires my trip to Ibiza. The interesting thing is besides Cafe Del Mar, other bigger clubs like Pacha or Mambo churn out their own house mix as well. (Click all images for bigger size).

You could travel to Ibiza by sea from the port of Valencia or Murcia to Sant Antoni de Portmany. The Balearia sails into the port twice a day and make its daily grand entrance with holiday makers swimming and yatching at the bay.

This is the view of my front door and also the beach that we spent most of our afternoons.

This is my boy putting his feet up enjoying the sunset from our apartment balcony. The bay is bustling with yatches, boats, water skiing, parasailing, peddle boats and banana boat rides, it is impossible to sit and watch, and expect a dull moment.

Come evening, we like to take a stroll along the bay. Clubs, bars and restaurants lined the bay in its different hues and neon lights, as you will soon see. The structure that looks like a mosque is actually a club called Eden.

This is what it looks like during the day..

The Sant Antoni marina Club Nautico house one of the biggest docking bay in the Mediterranean. The boats docked as far as the eyes can see. In the evening the sky turns a surreal colour of blue and ochre that is so beautiful.

This monument at the roundabout in Sant Antoni town is the Monument to the Discoverers. The Egg is a symbolic anecdote of Christopher Columbus looking for a sponsor to back his expeditions and being told that it was impossible. Columbus then asked if anyone could make an egg stand upright? After negative responses from his audience, Columbus cracked the base of the egg and said “Nothing is impossible.” and the rest as they say, is history.

The sale of club tickets can be found in every outlet in Ibiza. Club prices ranges from 30 to 60 Euros and club buses are available to pick up partygoers from a collection point.

The Sunset Beach club, Ibiza Rocks cafe and the Itaca are neighbours. I didn’t feel the urge to visit any of the clubs but I do enjoy looking at the colours and the occasional blasting of good music from the cafes.

On the Saturday evening, we tried to beat the sunset and walked about 2.5 km around the bay to the Calo Des Moro – the famous sunset strip of Ibiza to watch the sunset.

Finally! Cafe Del Mar!

Mambo Cafe, DJ Norman Doray is spinning his records today.

The sunset strip fills up quickly, especially as it gets close to sunset. This has become an extremely popular place to worship the sun and the proximity to the world-renowned bars of the Sunset Strip makes it a very cool place to hang out in the evening. The likes of Savanna, Café del Mar, Mambo, Sugar Sea, Kanya and Coastline are all a short walk away.

These bars all provide their own soundtrack to the sunset and have become the focal point of a daily pilgrimage by many looking to celebrate the passing of another perfect Ibizan day.

Or you can opt to watch the sunset on the boat. Today it was a cloudless day, perfect day to see the sun in its full glory while it is setting..

The music at the cafe reaches its crescendo…. The sun is sinking….. Absolutely stunning! and as the sun disappeared over the horizon, the crowd went wild and ended the day with a big applause.

Let the party begins!

I only have a very superficial knowledge of the club scenes, but if you want to be noticed as a DJ, you have to make your presence felt and play in Ibiza. The only DJ name that pops up in my head is David Guetta. Today Norman Doray is DJ-ing at Mambo cafe. He did a great job and drove the crowd wild.

What strikes me as being altruistic in the sunset strip is that all visitors can participate. If you wish you can spend 12 Euros on a drink and sit at the cafe or if you don’t, you can bring your own beer and sit on the stones or stand near the cafe as the music blasts on. Norman Doray played his records through this window next to the walkway and images of him projected all around Mambo cafe for all to see. How great is that?

The sunset strip was the highlight of my visit, besides the beautiful sunset. Cafe Del Mar is cool but I thought Mambo cafe is hot!

We walked back to the Sant Antoni town square. Along the restaurants there are many talented portrait and caricature artists drawing up portraits of visitors for a fee. This man here is always busy of all the seven days I saw him at night. He is really good.

The next day we took a 25 minutes ride to the town of Eivissa, known as Pueblo Ibiza (Ibiza Town). Eivissa old city, Dalt Vila, is declared as an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999 for its perfectly preserved Renaissance Fortifications.

The view from Santa LLucia Bastion (the largest bastion) is stunning. It is also a popular venue for folk dance and Jazz music festivals during summer.

The Dalt Vila has many stunning lookout points at the bastions, the highest point being the Santa Tecla Bastion, next to the Cathedral.

The island of Ibiza is proud of its Carthaginian heritage and for long years the Ibizan corsairs fought off foreign pirate attacks and defending the islanders, as well as possession of the Catalan and the Spanish Crowns.

Ibiza has its origin as a Hippy haven and in the 1960’s many hippies of the flower power generation flocked to Ibiza and make their base here. There is a Gorilla Hippy Market near the Pinet beach. Why the mention of Gorilla? I have no clue and I find it rather bizarre to have King Kong staring at me while I attempt to shop! 😀 It opens 3 days per week, every Tuesday -Thursday 1800-0000 and Sunday 0900-0000.

Around 11pm at night, Fire juggler performs in front of the Bay Beach bar. It is truly heart palpitating and mesmerising, I caught the performer on video for two nights but this is the only decent picture I captured in the quick movement and low lighting.

We went back to sunset strip again on Tuesday and this time we couldn’t see the sun in full because of a cloudy day. Still I wanted to show you how the sky takes on a different shades as minutes passed…..

Take a 20 minutes bus ride from Sant Antoni is the Cala de Bassa. The locals reckon this is the finest beach on the island and the European Union agrees, awarding it a blue flag status. We spent the whole day here.

Sant Antoni bay at night.

Don’t leave Spain without tasting the obligatory, mouth watering tapas.

I would like to end this post by the best sunset photos I took on the third day in front of the Itaca club and Bay Beach bar.

I did not use any photography gimmicks nor do I claim to be have excellent photography skills (don’t ask me about the apertures and lighting) but these stunning sunset pictures caught me by surprise and took my breath away……

My two little boys at the beach.

Fishing in this beautiful sunset seems to be the most beautiful moment on earth.

It is a very good end of the summer and the autumn is here. While the cold sets in, I hope these beautiful sunset pictures keep you warm for awhile.

Happy autumn everyone!