American Honeymoon in Ibiza + More

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Safari

New Member
I've been meaning to do this for a long time... So here it goes...

My wife and I got married on September 14, 2013. I am 33 and she is 31. I grew up with electronic music, been going to raves in the Southeast U.S. since I was a teenager. She is relatively new to the scene, with me introducing her to the "underground" or "real" side of things (which we'll leave that debate for another day) which she has come to love. So what better destination to celebrate our lives together than on the beaches, in the restaurants and clubs of Ibiza, with a side trip to Rome and the Vatican (we are catholic). It was an incredible journey with lots of highs, some certain lows and everything else in between. Shall we begin??????

Our itinerary was as follows: Fly to Ibiza and stay 4 days, hop over to Rome for another 4 days, back to Ibiza for a week and then back home. In the weeks and months building up to our vacation, I spent a lot of time on this website. It came in handy for sure, and we were wise to follow the suggestions posted by the senior/local/informed posters. Let's go!

<disclaimer - all pictures presented are taken with our canon t4i which we obviously do not take out to clubs. All my party pictures taken with cell phone were lost due to phone damage. Really sucks but hope you enjoy anyway!>

We left Jacksonville early Monday morning, and after a long day/night of travel, arrived at our destination for the first leg of our Journey -> Rural Can Pujolet. Can Pujolet is located on the Northwest side of the island sorta in between Santa Agnes Corona and Sant Mateu. We had a car rental which was a must, and just the drive there through the countryside was an amazing change of pace from coastal and flat north Florida. The hotel surpassed all of our expectations, I would describe it as rural luxury without all the posh. Once there, we grabbed a bottle of wine and headed out on a hike up to the cliffs on the hotel property. The views were stunning.











We finished our wine and headed back to prepare for our first night out... DIYNAMIC closing at Sankeys... On the way stopped at Los Paloma for dinner and had a wonderful meal. It was very busy, so we sat at the bar to start. I ordered a dirty martini and was met with a quizzical look, I explained it was olive juice and vodka and the bartender was gracious enough to make it happen. She even muddled some olives in the drink for me and proclaimed she would put that on the drink menu for next year. Here I thought dirty martinis were universal haha. We had a wonderful meal in a beautiful garden setting and headed off to Sankeys. We had before 1 am tickets and scooted in with no line just before then (I realize this is early). We bumbled around the club for awhile and finally around 2 am Solomun started in the lab. It was obvious everyone had the same idea as us, and it started to get very crowded and hot up there. I was digging the tunes but it became too much. Not to mention the chocolates that we imported from the U.S. were beginning to take effect so we headed down to the basement.

What a relief! Stimming was on downstairs and the sounds were suited perfectly to the low ceilings and lights, plus it was COLD... so nice. Several times we attempted to have a go for it upstairs but the heat and the crowd were just a little out of our comfort zone. Plus, I was enjoying the tunes even more so than upstairs. Headed over to the bar and were greeted by a bartender that seemed pained to serve us. At 12EU a drink you would think they could get some tenders with a little better attitude but maybe that's part of the "underground" feel there. Anyway, bartenders sucked. We rocked out to Stimming before we realized we were running on 48 hours of no sleep, 2.5 bottles of wine, a dirty martini and a healthy dose of fungus! We got in the car and headed home (what a journey THAT was) only to prepare for the next day. Pretty sure Ibiza would have it no other way.....
 
Day two!

We love heading down to Miami for WMC/UW/MMW or whatever you want to call it and one of our absolute favorite times is seeing soul clap close out with a day party on Sunday. Lucky enough for us, they were playing Pacha with Gerber at WOTG. Score! Prior to leaving the U.S. we got hooked up with guest list and were really looking forward to this night. We spent all day at the hotel pool which was a relaxing day that we needed after a year long engagement, wedding week and crazy start to our honeymoon! I can't stress enough how amazing Can Pujolet was if you are looking to relax. After pool time, we got all gussied up and headed out to Evissa to begin our evening.



We strolled around downtown and after a futile search for a place we really wanted to chill, we ended up at La Cava for some wine and cheese. It was so-so but I was not expecting much considering the location and crowd. What we were really looking forward to was dinner at Sushiya Aoyama! It was not an easy find. We made our way through the cobbled streets of the castle and finally found our destination. Despite the heat, there was a constant stream of revelers to the area looking for snow, walking away confused and let down. All the while we dined on a wonderful meal of traditional sushi and sake. The toro was outstanding, along with salmon, miso and blue fin tuna. Great stuff.

After dinner we had a nice walk by the marina and headed toward our end game, Pacha. It WAS a little early at this point so we decided to stop off at Destino. Had a nice cocktail or two there and off to Pacha we went. We walked right in and proceeded upstairs to start the party. Off the bat, I really noticed the clarity of the sound downstairs but also felt that the volume could have been a little higher. Upstairs in the funky room was the same. I was surprised at how low the volume was, but the sound was bright and clear. We stayed upstairs for the better portion of the night... It was almost like a green room as Gerber was hanging out before his set, Troxler was around flirting with the glove and being goofy and soul clap were laying down the funk as they always do! It was then we had our first sip of hierbas as a toast to our marriage, which we both liked and disliked at the same time. A very herbal tonic that reminded me of a watered down Jager shot. Soul Clap killed it and it was really nice meeting them, big up to some fellow Americans haha.

We did check downstairs at one point and found ourselves front row to some very entertaining theatrics provided by a Pacha dance troupe. That was a treat... The entire operation was a sight to see and we knew we were standing on the dancefloor of a world wide recognized club brand. The night was turning to morning, and it was time for us to head out. I had read much of "gypsy" cabs on this site and sure enough, the minute we walked out that door, we were greeted by a fellow very eager to take us back to our vehicle. We obliged, drove back north and that was it. 2 days in!

To Be Continued...
 
Safari said:
What we were really looking forward to was dinner at Sushiya Aoyama! It was not an easy find. We made our way through the cobbled streets of the castle and finally found our destination. Despite the heat, there was a constant stream of revelers to the area looking for snow, walking away confused and let down. All the while we dined on a wonderful meal of traditional sushi and sake. The toro was outstanding, along with salmon, miso and blue fin tuna. Great stuff.
Click to expand...
sushiya aoyama never disappoints!

looking forward to read the rest of your review...
 
McRackin said:
sushiya aoyama never disappoints!

looking forward to read the rest of your review...
Click to expand...

By a long way the best sushi I've had in Ibiza. Probably ranks with the best I've had anywhere actually. The quirkily 'bohemian' setting and great service/atmosphere is even more endearing.

Looking forward to the rest of this too :)
 
Day 3... It's Thursday and boy we are feeling the effects of living out our dream vacation on the White Isle. If it was up to me, we would have another club night planned for tonight. However my better half, having better sense, would make today a day of exploration, and holy shit did we find gold!

We didn't get moving until around 3 pm, and I am glad we rested because we would need all the energy we could muster for our trip to the secluded beach of Portitxol. We scoped this beach out from pages of the book "secret beaches of Ibiza" which would come both as a blessing and a curse to us (more on that later). This beach is located on the north side just west of Port de Sant Miquel. A short drive from our hotel, we arrived and began the steep hike down to the beach.



What really blew me away was the beautiful blue water and stunning topography. We continued on our hike and soon realized that this wasn't just any beach that we were heading to. We were on our way to a very special place, one that is reserved for those willing to make the journey. Isn't much of life that way????





After a long hike down, we finally came upon our destination. It was incredible. There wasn't much of a beach to speak of as the ground was very rocky. We went for a swim and I was surprised at the warm temperature of the water in September. We spoke about this and came to the conclusion that since this was the Mediterranean and very shallow, it didn't get as cold as the Atlantic that we are used to. It was us, nature, and a few local fisherman that were shooting the shit and I had the first of recurring thought that said... "We are doing this right"....







We spent a few blissful hours here and finally decided to head back. This was not an easy task by any means. We finally arrived at the car and headed to Cala Salada for some food and rest. There we found what were some of the best mussels we've ever had (soon to be one upped) and signature Ibiza aioli "served" to us by some grumpy old men. Oh well, we were happy! We were treated to a beautiful sunset (shit I even jumped in) and that was it!

 
wow, nice one to find es portitxol. a few ibiza veterans out there have been to ibiza dozens of times without making it there. looking forward to reading more!
 
Great review so far, there are few who are able to mix the exploring and clubbing in the same visit. :)

Its not an easy task.
 
It's Friday! Last day in Ibiza before our jaunt over to Italy. Running with the theme of the previous day, it would be a total beach day. We rose early this time, and feasted on fresh eggs and bacon washed down with the most delicious OJ ever! Pretty sure it was all squeezed on site, amazing! We headed into Sant Antoni to pick up some snorkeling gear for our beach day, and were greeted with our first taste of the city. No offense here, but so glad we decided to stay in the countryside for our first leg. It was gross, the city was overrun with tourist traps and foolhardy people getting their holiday on. There was a beach there, which I was surprised to find a good number of folks hanging out on. All I could think of was the fuel seeping from all the huge boats docked there, with the rainbow slick creating a swim in heaven for revelers. Enough about that, we got our gear and headed to Cala Tarida for a dunk.

Instead of hitting the main drag, we ended up walking around the cliffs and settling down among the fisherman huts, "Llauts" I think they are called but correct me if I'm wrong. It was a perfect afternoon, the snorkeling was great. We even made it over to the satellite beach for a bit. We had a sandwich, snorkeled some more and finally had our fill.







Off to Cala Llientia, and we were in for a surprise. We got lost on some dirt roads, and were finally confronted by a private security guard that was not too happy to see us. I'm sure once he spoke to us, being the sore thumb Americans that we were, he was displeased even more. I was eager to go on but that seemed like a bad idea, let's listen to the guy with the gun eh... He sent us packing to Cala Codolar. Not a bad second option if I do say so myself. The beach was good looking, and had a real nice local feel to it. There was a small chiringuito which supplied us with the beers and snacks that we need to complete the day, as well as a small diving platform that provided me some entertainment while she sun bathed. The snorkeling was pretty good too, with a nice variety of fish on left side of the cliffs. The sun was setting, as was our thirst for rest and relaxation, and we headed back to the hotel for a night out.





After cleaning up, we head to St. Gertude for dinner. What a lovely little town. It was busy, there were some street vendors, and an overall great atmosphere. We had reservations at La Plaza, which was really nice, but a little out of our comfort zone as far as restaurants are concerned. We dined on some incredible Ibecan ham and had really what was some of the best wine on our trip. A great spot but nonetheless out of our price and comfort zone. Oh well we are on our honeymoon, live it up right!

So back at Pacha, we hooked up with Soul Clap and found out they were playing the WAR closing party at Ibiza Rocks. I totally effed up and due to reading the hours incorrectly (We used the 12 hour format instead of 24 hour), we missed them! Total bummer! When we arrived it soon became apparent that we were the only Americans there. Clearly we were late to the party, it wasn't our cup of tea, and so we left looking forward to a good night of sleep with visions of the Vatican in our head.

That's it for this leg! I'll leave the Rome review for another day. Coming back to Ibiza, we have a week stay in Playa den Bossa lined up with tickets in hand for Carl Cox closing, Enter closing and Amnesia closing. Stay tuned....
 
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