ric
Well-Known Member
Normally, by this stage of the year, I would have already made my winter trip but things were delayed this year. In fact, I wasn't planning on making the trip but I soon saw sense...
SUNDAY
The trip started on a quiet Sunday morning with the usual bus trip to Dublin Airport. The journey takes around 2.5hrs or so. Plenty of time to plan what i'm going to do in Ibiza...
Arriving at Dublin Airport, I made my way through security, bought a pair of Oakley's for 140 euro and made my way to the gate. I was renting a car for the first time (in Ibiza or anywhere else for that matter) so I didn't want to turn up with the smell of drink so I didn't bother with the bar. The flight passed by quite quickly and at last, I managed to pick my seat on the side of the plane that got the views whilst flying down the east coast of Ibiza.
Touchdown was greeted with cheers and claps as usual, for Ryanair at least. I'm still to come across this on another airline?!???!!?
Stepping onto the runway into the warm evening air felt great! I was home!!!!!!!!
As usual, I only had hand luggage so I was outside within a few minutes. Well, once I had witnessed two guys who were on the plane being marched off in handcuffs!! Summer is over before it's even began for those two!! Anyway, time to check-in on Facebook! Let's be honest, this is done just to rub it in..
Plus the fact that no-one knew I was actually going. One minute I'm on a bus going somewhere and the next minute I'm outside Ibiza Airport.
Now, to find the area I get picked up at for the shuttlebus to BK Rent A Car. This took longer than expected so my plan of seeing sunset at Benirras with the hippies was out the window. It was already past 8pm...
Eventually, the shuttlebus arrived. Not BK's, but Goldcars. The guy gave me a lift anyway as he had no passengers waiting. Less than 20 minutes later and I was sitting in my car for the trip, a dark blue Opel Corsa 1.2L petrol. First thing's first, locate Ibiza Sonica on the radio. This took 5 minutes. Next up was a quick circle of the car park to get used to the clutch etc etc and then it was out on the road.
In my state of excitement I had forgotten to check for where the lights were. I realised this as I approached San Rafael!! Time to get off the motorway!! It then took another 10 minutes or so, driving down country roads, before I managed to work out how to turn the lights on. Benirras was not happening tonight!!! To San Antonio then.....
I was worried about being able to find somewhere to park but the street behind the football ground (behind Tarba) was perfect. Arrived at Tarba, checked in and went out for a quick look around before calling it a night (i'd been up since 6am).
MONDAY
Up early and out in the car to Sa Talaia for some photos and take in the spectacular views.
Next up, Es Vedra!!!!
As usual, a few hours were spent lying by the edge of the cliff looking out to Es Vedra before taking some more Es Vedra related photos... About 5 minutes after i took this I nearly rolled the car off the cliff as it stalled on the hill and I panicked, before quickly turning to the right and over part of that bush! For a split second I thought about jumping out of the car but then I thought that BK would be seriously unimpressed if their nice Corsa was last seen floating out to Es Vedra....
I had to go back to San Antonio for a bit to pick up some money, water and a beer for the sunset and then it was back to Es Vedra for the sunset. There were a few people here by this stage but it was by no means packed. There were plenty of areas to enjoy your own personal sunset. I decided to make the climb up the Torre Des Savinar to get my sunset experience rolling...
TUESDAY
Up early once again and out to Sunset Ashram to test the water.... Spare shorts and towel at the ready!!
As you can see from the picture, it was already nice and warm by mid-morning...
The water was ok... Not too cold but not too warm. I wanted to go further out but as the water approached the surrounding parts of the upper leg/waist area it was clear that it wasn't going to happen!
It wasn't long though before I was off on my travels down the south coast again. I dumped the car in the car park at Cala Tarida and went off exploring. Walking around the perimeter of the rundown Hotel Club Cala Tarida (I think that's what it was called), I found some great graffiti tags, hidden stairways and fishermen's huts.
I was getting hungry by this stage so there was only one thing for it... Es Boldado!!!
On the way though, I picked up a hitchhiker on her way to Cala Vadella. She was from Spain and from what I understood (which wasn't much) she was called Tepo (or something similar). She was squatting in a villa high up in Cala Vadella with her 7yr old daughter and some others apparently. The conversation wasn't really going anywhere apart from verbal nods and her pointing directions to me whilst giving me sips of her beer. We arrived at her destination, there was a quick kiss on the cheek goodbye. She asked my name, to which i said "Ric". She misunderstood, pointed at the red plastic part of the seatbelt clasp and said "red??"
I agreed (it was easier that way) and made off on my merry way to Es Boldado as I was now starving by this stage.
Approaching Es Boldado at the bottom of the dirt road it dawned on me that I'd forgotten to take more money out and I knew that they didn't accept Visa. Disappointed, I took my seat at one of the tables outside and waited for the menu to appear to see what i could afford with the cash I had with me. I needn't have worried as the waiter said Visa was fine so this was the result....
At the table behind me there were some people from England there, talking loudly about how many properties they have, how much they cost and generally making me feel like a tramp as I sat there with my burnt head, counting my cents. So I made off again. I had only finished the meal about 25 minutes but was starting to need to toilet.. BAD!! There was a rush back to San Antonio to use the toilet, freshen up a bit and then head over to Ibiza Town to check out the marina area.
One of the cruise ships was in... HUGE!!!!!
As sunset approached I found my space for the sunset experience...
WEDNESDAY
Up early today for my last full day and it was going to be a busy one!!!! First on the agenda was heading down to Cala d'Hort for a few more Es Vedra photos....
I love the colour patterns of the rocks underwater here! 8)
Once again, on the way to Es Vedra I picked up another hitchhiker. This one could speak English although she was Argentinian but had been living in Ibiza for about 3yrs and in New York and Russia before that. I think her name was Palermo or something similar. Stunning blonde!!!! She was also a squatter in a villa in Cala Vadella, not the same villa as yesterday though... She told me that her and her friend actually have the permission of the construction company as they see it as some kind of security for the unfinished villa. Apparently all construction in Ibiza has to be completed by June each year so as not to bother the tourists so if they don't turn up by then she knows she has it for another summer!! She also said there's water but no electric... Sounds ok to me!! There seems to be a lot of squatters in Ibiza by the sounds of it...
Next up was visiting Atlantis for the first time! I made the short drive up the road and had to literally stop the car in the middle of the road, get out and run back down the road, with the engine still running and the door wide open, to take this...
Back in the car again and up to the make-shift car park. I met a couple of other people (possibly Italian) who asked me if I knew the way to Atlantis to which, for some reason, I said I did as I had been there a few times...
So they followed me as I guessed my way down the cliff paths. To the right of us we would look up at the cliff-face and see a climber halfway up, getting instructions yelled at him by his friends underneath.
As we ventured on down to Atlantis I became separated from the Italians as they were too slow. Or maybe it was the fact that I was practically running full speed down the sand dunes to the bottom. Arriving at the bottom I met two English hippies who were sitting outside their tent enjoying a smoke and the view.
Hippies and their tent can be seen here....
They congratulated me on making it down in one piece and offered me a smoke but I decided against it as I was driving. The next hour or so was spent climbing the rocks at the bottom, getting different viewpoints, taking photos, enjoying a quiet period of reflection whilst looking out to sea and even leaving my own mark amongst the many pieces of stone artwork...
and finally my small effort which is hopefully there for years to come...
Now, the hippies warned me about the climb back up but nothing prepared me for the sand section!!!!
3 steps up, 2 steps back comes to mind!! I just kept on sliding back down... I was shattered by the time I got to the top! I actually passed the Italians on the way up as they had veered off course and were busy standing looking around for clues for their escape BUT they had left about 30 minutes before I did!!!!
At the top I came across more stone artwork...
Anyway, I made it back to the car and drove off round the rest of the south coast, all the way down to Ses Salinas and then back up through Ibiza Town and out to Es Canar for my first visit to the Hippie Market....
Disappointed is not the word!!!!! Not because I was charged 3.50 euro to park in a forest.. I don't mind that. The severe disappointment was that, despite this being a "hippy market", there was not one single Es Vedra related item there!!!!! I had taken 100 euro with me specially in the hope of getting something!! Maybe a sculpture, a carved wooden replica or a framed or unframed picture!! I would even have paid extra if I had to check-in a framed picture on the flight home but.... NOTHING!! Now, when a market, supposedly ran by "hippies" doesn't have a single Es Vedra related item for sale there has to be something wrong there... So i left with my money...
Heading further up the coast to the north the wind was starting to pick up and clouds were approaching. I stopped of at places such as San Carlos, Es Figuerel, Cala San Vincente...
I found this bizarre place off the road between Portinatx and Cala San Vincete...
Maybe McRackin or someone else can explain what it is and why there is, amongst other things, a washing machine in a fenced off cave, half way up a mountain, in the middle of nowhere.....
Another new place I found was Cala D'en Serra and it's unfinished hotel...
Time wasn't on my side now so I sped off round the coast to Portinatx, strategically parked the car in the car park and set off through the bushes on the short (or so I thought) walk to the lighthouse. It turned out to be a lot further away than I first thought but eventually I made it there...
The walk back along the cliff edge shows that the weather was starting to deteriorate...
Although, even with the promise of bad weather, Ibiza is still a beautiful place!!!!! No amount of wind or rain is going to stop me from enjoying myself!! 8)
After another quick journey I found myself at the bottom of the steep dirt road that brings you onto the small rocky beach by the $40,000,000 Isla De Ferradura private island. Anyone who has driven down this track will know that it's quite hard on the car. My Corsa was starting to bare the brunt of the potholes and dust. There was so much dust on the back window that when I got out of the car it actually felt like there was an extra few hours daylight!!
I made my way slowly back up the track until I came to the path leading up to the watchtower that looks out over to Benirras..
I took the below panorama from the top of the watchtower..
Here's a shot of the rock at Benirras as well....
The watchtower in all it's glory with Benirras in the background!!
In my rush to get round to Benirras for the final sunset experience of the trip I almost forgot there were 2 floors to the tower when coming down from the roof. I opened the door and went to step outside and realised just in time...
I got there just after the sun had set but still got some great shots which were made better with the clouds.
The journey back to San Antonio was taken slowly as it was dark and I wasn't going to be speeding about in a car i wasn't really used to. I drive a Seat Leon FR back home and it's the only car i've driven so having brakes that don't work too well, a rear view mirror that dazzles you when cars are behind and a gear stick on the wrong side (lots of grabbing my water bottle in the car door compartment instead of the gear stick) meant that it was slow, slow, slow when this dark.
THURSDAY
I was up at about 10am or so, said my goodbyes to the people at Tarba and told them i'd probably be back in a few months (it's going to be slightly sooner than that as i've booked for 2 weeks time for the opening parties) and drove off to Ibiza Town in the pouring rain!! Very bad rain!! Lightening storms etc... Some guy in the lane next to me on the motorway calling me all sorts and giving me the fingers, presumably because I was doing 100km/h in rain that bad. It was the speed limit but then again, maybe it was a bit too fast for the conditions. I was in control but I decided to ease off as there was no real rush and the guy was starting to bore me with his Rambo routine...
I got to Ibiza and luckily got a space outside Montesol with little fuss. I had read on here a few weeks ago about how to work the ticket machines to get your ticket and I had retyped the notes into my phone so I used those to get my ticket and took a quick walk about...
SUNDAY
The trip started on a quiet Sunday morning with the usual bus trip to Dublin Airport. The journey takes around 2.5hrs or so. Plenty of time to plan what i'm going to do in Ibiza...
Arriving at Dublin Airport, I made my way through security, bought a pair of Oakley's for 140 euro and made my way to the gate. I was renting a car for the first time (in Ibiza or anywhere else for that matter) so I didn't want to turn up with the smell of drink so I didn't bother with the bar. The flight passed by quite quickly and at last, I managed to pick my seat on the side of the plane that got the views whilst flying down the east coast of Ibiza.
Touchdown was greeted with cheers and claps as usual, for Ryanair at least. I'm still to come across this on another airline?!???!!?
Stepping onto the runway into the warm evening air felt great! I was home!!!!!!!!
As usual, I only had hand luggage so I was outside within a few minutes. Well, once I had witnessed two guys who were on the plane being marched off in handcuffs!! Summer is over before it's even began for those two!! Anyway, time to check-in on Facebook! Let's be honest, this is done just to rub it in..
Plus the fact that no-one knew I was actually going. One minute I'm on a bus going somewhere and the next minute I'm outside Ibiza Airport. Now, to find the area I get picked up at for the shuttlebus to BK Rent A Car. This took longer than expected so my plan of seeing sunset at Benirras with the hippies was out the window. It was already past 8pm...
Eventually, the shuttlebus arrived. Not BK's, but Goldcars. The guy gave me a lift anyway as he had no passengers waiting. Less than 20 minutes later and I was sitting in my car for the trip, a dark blue Opel Corsa 1.2L petrol. First thing's first, locate Ibiza Sonica on the radio. This took 5 minutes. Next up was a quick circle of the car park to get used to the clutch etc etc and then it was out on the road.
In my state of excitement I had forgotten to check for where the lights were. I realised this as I approached San Rafael!!
Time to get off the motorway!! It then took another 10 minutes or so, driving down country roads, before I managed to work out how to turn the lights on. Benirras was not happening tonight!!! To San Antonio then.....I was worried about being able to find somewhere to park but the street behind the football ground (behind Tarba) was perfect. Arrived at Tarba, checked in and went out for a quick look around before calling it a night (i'd been up since 6am).
MONDAY
Up early and out in the car to Sa Talaia for some photos and take in the spectacular views.
Next up, Es Vedra!!!!
As usual, a few hours were spent lying by the edge of the cliff looking out to Es Vedra before taking some more Es Vedra related photos... About 5 minutes after i took this I nearly rolled the car off the cliff as it stalled on the hill and I panicked, before quickly turning to the right and over part of that bush! For a split second I thought about jumping out of the car but then I thought that BK would be seriously unimpressed if their nice Corsa was last seen floating out to Es Vedra....
I had to go back to San Antonio for a bit to pick up some money, water and a beer for the sunset and then it was back to Es Vedra for the sunset. There were a few people here by this stage but it was by no means packed. There were plenty of areas to enjoy your own personal sunset. I decided to make the climb up the Torre Des Savinar to get my sunset experience rolling...
TUESDAY
Up early once again and out to Sunset Ashram to test the water.... Spare shorts and towel at the ready!!
As you can see from the picture, it was already nice and warm by mid-morning...
The water was ok... Not too cold but not too warm. I wanted to go further out but as the water approached the surrounding parts of the upper leg/waist area it was clear that it wasn't going to happen!
It wasn't long though before I was off on my travels down the south coast again. I dumped the car in the car park at Cala Tarida and went off exploring. Walking around the perimeter of the rundown Hotel Club Cala Tarida (I think that's what it was called), I found some great graffiti tags, hidden stairways and fishermen's huts.
I was getting hungry by this stage so there was only one thing for it... Es Boldado!!!
On the way though, I picked up a hitchhiker on her way to Cala Vadella. She was from Spain and from what I understood (which wasn't much) she was called Tepo (or something similar). She was squatting in a villa high up in Cala Vadella with her 7yr old daughter and some others apparently. The conversation wasn't really going anywhere apart from verbal nods and her pointing directions to me whilst giving me sips of her beer. We arrived at her destination, there was a quick kiss on the cheek goodbye. She asked my name, to which i said "Ric". She misunderstood, pointed at the red plastic part of the seatbelt clasp and said "red??"
I agreed (it was easier that way) and made off on my merry way to Es Boldado as I was now starving by this stage.
Approaching Es Boldado at the bottom of the dirt road it dawned on me that I'd forgotten to take more money out and I knew that they didn't accept Visa. Disappointed, I took my seat at one of the tables outside and waited for the menu to appear to see what i could afford with the cash I had with me. I needn't have worried as the waiter said Visa was fine so this was the result....
At the table behind me there were some people from England there, talking loudly about how many properties they have, how much they cost and generally making me feel like a tramp as I sat there with my burnt head, counting my cents. So I made off again. I had only finished the meal about 25 minutes but was starting to need to toilet.. BAD!! There was a rush back to San Antonio to use the toilet, freshen up a bit and then head over to Ibiza Town to check out the marina area.
One of the cruise ships was in... HUGE!!!!!
As sunset approached I found my space for the sunset experience...
WEDNESDAY
Up early today for my last full day and it was going to be a busy one!!!! First on the agenda was heading down to Cala d'Hort for a few more Es Vedra photos....
I love the colour patterns of the rocks underwater here! 8)
Once again, on the way to Es Vedra I picked up another hitchhiker. This one could speak English although she was Argentinian but had been living in Ibiza for about 3yrs and in New York and Russia before that. I think her name was Palermo or something similar. Stunning blonde!!!! She was also a squatter in a villa in Cala Vadella, not the same villa as yesterday though... She told me that her and her friend actually have the permission of the construction company as they see it as some kind of security for the unfinished villa. Apparently all construction in Ibiza has to be completed by June each year so as not to bother the tourists so if they don't turn up by then she knows she has it for another summer!! She also said there's water but no electric... Sounds ok to me!! There seems to be a lot of squatters in Ibiza by the sounds of it...
Next up was visiting Atlantis for the first time! I made the short drive up the road and had to literally stop the car in the middle of the road, get out and run back down the road, with the engine still running and the door wide open, to take this...
Back in the car again and up to the make-shift car park. I met a couple of other people (possibly Italian) who asked me if I knew the way to Atlantis to which, for some reason, I said I did as I had been there a few times...
So they followed me as I guessed my way down the cliff paths. To the right of us we would look up at the cliff-face and see a climber halfway up, getting instructions yelled at him by his friends underneath.
As we ventured on down to Atlantis I became separated from the Italians as they were too slow. Or maybe it was the fact that I was practically running full speed down the sand dunes to the bottom. Arriving at the bottom I met two English hippies who were sitting outside their tent enjoying a smoke and the view.
Hippies and their tent can be seen here....
They congratulated me on making it down in one piece and offered me a smoke but I decided against it as I was driving. The next hour or so was spent climbing the rocks at the bottom, getting different viewpoints, taking photos, enjoying a quiet period of reflection whilst looking out to sea and even leaving my own mark amongst the many pieces of stone artwork...
and finally my small effort which is hopefully there for years to come...
Now, the hippies warned me about the climb back up but nothing prepared me for the sand section!!!!
3 steps up, 2 steps back comes to mind!! I just kept on sliding back down... I was shattered by the time I got to the top! I actually passed the Italians on the way up as they had veered off course and were busy standing looking around for clues for their escape BUT they had left about 30 minutes before I did!!!!
At the top I came across more stone artwork...
Anyway, I made it back to the car and drove off round the rest of the south coast, all the way down to Ses Salinas and then back up through Ibiza Town and out to Es Canar for my first visit to the Hippie Market....
Disappointed is not the word!!!!!
Not because I was charged 3.50 euro to park in a forest.. I don't mind that. The severe disappointment was that, despite this being a "hippy market", there was not one single Es Vedra related item there!!!!! I had taken 100 euro with me specially in the hope of getting something!! Maybe a sculpture, a carved wooden replica or a framed or unframed picture!! I would even have paid extra if I had to check-in a framed picture on the flight home but.... NOTHING!! Now, when a market, supposedly ran by "hippies" doesn't have a single Es Vedra related item for sale there has to be something wrong there... So i left with my money... Heading further up the coast to the north the wind was starting to pick up and clouds were approaching. I stopped of at places such as San Carlos, Es Figuerel, Cala San Vincente...
I found this bizarre place off the road between Portinatx and Cala San Vincete...
Maybe McRackin or someone else can explain what it is and why there is, amongst other things, a washing machine in a fenced off cave, half way up a mountain, in the middle of nowhere.....
Another new place I found was Cala D'en Serra and it's unfinished hotel...
Time wasn't on my side now so I sped off round the coast to Portinatx, strategically parked the car in the car park and set off through the bushes on the short (or so I thought) walk to the lighthouse. It turned out to be a lot further away than I first thought but eventually I made it there...
The walk back along the cliff edge shows that the weather was starting to deteriorate...
Although, even with the promise of bad weather, Ibiza is still a beautiful place!!!!! No amount of wind or rain is going to stop me from enjoying myself!! 8)
After another quick journey I found myself at the bottom of the steep dirt road that brings you onto the small rocky beach by the $40,000,000 Isla De Ferradura private island. Anyone who has driven down this track will know that it's quite hard on the car. My Corsa was starting to bare the brunt of the potholes and dust. There was so much dust on the back window that when I got out of the car it actually felt like there was an extra few hours daylight!!
I made my way slowly back up the track until I came to the path leading up to the watchtower that looks out over to Benirras..
I took the below panorama from the top of the watchtower..
Here's a shot of the rock at Benirras as well....
The watchtower in all it's glory with Benirras in the background!!
In my rush to get round to Benirras for the final sunset experience of the trip I almost forgot there were 2 floors to the tower when coming down from the roof. I opened the door and went to step outside and realised just in time...
I got there just after the sun had set but still got some great shots which were made better with the clouds.
The journey back to San Antonio was taken slowly as it was dark and I wasn't going to be speeding about in a car i wasn't really used to. I drive a Seat Leon FR back home and it's the only car i've driven so having brakes that don't work too well, a rear view mirror that dazzles you when cars are behind and a gear stick on the wrong side (lots of grabbing my water bottle in the car door compartment instead of the gear stick) meant that it was slow, slow, slow when this dark.
THURSDAY
I was up at about 10am or so, said my goodbyes to the people at Tarba and told them i'd probably be back in a few months (it's going to be slightly sooner than that as i've booked for 2 weeks time for the opening parties) and drove off to Ibiza Town in the pouring rain!! Very bad rain!! Lightening storms etc... Some guy in the lane next to me on the motorway calling me all sorts and giving me the fingers, presumably because I was doing 100km/h in rain that bad. It was the speed limit but then again, maybe it was a bit too fast for the conditions. I was in control but I decided to ease off as there was no real rush and the guy was starting to bore me with his Rambo routine...
I got to Ibiza and luckily got a space outside Montesol with little fuss. I had read on here a few weeks ago about how to work the ticket machines to get your ticket and I had retyped the notes into my phone so I used those to get my ticket and took a quick walk about...
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