When we booked our latest Ibiza hols we'd already decided that this was going to be a more 'grown-up' and civilised affair to celebrate our first wedding anniversary, however since we booked it's seemed to have been stooopid new law after stooopid new anti-fun law which made our attempts at grown-up-ness much easier......so here goes with Babs doing 'grown-up' in Ibiza.
Because of all the changes in clubbing and rumours from the island altho we were excited about Ibiza I admit that there wasn't the usual heightened levels of eek-ness but we were going with an open mind and seeing what happened......... We had our usual early pick-up and taxi to Gatwick, sprint round duty free and a couple of spritzers and then boarded the 8am flight. Nice uneventful flight to Ibiza and landed to glorious sunshine late morning - there'd been talk that the weather hadn't been as good as recent years but the sun shone from the moment we landed
Tom went to pick up the free car courtesy of Mr Airmiles and they upgraded him which was a result (I know nothing about cars but Tom was a happy bunny with his new toy 
). We drove to Talamanca where we were staying in a private apartment. The apartment was perfecty situated next to Keeper Bar and overlooking the harbour with lovely balcony, fancy bathroom and kitchen, nice living area and bedroom so we were both pleased with our home for the next week. Quickly unpacked and then Tom can't function in Ibiza til he has his first Passion smoothie so we headed over to PDB and caught up with Lena the owner and had a few wines/smoothies. One thing we both noticed is how quiet the streets of PDB were, normally whatever time of day you sit in Passion there's always people passing enroute to/from Space but with the stoopid new no daytime clubbing laws the streets were deserted and the whole resort seemed a bit more 'normal' Had a quick walk down the beach to see what was going on at Bora Bora (a lot of people on the beach but as it was only about 4pm then there was no music - again everything seems just a bit dare I say it 'normal').
Headed back to the apartment, went out to watch a bit of football and then walked round the bay in Talamanca where we had a table booked at Sa Punta. As always Sa Punta didn't disappoint - salmon spring rolls to start, seabass for me, ravioli for Tom and a bottle of wine and couple of Amarettos. Had a leisurely walk back to the apartment and sat up drinking baileys on the balcony for a couple of hours.
Woke up on Sunday wondering how does one spend a Sunday daytime in Ibiza now that Space doesn't open til later Our usual routine is up mid-morning, get ready, Passion for midday for pre-Space drinks and then head into Space early afternoon, but as we weren't planning to get to Space til late afternoon/early evening did a bit of sunbathing round the pool, got the required deliveries and then headed over to PDB mid-afternoon for wines/smoothies. We headed across the Space carpark a bit before 6pm and there was no queue, the Sunset Terrace was fairly busy and quickly got busier and busier. For me personally the main thing I've always loved about Ibiza is daytime clubbing so I did feel a bit cheated out of a good few hours on the Sunset Terrace (and will probably notice it even more in September when it gets darker earlier). Nevertheless we both thought the Sunset Terrace was fantastic - Jonathan Ulysses still is the Daddy of the Terrace imo, Jason Bye was fab and Tom Novy closed it in style-eeee with Love is in the Air (our wedding song from last year so that was very nice of him to play that for us ). There seems to be a lot of new remixes round of old stuff and it was the Sunset Terrace at it's best We then headed onto the new terrace and Paul Woolford was in the middle of good set shocker and was going down a treat, after him was Ben Watt but he seemed flat compared to Woolford so we quickly used our passouts to run down to Tantra to top up my wine levels. Got back into Space and saw the end of DJ Pierre (excellent), start of Felix (fab as always) and then onto the new terrace for 2ManyDJs who I just love and perfect music to end the Space sesh off with. As We Love....sesh's go we both gave it a 10/10 - yes I missed the daytime clubbing but the 12 hours we were in there couldn't be faulted
Monday was our Ibiza wedding anniversary so we headed down to Es Codolar beach and Cap Des Falco where we got married and had a few drinks down there soaking up the stunning views and then had dinner in the restaurant - buffalo mozarella to start, prawns for me and steak the size of half a cow for Tom
Definitely my fave restaurant in Ibiza and a must-do every trip now.
Tuesday we started off with breakfast in the Croissant Show and then drove up to Atzaro where we'd booked a day at the spa there - wow what an amazing place, set in the countryside, it's a complete oasis of calm and luxury We spent the morning in the pool and jacuzzi and then I had a 60 minute facial booked and Tom had a 90 minute Thai massage booked - never have I felt so chilled in Ibiza. Absolutely recommend the place for a special occasion, we finished off with a late lunch by the pool and some sunbathing there. Tuesday night we headed to Cala Jondal for a few drinks at Blue Marlin and then had dinner in the restaurant there (pumpkin ravioli for me and tuna for Tom). Again really good food and vino
Wednesday we got up early and walked round to the harbour to get the boat to Formentera and then did our usual (FLS) trick of getting a taxi to Platja Migjorn and the Blue Bar. I love this beach so much, it was deserted and we didn't see another person for hours. We spent the morning swimming, sunbathing, reading and chilling - absolutely heavenly. Then had lunch and a few drinks in the Blue Bar, bit more sunbathing and then got the boat back at 6pm. We'd been undecided about where to go clubbing for another night, as we were so close to Pacha it would have been rude not to pop in but none of the choices were particularly inspiring (Defected attracts the monkeys and Guetta is a monkey ) so in the end we opted for Subliminal. Now I used to LOVE Erick and stalk him round the country but I'd not been to Subliminal @ Pacha since maybe 2002/03 so wasn't sure what to expect. We had dinner booked in the Pacha restaurant at 11pm and had a gorgeous meal of lots of sushi to start, prawn salad for me and some chicken 'thing' for Tom. You really can't fault the food and service in the restaurant and it's such a nice way to start the evening and including drinks (good bottle of wine and Amarettos) the bill came to not much more than 100 euros (a 'bargain' when a vodka drink in the club is now a price 15 euros ). We sat upstairs on the terrace and had a couple of drinks and then went downstairs where 2 young pups were DJing (the Martinez Brothers I think). We were really impressed with them (very Subliminal-y) and then Erick came on at about 3am, well any doubts I'd had about the night quickly disappeared and Erick was just fab - even Tom who's not normally complimentary about Erick (w@nker is the term he normally uses to describe him ) was really impressed, it was one of the best nights I've had in Pacha for a long while and I'd definitely think about going back to Subliminal in September. At 7am on the dot Security went into the DJ booth to tell Erick his time was up, now I guess you don't tell Mr Morillo what to do cos Erick went to punch the Security I literally couldn't believe what I was seeing He played a couple more records and then finished with EBTG - Missing but it was abruptly stopped half way thru when Erick thanked everyone and said he'd like to carry on playing but 'they'll break my legs' It appears that it's not just clubbers who don't like these new laws. We left and again it's times like this that you really notice the no daytime clubbing laws as there's always people outside the clubs handing out free/discounted wristbands for Space and you accidentally end up popping into Space, now when the clubs shut it does feel a bit like 'that's it folks' - fortunately I'm very resourceful and can make my own minxiness but I do miss the official aftershow option now it's been taken from us
Thursday was a bit of a lost day and at night we just popped out to a few bars in Talamanca to watch the football at night and then went to the Croissant Show to get some take aways.
Friday we walked down to Talamanca beach and had a day sunbathing there and lunch at the pizza place. At night we drove over to Khumaras for sunset - I don't think I've ever seen Khumaras so busy to the point it even felt a bit Mambo-ish with the clapping monkeys It was an absolutely beautiful sunset tho and a lovely way to spend our last night in Ibiza. We then went to eat in the Khumaras restaurant - turbot for me and some pork 'thing' (as you can tell I don't know much about meat ) for Tom and icecreams.
Our flight back was on Saturday afternoon so we left the apartment and went for a farewell breakfast/smoothies/wines at Passion and caught up with some friends who'd just arrived and then made the final trip back to the airport and a final adios and then back home to our doggies which always makes coming home from a holiday a lot more bearable
So in summary the holiday was just fantastic, before we went I was a bit indifferent about Ibiza this year especially with all the changes going on but as we hadn't planned a great deal of clubbing they didn't really affect us as much as they normally would and the two clubbing nights we did go to were up there with the best. I do feel that the island has lost a bit of the 'magic' about it and at times you do feel like you could be in any resort in the Med especially in the daytime but there's still a lot to love about Ibiza
Will we be back - well we've got 10 days booked in September and then we shall review the situation............
Because of all the changes in clubbing and rumours from the island altho we were excited about Ibiza I admit that there wasn't the usual heightened levels of eek-ness but we were going with an open mind and seeing what happened......... We had our usual early pick-up and taxi to Gatwick, sprint round duty free and a couple of spritzers and then boarded the 8am flight. Nice uneventful flight to Ibiza and landed to glorious sunshine late morning - there'd been talk that the weather hadn't been as good as recent years but the sun shone from the moment we landed
Tom went to pick up the free car courtesy of Mr Airmiles and they upgraded him which was a result (I know nothing about cars but Tom was a happy bunny with his new toy ). We drove to Talamanca where we were staying in a private apartment. The apartment was perfecty situated next to Keeper Bar and overlooking the harbour with lovely balcony, fancy bathroom and kitchen, nice living area and bedroom so we were both pleased with our home for the next week. Quickly unpacked and then Tom can't function in Ibiza til he has his first Passion smoothie so we headed over to PDB and caught up with Lena the owner and had a few wines/smoothies. One thing we both noticed is how quiet the streets of PDB were, normally whatever time of day you sit in Passion there's always people passing enroute to/from Space but with the stoopid new no daytime clubbing laws the streets were deserted and the whole resort seemed a bit more 'normal' Had a quick walk down the beach to see what was going on at Bora Bora (a lot of people on the beach but as it was only about 4pm then there was no music - again everything seems just a bit dare I say it 'normal').Headed back to the apartment, went out to watch a bit of football and then walked round the bay in Talamanca where we had a table booked at Sa Punta. As always Sa Punta didn't disappoint - salmon spring rolls to start, seabass for me, ravioli for Tom and a bottle of wine and couple of Amarettos. Had a leisurely walk back to the apartment and sat up drinking baileys on the balcony for a couple of hours.
Woke up on Sunday wondering how does one spend a Sunday daytime in Ibiza now that Space doesn't open til later
Our usual routine is up mid-morning, get ready, Passion for midday for pre-Space drinks and then head into Space early afternoon, but as we weren't planning to get to Space til late afternoon/early evening did a bit of sunbathing round the pool, got the required deliveries and then headed over to PDB mid-afternoon for wines/smoothies. We headed across the Space carpark a bit before 6pm and there was no queue, the Sunset Terrace was fairly busy and quickly got busier and busier. For me personally the main thing I've always loved about Ibiza is daytime clubbing so I did feel a bit cheated out of a good few hours on the Sunset Terrace (and will probably notice it even more in September when it gets darker earlier). Nevertheless we both thought the Sunset Terrace was fantastic - Jonathan Ulysses still is the Daddy of the Terrace imo, Jason Bye was fab and Tom Novy closed it in style-eeee with Love is in the Air (our wedding song from last year so that was very nice of him to play that for us ). There seems to be a lot of new remixes round of old stuff and it was the Sunset Terrace at it's best We then headed onto the new terrace and Paul Woolford was in the middle of good set shocker and was going down a treat, after him was Ben Watt but he seemed flat compared to Woolford so we quickly used our passouts to run down to Tantra to top up my wine levels. Got back into Space and saw the end of DJ Pierre (excellent), start of Felix (fab as always) and then onto the new terrace for 2ManyDJs who I just love and perfect music to end the Space sesh off with. As We Love....sesh's go we both gave it a 10/10 - yes I missed the daytime clubbing but the 12 hours we were in there couldn't be faulted Monday was our Ibiza wedding anniversary so we headed down to Es Codolar beach and Cap Des Falco where we got married and had a few drinks down there soaking up the stunning views and then had dinner in the restaurant - buffalo mozarella to start, prawns for me and steak the size of half a cow for Tom
Definitely my fave restaurant in Ibiza and a must-do every trip now.Tuesday we started off with breakfast in the Croissant Show and then drove up to Atzaro where we'd booked a day at the spa there - wow what an amazing place, set in the countryside, it's a complete oasis of calm and luxury
We spent the morning in the pool and jacuzzi and then I had a 60 minute facial booked and Tom had a 90 minute Thai massage booked - never have I felt so chilled in Ibiza. Absolutely recommend the place for a special occasion, we finished off with a late lunch by the pool and some sunbathing there. Tuesday night we headed to Cala Jondal for a few drinks at Blue Marlin and then had dinner in the restaurant there (pumpkin ravioli for me and tuna for Tom). Again really good food and vino Wednesday we got up early and walked round to the harbour to get the boat to Formentera and then did our usual (FLS
) trick of getting a taxi to Platja Migjorn and the Blue Bar. I love this beach so much, it was deserted and we didn't see another person for hours. We spent the morning swimming, sunbathing, reading and chilling - absolutely heavenly. Then had lunch and a few drinks in the Blue Bar, bit more sunbathing and then got the boat back at 6pm. We'd been undecided about where to go clubbing for another night, as we were so close to Pacha it would have been rude not to pop in but none of the choices were particularly inspiring (Defected attracts the monkeys and Guetta is a monkey ) so in the end we opted for Subliminal. Now I used to LOVE Erick and stalk him round the country but I'd not been to Subliminal @ Pacha since maybe 2002/03 so wasn't sure what to expect. We had dinner booked in the Pacha restaurant at 11pm and had a gorgeous meal of lots of sushi to start, prawn salad for me and some chicken 'thing' for Tom. You really can't fault the food and service in the restaurant and it's such a nice way to start the evening and including drinks (good bottle of wine and Amarettos) the bill came to not much more than 100 euros (a 'bargain' when a vodka drink in the club is now a price 15 euros ). We sat upstairs on the terrace and had a couple of drinks and then went downstairs where 2 young pups were DJing (the Martinez Brothers I think). We were really impressed with them (very Subliminal-y) and then Erick came on at about 3am, well any doubts I'd had about the night quickly disappeared and Erick was just fab - even Tom who's not normally complimentary about Erick (w@nker is the term he normally uses to describe him ) was really impressed, it was one of the best nights I've had in Pacha for a long while and I'd definitely think about going back to Subliminal in September. At 7am on the dot Security went into the DJ booth to tell Erick his time was up, now I guess you don't tell Mr Morillo what to do cos Erick went to punch the Security I literally couldn't believe what I was seeing He played a couple more records and then finished with EBTG - Missing but it was abruptly stopped half way thru when Erick thanked everyone and said he'd like to carry on playing but 'they'll break my legs' It appears that it's not just clubbers who don't like these new laws. We left and again it's times like this that you really notice the no daytime clubbing laws as there's always people outside the clubs handing out free/discounted wristbands for Space and you accidentally end up popping into Space, now when the clubs shut it does feel a bit like 'that's it folks' - fortunately I'm very resourceful and can make my own minxiness but I do miss the official aftershow option now it's been taken from us Thursday was a bit of a lost day and at night we just popped out to a few bars in Talamanca to watch the football at night and then went to the Croissant Show to get some take aways.
Friday we walked down to Talamanca beach and had a day sunbathing there and lunch at the pizza place. At night we drove over to Khumaras for sunset - I don't think I've ever seen Khumaras so busy to the point it even felt a bit Mambo-ish with the clapping monkeys
It was an absolutely beautiful sunset tho and a lovely way to spend our last night in Ibiza. We then went to eat in the Khumaras restaurant - turbot for me and some pork 'thing' (as you can tell I don't know much about meat ) for Tom and icecreams. Our flight back was on Saturday afternoon so we left the apartment and went for a farewell breakfast/smoothies/wines at Passion and caught up with some friends who'd just arrived and then made the final trip back to the airport and a final adios and then back home to our doggies which always makes coming home from a holiday a lot more bearable
So in summary the holiday was just fantastic, before we went I was a bit indifferent about Ibiza this year especially with all the changes going on but as we hadn't planned a great deal of clubbing they didn't really affect us as much as they normally would and the two clubbing nights we did go to were up there with the best. I do feel that the island has lost a bit of the 'magic' about it and at times you do feel like you could be in any resort in the Med especially in the daytime but there's still a lot to love about Ibiza
Will we be back - well we've got 10 days booked in September and then we shall review the situation............
