Tourists feel lure of Ibiza's siren song
Balearic island `a good place to escape'
Temperate climate, abundant sunshine
Nov. 23, 2006. 01:00 AM
CLAUDIA CAPOS
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
EIVISSA, Ibiza—Many have heard the siren song of Ibiza and been drawn by its rustic charm.
Some say the island's calcite mineral deposits produce chakra, or natural energy. Others insist its temperate Mediterranean climate and abundant sunshine foster artistic creativity and a sense of free spirit.
In recent times, Ibiza, one of the Balearic Islands, has become the summer playground for boisterous European tourists and even movie celebrities, including Swiss-born Ursula Andress, the first "Bond" girl, who built a luxury retreat on a rocky precipice along the remote northern coast.
"Ibiza is a good spot to escape," said Petra, an importer from Freiburg, Germany, who has lived on the island for five years and sells carved wooden animals from Kenya each Saturday at the hippie market near Sant Carles.
"Spring is really the best time to see the island," remarked an artisan from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
"The weather is mild and the flowers are spectacular. People are also more relaxed because it is not yet high tourist season."
During our week-long stay on Ibiza, we drove along the island's serpentine roads at a leisurely pace, stopping often to photograph gnarled grapevines, lush almond groves and plodding farmers tilling the deep red soil.
We lingered at seaside restaurants for hours, sipping Rioja wine over heaping plates of seafood paella, while waiting for a dramatic view of Es Vedra rock at sunset.
The fact that many tourist restaurants, discos and girlie clubs were shuttered until May didn't bother us. Instead, we mingled with local residents at bistros and learned more about their daily lives and century-old traditions.
Home base was the Marina Palace, a low-rise condominium complex in Sant Antoni de Portmany on the western coast of Ibiza. Each day, we pointed our tiny Seat Ibiza rental car in a different direction and headed off.
Ibiza Town, also known as Eivissa, is probably the most-photographed place on the island. In 1999, it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
A medieval walled fortress crowns the hilltop high above the bustling port and shop-lined streets below. At night, the brilliantly illuminated Eivissa Cathedral can be seen from miles away
In the maritime area, giant freighters and fast-moving island ferries coming into port threw up giant wakes that rocked expensive, privately owned yachts like rubber ducks in a bathtub. Around the harbour's periphery, condominium units inched their way up the hillsides.
In contrast to the cloistered antiquity of Eivissa, Santa Eularia del Riu, a half-hour drive north along the east coast, dazzles visitors with its expansive seaside promenade and wide swath of manicured beach.
On the outskirts of town, we followed the sign to Puig de Missa and drove up a twisting road to the stately 16th-century cathedral for a bird's-eye view of the harbour and surrounding farmland.
In downtown Santa Eularia, we strolled through a busy shopping district, stopped for ice cream and strawberries at a café along the yacht-dotted marina and went people-watching on the pleasant, tree-lined central square.
Another day of exploration took us east from Sant Antoni to Santa Gertrudis and then north through fields of daisies and grazing sheep to Sant Miquel de Balansat. Just before reaching the small seaside port, we veered off along the lane to Cova de Can Marca, a 100,000-year-old cave used by smugglers in earlier times.
"Originally, the cave was only one metre high, and it took three years to dig it out and make steps," our guide told us as he led the way through impressive stands of stalactites and stalagmites.
Deep in the cave's interior, he activated a sound-and-light show, featuring a 10,000-gallon cascade of water that changed hues to the sound of music.
Among Ibiza's most captivating sights are the salt flats at Ses Salinas, which have been used to extract and trade "white gold" for 2,000 years. Rock levies divide the flats into glimmering square evaporation pools, creating a dramatic photographic image at sunset.
In the distance was an immense white mountain of harvested salt, which was being transferred into dump trucks. The salt is shipped around the world, but locals and tourists can buy bags of it in any grocery store.
Nearby, the park at Salinas Beach, which stretches for more than a mile to the ruins of an ancient stone tower, is a good place for sunbathing or a hike. (Watch out for the jellyfish.)
After a week of often-challenging driving, we gladly booked a glass-bottom boat excursion in Sant Antoni harbour for a two-hour cruise along Ibiza's northern coast to the bird-inhabited Margarita Islands. The island's dramatic stratified-rock formations and thumbnail coves kept camera shutters clicking, and the crew tossed bread into the air to attract a flock of seagulls.
Halfway through the cruise, we anchored at a rocky inlet and enjoyed an aperitif of sangria with large prawns, peanuts and crackers.
By the time the boat headed back to Sant Antoni harbour, fellow passengers, mostly retirees from the Spanish mainland, were dancing on the open deck to folk music and singing Besame Mucho.
On our final night, Richard and Florence Owen, a Welsh couple we met on Sant Antoni's town plaza, invited us to dine with them at one of their favourite family-run eateries. Restaurante Sa Soca is named after the trunk of an ancient olive tree that sits in the front yard.
"We've been coming to Ibiza for 22 years and have seen quite a few changes," said Richard, a retired doctor.
Years ago he bought a small cottage on one of Sant Antoni's residential streets, and he and Florence make several trips here annually.
At Sa Soca, Andreas and his sister, Alicia, were the hosts while mama, la jefe, or boss, manned the stove in the kitchen.
The meal started with alielo, a garlic-olive oil-egg mixture spread on fresh bread, and a bottle of El Cote wine before launching into shoulder of lamb with herbs and whole fish.
After mama's homemade cheesecake and mango sorbet, we toasted our good fortune with small glasses of the island's traditional anise-flavoured liqueur, hierbas de Ibiza.
For more information, visit http://www.ibiza-online.com or http://www.ibiza-spotlight.com
Claudia Capos is a freelance writer based in Brighton, Mich.
Balearic island `a good place to escape'
Temperate climate, abundant sunshine
Nov. 23, 2006. 01:00 AM
CLAUDIA CAPOS
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
EIVISSA, Ibiza—Many have heard the siren song of Ibiza and been drawn by its rustic charm.
Some say the island's calcite mineral deposits produce chakra, or natural energy. Others insist its temperate Mediterranean climate and abundant sunshine foster artistic creativity and a sense of free spirit.
In recent times, Ibiza, one of the Balearic Islands, has become the summer playground for boisterous European tourists and even movie celebrities, including Swiss-born Ursula Andress, the first "Bond" girl, who built a luxury retreat on a rocky precipice along the remote northern coast.
"Ibiza is a good spot to escape," said Petra, an importer from Freiburg, Germany, who has lived on the island for five years and sells carved wooden animals from Kenya each Saturday at the hippie market near Sant Carles.
"Spring is really the best time to see the island," remarked an artisan from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
"The weather is mild and the flowers are spectacular. People are also more relaxed because it is not yet high tourist season."
During our week-long stay on Ibiza, we drove along the island's serpentine roads at a leisurely pace, stopping often to photograph gnarled grapevines, lush almond groves and plodding farmers tilling the deep red soil.
We lingered at seaside restaurants for hours, sipping Rioja wine over heaping plates of seafood paella, while waiting for a dramatic view of Es Vedra rock at sunset.
The fact that many tourist restaurants, discos and girlie clubs were shuttered until May didn't bother us. Instead, we mingled with local residents at bistros and learned more about their daily lives and century-old traditions.
Home base was the Marina Palace, a low-rise condominium complex in Sant Antoni de Portmany on the western coast of Ibiza. Each day, we pointed our tiny Seat Ibiza rental car in a different direction and headed off.
Ibiza Town, also known as Eivissa, is probably the most-photographed place on the island. In 1999, it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
A medieval walled fortress crowns the hilltop high above the bustling port and shop-lined streets below. At night, the brilliantly illuminated Eivissa Cathedral can be seen from miles away
In the maritime area, giant freighters and fast-moving island ferries coming into port threw up giant wakes that rocked expensive, privately owned yachts like rubber ducks in a bathtub. Around the harbour's periphery, condominium units inched their way up the hillsides.
In contrast to the cloistered antiquity of Eivissa, Santa Eularia del Riu, a half-hour drive north along the east coast, dazzles visitors with its expansive seaside promenade and wide swath of manicured beach.
On the outskirts of town, we followed the sign to Puig de Missa and drove up a twisting road to the stately 16th-century cathedral for a bird's-eye view of the harbour and surrounding farmland.
In downtown Santa Eularia, we strolled through a busy shopping district, stopped for ice cream and strawberries at a café along the yacht-dotted marina and went people-watching on the pleasant, tree-lined central square.
Another day of exploration took us east from Sant Antoni to Santa Gertrudis and then north through fields of daisies and grazing sheep to Sant Miquel de Balansat. Just before reaching the small seaside port, we veered off along the lane to Cova de Can Marca, a 100,000-year-old cave used by smugglers in earlier times.
"Originally, the cave was only one metre high, and it took three years to dig it out and make steps," our guide told us as he led the way through impressive stands of stalactites and stalagmites.
Deep in the cave's interior, he activated a sound-and-light show, featuring a 10,000-gallon cascade of water that changed hues to the sound of music.
Among Ibiza's most captivating sights are the salt flats at Ses Salinas, which have been used to extract and trade "white gold" for 2,000 years. Rock levies divide the flats into glimmering square evaporation pools, creating a dramatic photographic image at sunset.
In the distance was an immense white mountain of harvested salt, which was being transferred into dump trucks. The salt is shipped around the world, but locals and tourists can buy bags of it in any grocery store.
Nearby, the park at Salinas Beach, which stretches for more than a mile to the ruins of an ancient stone tower, is a good place for sunbathing or a hike. (Watch out for the jellyfish.)
After a week of often-challenging driving, we gladly booked a glass-bottom boat excursion in Sant Antoni harbour for a two-hour cruise along Ibiza's northern coast to the bird-inhabited Margarita Islands. The island's dramatic stratified-rock formations and thumbnail coves kept camera shutters clicking, and the crew tossed bread into the air to attract a flock of seagulls.
Halfway through the cruise, we anchored at a rocky inlet and enjoyed an aperitif of sangria with large prawns, peanuts and crackers.
By the time the boat headed back to Sant Antoni harbour, fellow passengers, mostly retirees from the Spanish mainland, were dancing on the open deck to folk music and singing Besame Mucho.
On our final night, Richard and Florence Owen, a Welsh couple we met on Sant Antoni's town plaza, invited us to dine with them at one of their favourite family-run eateries. Restaurante Sa Soca is named after the trunk of an ancient olive tree that sits in the front yard.
"We've been coming to Ibiza for 22 years and have seen quite a few changes," said Richard, a retired doctor.
Years ago he bought a small cottage on one of Sant Antoni's residential streets, and he and Florence make several trips here annually.
At Sa Soca, Andreas and his sister, Alicia, were the hosts while mama, la jefe, or boss, manned the stove in the kitchen.
The meal started with alielo, a garlic-olive oil-egg mixture spread on fresh bread, and a bottle of El Cote wine before launching into shoulder of lamb with herbs and whole fish.
After mama's homemade cheesecake and mango sorbet, we toasted our good fortune with small glasses of the island's traditional anise-flavoured liqueur, hierbas de Ibiza.
For more information, visit http://www.ibiza-online.com or http://www.ibiza-spotlight.com
Claudia Capos is a freelance writer based in Brighton, Mich.
