WeLuvIbiza
Active Member
Shelley and I were late discovering Ibiza, our first trip was not until 2001 but the love affair was one of first sight. We have been back as often as possible ever since, this year was the first visit with our son (Harvey) aged 2, we also invited the In-Laws! Only one clubbing night was had and no tune ids are included as we are out of touch with the whole dance thing and the ones that I know are probably not the ones I thought they were! This is an alternate review with little mention of clubs, but as Shelley has just pointed out after reading, far too many mentions of wine. We are not drunken parents, I have been asked to point out by my better half….
Wed 13th
Left behind a miserable, grey & wet Manchester airport mid afternoon and indulged in muchos jet2 white wine J Harvey loved every single moment of the airport / plane experience which is great for us J Not unusually we arrived to glorious sunshine and we both welcomed that Ibiza feeling with open arms and informed Harvey this would be his home place sometime soon J The airport pickup of the hire car went without a hitch, to be returned with an empty tank which would be a feat and half in 10 days! We arrived in Cala Llonga around 9.00pm, parking right outside the CalaLLongaPlaya apartments. The resort was chosen as it appeared very child friendly and likely to be suited to Shelley’s parents. We received a lovely warm welcome from the friendly staff and were shown to our pool / sea facing apartments. For anyone considering a family / children holiday, these apartments (booked through spotlight for best rates) are a good option. Inexpensive & basic but always kept clean and sporting a huge balcony. We dumped the cases and setoff to look for more wine & our first Spanish food of the holiday, ending up at Cala Llonga Restaurant. A lovely location right on the beach and great service but the food was not brilliant, our first and only meal here.
Thur 14th
Lazy day, nice lunch @ a pleasant beach café in Santa Eulalia & buying in of essential provisions (Vodka, San Miguel, Lays etc). The evening meal was the first of too many at an English run eatery in Cala Llonga called Flippers. Their range of burritos was extensive and they were of decent quality.
Fri 15th
Arrived at Portinatx and enjoyed a stroll along the beach and the obligatory beers at a suitable beach side bar. This is a really pleasant resort but too far from Ibiza Town to ever be a suitable base for holidaying for us. Next on to Bennirras and a delicious lunch of Chicken strips with Gorgonzola Honey, washed down with copious amounts of white wine as always. Finished off with our first Hierbas of the holiday. Bennirras was Harvey’s first ever encounter with the sea, and he was not overly impressed! Although Ibiza tides are slight, the waves were quite sizeable!! What a fabulous beach to have our first father / son Ibiza sandcastle bonding / building experience, highly recommended J I cannot remember the evening meal so it was clearly nothing special!
Sat 16th
Drove into Ibiza town at lunchtime and had a pleasurable stroll around the harbour deciding on the size of yacht we would buy a few years from now. Carried out some essential shopping @ the Jack & Jones shop, I cannot get into clothes shopping mode back in the UK. General meander / wander around the most gorgeous town in the world. It is truly fabulous how the Spanish waiters / waitresses treat children. Whenever we stopped for beers/ coffees / food Harvey was treated to Chupa Chups, Strawberries, and Crisps & generally made a fuss of, the polar opposite of the UK. Had a pleasant lunch on the harbourside and left Ibiza Town quite intoxicated with alcohol & that general I’m so happy to be in Ibiza I may well explode at any moment feeling. In the evening, we enjoyed a smashing meal at the only Italian restaurant in Cala Llonga. Fillet steak for me, pizza for Shelley, pasta dishes for the in laws. We ended the evening in (outside) the Mediterranean Bar, which was recently opened by a couple from a village near our hometown in Yorkshire. Sadly they are located amidst several all inclusive hotels, clearly having an effect on trade! Well worth a visit though, a lovely couple who make everyone welcome, and open until 4:00am!
Sun 17th
Lazyish day and starting to get real giddy about our planned night out on Monday as we headed over to Sant Antonio. We followed (unintentionally) three lovely girlies, (one clad in a pvc basque, another in long pvc boots and the other with stockings and a pvc bra) through San An before heading to the sunset strip to see the sun disappear behind the clouds. This was our first visit to Mambos et al for three years and the new look promenade gets a big thumbs up from me. I enjoyed many romantic moments with Shelley as we said to one another a zillion times “We should be in Space right now”. Wandered right around the bay and had some lovely spring rolls at a place whose name escapes me (one of the problems with waiting a week to do a review). As we headed back to the car, the in laws caught sight of the pvc babes dancing on the stage of Bar M causing yet another dangerous blood pressure moment!
Mon / Tue 18th
We enjoyed a breakfast & a chilled morning at Cala Sant Vincent, a lovely beach with some really nice cafes / bars. The one to the right of the cove (looking out to sea) is a must visit refreshment stop. We headed over to Sant Joan and both tucked into a mixed salad at Restautante Argentera, of course washed down with white wine. Harvey enjoyed his usual haute cuisine dish of fries & ketchup. Shelley’s parents had gladly agreed to have Harvey in their room overnight so we could have a night out, something of a rarity for us at the moment. We had a lift into Ibiza Town as Harvey was scooted off into the old town we headed to the coolest place in the world; we both love Placa Des Parc. It felt like we were courting all over again J the harbourside was our chosen eating venue, where we both tucked into a pleasant avocado & prawn salad. Here is a great place for watching the world go by in unimitable Ibiza Town style. To say anything goes in Ibiza Town is surely the biggest understatement ever. We bumped into a pr girl outside a bar in the middle of town who Shelley knew from years ago and spent an age chatting. She had been all over Spain, including a few years in an Abba tribute band in Tenerife! I was wooed into buying some very dubious tickets for Pacha (20 euros) by a gorgeous Romanian girl. In fact the tickets were postcards which had to be stamped by an old guy in a café / bar and had to say we had eaten in La Marinier! Entered Pacha without a problem, no search whatsoever. The music was typical S-Man (sponsored by Ginsters) stuff for 2:00am and we enjoyed exploring the club and were quite surprised it wasn’t rammed or even approaching full. Spent the whole evening with a great couple from Sheffield, the guy offering his commiserations on the plight of Leeds United along with introductions! This was a common theme when telling anyone we were from Leeds! The place never really went mental but it was a fantastic night, nothing quiet beats being in a club with top music and nothing but smiling faces all around. Not having been clubbing for a few months, we forget just how happy such nights out are. When trying to get a cab, I was virtually pulled head first out of a taxi by footballer Dominique Mateo, eventually arriving home at 8:00am. Managed to sleep until 11 at which point I agreed to look after Harvey whilst Shelley had more sleep. Did some great father / son exploring, digging in the sand and other such activities until mid afternoon. Quiet night with food at Flippers L
Wed 20th
Hippy market at Es Cana was enjoyable but very very crowded, the only purchase between the party was a bongo drums cd and a balloon elephant for Harvey. Having explored the resort and enjoyed beers & snacks, we agreed this resort was far far too British. We had a pleasant lunch on the promenade at Santa Eulalia after which Shelley’s dad and I had decided to walk through the pine forest over the hills back to Cala Llonga, whilst the girls & Harvey drove home. Things didn’t look too bright from the outset as we couldn’t even find the cairn marking the start of the walk! Asked a German chap for directions and setoff without being 100% certain that we knew where we were heading. Not surprisingly we got totally, utterly and completely lost, although we saw some fantastic villas tucked away in the pine forest. Swallowed our pride and retraced our route back into Santa Eulalia and got a cab home! A most enjoyable swimming session was had back at the apartments having first suffered 20 minutes of ridicule at our Ranulph Fiennes expedition. During the holiday Harvey’s confidence in the water had gone sky high which was pleasing. Not much to say about the evening that I can recall! Sat on our balcony at midnight and we were treated to an impromptu firework display, a nice end to another lovely day.
Thur 21st
Met up with Spotlights top caner Stephen and his lovely missus Jaki for a most enjoyable lunch at Raco Verd, a fine selection of tapas for the boys and tuna baguettes for the girls. I can confirm that contrary to rumours started on this thread http://www.spotlight-forums.com/showthread.php?t=47427, Stephen does have two legs J A lovely lunch that went all too fast for Shelley and I and probably crawled by for Stephen & Jaki fielding our endless questions about moving out to Ibiza! Stephen informed us the fireworks witnessed at midnight marked the start of the Festival of Saint Joan. Drove home via Playa Den Bossa, checking out all the new construction work, this place is becoming huge. This was to be our 2nd night out of the holidays and over to Sant Antonio to meet the couple from Sheffield for quiet drinks on the sunset strip. The night started off in civilized fashion with Sangria @ Savannah while the sun went behind the clouds again. And things went rapidly down (up) hill from then on! The best layed plans of mice and men, the night turned into total carnage and an absolute top night was had by all. Bar M was one of the later stopping off points and we were oblivious that this was the Cream opening party!
Fri 22nd
Woke up mid morning and immediately became slightly melancholy knowing this was our last full day in Ibiza. Heard Harvey laughing like a hyena poolside so went down and had a pleasant hour in the pool. I was now faced with the dilemma of how to wake Shelley for our planned trip to Bora Bora / PDB, lack of sleep + Shelley = L As it turned out Shelley was already raring for our PDB trip J Like many have already posted, it was sad to see Bora Bora so quiet but Harvey still had enough music for a boogie J Wandered up the beach and all too soon it was time to head back as we were getting the last boat into Ibiza Town for our final night. Arriving into Ibiza Town by boat from any direction is a great experience, seeing the sights not visible from land. We had to indulge in drinks from the onboard bar en-route J We explored many nooks and crannies inside the walls and looked around a museum that I had never seen before! Filming was taking place at various locations around the Cathedral which was entertaining to say the least J Two guys were being taught to march in time by an irate producer for absolutely ages, they just couldn’t keep in time! Shelley interrupted and asked for a pic, the rookie actors & director were happy to oblige J A final wander around Ibiza Town for many drinks & a nice meal harbourside, courtesy of Shelley’s parents to say thank you for a wonderful holiday. I was saying how I thought Shelley’s friend the pr girl had a great life for single girl, this was the q for Shelley’s mum to leave her seat and I swear she rose 15 foot into the air!! I had carelessly ignited a box of squibs and had to stand well back for the next ten minutes and decided against mentioning pole dancing as a career! All too quickly our evening drew to a close around midnight and we got a taxi back ‘home’ and enjoyed our last balcony drinks of the holiday.
Sat 23rd
Glum faces all round but more places to visit as we were not flying until 20:00 and sill had 1/3 tank of diesel to use up! St Eulalia for a beach side Paella was the lunch time treat before heading over to Es Cubells & Cala D’Hort. Shelley and I are totally in love with Es Cubells where we enjoyed our final beer of the holiday. Harvey tried the cast iron slide in the playground, not realizing until he had started his descent it was heated in the midday sun to approx 150 degrees Celsius! Cala D’Hort was as magical as ever but concern about our flight times from certain parties meant our stay was far too short. Delayed several hours arriving home at 4:00am followed by the old bill who stopped us outside our front door to say we had a light out, welcome home.
A totally different Ibiza experience for Shelley & I but thoroughly enjoyable, we are itching to return in September in one way or another but it’s not feasible in the grand scheme of things. I simply love the way children are treated wherever you are in Ibiza, it makes so much difference for parents. This visit reaffirmed more than ever our desire to leave the good ship Britannia for the sunnier shores of Ibiza, May 2009 it is then J
Footnote:
We have never been big fans of San Antonio but have nothing but positive things to say this year. The promenade might not suit everyone but is brilliant imo. The whole of San Antonio seemed much cleaner than usual and has shot up in my estimation. We didn’t visit the West End, it’s not really our thing but for anyone on a downer on San Antonio from previous years, have a walk around the place, you may well be surprised.
A few photographs here; http://public.fotki.com/davidandshelley/cala-llonga-2007/
Wed 13th
Left behind a miserable, grey & wet Manchester airport mid afternoon and indulged in muchos jet2 white wine J Harvey loved every single moment of the airport / plane experience which is great for us J Not unusually we arrived to glorious sunshine and we both welcomed that Ibiza feeling with open arms and informed Harvey this would be his home place sometime soon J The airport pickup of the hire car went without a hitch, to be returned with an empty tank which would be a feat and half in 10 days! We arrived in Cala Llonga around 9.00pm, parking right outside the CalaLLongaPlaya apartments. The resort was chosen as it appeared very child friendly and likely to be suited to Shelley’s parents. We received a lovely warm welcome from the friendly staff and were shown to our pool / sea facing apartments. For anyone considering a family / children holiday, these apartments (booked through spotlight for best rates) are a good option. Inexpensive & basic but always kept clean and sporting a huge balcony. We dumped the cases and setoff to look for more wine & our first Spanish food of the holiday, ending up at Cala Llonga Restaurant. A lovely location right on the beach and great service but the food was not brilliant, our first and only meal here.
Thur 14th
Lazy day, nice lunch @ a pleasant beach café in Santa Eulalia & buying in of essential provisions (Vodka, San Miguel, Lays etc). The evening meal was the first of too many at an English run eatery in Cala Llonga called Flippers. Their range of burritos was extensive and they were of decent quality.
Fri 15th
Arrived at Portinatx and enjoyed a stroll along the beach and the obligatory beers at a suitable beach side bar. This is a really pleasant resort but too far from Ibiza Town to ever be a suitable base for holidaying for us. Next on to Bennirras and a delicious lunch of Chicken strips with Gorgonzola Honey, washed down with copious amounts of white wine as always. Finished off with our first Hierbas of the holiday. Bennirras was Harvey’s first ever encounter with the sea, and he was not overly impressed! Although Ibiza tides are slight, the waves were quite sizeable!! What a fabulous beach to have our first father / son Ibiza sandcastle bonding / building experience, highly recommended J I cannot remember the evening meal so it was clearly nothing special!
Sat 16th
Drove into Ibiza town at lunchtime and had a pleasurable stroll around the harbour deciding on the size of yacht we would buy a few years from now. Carried out some essential shopping @ the Jack & Jones shop, I cannot get into clothes shopping mode back in the UK. General meander / wander around the most gorgeous town in the world. It is truly fabulous how the Spanish waiters / waitresses treat children. Whenever we stopped for beers/ coffees / food Harvey was treated to Chupa Chups, Strawberries, and Crisps & generally made a fuss of, the polar opposite of the UK. Had a pleasant lunch on the harbourside and left Ibiza Town quite intoxicated with alcohol & that general I’m so happy to be in Ibiza I may well explode at any moment feeling. In the evening, we enjoyed a smashing meal at the only Italian restaurant in Cala Llonga. Fillet steak for me, pizza for Shelley, pasta dishes for the in laws. We ended the evening in (outside) the Mediterranean Bar, which was recently opened by a couple from a village near our hometown in Yorkshire. Sadly they are located amidst several all inclusive hotels, clearly having an effect on trade! Well worth a visit though, a lovely couple who make everyone welcome, and open until 4:00am!
Sun 17th
Lazyish day and starting to get real giddy about our planned night out on Monday as we headed over to Sant Antonio. We followed (unintentionally) three lovely girlies, (one clad in a pvc basque, another in long pvc boots and the other with stockings and a pvc bra) through San An before heading to the sunset strip to see the sun disappear behind the clouds. This was our first visit to Mambos et al for three years and the new look promenade gets a big thumbs up from me. I enjoyed many romantic moments with Shelley as we said to one another a zillion times “We should be in Space right now”. Wandered right around the bay and had some lovely spring rolls at a place whose name escapes me (one of the problems with waiting a week to do a review). As we headed back to the car, the in laws caught sight of the pvc babes dancing on the stage of Bar M causing yet another dangerous blood pressure moment!
Mon / Tue 18th
We enjoyed a breakfast & a chilled morning at Cala Sant Vincent, a lovely beach with some really nice cafes / bars. The one to the right of the cove (looking out to sea) is a must visit refreshment stop. We headed over to Sant Joan and both tucked into a mixed salad at Restautante Argentera, of course washed down with white wine. Harvey enjoyed his usual haute cuisine dish of fries & ketchup. Shelley’s parents had gladly agreed to have Harvey in their room overnight so we could have a night out, something of a rarity for us at the moment. We had a lift into Ibiza Town as Harvey was scooted off into the old town we headed to the coolest place in the world; we both love Placa Des Parc. It felt like we were courting all over again J the harbourside was our chosen eating venue, where we both tucked into a pleasant avocado & prawn salad. Here is a great place for watching the world go by in unimitable Ibiza Town style. To say anything goes in Ibiza Town is surely the biggest understatement ever. We bumped into a pr girl outside a bar in the middle of town who Shelley knew from years ago and spent an age chatting. She had been all over Spain, including a few years in an Abba tribute band in Tenerife! I was wooed into buying some very dubious tickets for Pacha (20 euros) by a gorgeous Romanian girl. In fact the tickets were postcards which had to be stamped by an old guy in a café / bar and had to say we had eaten in La Marinier! Entered Pacha without a problem, no search whatsoever. The music was typical S-Man (sponsored by Ginsters) stuff for 2:00am and we enjoyed exploring the club and were quite surprised it wasn’t rammed or even approaching full. Spent the whole evening with a great couple from Sheffield, the guy offering his commiserations on the plight of Leeds United along with introductions! This was a common theme when telling anyone we were from Leeds! The place never really went mental but it was a fantastic night, nothing quiet beats being in a club with top music and nothing but smiling faces all around. Not having been clubbing for a few months, we forget just how happy such nights out are. When trying to get a cab, I was virtually pulled head first out of a taxi by footballer Dominique Mateo, eventually arriving home at 8:00am. Managed to sleep until 11 at which point I agreed to look after Harvey whilst Shelley had more sleep. Did some great father / son exploring, digging in the sand and other such activities until mid afternoon. Quiet night with food at Flippers L
Wed 20th
Hippy market at Es Cana was enjoyable but very very crowded, the only purchase between the party was a bongo drums cd and a balloon elephant for Harvey. Having explored the resort and enjoyed beers & snacks, we agreed this resort was far far too British. We had a pleasant lunch on the promenade at Santa Eulalia after which Shelley’s dad and I had decided to walk through the pine forest over the hills back to Cala Llonga, whilst the girls & Harvey drove home. Things didn’t look too bright from the outset as we couldn’t even find the cairn marking the start of the walk! Asked a German chap for directions and setoff without being 100% certain that we knew where we were heading. Not surprisingly we got totally, utterly and completely lost, although we saw some fantastic villas tucked away in the pine forest. Swallowed our pride and retraced our route back into Santa Eulalia and got a cab home! A most enjoyable swimming session was had back at the apartments having first suffered 20 minutes of ridicule at our Ranulph Fiennes expedition. During the holiday Harvey’s confidence in the water had gone sky high which was pleasing. Not much to say about the evening that I can recall! Sat on our balcony at midnight and we were treated to an impromptu firework display, a nice end to another lovely day.
Thur 21st
Met up with Spotlights top caner Stephen and his lovely missus Jaki for a most enjoyable lunch at Raco Verd, a fine selection of tapas for the boys and tuna baguettes for the girls. I can confirm that contrary to rumours started on this thread http://www.spotlight-forums.com/showthread.php?t=47427, Stephen does have two legs J A lovely lunch that went all too fast for Shelley and I and probably crawled by for Stephen & Jaki fielding our endless questions about moving out to Ibiza! Stephen informed us the fireworks witnessed at midnight marked the start of the Festival of Saint Joan. Drove home via Playa Den Bossa, checking out all the new construction work, this place is becoming huge. This was to be our 2nd night out of the holidays and over to Sant Antonio to meet the couple from Sheffield for quiet drinks on the sunset strip. The night started off in civilized fashion with Sangria @ Savannah while the sun went behind the clouds again. And things went rapidly down (up) hill from then on! The best layed plans of mice and men, the night turned into total carnage and an absolute top night was had by all. Bar M was one of the later stopping off points and we were oblivious that this was the Cream opening party!
Fri 22nd
Woke up mid morning and immediately became slightly melancholy knowing this was our last full day in Ibiza. Heard Harvey laughing like a hyena poolside so went down and had a pleasant hour in the pool. I was now faced with the dilemma of how to wake Shelley for our planned trip to Bora Bora / PDB, lack of sleep + Shelley = L As it turned out Shelley was already raring for our PDB trip J Like many have already posted, it was sad to see Bora Bora so quiet but Harvey still had enough music for a boogie J Wandered up the beach and all too soon it was time to head back as we were getting the last boat into Ibiza Town for our final night. Arriving into Ibiza Town by boat from any direction is a great experience, seeing the sights not visible from land. We had to indulge in drinks from the onboard bar en-route J We explored many nooks and crannies inside the walls and looked around a museum that I had never seen before! Filming was taking place at various locations around the Cathedral which was entertaining to say the least J Two guys were being taught to march in time by an irate producer for absolutely ages, they just couldn’t keep in time! Shelley interrupted and asked for a pic, the rookie actors & director were happy to oblige J A final wander around Ibiza Town for many drinks & a nice meal harbourside, courtesy of Shelley’s parents to say thank you for a wonderful holiday. I was saying how I thought Shelley’s friend the pr girl had a great life for single girl, this was the q for Shelley’s mum to leave her seat and I swear she rose 15 foot into the air!! I had carelessly ignited a box of squibs and had to stand well back for the next ten minutes and decided against mentioning pole dancing as a career! All too quickly our evening drew to a close around midnight and we got a taxi back ‘home’ and enjoyed our last balcony drinks of the holiday.
Sat 23rd
Glum faces all round but more places to visit as we were not flying until 20:00 and sill had 1/3 tank of diesel to use up! St Eulalia for a beach side Paella was the lunch time treat before heading over to Es Cubells & Cala D’Hort. Shelley and I are totally in love with Es Cubells where we enjoyed our final beer of the holiday. Harvey tried the cast iron slide in the playground, not realizing until he had started his descent it was heated in the midday sun to approx 150 degrees Celsius! Cala D’Hort was as magical as ever but concern about our flight times from certain parties meant our stay was far too short. Delayed several hours arriving home at 4:00am followed by the old bill who stopped us outside our front door to say we had a light out, welcome home.
A totally different Ibiza experience for Shelley & I but thoroughly enjoyable, we are itching to return in September in one way or another but it’s not feasible in the grand scheme of things. I simply love the way children are treated wherever you are in Ibiza, it makes so much difference for parents. This visit reaffirmed more than ever our desire to leave the good ship Britannia for the sunnier shores of Ibiza, May 2009 it is then J
Footnote:
We have never been big fans of San Antonio but have nothing but positive things to say this year. The promenade might not suit everyone but is brilliant imo. The whole of San Antonio seemed much cleaner than usual and has shot up in my estimation. We didn’t visit the West End, it’s not really our thing but for anyone on a downer on San Antonio from previous years, have a walk around the place, you may well be surprised.
A few photographs here; http://public.fotki.com/davidandshelley/cala-llonga-2007/
Now that is an early starter 
