Morbyd
Moderator
Hi folks. Time for my annual exercise in memory recovery, otherwise known as a review of Irina's & my 2 weeks of shenanigans on the White Isle of Ibiza.
It's our 7th year going and it's still my favorite part of the year hands down. This was only our 2nd time (with June 2005) going without any of our old gang of Ibiza-loving friends, who've all moved further away and have other priorites now
Luckily, that didn't slow us down as there were always people around to party with
We never seem to run out of new things to see and do on this small piece of land... yet it feels remarkably like home, from the time you sit in the rental car at the airport and drive to the hotel as if on auto-pilot, to the familiar faces you see at all of your regular haunts around the island. My first day, I had a thought that maybe I, in fact, live in Ibiza and the other 50 weeks of the year were just a bad dream
OK, here goes. Apologies in advance for my wordiness. As with my previous years, key terms (places visited, parties attended, etc.) in bold.
Friday (June 15) - In what was probably foreshadowing of things to come in terms of the travelling portion of our trip, we kept our taxi waiting about 15 minutes while searching for one of our plane tix which somehow got knocked off (and behind) the table it had been sitting on The driver charged us an extra 10 euros for the pleasure (about 3x what other taxi companies here charge... bad choice!) We also paid extra for keeping the taxi waiting on the way home to Moscow as our lugguage took 45 minutes to come after we'd already called a car 
. And we had our assigned seats on the Madrid-Moscow leg given away by the Iberian airlines people who handle Aeroflot's check-in in Madrid 
There's more on this travelling hell theme.... back to the chronology:
We flew on Aeroflot to Madrid on an early morning flight, checked in our luggage for our evening Spanair flight to Ibiza, and took the metro downtown for a bit of wandering around.
Back to the airport and off to Ibiza but upon arrival, to our shock and horror, we learned that the dimwit check-in person at Spanair in Madrid had checked our luggage on the flight to Mallorca Huge queue at Centauro too so by the time we sorted our rental car and made our baggage claim we'd already been in the airport nearly 2 hours
All that said, I made my peace with the day when we arrived at the Garbi Aparthotel in Playa den Bossa and walked into our room - right on the sea. Great view! . Stood on the balcony for a minute, played the Red Carpet song "Alright" on my laptop, then kissed Irina goodnight and went out for a walkabout in Playa den Bossa, soon to receive a message from Nick that he and Rob were heading over to the club Underground in San Rafael.
I'd never been there so I decided to join them and was pleased I did. Good techno tunes and atmosphere and really nice little club. I specifically remember we met some very friendly French guy though his name escapes me Not too busy on that particular Friday but just busy enough and I quite enjoyed our few short hours there as a taste of things to come. Getting our feet wet, if you will...
Saturday - Got up and did some shopping for everything from clothes to toothbrushes... I decided to actually try to stick to Spanair's lame 57-euro-per-person compensation budget for myself, which meant a couple of wonderfully cheesey-and-cheap shirts amongst other things (photos to come ) Afterwards, we went to see Silvia & Pep over at Delano's, next to Bora Bora in PdB. What lovely people (Sil, please thank Pep for talking photography with Ira ). We chatted until they headed off to get ready for Babs' wedding and Irina & I took up residence on the beach nearby as they were playing some tunes (though not too loudly). Then Nick, Rob & co. appeared and helped turned a typical beach afternoon into something far more entertaining I wandered off for a bit to Ibiza town to get a pair of summer shoes and had just come back to join in the goofiness when we heard the music get loud from somewhere.
Turns out that, despite what we'd heard about Delano's being the substitute Bora Bora, it was actually the bar Tahiti just on the other side of BB. I ran over to investigate and then went to drag the rest of the gang over there. Thus began our first Tahiti session and finally I felt like everything's falling into place. We were home.8)
Later we re-joined the gang for a trip to San Antonio, where a quick drink at Mambo Cafe saw me nearly get expelled for allegedly having brought my beer in from outside after sitting on the beach all day with store-bought alcohol. At least, that's what the manager said before I started yelling at him (apologies were later made on both sides 8)).
Then over to the restaurant Sa Capella for a wonderful meal. Great food, beautiful setting and great company (Jamie's friend Amanda has to be the most unitentionally funny person ever But she means well and we both loved her company, plus the poor girl lost her luggage too ). After dinner a few of us headed over to Ibiza harbor for some drinks and then carried on for a bit at an apartment with some of the post-wedding crowd. Silliness staying up until dawn before Space... oh well!
Sunday - Well, Sunday could only really mean We Love at Space We had a slow start to the day and stopped off at Ciao Ciao (new Italian place in PdB) for a quick (mediocre) lunch, so we only made it to Space mid-afternoon at which time the terrace was already hopping and packed with Spotlighters I think the members of this forum basically controlled the raised area to the left, and it was truly a pleasure to see so many familiar faces and to meet so many new folks - the good Dr Mick (where'd you disappear to?!), Copperband, Holly G and the irrepresible Nostrum I thought DJs Oscar Cano, Jason Bye and Oliver kept things moving along nicely until I popped out with Ferd and his "Barry" (the ever-smiling and unbelievably sweet Tamsyn) to the bar Tantra just in time to see Reyes come on for Beckham and secure Real Madrid's championship despite Barca's convincing win over Gimnastic.
A bit of consoling Ferd then back for the rest of Tom Novy's set at Space which would have been fine if he'd have kept his big MCing mouth shut Groove Armada started well on the inside terrace but their set went downhill in the second half, which meant time to chill out for a bit and then be appalled by how bad DJ Hell was Tiefschwarz saved the day, however, with a great set to close out the night
Monday - Started out the day by taking Irina to lunch at Bliss in the Plaza del Parque in Ibiza Town, then left her to do a bit of shopping and headed up into the hills to the Mulletover party's "secret location" (4km up a winding road off the main drag between Privilege and Amnesia). Climbed a mountain from the car park and tracked down Nick, while one of the guys from Tiefschwarz in a right state kept wandering over and sticking on a song or two (not sure who the resident DJ was, but he was tolerant).
Met 2 absolutely funny Brits who, after receiving an answer to the question of where I live, proceeded to ask me if I knew a guy named Morbyd A pleasure to meet occasional Spotlighter Grant1979 and his buddy Carlo 8) The party wasn't very full daytime but the atmosphere, views, crowd and music were ace and I met so many people whose names I will struggle to ever remember A quite decent substitute for DC10.
I went back to PdB to pick up Irina and brought her back up the mountain to join in the festivities as night fell and Mulletover got a lot more crowded. MANDY was on at some point though I'm not sure we heard him From there, we headed to Cocoon at Privilege While I quite like Amnesia as a venue, the improved soundsystem at Privilege is rocking, the place packed in 9000 people and there was still plenty space to dance, and Sven Vath just rocked the place solid One of the "Sets of the Vacation" for both Irina & I We enjoyed it so much we never even made it over to see Ricardo Villalobos in the Coco Loco A great party all around and another one were many a Spotlighter was seen. Also a great opportunity to visit Privilege, where we hadn't been in years. Amnesia who? 
Tuesday - We went home for a change and short rest before the Cocoon after-party, but that trip turned into an unfortunately long nap We only later learned that the party had been cancelled, but that was long after we had driven around Cala Bassa to find it. After stumbling upon a bunch of clubbing casualties wandering around the area and a bar playing techno tunes with a good number of people dancing and/or lounging around, we thought we had!... until I looked at the sound system and realized it was too Mickey Mouse for Cocoon
So Irina had some beach time at Cala Bassa, which we thought was quite a nice beach. Three (or 4?) bars/cafes around the back, nice sandy beach and clean, warm, shallow water. I wandered up to the bar and threw a few shapes with the other post-Cocoonites (most of whom, unlike me, looked like they hadn't slept despite it being sometime after 5pm).
We had decided on an easy night so we went to Cap des Falco for dinner and my god what a gorgeous view from that place Really chilled spot for a drink or meal with a beautiful sunset over Es Codolar. Food was just OK but the ambience made up for it.
Wednesday - On our 5th morning of constant calls to Spanair, and right about at Irina's psychological breaking point, we were told that after 4 days the lazy ****s at Spanair in Mallorca had finally taken the time to stick our bags on a Tuesday night flight to Ibiza not like the lazy buggers at Ibiza airport had bothered calling us though... We were planning on going to Cala Jondal that day anyway so we stopped by the airport on the way. To our repeated shock and horror, only one of our suitcases was there 
Worse yet, it was mine! Cue Irina going into hysterics. To make matters worse, the woman there insisted it was "not her job" when we asked if she could just call Mallorca and find out what went wrong
Onward to Tropicana beach club in Cala Jondal. For some reason, we didn't enjoy it as much as in years past. Maybe it was that they forgot to tell me they don't hold reserved sunbeds past 2pm... when I called and reserved one for 3!! (we initially had to sit at the edge of the beach before being moved to a better spot when someone left). Maybe it was the paella, which wasn't as good as other food we'd had there in past years. Or maybe it was Irina just having a bad day and me having to appease her by getting on the phone to yell at Spanair employees.
We decided to make another stop at the airport on the way back to PdB and, as luck would have it, Irina's suitcase had arrived... on a later flight! (anyone care to guess why they would not have been sent together? No one at Spanair could explain!). But even though it was visible through the window, we still had to wait 45 minutes for someone to show up at the baggage claim counter
Irina called it an early night but I popped over to Tahiti to bust a move on the beach for a bit, then dropped by our old "local" bar Kopi for a couple of drinks before going in to new(-ly refurbished and renamed) club Diva for Underclub. THIS IS THE BEST PARTY YOU AREN'T ATTENDING. Firstly, can't beat free entrance. Secondly, top tunes all night long including a stellar set by Anja Schneider. The house room was desolate but the techno room got just full enough to be good. Joined later on by Nick & Amy who I think will concur.
Thursday - Nick was babbling on about some drummers at sunset (never happened!) so we grabbed him & Rob and went north to Beniras for our beach day. Great lunch at a restaurant coincidentally called Beniras before settling in on the beach and being joined by Jamie & co. Nice afternoon of lazing around and then Irina and I made a quick run back to the town of San Miguel for their local arts fair... only we decided to take a different road, through Puerto de San Miguel, which turned out to be the SECOND MOST SCARY ROAD I'VE EVER BEEN ON Driving along seaside cliffs puts the fear of the spaghetti monster into you, I've gotta say... great views but hard to take them in when you're concerned about plunging to your death It got better at Puerto de SM and we stopped for photos then went to the San Miguel fair and ended up only buying locally-made goat cheese and chorizo. Rejoined the crew in Beniras just in time for a beautiful (quiet) sunset
Irina & I had an entirely average meal at Pacha that evening but at least we got to say hi to Grant1979 and his missus at the next table, and we got in free for F*** Me I'm Famous at Pacha....... for what was probably our worst night out this trip I'd seen Steve Angello in Moscow a few weeks back and he rocked, and we all know David Guetta can either do his pop radio house music set or play some rather good deeper tunes. Well, Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso and pop music Guetta were intent on bombarding us with as many cheesey radio house tunes and pop remixes as they could find. Irina left the party saying she thinks she actually doesn't like house music anymore Utter crap. Only upside was meeting JessyG123
Friday (June 22) - Week one over and a 2nd night off for me. But at least we started the day right with the Nude afterparty at Prestige in the basement of the El Corso hotel in Marina Botafoch/Talamanca. Now, the club itself is nothing to get excited about (I think my high school dances were better decorated) and it took a while to get full enough as we went right at opening. Irina bailed out after an hour but I stayed about 3 hours before my legs stopped wanting to move. Was enjoying Jo Mills' set up until that point. By then, some of our gang had come (all happy customers after attending Monza... dammit!) and several already left! I apparently got out just before some unpleasantness began...
Irina did some local beach time as I slept from midday until late afternoon. Later, we went for a drive around Talamanca and then to Sa Punta for our best meal of the trip so far 8) Great food and another spot with amazing views and a quite decent sunset over the hills of Ibiza. After sitting out there for a while, it was back to the room where Irina set up camp out on the balcony to sleep under the stars.
Saturday - Up and out to the Hippy Market at Las Dalias in San Carlos. Irina picked up a few bits for the folks back home while I finally got around to my annual tradition of buying and inserting a new earring-I'll-wear-only-in-Ibiza. From there, we headed northeast to the beach at Es Figueral where I'd read they had jetskis. Despite it being a nice long sandy beach, Irina didn't like the place for swimming (windy day, high waves) and no jetskis in sight so we relocated to Cala Boix which is now one of our few favorite beaches There are 3 restaurants and a hostal next to the car park, then a descent down a long flight of stairs to where there have an inexpensive lunch shack, a not-too-crowded sandy beach, and relatively calm water in a protected little cove. Recommended
We swung through Santa Eularia for dinner at Cardomom Club which, if you're in a mood for Indian cuisine, is the best such place I've seen on the island and just a nice restaurant in general. Ran into familiar locals Rob & Rachel on our way out and was good to see them outside of club shouting territory
Afterwards, back to the hotel where we both dozed off into food coma. Luckily, I woke up just in time to make it to Def Mix @ Pacha with David Morales and Danny Rampling. The jokers at Thursday's FMIF could learn a lot from these two masters, who mixed in darker and/or tribal beats interspersed with the occasional vocal house tune or familiar a capella to keep the night flowing. Top house music night!
Sunday - Moved slowly when I got up and then went to join Irina at Tahiti where we met up with the good sir Nostrum for a drink. Irina decided she'd opt out of We Love @ Space this week but I headed to the club mid-afternoon and was pleased to run across Mr Entertainer aka DJ Soulman (thanks again for the CDs!) and Jez71 as well as the recently-arrived Russ and poor JessyG weighed down by her wet blanket friend! Jon Ulysses and DJ Oliver kept things rocking on the terrace as usual 8)
Used my pass-out to take Irina to a delicious dinner at Moorea's - a key piece of evidence that there are a few decent places to eat in Playa den Bossa! Back to the hotel to change, dozed off for 30 minutes (began to see a problem with food-induced comas), then to Kopi for drinks with Irina, then back to Space. Caught a bit of Nic Fanciulli and then was thoroughly surprised by a great set by Paul Woolford. Layo & Bushwacka disapointed though I stayed till close.
Monday - Up and out to the newly repoened DC10 for Circo Loco Place was already packed at 4pm (in contrast to when I went last year, when it wasn't that full until around 7). I love this place. That is all. 8) 8) 8)
Props to Luciano for another one of our Sets of the Vacation despite the brief interuption by the police. Only caught a little of Dan Ghenacia inside but he was throwing down some good tunes. Tania Vulcano was subpar for her, I thought.
Back to the hotel to change, then decided that we really needed to have at least one meal that day. We went to La Terraza, another argument against the PdB culinary wasteland concept. Great restaurant in a peaceful garden setting and delicious food...which neither of us could fully stomach
No matter, off to Ibiza Town for drinks then to see the man himself, Roger Sanchez, for Release Yourself @ Pacha Irina was still in her anti-house backlash mood but I thought the S-man was in top form - mixing styles from house to tribal to electro to even a bit of techno, and keeping the night moving along well. Does he ever disappoint? (hint: answer is NO) 8) Sanchez rules.
Tuesday - Another day for exploring We went to the beach at Cala Salada, north of San Antonio. Very laidback beach where the sand is a little pebbley but the beer cost just 2 euros and sunbeds & umbrellas are just 3.50 There's a separate part of the beach reached via a treacherous climb over slipper quartz rocks... some of those fortunate to survive the climb and descent were nude on that side of the beach. Irina liked it over there because it was quieter and undeveloped, but I stayed in the main section under my umbrella. I eventually made the climb to track her down but somehow we passed each other without noticing (I could have been focussing on not dying ) so then I had to turn around and go back.
From there, I wanted to check out the caves shown on my maps just north of there at Ses Fontanelles. We made a couple of wrong turns on the way though and ended up driving on the OTHER SECOND SCARIEST ROAD I'VE EVER DRIVEN ON Na Foradada the area is called and it's another route with seaside cliffs and little or no barrier to keep you from careening off them! Nice villas hidden up that way, though, and eventually we tracked back and found the cave.... which is basically just a rock outcropping with a gate around a small cave-like enclosure Cool in that it has some pre-Roman era drawings in it...but no descending into caves with stalagtites and bats around those parts! (should have read the Ibiza Spotlight description on the Cala Salada beach page! http://www.ibiza-spotlight.com/beach/cala_salada_i.htm)
We went to Santa Ines (aka Sta Agnes) for dinner at a nice family-run local restaurant called La Palmera. Santa Ines is just as it's described on Spotlight (http://www.ibiza-spotlight.com/villages/santa_ines_i.htm), a real agrarian town high up in the hills. You drive north over the hills to get there and then descend into a mountain valley surrounded by peaks which I believe is appropriately called La Corona (crown), as the town's full name is Santa Agnes de la Corona. There's a bar on the edge of town that's right next to the ruins of a house built during the island's years under Islamic rule... which is steps away from a huge cliff! (don't get close if you get vertigo!). The food at La Palmera was delicious, comparatively cheap, and most importantly good local cuisine.
Wednesday - Another busy day with some exploring to begin. We basically drove past Jesus and then all over the area between Puig de Salleres and the sea trying to find the turn that eventually would take us to S'Etanyol. Has to be the quietest beach ever! Really nice place to relax and while the water was a bit too rocky for wading, and the ton of dead seaweed on the coast made it look a bit dirty, we found it a very relaxing place to hang out. I went for a walk up on the hills and cliff nearby for some beautiful views as far as Roca Lisa in one direction and Formentera in the other. We had lunch at the Republica de S'Etanyol a.k.a. PK2, the nice restaurant there serving up fresh food and good service.
Afterwards, we drove over to Cala Llonga where I took a nice beach nap while Irina went swimming in the warm shallow waters.
We had dinner at La Oliva in the Dalt Vila late that evening - still a favorite restaurant of ours - then went to El Divino for Penetra. Spotlight's own Anil Chawla, besides being just a really nice guy, played one of my favorite sets of the trip. Unfortunately, Irina couldn't get over how not-full the club was (only a couple hundred people and 3/4 of the terrace blocked off). So after Anil's set (Scarlet Etienne was a no show ), we went to Space where there was a massive line for La Troya at sometime after 4am We decided not to wait and went to Diva for Underclub again. Very empty but still more ambience than inside El Divino and Damian Schwarz was playing some amazing tunes... so much so that Irina "I can't dance in half-empty El Divino" was suddenly "I'll dance with these 5 other guys on the dancefloor at Diva"
Thursday - Last full day
Spent it on the beach at Tahiti, with a pizza for lunch from those nice Dutch people at cafe 2 doors down. Just as we were heading in, I decided to do IT. I got up the nerve.... and dropped 50 euros to go ride a jetski for 20 minutes Always wanted to try and it was so much fun even if the choppy waves made it somewhat difficult for a newby to steer. Great experience!
Got cleaned up and drove into San Jose for dinner at fusion tapas bar El Destino. Not as cheap as last year (because we didn't stop ordering more stuff!) and the service was a bit slow but I still love their food and concept. We went nextdoor to the locals' live music bar, Raco Verd, for a few cover tunes from a very average band, then back to PdB to drop Irina off and head to Renaissance at Pacha.
John Digweed was a bit boring at first, a surprise seeing as how much I've loved every time I've seen him in Moscow, but his last hour or so was absosmurfly rocking I actually thought they'd changed DJs at 4am, but no! Afterwards, Hernan Cattaneo came on at 5 and just ripped the place to shreds. 8) Pacha was great too - not as rammed as for FMIF or Def Mix. Only downside as large group of monkeys all dressed in white who had occupied the VIP right behind me I found myself next to huge group of Russians but resisted the urge to surprise them with the 'black guy in Spain speaks Russian?' thing Met up with Anil Chawla and his lovely friend and busted some moves until a bit later than I had planned!
Friday (June 29) - Back to the room for a 2-3 hour attempt at sleep, then check-out at 10:30 and off to the airport for our weekend in Madrid and the Sunday trip back to Moscow.
So, that's it.... 2 weeks in paradise and I sooooo want to go back!! (but my bank account says NO!) Thanks for reading if you've made it this far
We packed a fair amount of fun into our time, I think. I'm certainly pleased
A big HOWDY to all the Spotlighters seen (in roughly chronological order): Zarbtron, Robder, Cookie, Dan X, BBS, Kang, Ferd, Jinja, Robbie G, Barbie (with Tom. congrats again on your wedding), Robo, Rachelj, Beckiboo, Lynch, DJ Soulman, Russ, Anil Chawla
And big smiles to all the new Spotlighters we met! The amazing Nostrum, Copperband the family man, the good Dr Mick, Grant1979 and his bride-to-be, JessyG123 (next year, come with us instead!), the glamorous Gollum/Holly G, Jez71 and Sara (keep those mixes coming!), the lovely Mitsi and her husband, and true sweethearts Silvia & Pep (I'm so jealous about Japan!)
Also great meeting other members of our first week beach/club crew - Amy, Amanda, Lorna, Michelle, Alex, Rich, Matt. Very nice getting to chat and watch football with Ferd's "Barry" Tamsyn!
Special thanks to Nick and Rob for keeping us company on long drives during the first week (and apologies about the Pride weekend smses from Madrid) and to Stivi for keeping us informed and keeping us company all around town... you are one lucky man. Living the dream!
Apologies if I missed anyone!
Notes:
Number of days & nights: 14
Parties visited: 14
Nights off: 4
Beaches visited: 9 (including 6 for the first time - all corners of the island!)
New towns visited: Sta Ines, San Miguel, Puerto de San Miguel
(also saw more of Jesus, San Carlos, Talamanca and some of the mountain villa communities!)
Best new finds: Cala Boix, Santa Ines
Best night party: Cocoon
Best day party: Circo Loco
Best techno/tech-house sets: Luciano, Tiefschwarz, Sven Vath, Anja Schneider, Anil Chawla, Damian Schwarz
Best house sets: Roger Sanchez, Hernan Cattaneo, David Morales
Best meal(s): tough call! Sa Punta, La Palmera, Cardomom Club... ooh, and Benirras was good too.
For the people that ask about spending budgets all the time: 280 euros/day (total, for two) was our average this time around (keeping in mind that Irina didn't go out some nights, but also adding in the extra things we had to buy due to nearly 5 days without our luggage! Total includes some clothes & gifts, but not hotel & car...)
Coming soon:
Ibiza Photos -
Madrid EuroPride Review, photos and film clips
Restaurant reviews!
Footnote:
I forgot to mention about the Autopista. Now, I'm firmly with the camp of people who feel a full-on highway with tunnels, exits and high speeds doesn't really fit for an island with the size and charm of Ibiza. It just feels wrong... how nice is it driving to places up north along windy mountain roads? 8)............ but I have to admit that 5 minutes from PdB to the airport and 7 minutes from PdB to Pacha was really really nice (and there's something beautiful about the symmetry of that San Rafael tunnel). In short, not sure what I think now! Maybe leave it as is and just don't build any more!?
P.S.
I probably won't do a separate review as mentioned above but I must say that we had a blast coming back through Madrid. Firstly, I just like Madrid. From visiting the Prado to wandering the narrow streets downtown, I just enjoy it. Our visit happened to coincide with the European Pride celebration and the whole city (young, old, gay, straight, everyone!) got involved. Big parade, block parties with DJs and dancers, and everyone out for a good time. Fabulouse.
Photos:
Ibiza Part 1 * Part 2 * Madrid * EuroPride
It's our 7th year going and it's still my favorite part of the year hands down. This was only our 2nd time (with June 2005) going without any of our old gang of Ibiza-loving friends, who've all moved further away and have other priorites now
Luckily, that didn't slow us down as there were always people around to party with We never seem to run out of new things to see and do on this small piece of land... yet it feels remarkably like home, from the time you sit in the rental car at the airport and drive to the hotel as if on auto-pilot, to the familiar faces you see at all of your regular haunts around the island. My first day, I had a thought that maybe I, in fact, live in Ibiza and the other 50 weeks of the year were just a bad dream
OK, here goes. Apologies in advance for my wordiness. As with my previous years, key terms (places visited, parties attended, etc.) in bold.
***
Friday (June 15) - In what was probably foreshadowing of things to come in terms of the travelling portion of our trip, we kept our taxi waiting about 15 minutes while searching for one of our plane tix which somehow got knocked off (and behind) the table it had been sitting on
The driver charged us an extra 10 euros for the pleasure (about 3x what other taxi companies here charge... bad choice!) We also paid extra for keeping the taxi waiting on the way home to Moscow as our lugguage took 45 minutes to come after we'd already called a car . And we had our assigned seats on the Madrid-Moscow leg given away by the Iberian airlines people who handle Aeroflot's check-in in Madrid There's more on this travelling hell theme.... back to the chronology:We flew on Aeroflot to Madrid on an early morning flight, checked in our luggage for our evening Spanair flight to Ibiza, and took the metro downtown for a bit of wandering around.
Back to the airport and off to Ibiza but upon arrival, to our shock and horror, we learned that the dimwit check-in person at Spanair in Madrid had checked our luggage on the flight to Mallorca
Huge queue at Centauro too so by the time we sorted our rental car and made our baggage claim we'd already been in the airport nearly 2 hours All that said, I made my peace with the day when we arrived at the Garbi Aparthotel in Playa den Bossa and walked into our room - right on the sea. Great view!
. Stood on the balcony for a minute, played the Red Carpet song "Alright" on my laptop, then kissed Irina goodnight and went out for a walkabout in Playa den Bossa, soon to receive a message from Nick that he and Rob were heading over to the club Underground in San Rafael. I'd never been there so I decided to join them and was pleased I did. Good techno tunes and atmosphere and really nice little club. I specifically remember we met some very friendly French guy though his name escapes me
Not too busy on that particular Friday but just busy enough and I quite enjoyed our few short hours there as a taste of things to come. Getting our feet wet, if you will...Saturday - Got up and did some shopping for everything from clothes to toothbrushes... I decided to actually try to stick to Spanair's lame 57-euro-per-person compensation budget for myself, which meant a couple of wonderfully cheesey-and-cheap shirts amongst other things
(photos to come ) Afterwards, we went to see Silvia & Pep over at Delano's, next to Bora Bora in PdB. What lovely people (Sil, please thank Pep for talking photography with Ira ). We chatted until they headed off to get ready for Babs' wedding and Irina & I took up residence on the beach nearby as they were playing some tunes (though not too loudly). Then Nick, Rob & co. appeared and helped turned a typical beach afternoon into something far more entertaining I wandered off for a bit to Ibiza town to get a pair of summer shoes and had just come back to join in the goofiness when we heard the music get loud from somewhere. Turns out that, despite what we'd heard about Delano's being the substitute Bora Bora, it was actually the bar Tahiti just on the other side of BB. I ran over to investigate and then went to drag the rest of the gang over there. Thus began our first Tahiti session and finally I felt like everything's falling into place. We were home.8)
Later we re-joined the gang for a trip to San Antonio, where a quick drink at Mambo Cafe saw me nearly get expelled for allegedly having brought my beer in from outside after sitting on the beach all day with store-bought alcohol. At least, that's what the manager said before I started yelling at him
(apologies were later made on both sides 8)). Then over to the restaurant Sa Capella for a wonderful meal. Great food, beautiful setting and great company (Jamie's friend Amanda has to be the most unitentionally funny person ever
But she means well and we both loved her company, plus the poor girl lost her luggage too ). After dinner a few of us headed over to Ibiza harbor for some drinks and then carried on for a bit at an apartment with some of the post-wedding crowd. Silliness staying up until dawn before Space... oh well!Sunday - Well, Sunday could only really mean We Love at Space
We had a slow start to the day and stopped off at Ciao Ciao (new Italian place in PdB) for a quick (mediocre) lunch, so we only made it to Space mid-afternoon at which time the terrace was already hopping and packed with Spotlighters I think the members of this forum basically controlled the raised area to the left, and it was truly a pleasure to see so many familiar faces and to meet so many new folks - the good Dr Mick (where'd you disappear to?!), Copperband, Holly G and the irrepresible Nostrum I thought DJs Oscar Cano, Jason Bye and Oliver kept things moving along nicely until I popped out with Ferd and his "Barry" (the ever-smiling and unbelievably sweet Tamsyn) to the bar Tantra just in time to see Reyes come on for Beckham and secure Real Madrid's championship despite Barca's convincing win over Gimnastic. A bit of consoling Ferd then back for the rest of Tom Novy's set at Space which would have been fine if he'd have kept his big MCing mouth shut
Groove Armada started well on the inside terrace but their set went downhill in the second half, which meant time to chill out for a bit and then be appalled by how bad DJ Hell was Tiefschwarz saved the day, however, with a great set to close out the night Monday - Started out the day by taking Irina to lunch at Bliss in the Plaza del Parque in Ibiza Town, then left her to do a bit of shopping and headed up into the hills to the Mulletover party's "secret location" (4km up a winding road off the main drag between Privilege and Amnesia). Climbed a mountain from the car park and tracked down Nick, while one of the guys from Tiefschwarz in a right state kept wandering over and sticking on a song or two (not sure who the resident DJ was, but he was tolerant
). Met 2 absolutely funny Brits who, after receiving an answer to the question of where I live, proceeded to ask me if I knew a guy named Morbyd
A pleasure to meet occasional Spotlighter Grant1979 and his buddy Carlo 8) The party wasn't very full daytime but the atmosphere, views, crowd and music were ace and I met so many people whose names I will struggle to ever remember A quite decent substitute for DC10.I went back to PdB to pick up Irina and brought her back up the mountain to join in the festivities as night fell and Mulletover got a lot more crowded. MANDY was on at some point though I'm not sure we heard him
From there, we headed to Cocoon at Privilege While I quite like Amnesia as a venue, the improved soundsystem at Privilege is rocking, the place packed in 9000 people and there was still plenty space to dance, and Sven Vath just rocked the place solid One of the "Sets of the Vacation" for both Irina & I We enjoyed it so much we never even made it over to see Ricardo Villalobos in the Coco Loco A great party all around and another one were many a Spotlighter was seen. Also a great opportunity to visit Privilege, where we hadn't been in years. Amnesia who? Tuesday - We went home for a change and short rest before the Cocoon after-party, but that trip turned into an unfortunately long nap
We only later learned that the party had been cancelled, but that was long after we had driven around Cala Bassa to find it. After stumbling upon a bunch of clubbing casualties wandering around the area and a bar playing techno tunes with a good number of people dancing and/or lounging around, we thought we had!... until I looked at the sound system and realized it was too Mickey Mouse for Cocoon So Irina had some beach time at Cala Bassa, which we thought was quite a nice beach. Three (or 4?) bars/cafes around the back, nice sandy beach and clean, warm, shallow water. I wandered up to the bar and threw a few shapes with the other post-Cocoonites (most of whom, unlike me, looked like they hadn't slept despite it being sometime after 5pm
).We had decided on an easy night so we went to Cap des Falco for dinner and my god what a gorgeous view from that place
Really chilled spot for a drink or meal with a beautiful sunset over Es Codolar. Food was just OK but the ambience made up for it.Wednesday - On our 5th morning of constant calls to Spanair, and right about at Irina's psychological breaking point, we were told that after 4 days the lazy ****s at Spanair in Mallorca had finally taken the time to stick our bags on a Tuesday night flight to Ibiza
not like the lazy buggers at Ibiza airport had bothered calling us though... We were planning on going to Cala Jondal that day anyway so we stopped by the airport on the way. To our repeated shock and horror, only one of our suitcases was there Worse yet, it was mine! Cue Irina going into hysterics. To make matters worse, the woman there insisted it was "not her job" when we asked if she could just call Mallorca and find out what went wrong Onward to Tropicana beach club in Cala Jondal. For some reason, we didn't enjoy it as much as in years past. Maybe it was that they forgot to tell me they don't hold reserved sunbeds past 2pm... when I called and reserved one for 3!! (we initially had to sit at the edge of the beach before being moved to a better spot when someone left). Maybe it was the paella, which wasn't as good as other food we'd had there in past years. Or maybe it was Irina just having a bad day and me having to appease her by getting on the phone to yell at Spanair employees.
We decided to make another stop at the airport on the way back to PdB and, as luck would have it, Irina's suitcase had arrived... on a later flight! (anyone care to guess why they would not have been sent together?
No one at Spanair could explain!). But even though it was visible through the window, we still had to wait 45 minutes for someone to show up at the baggage claim counter Irina called it an early night but I popped over to Tahiti to bust a move on the beach for a bit, then dropped by our old "local" bar Kopi for a couple of drinks before going in to new(-ly refurbished and renamed) club Diva for Underclub. THIS IS THE BEST PARTY YOU AREN'T ATTENDING. Firstly, can't beat free entrance. Secondly, top tunes all night long including a stellar set by Anja Schneider. The house room was desolate but the techno room got just full enough to be good. Joined later on by Nick & Amy who I think will concur.
Thursday - Nick was babbling on about some drummers at sunset (never happened!) so we grabbed him & Rob and went north to Beniras for our beach day. Great lunch at a restaurant coincidentally called Beniras before settling in on the beach and being joined by Jamie & co. Nice afternoon of lazing around and then Irina and I made a quick run back to the town of San Miguel for their local arts fair... only we decided to take a different road, through Puerto de San Miguel, which turned out to be the SECOND MOST SCARY ROAD I'VE EVER BEEN ON
Driving along seaside cliffs puts the fear of the spaghetti monster into you, I've gotta say... great views but hard to take them in when you're concerned about plunging to your death It got better at Puerto de SM and we stopped for photos then went to the San Miguel fair and ended up only buying locally-made goat cheese and chorizo. Rejoined the crew in Beniras just in time for a beautiful (quiet) sunset Irina & I had an entirely average meal at Pacha that evening but at least we got to say hi to Grant1979 and his missus at the next table, and we got in free for F*** Me I'm Famous at Pacha....... for what was probably our worst night out this trip
I'd seen Steve Angello in Moscow a few weeks back and he rocked, and we all know David Guetta can either do his pop radio house music set or play some rather good deeper tunes. Well, Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso and pop music Guetta were intent on bombarding us with as many cheesey radio house tunes and pop remixes as they could find. Irina left the party saying she thinks she actually doesn't like house music anymore Utter crap. Only upside was meeting JessyG123Friday (June 22) - Week one over and a 2nd night off for me. But at least we started the day right with the Nude afterparty at Prestige in the basement of the El Corso hotel in Marina Botafoch/Talamanca. Now, the club itself is nothing to get excited about (I think my high school dances were better decorated
) and it took a while to get full enough as we went right at opening. Irina bailed out after an hour but I stayed about 3 hours before my legs stopped wanting to move. Was enjoying Jo Mills' set up until that point. By then, some of our gang had come (all happy customers after attending Monza... dammit!) and several already left! I apparently got out just before some unpleasantness began...Irina did some local beach time as I slept from midday until late afternoon. Later, we went for a drive around Talamanca and then to Sa Punta for our best meal of the trip so far 8) Great food and another spot with amazing views and a quite decent sunset over the hills of Ibiza. After sitting out there for a while, it was back to the room where Irina set up camp out on the balcony to sleep under the stars.
Saturday - Up and out to the Hippy Market at Las Dalias in San Carlos. Irina picked up a few bits for the folks back home while I finally got around to my annual tradition of buying and inserting a new earring-I'll-wear-only-in-Ibiza. From there, we headed northeast to the beach at Es Figueral where I'd read they had jetskis. Despite it being a nice long sandy beach, Irina didn't like the place for swimming (windy day, high waves) and no jetskis in sight so we relocated to Cala Boix which is now one of our few favorite beaches
There are 3 restaurants and a hostal next to the car park, then a descent down a long flight of stairs to where there have an inexpensive lunch shack, a not-too-crowded sandy beach, and relatively calm water in a protected little cove. Recommended We swung through Santa Eularia for dinner at Cardomom Club which, if you're in a mood for Indian cuisine, is the best such place I've seen on the island and just a nice restaurant in general. Ran into familiar locals Rob & Rachel on our way out and was good to see them outside of club shouting territory
Afterwards, back to the hotel where we both dozed off into food coma. Luckily, I woke up just in time to make it to Def Mix @ Pacha with David Morales and Danny Rampling. The jokers at Thursday's FMIF could learn a lot from these two masters, who mixed in darker and/or tribal beats interspersed with the occasional vocal house tune or familiar a capella to keep the night flowing. Top house music night!
Sunday - Moved slowly when I got up and then went to join Irina at Tahiti where we met up with the good sir Nostrum for a drink. Irina decided she'd opt out of We Love @ Space this week but I headed to the club mid-afternoon and was pleased to run across Mr Entertainer aka DJ Soulman (thanks again for the CDs!) and Jez71 as well as the recently-arrived Russ and poor JessyG weighed down by her wet blanket friend! Jon Ulysses and DJ Oliver kept things rocking on the terrace as usual 8)
Used my pass-out to take Irina to a delicious dinner at Moorea's - a key piece of evidence that there are a few decent places to eat in Playa den Bossa! Back to the hotel to change, dozed off for 30 minutes (began to see a problem with food-induced comas
), then to Kopi for drinks with Irina, then back to Space. Caught a bit of Nic Fanciulli and then was thoroughly surprised by a great set by Paul Woolford. Layo & Bushwacka disapointed though I stayed till close.Monday - Up and out to the newly repoened DC10 for Circo Loco
Place was already packed at 4pm (in contrast to when I went last year, when it wasn't that full until around 7). I love this place. That is all. 8) 8) 8)Props to Luciano for another one of our Sets of the Vacation despite the brief interuption by the police. Only caught a little of Dan Ghenacia inside but he was throwing down some good tunes. Tania Vulcano was subpar for her, I thought.
Back to the hotel to change, then decided that we really needed to have at least one meal that day. We went to La Terraza, another argument against the PdB culinary wasteland concept. Great restaurant in a peaceful garden setting and delicious food...which neither of us could fully stomach
No matter, off to Ibiza Town for drinks then to see the man himself, Roger Sanchez, for Release Yourself @ Pacha
Irina was still in her anti-house backlash mood but I thought the S-man was in top form - mixing styles from house to tribal to electro to even a bit of techno, and keeping the night moving along well. Does he ever disappoint? (hint: answer is NO) 8) Sanchez rules.Tuesday - Another day for exploring
We went to the beach at Cala Salada, north of San Antonio. Very laidback beach where the sand is a little pebbley but the beer cost just 2 euros and sunbeds & umbrellas are just 3.50 There's a separate part of the beach reached via a treacherous climb over slipper quartz rocks... some of those fortunate to survive the climb and descent were nude on that side of the beach. Irina liked it over there because it was quieter and undeveloped, but I stayed in the main section under my umbrella. I eventually made the climb to track her down but somehow we passed each other without noticing (I could have been focussing on not dying ) so then I had to turn around and go back.From there, I wanted to check out the caves shown on my maps just north of there at Ses Fontanelles. We made a couple of wrong turns on the way though and ended up driving on the OTHER SECOND SCARIEST ROAD I'VE EVER DRIVEN ON
Na Foradada the area is called and it's another route with seaside cliffs and little or no barrier to keep you from careening off them! Nice villas hidden up that way, though, and eventually we tracked back and found the cave.... which is basically just a rock outcropping with a gate around a small cave-like enclosure Cool in that it has some pre-Roman era drawings in it...but no descending into caves with stalagtites and bats around those parts! (should have read the Ibiza Spotlight description on the Cala Salada beach page! http://www.ibiza-spotlight.com/beach/cala_salada_i.htm)We went to Santa Ines (aka Sta Agnes) for dinner at a nice family-run local restaurant called La Palmera. Santa Ines is just as it's described on Spotlight (http://www.ibiza-spotlight.com/villages/santa_ines_i.htm), a real agrarian town high up in the hills. You drive north over the hills to get there and then descend into a mountain valley surrounded by peaks which I believe is appropriately called La Corona (crown), as the town's full name is Santa Agnes de la Corona. There's a bar on the edge of town that's right next to the ruins of a house built during the island's years under Islamic rule... which is steps away from a huge cliff! (don't get close if you get vertigo!). The food at La Palmera was delicious, comparatively cheap, and most importantly good local cuisine.
Wednesday - Another busy day with some exploring to begin. We basically drove past Jesus and then all over the area between Puig de Salleres and the sea trying to find the turn that eventually would take us to S'Etanyol. Has to be the quietest beach ever! Really nice place to relax and while the water was a bit too rocky for wading, and the ton of dead seaweed on the coast made it look a bit dirty, we found it a very relaxing place to hang out. I went for a walk up on the hills and cliff nearby for some beautiful views as far as Roca Lisa in one direction and Formentera in the other. We had lunch at the Republica de S'Etanyol a.k.a. PK2, the nice restaurant there serving up fresh food and good service.
Afterwards, we drove over to Cala Llonga where I took a nice beach nap while Irina went swimming in the warm shallow waters.
We had dinner at La Oliva in the Dalt Vila late that evening - still a favorite restaurant of ours - then went to El Divino for Penetra. Spotlight's own Anil Chawla, besides being just a really nice guy, played one of my favorite sets of the trip. Unfortunately, Irina couldn't get over how not-full the club was (only a couple hundred people and 3/4 of the terrace blocked off
). So after Anil's set (Scarlet Etienne was a no show ), we went to Space where there was a massive line for La Troya at sometime after 4am We decided not to wait and went to Diva for Underclub again. Very empty but still more ambience than inside El Divino and Damian Schwarz was playing some amazing tunes... so much so that Irina "I can't dance in half-empty El Divino" was suddenly "I'll dance with these 5 other guys on the dancefloor at Diva" Thursday - Last full day
Spent it on the beach at Tahiti, with a pizza for lunch from those nice Dutch people at cafe 2 doors down. Just as we were heading in, I decided to do IT. I got up the nerve.... and dropped 50 euros to go ride a jetski for 20 minutes Always wanted to try and it was so much fun even if the choppy waves made it somewhat difficult for a newby to steer. Great experience!Got cleaned up and drove into San Jose for dinner at fusion tapas bar El Destino. Not as cheap as last year (because we didn't stop ordering more stuff!) and the service was a bit slow but I still love their food and concept. We went nextdoor to the locals' live music bar, Raco Verd, for a few cover tunes from a very average band, then back to PdB to drop Irina off and head to Renaissance at Pacha.
John Digweed was a bit boring at first, a surprise seeing as how much I've loved every time I've seen him in Moscow, but his last hour or so was absosmurfly rocking
I actually thought they'd changed DJs at 4am, but no! Afterwards, Hernan Cattaneo came on at 5 and just ripped the place to shreds. 8) Pacha was great too - not as rammed as for FMIF or Def Mix. Only downside as large group of monkeys all dressed in white who had occupied the VIP right behind me I found myself next to huge group of Russians but resisted the urge to surprise them with the 'black guy in Spain speaks Russian?' thing Met up with Anil Chawla and his lovely friend and busted some moves until a bit later than I had planned!Friday (June 29) - Back to the room for a 2-3 hour attempt at sleep, then check-out at 10:30 and off to the airport for our weekend in Madrid and the Sunday trip back to Moscow.
***
So, that's it.... 2 weeks in paradise and I sooooo want to go back!! (but my bank account says NO!
) Thanks for reading if you've made it this far We packed a fair amount of fun into our time, I think. I'm certainly pleased
A big HOWDY to all the Spotlighters seen (in roughly chronological order): Zarbtron, Robder, Cookie, Dan X, BBS, Kang, Ferd, Jinja, Robbie G, Barbie (with Tom. congrats again on your wedding
), Robo, Rachelj, Beckiboo, Lynch, DJ Soulman, Russ, Anil ChawlaAnd big smiles to all the new Spotlighters we met! The amazing Nostrum, Copperband the family man, the good Dr Mick, Grant1979 and his bride-to-be, JessyG123 (next year, come with us instead!), the glamorous Gollum/Holly G, Jez71 and Sara (keep those mixes coming!), the lovely Mitsi and her husband, and true sweethearts Silvia & Pep (I'm so jealous about Japan!
)Also great meeting other members of our first week beach/club crew - Amy, Amanda, Lorna, Michelle, Alex, Rich, Matt. Very nice getting to chat and watch football with Ferd's "Barry" Tamsyn!
Special thanks to Nick and Rob for keeping us company on long drives during the first week (and apologies about the Pride weekend smses from Madrid
) and to Stivi for keeping us informed and keeping us company all around town... you are one lucky man. Living the dream!Apologies if I missed anyone!
Notes:
Number of days & nights: 14
Parties visited: 14
Nights off: 4
Beaches visited: 9 (including 6 for the first time - all corners of the island!)
New towns visited: Sta Ines, San Miguel, Puerto de San Miguel
(also saw more of Jesus, San Carlos, Talamanca and some of the mountain villa communities!)
Best new finds: Cala Boix, Santa Ines
Best night party: Cocoon
Best day party: Circo Loco
Best techno/tech-house sets: Luciano, Tiefschwarz, Sven Vath, Anja Schneider, Anil Chawla, Damian Schwarz
Best house sets: Roger Sanchez, Hernan Cattaneo, David Morales
Best meal(s): tough call! Sa Punta, La Palmera, Cardomom Club... ooh, and Benirras was good too.
For the people that ask about spending budgets all the time: 280 euros/day (total, for two) was our average this time around (keeping in mind that Irina didn't go out some nights, but also adding in the extra things we had to buy due to nearly 5 days without our luggage! Total includes some clothes & gifts, but not hotel & car...)
Coming soon:
Ibiza Photos -
Madrid EuroPride Review, photos and film clips
Restaurant reviews!
Footnote:
I forgot to mention about the Autopista. Now, I'm firmly with the camp of people who feel a full-on highway with tunnels, exits and high speeds doesn't really fit for an island with the size and charm of Ibiza. It just feels wrong... how nice is it driving to places up north along windy mountain roads? 8)............ but I have to admit that 5 minutes from PdB to the airport and 7 minutes from PdB to Pacha was really really nice
(and there's something beautiful about the symmetry of that San Rafael tunnel). In short, not sure what I think now! Maybe leave it as is and just don't build any more!?P.S.
I probably won't do a separate review as mentioned above but I must say that we had a blast coming back through Madrid. Firstly, I just like Madrid. From visiting the Prado to wandering the narrow streets downtown, I just enjoy it. Our visit happened to coincide with the European Pride celebration and the whole city (young, old, gay, straight, everyone!) got involved. Big parade, block parties with DJs and dancers, and everyone out for a good time. Fabulouse.
Photos:
Ibiza Part 1 * Part 2 * Madrid * EuroPride
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