nostrum's june visit 2009

stivi

Well-Known Member
Stivi’s short return to Ibiza, June 13 – June 18, 2009

After not having been to Ibiza since the start of the year, I obviously was really looking forward to hit the island again, especially also because it had been my home for the past two summers. As you might have noticed, I didn’t post too much recently, for two reasons: a) other people (grego, stella, McR) are much closer to the sources and have more accurate news than me and b) as I just said, I haven’t been in ibiza anyway and because of my new job, I’m having a bit less time for the forums. But yes, I still read a lot on here, try to keep up with what’s going on and now also will provide a review in the same style I have been doing for the last few years...

Before I start, there’s one funny thing I think I should say: some time during our stay, we picked up the latest pacha mag and noticed that we visited a whole lot of the places mentioned inside! This was not on purpous and made us laugh really! But read on, and If you do have a copy of the latest issue of pacha mag (you can even read them online now as McR just posted) you’ll notice I’ll talk of quite a lot of these places…


Saturday, June 13

We arrived in Ibiza at noontime. The private place we usually stay nowadays was still rented out for the first two nights of our stay, so we had booked a room at boutique hostal Salinas (there we go, first place that’s mentioned in pacha mag). But it had been a tip we got some time in spring and not the pacha mag, sow we thought we might try it out. The place is really nice and the location is also good, just a few steps away from Salinas beach. The rooms are not as boutique as the rest of the house, but absolutely ok. (check their homepage for pictures). As the weather was perfect sunny and hot and we were desparate to get some summer in and around our bodies, we directly went to the beach at Salinas. More exactly, we walked down all the beach, past sa trinxa, until the tower at the end of the beach, round the corner and ended up at es cavallet, were we had a very nice mid-afternoon lunch at el chiringuito. For those who’ve never walked all that stretch – really recommended! It’s quite a walk, make sure you have a bottle of water with you and any kind of shoes (barefoot is not a good option after sa trinxa). And don’t get put off if you see people (mostly men I should say) wander around naked between the two beaches – es cavallet is an official nudist beach and the southern part of it is a very famous zone for gay gatherings :) and talking about el chiringuito, if you do like fish and seafood, then that’s your place!

After lunch, we relaxed on the beach in front of el chiringuito until quite late. The great thing about june is the fact, the days are SO long and you can stay on the beach and soak up the sun until later than any other month of the year! So when we walked back to our hostal (on the road crossing the salines this time), the sun was already setting behind puig d’es falco (which is the mountain separating Salinas between es codolar and the airport).

At nighttime (actually quite late, just before midnight), we drove into ibiza town and had dinner at tentazione, up in dalt villa, a new place which you definitely should visit if you’re up in dalt villa some time this summer. If you are a reader of my reviews for more than a year already, then you might remember me talking about a beach shack / chiringuito in playa d’en bossa called hora zero (hora 0). You also might remember this chiringuito didn’t open last summer (and instead another guy opened one at the same place). So, tentazione is now the new place of the people who used to run hora 0 until the end of 2007. obviously, it is completely a different story now, you wouldn’t really put up a beach shack in dalt villa, would you? so what you find there is an amazing new restaurant. If you do follow McRackin’s gossip threads, you may have read the name before, he mentioned it a few weeks ago. The place manymanymany years ago (I’m speaking more than a decade ago!) was a bar called la gaviota and was then shut for…yes, more than 10 years. The location is great, if you come up the main portal into dalt villa, then turn left as you arrive at the first plaza, you’ll walk right up to tentazione after maybe another minute. It’s right between the two very well known restaurants ca’n den parra and el portalon. And the inside of the restaurant is just beautiful. I won’t tell you too much about it, go and have a look for yourselves. anyway, we enjoyed a very tasty and very reasonably priced dinner there together with a nice bottle of Italian red wine. Yes OK, the place is run by friends of mine and I’m normally not a person to do advertisements on here, but we were so surprised to see they had taken over such a nice place, I think it’s fair to mention it here…so hope you don’t mind guys.

Our plan had been to go to amnesia opening which took place that night. You all know I am a fond lover of that club and also, their opening and closing nights are always somewhat special. So when we had finished our dinner and closed down the restaurant for the night together with our friends, it was almost 4am already and we all were really tired. Our friends after a hard working day and us after a long and eventful holiday day. We debated about going and in the end we decided to go and just have at least a look how things are at amnesia…

So we arrived at amnesia short after 4am. The club was buzzing! Both the main floor and the terrace were very busy and there was a great atmosphere everywhere. After a drink or two, our tiredness was momentarily gone and we were dancing on the terrace again – which is simply my most favourite dancefloor ever. Mar-t had just finished his set in the main room and then played on the terrace. with him, micah (the violinist) and a sax player and a girl that played live keyboards (well how do you call these keyboards that look like a guitar, but with piano buttons?), which all created a great vibe. At 6am, the terrace was already day-lit and it was then, when more and more island faces turned up and the younger locals (the real people of ibiza youth, which was enjoying their Saturday night out) slowly made their way home. Lots of fun then in the morning hours, many friends, great music (nothing too underground here, mar-t even copied sven väth in playing “music sounds better with you” – sven had played that one at last years’ amnesia closing night), really fun fun fun! At some point, our tiredness came back and we decided we wanted to save up some energy for the days to come, so we left amnesia opening at around 9am and called it a day and a night!
(for the record, amnesia opening again went on till 12 noon…and I already look forward again to amnesia closing, where I definitely will not leave before the last track ends!)


Sunday June 14

We woke up at around 3pm and were starving! So we decided to check out the Sunday BBQ which they do at hostal Salinas where we still were staying for one more night. Great stuff! We got a HUGE plate full of deliciously grilled meat, together with tasty veggies, salad and potatoes. Just the thing you need after a long night out :)

After we had stuffed up with food, we were ready to hit the beach again, but didn’t feel like going too far, so we ended up going to es cavallet again (Salinas is just too busy on a Sunday afternoon).

Early evening, we drove to blue marlin to catch up a bit of paco fernandez’ flamenco sessions. Boy was blue marlin busy! I’m not exactly a flamenco fan, but the vibe there on Sunday evenings is just cool! We had a few drinks there and then we were told Tania vulcano would play at ushuaïa in playa d’en bossa. Our plan had been to drive there anyway (because of space), so we decided to leave blue marlin and head to pdb, where we went to ushuaïa first. Yes, Tania was playing and yes, also this place was busy! had another drink there and then, sometime past 11pm, headed towards space for we love opening party. Hmmm. I don’t know if it was for the fact so many other parties were happening (blue marlin, ushuaïa, there was another party at atzaro that night…), but space was NOT really busy. the sunset terrace was ok-ish (didn’t like alfredo though, who closed this floor), but the inside was totally empty before midnight and also the new terrace only got busy once the sunset terrace was shut. To me, it really seems like the transformation from we love being a daytime-party into being a nighttime-only party is continuing…music-wise, we got a bit of joris voorn (who played inside and really was not bad, but no atmosphere unfortunately) and tiefschwarz who played the new terrace. also there, and I’m sorry to say that, but there was NO atmosphere in our opinion. We left before steve lawler played and apparently he was good (and played a very similar set to the one at space opening). When we got out of space, there were still people arriving, so I guess it was busier later…it’s just so strange when you’re used to see “we love” in full swing between 6pm and midnight and nowadays it’s only really starting past midnight…
We were not really tired yet and continued our clubbing tour, off to es vive – which was completely empty at that point. Rob marmot was lined up to play there later, but well…Ok, further off, last stop for tonight, pacha and the opening party of fetish / pacha classics. This is one of the only nights I had never been to yet and I must say, I think we all here do underrate this night quite a bit. First off, pacha (almost) always strikes. It’s always busy in the summer. Second, many people do like house classics from the last decade. Third, it’s basically the cheapest night to get into pacha and fourth, they’re doing a good job! We had one last drink there, enjoyed the music and the dancers (well girls if you like some musclemarys, have a look at that one, and no, even if that night has a bit of a gay reputation, there were people of all kinds around) and then we called it a night. Speaking about pacha changes, the only real changes I noticed (and here I must admit I am not a pacha expert) is the new dancefloor. I’m speaking of the floor itself, the one on which you dance. Up until now, the main dancefloor always was one step lower than the rest of the area to the right (as you enter the main floor). This has been changed now, there are still the stairs as you enter the room, but the actual dancefloor is all on the same level (which I think is good, I always thought these steps in the middle of the dancefloor were a bit sketchy).


Monday, June 15

We got up in time to enjoy a late breakfast at hostal Salinas, then checked out, moved to our usual place and then drove north to aguas blancas, where we spent all afternoon enjoying the still absolutely perfect weather.

In the early evening and on our way back, we stopped in san carlos and had something between a late lunch and an early dinner at bar anita (well I could maybe just call it a meal…). That’s a place I always loved and their ibicenco salad was just as good as their mussels!

After a short detour to san an (hi all the workers over there, nice to see you all again guys), we went back home, had a shower and got us in the mood for….cocoon opening party!

We arrived at amnesia around 1am and the usual craziness already started outside, quite huge queues, but people got in quite quickly I thought. Both dancefloors were not too busy yet. Chris tietjen was warming up for sven in the main room and cassy did the same for Ricardo villalobos on the terrace – or so we thought at that time. the club got busier quickly and by 2am, it was already really busy, although still not packed. We went over to the main room to see sven had already begun playing, but cassy’s set on the terrace was so good, we decided to stay there. Also Ricardo appeared in the dj booth at that time (and I already thought “ok, cassy, really nice warm-up set, well done”), but he did not touch any records yet. In fact, cassy’s so-called warm-up set turned into a monster first set on the terrace and we, the people around us and I really think everybody LOVED her set! At 3am amnesia finally was as busy as I had expected it (but still bearable, not august-like) and the atmosphere on the terrace was amazing. Cassy was still playing, I’d say it was somewhere between deep and tech house, really groove, really driving, just really great underground house music, no minimal at all. The first time I saw Ricardo actually doing anything in the dj booth was around 3:30am. Then, cassy and him played back to back till about 5am and that’s when, in my humble opinion, it started to go tits up. When it was only him playing in the morning hours, the sound had changed completely, aggressive sounding tunes, no groove anymore, and the atmosphere had died down drastically. Also, when we decided to walk over to the main room to see if sven was any better, we were really surprised to see how many people in the terrace and also in the main room had already left! The terrace was still really busy in the central part, underneath the dj box, but not so much in the back part. And the main room, oh my god! I think I never have seen the main room that empty at a cocoon night at 5am!!! I really don’t know what had happened, but I was absolutely dumbstruck to see cocoon that empty in the morning hours. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t expect it to be super-duper busy all night, but normally, people who go to cocoon stay there till the very end. And so, because we didn’t like the music anymore, not in the main room, neither on the terrace, even we left amnesia before it shut. With a strange feeling, we left at around 6:30 am. I don’t know exactly how long it stayed open till, I’ve heard 7:30am, but I’m not sure. Regarding the afterparty, I’ve heard different things. A friend of ours says she’s been in a house and both sven and Ricardo were playing there, while others say the afterparty was on a boat…I don’t know and neither care!


Tuesday June 16

Not too much to mention about that day – we relaxed all day, enjoyed the sun and had a surprisingly delicious meal at sands in playa d’en bossa (there we are again, pacha mag…). You know, I am always a bit sceptical when it comes to very new places, especially if they’re meant to be in-places. Normally, they’re cool to lounge around and have a drink, but often the food quality just isn’t as good as it should be. But yes, I must admit, the food we had there (tuna for me – mmmmh, amazing!) was really much better than I had expected and NOT overpriced! So yes, sands is really OK to go and have a meal there (read more about all those new playa d’en bossa places further down).


Wednesday June 17

Beachtime again during the day – it seems like I have found a new favourite beach, because I was at es cavallet again! The tranquil there is just perfect!

In the evening, I met up with friends (heelllooooo) and we drove to cala conta first, where we enjoyed lots of cava sangria and a nice (although cloudy) sunset at sunset ashram, then we drove into ibiza town, were we stuffed our bellies with very very tasty tapas at la bodega (pacha mag again, I can’t believe it). Then we walked up to dalt villa again, said hi (respectively goodbye) to the tentazione people) and then called it a day.


Thursday June 18

Flying home!


Thoughts…

Crisis! Crisis???? I really tried hard to have a close look around to see the differences to june 2008. and really, I couldn’t spot many. Yes, maybe there were slightly less people around, but many places were still really busy. I’m speaking about the beaches for example – Salinas was very crowded both Saturday and Sunday. Then also, there was a bit of life in Ibiza town. Blue marlin was really busy on that Sunday evening. But all in all, I think I haven’t spent enough time in Ibiza this time to really be able to judge. But what I’ve heard from a many shop/restaurant/bar owners, is that the holidaymakers are spending less. Lets see how the season goes.

As for clubbing, I’m sure it will be a season with lots of freebies (or free before Xam) and also ticket prices might and probably will be cheaper in general, with the exception of FMIF, tiesto and cocoon. By the way, supermartXé is doing the same thing as the year before – for their opening party (which was held last night), they were collecting names for their free guest list already on the airport at arrival!!!

And I think we might see a year in which clubs will be busy but not super-packed on many occasions. I also think the parties at the zoo this year will be even more successful than the year before for the fact of dc10 being closed. and I expect more smaller parties at places like ushuaïa etc, beginning in the early evening and going till midnight.


Playa d’en Bossa

As there’s a lot talk about PdB at the moment, let me also add my two cents. And I’d like to separate PdB in two pieces – A: beachside/seaside, B: roadside/landside. B is very easy. Almost nothing has changed. The apartments migjorn (near jet, just opposite of sissi’s asador, which now also has sushi) have a new and very stylish entrance and I hope the apartments have been refurbed in the same way as well. Just in that small stretch of street you see a lot of new paint and refurbishments, else it’s exactly the same as always.
Seaside is a different story. Last year, beach palace opened. And Nassau came to life. This year, there are a LOT of new places on the southern part of the beach. First, la plage (by the elephant people), a nice restaurant which will hopefully serve supertasty food for not exorbitant prices, then sands (which already surprised me and I’ll be going back to), then ushuaïa, where you get some cool parties this year, and there’s another one managed by pippi I think, but I don’t know the name. so will this be the future of playa d’en bossa? Well yes, possibly it will. It all depends on how many people will visit these places, because the thruth is, it’s quite a lot of new places all very close to each others and Nassau (and la sal rossa and coco beach) is still there. Again, lets see how the season will be doing!


Music

Shall I say minimal is dead? Well maybe not, but last years trend of groovy deep underground house music coming back is still there and even bigger. Cocoon, who had exploded in 2005 when minimal exploded, didn’t sound minimal at all at their opening night. But sure, some minimal stuff is still around and it’s absolutely ok!

Here’s only a few tracks I remember:
Reboot – pra dizer
Michel cleis – la mezcla (played about everywhere)
And ask grego for more of that stuff cassy played at cocoon opening, that was all brilliant!!!!


Well then, enjoy your ibiza hols this year and see you soon guys (surely for the closings, maybe before)
Stivi
 
Thank you,great review, can't say I went to any pacha mag endorsed places,although enjoy reading about them :lol:

We did go to Anita's though,and also had the Ibicenco salad (the heaviest salad in the world)
salud 8)
 
amazing review -
almost any detail you could think of or ask for is already included
okpjf4.gif




ps:
i was only shocked for a second when reading this:
... Our plan had been to go to amnesia opening which took place that night ...
So when we had finished our dinner and closed down the restaurant
for the night together with our friends, it was almost 4am already
and we all were really tired ...
We debated about going ...

... because i was afraid you would call it a day and skip amnesia,
but thank god you made it to cocoonopening :)


ps:
... there’s another one managed by pippi I think,
but I don’t know the name...
http://www.spotlight-forums.com/showpost.php?p=1283101&postcount=195
 
Nice review Stivi.

I was at Tentazione the night after you and had an amazing meal. :)

On Cocoon: I went to WLS, Cocoon, and Cream last week and noticed that there are less people here than last year.
 
Nice review Stivi.

I was at Tentazione the night after you and had an amazing meal. :)

On Cocoon: I went to WLS, Cocoon, and Cream last week and noticed that there are less people here than last year.

cream opening was busier than last year
 
stivi - nice to see you briefly, my new phone has none of my numbers in, so i had no way of texting you when i got to cocoon.

the piano/guitar thing is called an accordion.

as for pacha, i've been twice now and i can't see any difference to the dancefloor. the size is exactly the same. i understand what you mean about the level of the dancefloor, but then that would mean, if you were coming from the area in front of the dj booth to the right, then you would have to take a step UP to the dancefloor, i didn't notice doing this.

the only definite change, which does make the room look different, is that ANOTHER vip space has been added by basically putting a roof on top of the bar in the main room, opposite (and a bit left) the dj booth, near the toilets, at the bottom of the steps from the funky room.

quite difficult to explain.:confused:

how much did the bbq at hostal salinas cost??
 
Thank you,great review, can't say I went to any pacha mag endorsed places,although enjoy reading about them :lol:

We did go to Anita's though,and also had the Ibicenco salad (the heaviest salad in the world)
salud 8)

is that the one with potatoes, onions and tomatoes and lots of salt??
 
is that the one with potatoes, onions and tomatoes and lots of salt??

yes, and with tuna as well!

i think the BBQ at hostal salinas was 25€ but i'm not entirely sure.

ah, and speaking about more VIP spaces - also space has enhanced with that. at we love opening, on the new terrace, all the bits that are a few stairs upstairs on that gallery were VIP now. what a shame!!!
 
Prices are quite affordable relative to the atmosphere and quality of the food. I took a random shot of the menu outside the other day.

Try the Strawberry Risotto or the Calzone.

tentazione.jpg
 
Has the reboot track been released anywhere.. been trying to find it!!!

Thanks for the review, cant wait to head down there..
 
Nice one, stivi. We're off 26 June, will try some of your spots.
See you for Tenaglia à Avenches.
 
[/QUOTE]we walked down all the beach, past sa trinxa, until the tower at the end of the beach, round the corner and ended up at es cavallet, were we had a very nice mid-afternoon lunch at el chiringuito. For those who’ve never walked all that stretch – really recommended! It’s quite a walk, make sure you have a bottle of water with you and any kind of shoes (barefoot is not a good option after sa trinxa)
NICE Review,

We stumbled along this little walk by mistake after trapsing all the way to es cavallet(through the forest from the salinas car park) while looking for jockey club only to realise we'd actually parked right next to our desired destination. doh.

We decided to walk back along the coast, no water, no shoes...and just about made it to sa trinxa for a well earned drink. Some lovely little coves with sandy beaches along the way although like you say they were full of naked middle aged naked men kissing....but if you can turn a blind eye and show a bit of good old British decorum then its a beautiful place.
 
love reading your reviews every year,makes me get really excitied about my trip,unfortunatly i have only 1 trip planned this year on the the 30th of aug which is still a while away :(
 
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