Eivissa 1

The Formentera hotel was the best I'd stayed in so far. Aside from the already mentioned breakfasts, the furnishings are modern and the services excellent. There is a swimming pool, good for cooling off after touring. The major drawback was that the WiFi did not reach the rooms and I had to go down to the bar to go online. I expected and found Formentera to cost more than the bigger islands since things have to be imported but even at the higher price, the hotel was good value.

The return journey went without drama and by noon I was in my Eivissa accommodation. After lunch I retreated for a siesta, saving Dalt Vila (old city) for the evening.

Like many other desirable middle ages city, Eivissa was keenly fought over so the old city and fortress is a remnant of that time. Beneath the fortifications is an entire city with narrow passageways that is pleasant to explore.

The harbour edge of the fortified city has many fine dining possibilities. I however took dinner in a more mundane cafeteria away from the harbour because of the tourist maxim: Everything is more expensive on the main drag.

I wanted a pastry and coffee to follow, but this proved elusive. Such morsels are for the earlier part of the day and in the evening, main meals, alcoholic drinks and snacks (tapas) are in vogue.

My hostal was 4 stories up from a popular square. The hubbub of conversation reached all the way to my window. Within a stone's throw were several dance clubs and the thump thump reached this far until the small hours of the morning. Especially as posters all over advertised that this was the end of dance season so every club was holding noisy farewell parties on the weekend. Fortunately I'd been staying up late and and can adapt to sleeping with noise. There are always the ear plugs. In the popular mind Ibiza is associated with the dance club scene. DJs are like rock stars, and have parlayed fame into lucrative spin-offs, such as Kathy and David Guetta's chain of merchandise stores with the double entendre name F*** me I'm famous! (sic)

I admit I was ambivalent about choosing to visit Eivissa. I couldn't even find a current guide book for the island; one published several years ago was not renewed. It seems that those who come here know what to expect (i.e. package holiday, clubbing, and other hedonistic pursuits). However the tourism scene, including the clubs only accounts for 5% of land use. There is a lot of pretty landscape around the island.