Santa Eulària des Riu

Eivissa town has brightly lit streets near the harbour but most of the illumination was supplied by the shops, not street lights; the glitter petered out the further away you walked. The population is bolstered by visitors in summer so the municipal authorities were not providing lighting beyond the needs of a small town all year round.

I wished that the night-time temperatures were a couple of degrees less. When I got my room I noticed the electric insecticide vapouriser. And indeed I got a couple of mosquitoes in the night. Between the vapouriser and the repellant I had, I got through the night. I wondered where they breed. Perhaps it's not surprising, Eivissa foliage is lush, suggesting ample rainfall.

I wanted the bus to Santa Eulària des Riu and went to the new bus station. I had to walk around it a couple of times to convince myself it was not in use. I asked at the police desk there, possibly the only occupant of the empty building and got pointed to one of the main streets. I couldn't find it there so walked down to the harbour. There I saw a water taxi service and decided to take that. With some time to kill I had a coffee and a pastry. In the local newspaper I found the answer to the bus station mystery. The private developer of the bus station complex told the municipal authorities they couldn't charge less than 5€ per bus movement if the station were to be inaugurated. They were losing money on the empty premises. Negotiations were continuing. This was just one example of overbuilding that had landed regional governments budgets in the red. I had noticed all over, to various degrees, property for sale or rent. This was exacerbated by businesses failing.

When the water taxi didn't arrive at the scheduled time, I asked at the tourist office about the (old) bus terminus. They gave me a map and circled a location on one of the main streets. As I was headed there the boat arrived so I hopped onto it. Unfortunately the weather was a bit overcast and the water was choppy so the boat rocked a lot. I was close to throwing up, and was saved by some menthol lozenges I had with me.

I suppose I did get to see an intervening cove called Cala Llonga on my boat ticket.

When we arrived at Santa Eulària des Riu I could have kissed terra firma.

The Riu refers to the river it's built by, the only one on the island. It is possible to take a river bank walk but it really is more like a stream most of the time, turning into a torrent only after heavy rain. Eulària is one of the more tasteful resorts and not as brash. The tourists here tend to be older. Some looked peevish on seeing me, as if to say, what's a relatively young person like you doing in our resort?

There is a market there where you can buy colourful clothing and accessories. At Es Canar, further up the coast, there is a "hippy market" on Wednesdays selling similar things.

I found a restaurant serving Indian cuisine which turned out to be quite good. I think they had a real Indian chef. Quite a few nationalities have washed up on Eivissa. There are locutorios (phone centres) all over serving these new residents. In reviews of restaurants on Eivissa, I noticed that quite a few are located in Eulària.

I decided to abandon the return half of my boat ticket and catch the bus instead. I would have lost my lunch otherwise. It was actually faster by bus, only about 20 minutes. Back in Eivissa town, I tried a local speciality, a slice of flao. I didn't like it that much, too sweet for my taste. The chocolate truffle ice cream I had in the evening after pizza was also too sweet and I began to wonder if this was characteristic.