Off-Season Island Life on Ibiza

In April I spent one amazing week living the island life of Ibiza. The reputation it’s always had in the States of being purely a party island was superseded by my reality there. Here was my Ibiza:

April is still off season on Ibiza so things are quieter. I spent my days exploring the virtually empty beaches on the north east side of the island – jagged red rock coastlines, absolutely clear emerald waters, and smooth sand beaches found hidden in little coves here and there. I felt like I had my own little Mediterranean paradise to discover.

I stayed in Santa Eularia, the third largest town on the island where my friend (or more specifically my ex-boyfriend from years past) now lives with his girlfriend and her parents. Although we have kept in touch over the years, we hadn’t seen each other for eight years. We initially met traveling in Argentina and I imagine will always share the same calling to see different parts of the world, so to connect in Ibiza was in some ways pretty amazing, meeting his incredibly welcoming girlfriend Virginia, seeing his new life and being able to keep that friendship.

Here’s a spread Virginia put together for us one night (note the whipped avocado with nuts – amazing!):

The view from the roof of the house where I stayed:

So the week was a mix of my sunny beach exploration time and experiencing Lalo and Virginia’s local life. I will say that the people who live in Ibiza are some of the most open, genuine people I have met traveling. Most friend of theirs that I met had a smile on their face and a question for me on their tongues, curious about my story and eager to tell me more about theirs. I love people that make you want to be more open and friendly simply in reciprocity. I spoke with a friend the other day who had the same view of Ibiza and we were commenting on just how content everyone seems that lives there, which is a rare thing to experience!

Lalo and Vir have a business on Ibiza called Emonk Ibiza, selling hand crafted shoes, jewelry and clothing. Their things are amazing, I want one of everything, no exaggeration. Plus I saw all the hard work that goes into making all these things – they travel to places like Thailand and Nepal, to find materials to use for their products and then do much of it by hand. If you want to live the gypsy life, or just look the part, check out their Facebook and Instagram. If you want to buy me a pair of these boots, go ahead 😉

For my last couple days on island a Seattle friend living in London flew down to meet me for some fun in Ibiza Town. We stayed at this sweet “no kids allowed” hotel Los Molinos (thanks Dave!!!). It was so nice having someone there who was already a friend and we could skip all the intro conversations I’ve been having with travelers the past month! It was nice to just relax a bit on that front.

We packed a lot (of drinks) into those two days (pool time, futbol watching, gin bar, beach hopping near Portinatx, clubbing at Pacha, fancy paella dinner). Here’s Dave at a nice little sangria + tapas spot:

Gin & Tonic bar (which are very popular here in Spain right now! They are everywhere):

Poolside sunny Saturday:

Sunday was my favorite day – after hiking along the coastline to a couple beaches, we ended up at a cafe on the beach planning on having a beer in the sun. Our stay lingered on much longer than planned! The beers were so cold and delicious, music was killer, and they served the best olives I’ve ever tasted (#fact).

Oh God these olives…

The beach we found:

Panorama in Portinatx:

The bartender saw that we liked them so gave us double serving, and then brought us over some homemade flan from the family BBQ going on there that day. If I could go back to that afternoon right now I would in a heartbeat!! These kinds of days are the ones you can never plan but always remember.

I left Ibiza knowing that I would be back, someday… if not this summer. To be continued!

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