IBiza on off-season. Large hotels at the resort are closed, the beach bars are that -Seal, the superclubs are enabled until their shows reopening the parties began again in the tag -day in late April. By July, the ratio will return to 20 guests to each resident, but so far the island is empty as it gets.
The sun was shining though, the wind was bright and warm, the sky was a salted balearic blue. And people are still gathering, here and there. In trotting racing, for example, in the Sant Rafael Hippodrome in the middle of the island. An unique tradition of the island that was said to have started with Charioteers during the Roman occupation of Ibiza, the sport requires jockeys to ride in small tires that are placed on horses that keep a harsh, semi-source speed, which seems a bit late for an appointment. Children and old boys seem to love it, the latter putting a small racing bet and dropping brandy shots on their coffee. My horse, Maldiva Des Puig, came in a distant third.
On the same weekend, I also visit Mercadillo Sant Jordi, just outside Ibiza Town, a busy flea market in a cycling where mood and music are unexpected life. The DJ resident performs a judgmental of the early afternoon Trance and disco that fills a racing career with the day’s dancers.
Then there is a week’s “hippy” market in the small northern village of Sant Joan de Labritja. The Morning Mass ended in the parish church and the congregation joins consumers and pedlars around the main square. One band plays with Bob Marley and some wizened flower people are smiling and changing like 1969.
Jean-Michel Fueter, an older businessman of the island’s creative community, stands for the band’s regular guitarist. “I first went to Ibiza in 1970 as one of those long,” he said as the band rests. “LSD and all that. Eventually I realized that my loved one about the place was not just the people and the culture, it was the energy of the land itself. It was unusual, mysterious, peaceful and feminine, and, if you were sensitive, you could tune it.”
In the summer, the Fueter helps people do it for a long time, expanding Club Night Namaste, which is held at other Landmark Hippy Market of Ibiza, Lasalas. But winter can be a better time to pick up the signal he or she is talking about, if there is, frankly, less interruption.
“People are always asking about Ibiza’s hidden gems,” said Boris Buono, who makes his business feeding the week of many people with plant -based pizza at his garden restaurant. “To me, the true hidden gem is the winter.”
Unlike most chefs and owners, Buono keeps his establishment open all year round. “I live here. I work here. My kids are at school – what else do I do?”
“I prefer winter,” agrees with Behzad Behpour, an Iran-born painter working outside a second-floor studio overlooking the market. “You can clear your mind a little, and make time to create.” Around us Hang Behpour’s signature big canvases, rendering Ibizan icons (club owners, big DJ names, regular celebrity guests) as servants of servants of the leading gods-lead the ancient Phoenician moon goddess, at all. “I certainly think it’s an island for artists, and to hang out when it’s quiet is part of the artistic process.”
His friend Kurdish Bahram Pourmand, better known as Bahramji, is also a painter, a new age musician, and another veteran of the Ibizan scene. “You don’t get winter like this anywhere else,” Bahramji said. He also admits to the magnetic pull of the area, but reminds me that the magnets are also driving. “If the island does not want him to push you away,” he said, the kohl around his eyes making his gaze more intense.
The island is not immune to the market forces and the hike of hikes squeezed the artists in Ibiza, as Bahramji said: “Finding € 2,000 a month is very difficult, but I will stay here, playing music until I die on stage.” The island’s summer glamor, the recent uprising of its club culture, the building and purchase of villas and condos, all have knocking effects that last when the VIP crowd removes when the summer ends.
“Locals end up paying tourist prices for everyone, even for toast and coffee,” Martina Greef said in her boat from the eastern port of Santa Eulària Des Riu. Greef is a lifetime of Isla’s German parents arrived in Ibiza with the original hippies’ flow. He owns a part in his vessel, named Al Mar, and occupies excessive fees of mobility by running charter services during the climax.
Most clients just want to sail on the island of the Fortestera, he says, “because that’s what they saw on Instagram”. The narrow between the island brothers is like a highway for yachts and ferries on Tag -day, and the short journey is not very inspiring for a Mariner. “But in the winter we can go where we want,” Greef said, which turns us 60 degrees in the air before giving me the wheel.
Sailing lessons give her livelihood in a quieter moon, and even as a landlord I see an appeal. Take the angles correctly and the boat just lasts. For a short spell, I felt as if I was flying in the boat in open water, as the low sun fell behind an ancient shrine to be scratched above Cap Des Llibrell.
Back to the land, Lucas Prats put me in one of the villas in what his grandfather had previously owned, could Lluc, look at the sea from a hill of orchards and olive groves. Agroturism is a competitive business these days, drawing visitors to coastal hotels to convert farmsheads. In the Prats, there is no reason why Ibiza can’t create the off-peak profile, in the same way as Mallorca. “We have a better time than they do at this time of year,” he claimed.
“Visitors who love winter love it – we just need more promotion.”
Next morning, I went down through the steep forest of the cliff with Manuel Ehrensperger of the Ibiza Hike Station. A born Swiss former CEO of fashion fashion brands, he now leads the “holistic” walking on the wildest parts of the island, where pines are growing on long -term abandoned terraces used for the growth and construction of figs. “People say I’ve changed my life, but it’s luxury too,” he told me.
A true believer in the healing power of nature, and silence, Ehrensperger invited me to spend seven minutes in the humble meditation above the cave of light, where water shines a deep, cosmic blue. It’s too dangerous to jump here, he says, but I can fall into the sea from the rocks on the other side, and have the whole cove myself – another winter pleasure.
Well, not very much on my own. As I thought about it, two dolphins violated the surface below. It’s a little kid here to be honest, and a bit higher than I want. I am also not one for mysticism, for communicating energies or vibrations. But I feel like those dolphins are telling me to jump. The goddess wants Tanit – the spirit of the island itself. So I jumped.
Balaria Running Ferry to ibiza from Dénia and other ports of the mainland Spanish. The residence is provided by Can lluc . Trot races held throughout the year at Sant Rafel Hippodrome (hipodromsantrafel.com). Sant Jordi The market is held every Saturday and Sant Joan Hippy Market every Sunday. Sailing Lessons (€ 200 for three trips) along MARTINA GREEF, na -book by Ibiza Kayakand go up to Manuel Ehrensperger (€ 30 within three hours) by Ibiza Hike Station
