Statistics, Entertainment and Nightlife in Ibiza

Looking for a calm and safe island?

In Europe, the most awe-inspiring choice can be found in Ibiza, for I am not the first, nor the last, to find a living in a beauty for which I hadn't planned.

I originally unearthed this unique island in the western Mediterranean on my travels during the mid-1970s. Initially, I so willingly fell in with the gentle Ibicenco way of life that thereafter, I journeyed to and from this special haven on numerous occasions before I eventually, adopted Ibiza as my second home in April 1982.

I'd found my Utopia on this plot of gold and without giving a ripping yarn; I immediately set about exploring the island, taking pictures, gathering information, legends and stories about the island's colourful background and its ancient culture.

This eventually lead to the idea of putting this website together as a comprehensive guide for the benefit of people who are wanting to know more of the island's real background and the ancient culture of Ibiza.

Ibiza hasn't got lost in the paraphernalia of civilization. Here you can find the secret of how to relax and genuinely get away from it all. In all its serene winter beauty, people will have plenty of room for living and the unique opportunity to experience being as close to the Ibicencan paradise, as the gentle Ibicenco people of the land.

Statistics

Come to discover the magic and the hidden motives of this small but magnetic island of Ibiza that is 572 square kilometres in size and has 85,000 inhabitants, which during the height of the summer tourism season exceeds 300,000.

The average temperatures of the island swing between 12 degrees centigrade in January to 28 degrees in August.

The earth of the island reputedly repels poison: neither scorpion nor viper nor any venomous animals live or flourish on it.

The island of Ibiza experienced its first era of splendour when the Punic culture of the world began. The city of Ibiza was founded in 654 BC when the Phoenician-Carthaginians began to colonise this fertile island.

The Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Celts, Vandals, Byzantines, Moors, privateers and pirates, the Catalan Christians and not forgetting Hannibal with his elephants and the restless spirits of the barruguets, fameliars and follets all came here in turn to party with the enigmatic Mother Goddess and protector of love and fertility "Tanit" on her Scorpio island of Ibiza, rich in water and food, taking turns hunting and possibly sheltering in caverns which nearly four thousand years later were used by the free-loving hippies who overran Ibiza at the end of the happy-go-lucky atmosphere days of the 1960s. This was when the touristic miracle arrived and the last invasion the island has experienced.

Entertainment

The beginning of everyday in Ibiza presents a fresh start to a brand-new adventure. Individually, in a group or with a personal guide you can play golf, tennis or squash. Enjoy horseback riding, windsurfing and sea diving or fishing with a professional. Relax under the benevolent sun and swim in the crystal clear waters on a variety of magnificent beaches, which have traditional Ibicenco restaurants offering an assortment of excellent quality fresh fish and meats at reasonable prices.

Visit the cultural centres especially the necropolis of the Puig des Molins and the Archaeological Museums, where the significant past will virtually unfold before your eyes. Profit by this great opportunity to discover a fascinating fact-finding tour of the old mythical centre of creation and amazing secrets of Dalt Vila, the fortified citadel and of the nations that came here to dominate throughout time.

Or, you can get away from it all by going for a peaceful walk or a drive in the enchanting countryside, which is always alive with wonderful colours and scents of jasmine, wild rosemary, pine trees and flowers in abundance mixed with orchards of almonds, pomegranates, carobs, fig, orange and lemon trees, vineyards and grafted wild olive trees. Hardly a day goes by without at least one new flower event.

The sight of the almond blossom at the turn of the year is a genuinely breath-taking epic and even today the customs, folklore and habits of the rural Ibicenco salt-o'-the-earth people are reminiscent of a bygone era. This is a cultured farming and fishing community, where the easy-going local inhabitants continuously preserve their cherished lifestyle that can be traced back many centuries when Ibiza was the thriving centre of the Mediterranean.

Photography

Here you can takes pictures on an island which is absolutely unpolluted and where the natural light is like a Technicolor studio. My true passion is taking photographs and throughout the years I've been associated with the island, I have constantly to remind myself 'Ibiza is just two hours by air from London'.

It's with this knowledge and my love for photography that I acquired a true insight into the island and with imagination; I've now built up an extensive photo-stock on Ibiza. Expert advice is available upon request for suitable locations, models, props with a high quality black and white, colour negative, transparency film, printing developing quick service and digital computer systems for amateur or professional photographic shoots.

Nightlife

Since ancient times and throughout its colourful history, Ibiza's nightlife has eternally had the enigma of a magical asylum.

In spite of mass summer tourism opening unimagined prospects and a new era of prosperity, Ibiza has curiously kept its balance and tolerance throughout the ages by inventing its own special style with an ad-lib fashionable way of life and by offering the ultimate and liveliest of bizarre musical-bars and the most spectacular discotheques gathered together in Europe.

If you have the mind, stamina and the free-spirit to get on this razzmatazz merry-go-round and flow with the trendy trail-blazers through the night: begin in San Antonio with a magnificent sunset whilst listening to the superb sounds on the renowned "Sunset Strip" from the top DJs at Café del Mar, Mambo and Savannah. Step-by-step take the magical tour around the multitude of bars, restaurants, shops and art galleries in the old part of Ibiza town. Here you can witness an ever-lasting fashion-show of the world's most amazing characters parade and limber up for their never-ending gala, which from midnight takes the Ibiza a-go-go entourage onto the discotheques of Eden, Es Paradis Terrenal, Amnesia, Privilege and Pacha until six o'clock each morning.

Now is the mind-blowing time to dare and live as Space opens where you need to have an appetite for self-destruction with a lip-smacking relish for lunacy in a reverie of fantasy and megalomania that continues at a hectic pace throughout the day until it's time for that deadline to make a last-ditched bid for your bed and pure sleep.

Or you can risk never getting off this unique theatre of life, which has created an atmosphere of healthy freedom and hospitality in a controlled environment so publicised and appreciated by the famous internationallly recognised artists, sculptors and creators, poets and writers, intellectuals and philosophers, musicians, jet-set movie rock and sports stars and also the throngs of hallucinating techno-music-idolizing holidaymakers who flock to the island each summer from all over the world.

Many of these worldwide celebrities who lived, worked and socialized here on this paradise have settled and made their home on the island, which has brought nothing but good for Ibiza and how it's perceived to have no comparison in the universe.

Up-to-the-minute news and general information on Ibiza is available upon request. If you're curious about the customs, culture and the ways of life here and want to make any enquiry whatsoever then please don't hesitate to contact me at your own convenience, for my wealth of experience on this incredible island of life and creation, I can honestly show you what it's truly worth.

Gary Hardy
Ibiza History Culture