Chav Central - Ibiza [Day Four]

Having seen just about all that Ibiza Town had to offer, we jumped a bus to San Antonio, one of the more popular tourist destinations on the island. It is a short ride - about 40 minutes across to the other side of the island. We arrived having no idea where we were... That's OK I thought, we will just wait to see in what direction people start to walk. But everyone seemed to wander off randomly, leaving us scratching out heads. We ended up deciding on what looked like a main road and following our noses.

We wandered through the streets for a bit with no real sense purpose or direction. It was strange, but San Antonio felt... different... to Ibiza Town. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. We stopped for a quick bite to eat at a small cafe and it clicked; everything was in English. The menu's, road signs, restaurants, names. Every cafe had a blackboard outside advertising their 'Full English Breakfast'. Very authentic...

After a while we finally stumbled upon a beach. One. Tiny. Beach. And it was completely covered in towels, people and umbrellas - you could hardly see sand. Not keen. We made our way around the esplanade, skirted by nice cafe's and trendy clubs which was very nice. The sun was shining, beautiful people were out and about, it was cool. We even walked past the famous Cafe Del Mar.

We finally ended up at the harbour, filled with ridiculously expensive boats and yachts. And just past the harbour the elusive beach! To be honest it wasn't to the standard we had become accustomed. The sand was brown and hard, like dirt. The waterfront was filled with bars and cafes, all serving up cheap tourist food. Think hot chips and burgers, and of course your 'All Day Full English'. Literally all the menu's were in English. Wandering around I don't think I even heard a word of Spanish. There was also an abundance of red beer bellies, bad tattoos and chavy accents. While walking along the beach we had people approaching us trying to get us to go para-sailing, speed-boating or scuba-diving. It did not take a genius to work out that San Antonio was built for tourist. There were so many British people there you could have been on the south coast of England, well, if it weren't for the amazing weather. After a few hours we had had enough, the touristy thing is cool, but I like a somewhat more authentic experience, so decided to head back to Ibiza Town. Finding the beach took a good two hours, so we were dreading the walk back to the bus, but after a directions from a friendly local we learned that we had walked in a massive loop. The bus stop was about two minutes away. Sense of direction FAIL!


We got back and spent the last few hours of daylight on the beach enjoying the sun. That evening we had a pretty quiet one - out for a few drinks, tapas and gelato.

Next Post - 'Flight: FAIL!'