dalt vila

the dalt vila is the name given to the old city of ibiza. from what i've noticed while being over here, it seems to be a bit of a thing for european cities & towns to have a "modern city" sitting side by side to a relatively untouched, preserved section of an "old city". i loove this concept, because it means you get all the perks of a modern town (which, in ibiza, still means mediterranean white, orange & blue block buildings and paved streets) - bars, shops, cafés, etc....but then you can escape into the old city - a totally different experience that can take you back to another era...

together with sarah, we'd wandered through ibiza town several times - poking around in the cute, but ridiculously over-priced boutiques (spain may be cheap, but ibiza is the polar opposite), rummaging through little street markets, getting touristy in the little shops selling bracelets, anklets, t-shirts, beach towels, shotglasses, etc....and relaxing in the shade with gelati, overlooking the med...

but then we realised we hadn't actually wandered up to the dalt vila yet. so we dragged ourselves away from our comfortable shady spot and (without a map) made our way over. the old city is up on a hill, so despite the winding streets everywhere, we found our way by climbing any steps that we found.

we came across a large stone ramp (that was incidently very slippery and therefore impossible to walk up in sandles...) that led up to a huge stone wall & gate that reminded me of something out of troy or gladiator... we took this to be the entrance to the dalt vila. so beautiful. our eyes were met with rough cobbled streets, lined by old crumbling white houses covered in vines with bright, fuscia flowers.

i had to restrain myself from exclaiming about its beauty every two seconds, but look...it was gorgeous - something like that just doesn't exist anywhere back home. being siesta-time (and therefore peaking at the hottest time of day, 40º in the sun. we're so clever to go exploring at this time!), we had the entire city to ourselves. this seemed to accentuate the feeling that the streets were part of a ghost city - kind of lost in time.

we wandered past old spanish women hanging washing out on home-made washing lines strung up between houses, window shutters creaking softly in the summer breeze, little cats peaking out at us from their shady oasis'.....aaaah it was all too much! without really caring where we ended up, we continued on up (the hill kept climbing) through narrow streets that seemed to have been placed haphazardly, with sudden turns that made us feel like we were doing u-turns (we probably were), and there was an endless number of forks in the road.

sarah fell head over heels in love with the many brightly colour doors & doorways. there were blues, yellows, reds, burnt oranges, greens & purples, as well as combinations of these. they seemed to sit so peacefully together, despite their blatant clashing of colours. reminded me a bit of burano, the venetian island.

we finished up the day having walked right to the top of the dalt vila hill, where we were rewarded with a stunning 360º view of ibiza town below us, and the mediterranean sea stretching out in front of us, as far as the eye could see.

i could continue on and write an essay's worth of things we happened upon during our wanderings - but they say a picture's worth a thousand words... 

ya me despido, me la pasé bien ♥ 

S.

cheeky street rave

david guetta is everywhere

it's impossible to escape the music that floats in the air

lots of graffiti similar to this in ibiza town

sarah et steph♥ 

...went shopping

disctickets at 90€. welcome to ibiza

rey beri's, anyone?

you can find anything at the street markets

yum

definitely a normal "sculpture" to put in your front window

art?

sarah and her doors

the only motorbike/car we saw

time for a cheeky break in the shade

so many cool doors, everywhere we looked

so hot, and somehow the rocks were still cool. enough said.

sooooo gooooood

so uh... where are we??

drooping vines tumbling from above our heads

would love to live in this little vine-covered house

♥

hippy market

every wednesday there's a market in es caná, ibiza. it's called the "hippy market", and has been here for decades. i can't think of a way to describe how immense it is, and it would be a total lie if i said sarah and i didn't get lost on several occasions... 

es caná is on the east coast of the island, which is alot more rocky, with burnt orange cliffs dropping into the sea. the actual market is surrounded by pine trees that cast welcome shadows on the many hot people below, rummaging through market stalls and weaving their way through narrow "pathways" (tiny gaps between stalls).

there were alot of handmade things at the market - lots of unique pieces that i've never seen in other markets across europe. it was refreshing, and meant that we stayed for hours - trying on hundreds of hand-worked silver & stone rings, necklaces, bracelets, anklets, etc. we found an incredible stall selling all kinds of genuine leather items, the coolest of which were leather boots with multi-coloured, woven cloth worked into the sides. looooved these, but somehow didn't think my already-at-20kg-suitcase would share the same love...

there were lots of buskers/entertainers spotted all through the market. there was a group of spaniards playing on traditional spanish guitars that we sat down and listened to while sipping on a freshly squeezed orange, melon, pineapple & watermelon fruit juice. it felt like heaven on our parched, water-deprived throats!

such a great market, and i'm sure there are many things that we didn't even get to lay our eyes on.... one visit simply wasn't enough to see everything. picked up a little silver ring with a deep blue stone set into it...a nice memory of ibiza and its hippy market.

que te cuides,

S.

love