Postcards from Ibiza

We are here in Ibiza chasing a last glimmer of summer, looking for sandy beaches drenched with sun and blue sky. We are staying in Portinatx in the north of the island, surrounded by the blue bay and green hills dense with pine trees. On first impression there are lots of tattooed people in our hotel, but they have rub on transfers for sale in the shop so there’s no need for us to feel left out. Portinatx has a great beach and the bay is beautiful, the only issue being the tacky English bars - there’s one called Delboy's - presumably here to cater for people suffering from culture shock.

Early in the week we take one of the four buses a day that go to Ibiza town. Us tourists all look out the bus windows eagerly, returning to the curious uncynical world of childhood, as we take in the views of our brand new world.

“Look sheep,” someone says, and we all look in wonder at these woolly creatures standing on a stretch of sun-scorched grass by the bridge we are crossing. Sheep, my English friends, are relatively small with crimped hair called wool and many have horns forming a lateral spiral. They are of a whitey-grey hue.

Ibiza town is quiet when we arrive, the rave kids have already gone home, or are asleep behind the drawn curtains of the hotels lining the promenade. I always think of foreign countries as places to eat gorgeous food; olives, fresh fish, grapes plucked from vines overhanging our restaurant seats. But it is harder to accomplish this: you have to avoid all the cafes offering English fry-ups. We come across a restaurant on the sea front selling delicious salads. The motherly olive-skinned waitress provides us with fresh bread and delicious home made aioli. We’re definitely coming back here.

On the way home there is plenty of excitement to look at out the bus windows. Helicopters fly overhead, huge orange pumpkin shaped buckets hanging from their framework, dropping water onto a forest fire. We look out the window excitedly, as one, the helicopters swooping to collect water from swimming pools and back over the pine forest to put out the flames.