Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)
WE’RE eating €8 sausage sandwiches with thinly-sliced Toro tomatoes, washed down with ice cold Estrella Damm lagers and a couple of fizzy drinks.
With a plate of prawns as a starter and ice-creams for the kids for postre, the bill comes to just €58 and the owner throws in a couple of sunbeds and a parasol for free, as it’s a ‘bit of a gloomy day’.
The simple beach chiringuito, Es Pas de S’Illa, on Cala de sa Ferradura, may not be the easiest place to find, but keep your eyes peeled and you might see an international superstar or footballer stopping in for a quick one.
For above it is, reportedly the most expensive private island home in the entire Mediterranean.
Built on a small rocky outcrop, actually joined by a small spit making it a peninsula, the stunning home has been rented by global starlets, including singer Madonna and Cesc Fabregas for his wedding.
Russian-owned, it will set you back a lofty €250,000 a week in summer. But it sleeps 18, has 22 staff and you can arrive by boat or helicopter if the mood so takes you.
With spectacular sea views, two swimming pools and a rotating sun-deck atop a tower, you get the picture that this is something out of the ordinary Costa rental market.
Welcome to Ibiza, where even in the heart of the Covid crisis, the fashionable beach restaurants were busier than ever. Indeed, according to locals, many are almost twice as busy as usual.
This is the island of the global super rich and don’t think for a minute that the coronavirus is stopping them from spending their money.
Whether buzzing to and fro from nearby Formentera on a superyacht or shooting the breeze at a private villa party, they were very much in attendance. You could see it from the lineup of private jets at the airport and the designer schmutter being worn around Ibiza town.
And while the island’s celebrated superclubs might have been shut this season, it didn’t stop the select few from splashing out on bottles of champagne at €500 a pop or a plate of Jamon Iberico de Bellota at €50 a throw.
I watched it with my own eyes during a 10-day stay on the island with my family, taking advantage of an amazing €50 return fare on Ryanair from Malaga this summer.
While hoping to experience some of the glamour of the so-called White Island, we were very much on a budget and looking to save our pennies as much as we could.
Taking picnics to isolated beaches is a great option, as is watching Netflix at home in the evening with an excellent bottle of Ribera (or a local Balearic wine) in the comfort of your rental home. I particularly recommend White Lines, a drama about the genesis of Ibiza’s club scene, actually set in nearby Mallorca, but with some excellent storylines.
