A last glimpse of summer: today I’m sharing photos from my summer vacation to Ibiza. I love photography and travel and this holiday has been a highlight of my year. I hope you enjoy this blog post as much as I enjoyed putting it together. 

Santa Eulària des Riu

No new recipe, but instead I’m checking back in with a travel blog post today. During mid September I went away on a fortnight holiday to Ibiza, I had an absolute blast and it was really lovely returning to one of my favourite places and spending some quality time with my family.

I first visited Ibiza (or Eivissa in Catalan) 3 years ago, since then in the last couple of years I’ve shared blog posts about other destinations I’ve visited including Cyprus and Puglia. This is something I’d like to continue doing as travel is such a big passion of mine along with photography – I love sharing my recipes, but it’s also nice to share some different types of posts on my blog too.

Ibiza is a beautiful island and aside from its famous party reputation, this island has so much more to offer like secluded coves, stunning vistas, fantastic hikes and beach walks and a vibrant cuisine. All the ingredients for a wonderful holiday and somewhere you’ll always go to and have a good time! Once you’ve been to Ibiza there’s something that draws you back again and makes you dream of living there someday…

Blue skies and palm trees – a view of our villa’s garden. Ibiza is true bliss and somewhere I definitely recommend adding to your travel bucket list!

This year we changed our holiday schedules around and at the moment I’m lucky to go away 3 times a year. Earlier this year in March we visited Wiltshire, Somerset and the Dorset coast, then in June we travelled all the way up to Edinburgh, Scotland. Normally, we have our fortnight summer holiday in June, but this year we thought it would be nice to have summer at home and then an extended summer somewhere with guaranteed sunshine and warmth in September.

It’s been a real shock coming back home to the UK and going from summer straight into autumn! I’m not going to lie, I’m finding it hard to adjust to the cooler, darker weather and getting into the swing of going to work, but saying that I know there’s so much to look forward to and I already can’t wait to start planning all the trips I want to go on next year.

A beautiful sunrise at the villa

We managed to visit many places we’d been to on our last trip to Ibiza and we got to see some new places too, including Es Vedrà (pictured below). I love a mix of activities when on holiday, I like time to relax and recharge my batteries, but I also want to get out and about and explore as much as I can in the limited time I have. The Cala d’Hort beach is close by and from the beach you will be able to see a view of Es Vedrà just off shore, so once you’ve taken some photos of the rock afterwards you can pop down to the beach and take a dip to cool off!

Es Vedrà

Dalt Vila, Ibiza Town

Ibiza Town was just as lovely as we remembered. There’s the modern part of town to walk around and if you’re in good health and are fit you can wander up to the Dalt Vila which is the old town. The streets are beautiful and you get completely lost in the atmosphere and vibe – you can sit in one of the many cafés and enjoy some refreshments and even a plate of Pan con Tomate (toasted bread topped with tomato). This is a popular breakfast in The Balearic Islands and I eat it quite often for breakfast or lunch at home. 

Ibiza Stonehenge

Last time we didn’t manage to see Ibiza Stonehenge, but this time visiting it was definitely on our Ibiza bucket list. This was a great attraction to go and see, Stonehenge Ibiza-style is located on the South West coast of the island and has stunning blue sea views. Definitely worth taking the time to visit!

Cala Benirrás – one of our favourite beaches on the island!

There are many gorgeous beaches in Ibiza, but one of our favourites is Cala Benirrás. This was one of the beaches we visited most during our stay and it didn’t get too crowded thankfully, but at weekends the beaches do get busier at times. My favourite time visiting was quite early before anyone else turned up and there was literally no one there and we had the beach to ourselves. The water was beautifully refreshing and the peace and tranquility along with the scenery was nothing short of amazing.

Sea views in Ibiza Town

We stayed in a villa which was a short drive from Santa Eulària des Riu, the same place we stayed last time we visited Ibiza. Each year when we’re abroad we all enjoy shopping for ingredients and making food at the villa – it’s fun and all part of the experience for us! My family is just as adventurous when it comes to eating and we all love Spanish food, so we couldn’t get enough of patatas bravas, tortilla de patatas and our favourite sweet treat was magdalenas (pictured below).

Magdalenas Azúcares 

These are traditional Spanish sugar muffins popular in bakeries with a light citrus flavour. You can buy small magdalenas, but the bakery-style ones (also available from the supermarket bakeries too) I do believe are the best. I’m working on recreating these muffins and once I get the recipe perfected I hope to share them.

Ice cream is essential all year round, but it’s even better eating it when on vacation! I highly recommend Gelateria Miretti in Santa Eulària des Riu – the shop sells traditional Italian-style gelato and there are so many yummy flavours to choose from. On one occasion I had hazelnut and white chocolate and on another I chose strawberry and yoghurt. We like to take a walk each evening and treated ourselves to ice cream or frozen yoghurt from Llaollao most nights. The last time I had fro-yo was in New York City about four years ago and hadn’t had it since so I was super excited to find a fro-yo shop in Ibiza!

A holiday is never complete without churros con chocolate sprinkled with lots of sugar!

You cannot go to Spain and not treat yourself to churros! In Ibiza I recommend churros from Cafeteria Royalty. We get our churros from here and the fresh juices are delicious too, between us we had fresh orange juice and an apple, strawberry and orange juice. A nice, relaxing morning sitting back devouring churros whilst watching the world go by – what could be better?

Santa Eulària des Riu by night

That’s it, another wonderful holiday and lots of memories made. Ibiza will always hold a very special place in my heart, there is still so much I want to discover and see in Ibiza, so I know I’ll definitely be returning and hopefully I won’t leave it as long next time!

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