The Joven Angel - All about Ibiza

Ibiza - 'La Isla Blanca' : The so called white island , because of the many whitewashed finca's and houses - Ibiza lies around 80km off Spain's east coast and with Formentera is known after the Greek name Pitiuses - the 'Pine Islands'. Some 100,000 people live here but in Summer many more visit. During the late 1930's Ibiza felt the first stirrings of foreign interest. From the late 1950's, hippies moved into old fishing cottages in the Sa Penya and Dalt Vila areas of the old town. Many of these people were artists and craftspeople who found inspiration in the island's clear light, traditional crafts, scenic beauty and islolation. Many of the inland rural villages on Ibiza have remained islolated from many of the changes that have happened on the coastal regions and have there traditions firmly rooted in the landscape, folk myths, agriculture and the seasons.

The melting pot years of the 1950's and 60's yielded a peculiarly Ibizan society and lifestyle - laid back and tolerant, cosmopolitan yet insular, somnolent but creative. Many people bought finca's from farmers to use as studios. The boom years spawned thier own look, Ad Lib, which in some ways was a reflection of the Island's intrinsic attitude 'anything goes - live and let live'. Despite all the changes in the last 30 years many people on the Pine Islands have remained unchanged. Thier lives unfold in the traditional way, events marked on the agricultural and religious calenders which go unrecognised by most of tourists. If you look and are open, that particular Ibiza magic will filter in and stay with you - calling you back time after time. It may be true that Ibiza calls its chosen few.