February 25, 2012

IBIZA UNDER THE SNOW


SNOW IN IBIZA

Till few weeks ago, the island of Ibiza was engulfed in an unusually warm winter which many people could not just sunbathing and even bathing on the beaches, when suddenly it was announced a drop in temperatures as so it was.
Although the inhabitants of Ibiza are used to hearing about snow at the Balearic Islands (Mallorca has mountains much higher than the rest of the Balearic Islands) this time was also true for Ibiza. In fact not few people did the traditional snowman, as we see normally on the winter pictures of northen Europe.
The long-awaited winter white lady, hardly came to us in to the island, on this occasion we were able to enjoy many winter images as Christmas postcards. The traditional flora of the Island as junipers, pine trees and shrubs with fragrant wood where all under a unusual white.
Images of the Alps in Ibiza, children and older people making snow wars, as genuine as any winter season. Yes, the white lady did not stayed much time in Ibiza and as fast she came, she left few hours after, but anyway we could enjoy much more time than previous snows of many years ago.
The typical Ibizan pine trees have also been adorned by the white detail, although I at that time and due to the great cold I spended more time in bed. These images I´ve got are from Marius Schadrack and Agnes Boned they both are the persons that took the pictures of this post.
And not only snowed on the highs of the island (the maximum height is 475 meters above sea level) but also at sea level as we see in these two images from the beach of Sant Antoni that offered this wintery picture. Ibiza for a few days was again the "white island" that was time ago, but not for the houses and churches of lime but for the snow.Year of snow is year of prosperity as one spanish proverb says: Año de nieves, año de bienes.

February 12, 2012

SA SITJA


SA SITJA DE SA ROTA D´EN COCA

A sitja (now totally obsolete) was made to obtain coal in the island. It´s a complicated process that just 70 years was a daily method for which the coal was obteined after a long process. Nowadays you can see some old sitjas spread in some forests of the island, completely abandoned. The wood is placed with pine blogs with the heaviest and largest below, and filled all the interior with the rest of the tree logs. After all trunks, it is covered with dry pine needles and it´s surrounded by stones, all in a kind of an oval form oven as we see in the pictures. A sitja like this on the images, burns for about three days non stop. Once the coal is made, the coal is used in the area and the rest was carried to "Vila" (the name that is used to Ibiza town by the locals) to sell it. Annually in Santa Agnès (where these photos were taken) there is an exhibition about the sitjas and one is made and burned within the program of the village fiestas. It is one of Ibiza's traditions that have been recovered.