SA CANAL AND SALT PORT CHARGER

SA CANAL


It is neither a town nor even a village, but does not lack charm to the place. This is a handful of houses that may not know which form the habitation of the most southest of the island.

This is a set of beautiful houses that should belong in the past (or perhaps now too) to the company that operated the salt mines. Perhaps officials formerly lived in them, and is unique in its architecture, but also has a certain aesthetic joint all over the place, especially doors and windows most of them in turquoise or in green colors.

Some houses on the outside are lined with stone, and other property such as white lime so abundant on the island of Ibiza, all this forms a striking aesthetic place.

Some of the old department store where salt stored in the past, and some of them now has come to use as an exhibition place. Anyway a walk in to this area is a pleasure, as also we are just a few meters from the sea and the famous beach of Salinas.

Even sometimes seems that we are at a small outdoor museum, and here we can see -for instance- the old small locomotives circulated by the only railroad tracks that never has been on the island, but instead of carrying passenger they were loaded with salt on the way to nearby port of Sa Canal (which today is still active).

Nowadays, there are not more locomotives in use, but with another modern transport the salt is accumulated and will wait to go out of Ibiza on boat to different destinations, most of them into Europe.

While waiting to be loaded and transported off the island, the salt is piled in white mountains forming impressive contrast with the blue sky and sea, and even we can imagine mountains of snow.

And among these mountains of salt, we see the background of the famous beach of Las Salinas, although his real name is the Platja de Mitjorn or Migdia (Midday).

The nearby port breakwater will be responsible for receiving cargo ships that carry salt, once loaded, although there is usually enough ships to come, the day of my trip there were none.

Old strings that were formerly used for loading salt, are currently enjoying his retirement on a green background of the nearby Mediterranean turquoise.

And on the coast of this place, there are rocky sections also, where if the temperature is warm, one can take a bath into the sea.

From here is very easy to see the shores of the nearby island of Formentera, and of course the islets area is Freus which is located between the two big islands. Here, for example, through this palm tree, is easy to invisioning the silhouette of the lighthouse and the little island of Es Penjats (the hanged men).

The houses in this place, give a bucolic touch because they are profusely decorated with shrubs and plants and also maintain that philosophy of small manor houses.

The courtyards of the houses and the bright turquoise somewhere ... A door, window, or the bars of the balcony, from which also hang some fishing equipment, meanwhile wait to go back out to sea. Anyway it is a quiet, silent and lovely place that has a special charm.

ES PORTITXOL

ES PORTITXOL

It´s Perhaps one of the most beautiful and spectacular spots of the entire northern coast of the Es Amunts and the whole island as well. Easily accessible even after a long walk we find here a beautiful and natural harbor preceded by a stretch arm of sea that ends in a kind of lake, where calm reigns even on windy days.

In this kind of lake surrounded by pine trees and native flora, we will be also surprised by the colors of the sea, ranging from the more marine blue to green or turquoise, with a totally clean and transparent waters. Wildlife such as gulls and cormorants are quite abundant in this area, geographically far north of the island, between the rural villages of Sant Miquel and Sant Mateu.

The blue arm of sea that links this small harbor with the sea, contrasts with the rocks and plants that exist in the area (Portitxol in "ibicenco language" comes from the word meaning small port).

Although the arrival here is done through a small path after a long way that leads u untill here we are surprise about the number of booths that ships dock near the cove. It is no shortage of people who fish in these waters with their small boats. Sometimes we can even see the fishermen mending their networks before getting back to sea.

Undoubtedly the most impressive of this place are its clear waters, and although there is no sandy beach, we can have a bath here in these nice waters or even dive in.

The views that we enjoy as we go on our way from one side of this place, let us to enjoy the green forests that surround the place, and the clear blue sky and the waters contrasting with the small cliffs that give the water in and outlet the sea that bathes these shores.

Not only we can enjoy these waters, so does the wildlife found here because of the tranquility and the big amount of fishing. An attractive place, which makes us enjoy a few hours disconnected from the activities of the modern world.

An oasis that gives us a lot of beautiful landscapes difficult to find elsewhere on the island.

In addition the site gives us nice pictures of small fishing vessels or rest in their docks or just ready to navigate the sea and around these waters and try luck with fishing.

When we decided to go back, let's turn the head to see the beautiful landscape we leave behind. A road that is full of native nature leads us back up through a path a little heavier than when we came, so we must now to go all way up, all we had to climb down before, but always enjoing the explosion of nature that we encounter in this way and that now leads us away from this amazing site.

"ES PASSOS" IN SANT VICENT DE SA CALA

HOLY WEEK IN SAN VICENTE (SA CALA)

Although most of the parish churches celebrate it on Good Thursday, few of them do the Vía Crucis on previous Palm Sunday, as here in Sant Vicent de Sa Cala. This rural Vía Crucis is called by the locals "es passos". there are fourteen stations where they stop at each marked cross, and then the Priest reads about that station of the Christ passion and then men sing a very old traditional song for each station, and so do women as well, after them.

There is something that can amaze the visitors, sometimes this church during the Holy Week is surrounded by many multicolours bands due the near feast celebration of San Vicente Ferrer the saint Patron of the little village and so, sometimes they celebrate the Passion surrounded by many small flags hanging from the church.

The outdoors crosses are the sign of where to stop the porcession of this Vía Crucis and celebrate each station. the "passos" of Sa Cala and San Miguel are the most ancients of the whole island and are really interesting. In all this kind of processions men are supporting the Christ image...

...meanwhile women are surrounding the Virgin Mary of the Sorrows that follows his son, during the procession as we can see at the above footage.

So, during some moments these two images go around the little village, and are surrounded by beautiful and natural landscape.

It can happen that the 5th of april (as this year) can be as well the Good Thursday or Good Friday or another day of the Holy Week, when the catholic church celebrates the mourning of Christ. So, the festivity of the Saint Vincent will be celebrating on the next sunday which is the Resurrection day.

The image of Our Lady of Sorrows, in this parish is not dressed in black, but grabs in his hands the nails that held up his son on the cross, visible is her heart with seven daggers (pains). Thanks to younger people, these old traditions are remaining alive and seems that will go on, as the roots of their ancestors.

AGAIN THE ALMOND TREES FLOWERS

ALMOND FLOWERS IN SANTA AGNES


They came on delay this year, but have arrived. I do not know if it's true or not but I heard from some farmers of Santa Agnès de Corona, that the almond trees in very cold weather purposely can delay flowering, and do not know if this is so, but the truth is I've never seen a long-delayed flowering as this year.

In fact I believed that this year would not see the white explosion that often create these trees during flowering, and although we could saw some isolated flowers, this year noway is at all as used to do so.

The big cold waves (in fact two), are over, and the white colour that the snow brought, was replaced in days with the white colour of the almond flowers, giving a chance to enjoy those Ibiza fields full of them.

The white colour of the flower, combined with the white cottages, green meadows and the deep blue sky. In this intense winter flowering, the spring starts showing the face, in few days begins. we barely twenty days begins.

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.

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.