Ibiza baptism

She wasn't feeling quite a part of the island yet, so before I took Ann to the airport we had a little ceremony for my 107. And she's now a proper part of the island, gecko sticker and all.

And there really is no end to the excitement, as tomorrow I'm off to a yoga retreat outside Seville for a week. Will share the fun next weekend! 

Exhausted, entertained and a couple of shades browner

An incredibly packed week later and I've waved off both Vanessa and Ann at the airport yesterday and the house feels terribly empty. We have been busy little bees, but I dare say that we've enjoyed much of the finer things this island has to offer... Such as Atlantis with no other people around (aim for starting your trek at about 10am and you're fine ;-), lunch and beaching at Es Cavallet, lovely fish at Es Torrent, (near) sunset at Benirras, the old part of Ibiza town etc etc. If I may say so myself I think I've turned into a pretty fine Ibiza ambassador (and yes, that's Vanessa jumping off a cliff in case you were wondering what on earth she's doing).

Congrats to the Crownprincesscouple!!!

Or Kronprinsessparet as we say in tongue-twister Swedish. Of course we had to celebrate the royal couple despite not being invited to the wedding. So we sat down at a lovely place in Ibiza town, had a glass of cava and some chocolates that travelled here all the way from Sweden, only to then be left in the back of my car and melt into an unrecognisable mess of lingonberry, blueberry, hazelnut and milk chocolate. Obviously didn't stop us from enjoying it with a couple of spoons instead.

Ann's here!

So we're doing the sights and the beaches and the views and the food and the icecream and and and. I've re-discovered how lovely it is being a tourist on this island and my little car has faithfully taken us up and down various little dirt caminos as we've tried to get off the beaten track.

Spiritual.

Very. This island. Promise.

Unemployed. Officially.

As my notice period is (finally) over today. I decided to celebrate it by taking up some work in Ibiza. Pitting apricots, or albaricoques as they are locally called. And the "pay" was a lovely lunch of pasta and beef.

Made it to Ei-Beefa

After a week on the road I've arrived at my home for the summer and its wonderful... The flowers are overflowing the island (thank you rainy May) and whilst it probably won't last for very long (August heat is here with temperatures reaching 30 degrees!) I'm enjoying watching and watering my little garden of roses, bougainvilleas and more (check out the view from breakfast table below).

Despite all the time off I've already had, the thought of a whole summer of NOTHING that I need to do is almost overwhelming, but I'm sure I'll be alright. There's plenty of exploring to do, beaches to visit, clubs to check out (starting tonight with an experimental no-booze evening at Aura, DJ'd by Boy George amongst others!), food to be cooked and eaten and books to be read. Oh and I need to have time to do some yoga as well. Actually, now that I think about it, how do people have time to work???!???

(And happy b-day mum!!!)

Car games

Look!! Its a parrotfish!! Your turn...

Exhausted

Well not really, but it was nice to lazy about for a bit. The hotel was a beautiful little 5-room (and a few flats) B&B in the middle of nowhere, Provence. I can highly recommend it, can be booked through i-escape or direct Les Sardines aux yeux bleus. And its next to a little town called Uzes, which I had to promise I wouldn't tell too many people about cause its amazing... and quiet, a somewhat unusual combination in the south of France.

Food

Here we are, eating our way through Europe. First up, a truly obscene amount of pork meat in Strasbourg as we had to try the local cuisine of sauerkraut, then the most magnificent breakfast ever (not surprisingly made by a Swedish-French couple in Provence) and finally the original paella in paella's hometown of Valencia (so we're clear, the original consists of chicken, rabbit and snails - none of that fancy, schmansy seafood they throw into it in Ibiza).