Hi all,

Just came back from Ibiza and Madrid. Ibiza is really great, despite
the fact I went slightly out of season:

- According to the locals not lot of people there, even though for me
was really enough.
- Closing parties in all discos.
- Beach was not bad, even though in spring should be better of course.

Some hints about Ibiza that might be helpful:

- Forget about renting a motorbike unless you really only travel short
distances e.g. Playa D'Embossa to Ibiza city. Anyway is unconfortable
e.g. going to discos in motorbike and the traffic is horrible.

- Cars are heavily overpriced, and the insurance conditions are really bad,
you have a ridiculously high franchise. PLEASE! make sure to chek
carefully
all scratchs etc because most cars are in pretty bad shape to prevent
they charge
you for some existing damage.

- Highly recommended staying around "Playa den Bossa" where there is the
only real
beach. There is a lot going on during the day like e.g. rent of beach
motor jets,
beach volleyball, etc.

- I heavily recommend the "Club Fiesta Playa den Bossa", great appartments,
right
on the beach, nice swimming pool, lot of activities organized by good
people. This
place is very nice specially if you do not plan to go every night to
discos (that are
hugely expensive). This hotel-club has activities every night. The food is
acceptable.

- Visited two discos Pacha and Ammesia, Ammesia is by far the best, I was
lucky
to get into its closing party. The place is amazing the music is amazing
I even started
liking House music, they will not allow you to take pictures inside the
place ... specially
not entering with a soldier heavy weight camera like mine :). Pacha disco
is ok but
I got one of the girl waitress on the cocktail bar treating me really
badly for no reason
I could only conclude it was her way to say "I like you" or "I hate to be
working here"
bizzarre anyway. BTW I did not notice use of drugs nor violence
whatsoever ... so my
initial concerns before going there do not apply. I visited three cities
in 10 days: Paris, Ibiza
and Madrid and the only incident I saw was in Paris.

- Renting beach motor jets is most expensive ... I paid 80EUR for 30
minutes! and they
only allow you to drive on a very restricted area back and forth, I really
do not recommend
it unless you enjoy throwing money of course. When I finished my 30
minutes the guy
responsible would kindly offer me something hugely better, 2 hours on the
motor jet
and a tour to an island nearby for 120EUR in non-working hours (they get
their extra cash
on it) but then you need to be 3 people willing to go and of course I had
already paid the
80EUR for the 30 minutes.

- I stayed alone for five days and four nights and spent around 3000EUR
including air
fares and eveything. I was not extremely planned either, rather the
opposite ... extended
my stay for 2 days and it was a very expensive change.

- Before going to Ibiza I did not know there was kind of separatation i.e.
in Playa den Bossa
and Ibiza city you find lot of european tourists e.g. italy, germany etc.
in San Antonio you find
most people from UK and US ... if I had known that i would have probably
arranged my
stay to be half-half and enjoy both sides of the island. You do need to
rent a car to travel
the distance, I specially recommend visiting San Antonio and the pubs over
there ... specially
if you are single and looking :))))

- Heavily recommended visiting the Castle of Ibiza ... I took a huge amount
of pictures over there.

I took many pictures and would like to make them available online ... does
anyone know a
free web site service for this where you do not have to pay? and the
pictures are not reduced
either like e.g. in yahoo photo album?

Regards,
Giovanni

"Giovanni Azua" <[email protected]> wrote:

Thank you for the report, Giovanni.

There is a matter on which we seem to have different perspectives:

    >- Renting beach motor jets is most expensive ...
I take it you refer to what I know as jetskis. They are generally used
in an anti-social way -- making noise where people want quiet,
endangering bathers, and inconveniencing other boat users.

    >I paid 80EUR for 30 minutes!
Still too cheap.

    >and they only allow you to drive on a very restricted area back and forth,
Good. I hope the rules are enforced.

Exceptionally, last week I saw a jetski being used to get from one
place to another. It seemed odd.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED

On Sun, 25 Sep 2005 18:25:44 +0200, "Giovanni Azua"
<[email protected]> wrote:

    > I got one of the girl waitress on the cocktail bar treating me really
    >badly for no reason
    > I could only conclude it was her way to say "I like you" or "I hate to be
    >working here"

She must have liked you. ;o)

    > bizzarre anyway. BTW I did not notice use of drugs nor violence
    >whatsoever ... so my
    > initial concerns before going there do not apply.

Drugs and violence don't usually go together, unless you count alcohol
and speed combined. If you don't know what to look for, you would be
unlikely to see drug use. Nowaway drugs don't utterly destroy you like
you may expect.

    >- Renting beach motor jets is most expensive ... I paid 80EUR for 30
    >minutes!

Ouch!

    >and they
    > only allow you to drive on a very restricted area back and forth, I really
    >do not recommend
    > it unless you enjoy throwing money of course. When I finished my 30
    >minutes the guy
    > responsible would kindly offer me something hugely better, 2 hours on the
    >motor jet
    > and a tour to an island nearby for 120EUR in non-working hours (they get
    >their extra cash
    > on it) but then you need to be 3 people willing to go and of course I had
    >already paid the
    > 80EUR for the 30 minutes.
    >- I stayed alone for five days and four nights and spent around 3000EUR
    >including air
    > fares and eveything. I was not extremely planned either, rather the
    >opposite ... extended
    > my stay for 2 days and it was a very expensive change.

We are differently in a different class! I could go for a month or
three on that type of cash!
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

Padraig Breathnach <[email protected]> wrote:

    > "Giovanni Azua" <[email protected]> wrote:
[]
    > >- Renting beach motor jets is most expensive ...
    > >
    > I take it you refer to what I know as jetskis. They are generally used
    > in an anti-social way -- making noise where people want quiet,
    > endangering bathers, and inconveniencing other boat users.

I think my dislike for jetskis is only up there with my dislike for
cars. That said, it is usually fairly easy to avoid beaches where they
exist, at least in Europe. My worst experience with them was not in
Europem but in Thailand, on Phuket specifically. Hardly anyone ever
seemed to use them, but the guys who rented them would constantly speed
them around, often in close proximity to bathers, just to _advertise_
them. We ended up finding another beach!

--
David Horne- http://www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk
photos at http://homepage.mac.com/davidhornecomposer

    > I got one of the girl waitress on the cocktail bar treating me really
    > badly for no reason
    > I could only conclude it was her way to say "I like you" or "I hate to
be
    > working here"
    > bizzarre anyway.

Was this the closest you got to finding an intelligent female life form ?

"Miss L. Toe" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    >> I got one of the girl waitress on the cocktail bar treating me really
    >> badly for no reason I could only conclude it was her way to say
    >> "I like you" or "I hate to be working here" bizzarre anyway.
    > Was this the closest you got to finding an intelligent female life form ?
I would say so yes ... actually I did not have social contact with
anything else in Ibiza, just pure enjoy of being alone. Approached
once three girls from UK because they seem normal but
despite their strong accent they were on the "stay away from me"
mode :)

However, back to Madrid fell in love with a very special and smart
girl :) and she is not spanish, I could not suspect anything like that
from happening.

Regards,
Giovanni

    > I took many pictures and would like to make them available online ... does
    > anyone know a
    > free web site service for this where you do not have to pay? and the
    > pictures are not reduced
    > either like e.g. in yahoo photo album?

http://fotopic.net will let you store your photos for free!

Thanks!

"Lee BARRASS" <lee@[nospam]abeerfestival.co.uk> wrote
    >> I took many pictures and would like to make them available online ...
    >> does
    >> anyone know a
    >> free web site service for this where you do not have to pay? and the
    >> pictures are not reduced
    >> either like e.g. in yahoo photo album?
    > http://fotopic.net will let you store your photos for free!