Around the World in 8 Months

Ibiza’s “Privilege” is the biggest club in the world, and Friday’s “SuperMarXé” (no typo) is said to be the biggest and best party there. Unlike most of the other clubs this one is not within walking distance from our hotel at Playa d’en Bossa but in the very center of the island, so after having some drinks in a bar we took the bus at 1:30am to get there. From outside, the concrete building looks pretty much like a huge old factory, maybe it used to be one before becoming a club. People were queuing already since Privilege only opens at 2 or 3am. Once in the club, you realize the size: Multiple floors and areas, but all in the same hall with one giant transparent roof, so the party crowd can see the sun rise in the early morning. The club features a massive stage setting, this year showing lots of Brazilian elements on the occasion of the football world cup: the flag, Rio’s Statue of Christ and the Sugar Loaf, actors dressed like Brazilian natives or carnival dancers. Very impressing! The music is electronic / techno, like in most of the Ibiza clubs, played by the resident DJs disguised as gremlins or so. We didn’t wait until sunrise since all of us were quite tired at the end of an exhausting party week. Instead we went for a delicious Ibiza style döner kebab, with carrots and quite spicy – exactly the right thing before going to bed after a long party night!

One thing the beach promoters foisted on us was a boat party. It sounded very good: A half day trip on a nice boat with lots of other people going to the beautiful Espardelló beach, including good music, an open bar with unlimited drinks, and free jetski and banana boat rides. It turned out the boat was rather run-down, the company didn’t have the license to debark on Espardelló so it anchored some 100 meters before, and the jetski and banana boat people were only around for 20 minutes or so. Well, the crowd was nice an thus we still had a good party, but it was definitely not worth the price we paid. Note to myself: Never buy from promoters again ;-)

Another rental car day trip took us to Santa Eulària, a nice little town in the east of Ibiza. It has a nice water front, a small beach, a large marina and lots of nice outdoor restaurants – a good place to relax from last night’s party and to enjoy a delicious plate of seafood. Unfortunately the waiter got us wrong, and instead of sharing one big family plate with mixed grilled and fried fish and seafood, we got one each. But it was so good we simply had to eat it all.



Thus we overran the parking time for our car. Fortunately we were able to cancel the heavy 40 EUR fine by paying 3 euros more (well, it only works if it’s less than one hour). Nice touch, Santa Eulària!

Another top act on Ibiza is Carl Cox DJing in Space Club on Tuesdays. It’s said to be one of the best parties on the island, and Carl is famous for playing himself all night long, not only stopping by for two hours like most of the other star acts.

I’m a big fan of Café del Mar chill out music, but somebody had to remind me that the associated venue is in Sant Antoni, just on the opposite side of Ibiza. We went there in late evening, being very lucky to get hold of the last free table – obviously it’s always crowded during this time because everyone wants to watch the sun set while sipping at a refreshing cocktail and listing to the latest chill out compilations. It really lived up to its promise. The cocktails were worth every penny, the sunset was gorgeous and the DJ perfectly accompanied the scenery with his relaxing soundtracks. Certainly a must-do on Ibiza!



Some days later we realized beautiful sunsets are not guaranteed on Ibiza. Hundreds of people were waiting for it at the Sant Antoni coast, when suddenly the sun disappeared behind a bank of clouds - tough luck!

Our first big show was David Guetta’s great opening party at Ushuaia, a big hotel complex with a huge atrium perfectly adapted for concerts like this. Tickets weren’t exactly cheap, but actually all cool things on Ibiza are rather expensive. Two opening DJs were getting the crowd jumping, and finally David appeared: “I was so nervous awaiting this show … this is the greatest party of the summeeeeer!!”
Well, I’m pretty much a fan of his songs as you can buy them on iTunes or on disc. In the live show, after playing any of his popular themes for a minute or so, he switched over to rather random techno beats, which wasn’t exactly my taste. But anyhow, it was a great show with amazing light effects, special performances like a girl floating through the atrium on a large bunch of balloons, and a crazy audience – would definitely do it again!

Not exactly part of my round the world trip, but a great kick-off with lots of beaches, sunshine and legendary parties! I went together with two old friends from uni, Alex and Marcel.
We stood at a nice place next to Playa d’en Bossa – the notorious Ibiza party beach. Airplanes are arriving and departing only a couple of meters above your head every few minutes. But actually this doesn’t matter that much, having massive electro beats buzzing over from Jet Apartments all day, which obviously is the local stronghold of the English here (but pleasant people, not like on Mallorca). Cool and relaxing atmosphere!
Only the “promotors” are so annoying, constantly approaching you one after another, especially if you look like you just arrived on the island. The first couple of times it’s still nice, having some small talk with new and very open people. But finally all these guys only want one thing: Selling activities to you, from boat tours, flatrate pre-parties to partly also the real interesting gigs at night. We figured that in most cases you’d end up cheaper booking all this on your own, which unfortunately doesn’t prevent from being still bothered by all the promoters.