And so to Ibiza, to celebrate publication of A Girl Called Summer. It was another lovely family holiday - my nephew, who grew up in Australia, has been travelling around Europe this summer, so it's been great to catch up with him at various places en route.
Ibiza really is my favourite place in the world. Our villa was a few minutes' walk from the sea, on the beautiful, unspoilt North East coast.
Ibiza really is my favourite place in the world. Our villa was a few minutes' walk from the sea, on the beautiful, unspoilt North East coast.
Paella under the trees. This was meant to be lunch, but we spent so long faffing about, getting up late, drinking wine in the pool, that by the time we got to the restaurant it was 6pm and we had to wait until they opened for the evening - which is why we had the place to ourselves.
Lunch again - this time on beautiful Benirras beach, where the hippy drummers come out on Sundays. There was a wonderfully mad beach party the following weekend, but sadly it was too dark for photos - and come to think of it, probably just as well!
Fun nights out in Ibiza Town:
Harbour-side (only wearing shades at night as I had an eye infection that made me look as though I'd been beaten up!).
My beautiful sister Caroline.
Channelling our inner hippies.
Drinking hierbas in the Old Town, clearly late at night. What has just happened to make me look so delighted, and Andy as though he wants to punch someone?
One day we chartered a boat to beautiful Formentera. Sadly the photo above was not taken that day, as it was the worst weather we had the whole holiday.. In fact, it was so choppy that we were all completely soaked by the time we got to the island. The restaurant sent a dinghy out to pick us up from the boat, which felt wonderfully glamorous - until three of us went under as we tried to clamber out at the water's edge, laughing, splashing, swearing and generally disturbing the peace of the too-cool-for-school Italians reclining gracefully on the exquisite white beach.
After a long lunch, we were even jollier on the way back, singing 'What shall we do with the drunken sailor', spilling wine we as bounced over the waves, My, how we laughed. And Angus, who got his boat license when he was 12 (it's an Australian thing), impressed us by taking turns at the helm.
 | For more on Formentera, check out this article I wrote for the Guardian's travel pages - a few years ago now, but Formentera doesn't really change! |
Back to Ibiza. This is me meeting the lovely and talented Sophia Valentine, writer, blogger, reviewer and journalist for The Ibizan (online and print versions). We met at Kumharas, a fab bar in an incredible location, right on the water's edge, Sophia interviewed me for her blog and the newspaper - for which I've also written a short story. Watch this space for publication....
On our last day, we went for a drink at Can Talaias, which used to be English film star Terry Thomas’s house, and was turned into one of the island’s first agroturismo boutique hotels by his son Cushen with his wife Laetitia. It’s staggeringly beautiful up there, with an enormous outdoor terrace and breathtaking views over dense pine forest all the way down to the sea. It’s so lovely that I set the wedding at the end of A Girl Called Summer there,and wanted to give Cushen and Laetitia a couple of copies of the book.
Me with Cushen (above). More Ca'n Talais (below).
I can't really bear the idea of not seeing Ibiza again until next year, which is why Andy and I have already been toying with returning at the end of September for a long weekend of end-of-season parties. Self-indulgent, yes, but oh so tempting.!
Hasta luego, Ibiza! xxx
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