Ibiza Town a place to rave about

Our second attempt at leaving Roig was more successful and having spent six consecutive nights on anchor we decided on the convenience of a couple of nights in a marina, and we'd be able to fill up with water, clean off the red rain deposits and replenish our now diminishing supplies. The Balearic Island marinas our renowned for being expensive however. Our trip round was uneventful, having waited until the gusty winds had decreased, we then found ourselves having to motor because there wasn't enough of a breeze! Typical. Some three hours later the sight of the castle and old town overlooking the harbour impressed us and we were safely berthed in the marina.

The easiest way to get to the old town of Ibiza was by a little ferryboat across the harbour and the following morning we hopped on one just before it left. The tourist information office provided us with a street plan and information on the Medieval Festival and street market that was taking place.

We meandered through to the entrance gate of the old town to be greeted by a troop of flag wavers ready to entertain us! Someone must have told them we were coming. The street market was interesting, with demonstrations of traditional activities such as blacksmithing, knitting and falconry. In the Cathedral, more through luck than planning, we found that a medieval concert was about to take place and we took seats in a pew near the back and listened to about half an hour of music and singing, fascinated by the "hurdy-gurdy" and horn bottomed recorders. We really were quite taken with Ibiza Town, mainly I think because it was nothing like I had expected, and despite the obvious tourist traps you could lose yourself in the little deserted back streets and find a local bar serving good, cheap local food. We tucked into swordfish steak washed down with beer for less than £3 each - amazing!
We managed to do some shopping and returned to the marina by ferry. I had to spend a couple of hours in the company of World Service's "Sports World" for the commentary on the FA Cup final, in which Arsenal were playing against Liverpool. Despite apparently dominating the game and taking the lead in the final 20 minutes, we were undone by two Michael Owen goals and I had to console myself with the fact that we were second in the league, again!

Although Botafoch is an upmarket marina there are no facilities for laundry. (Perhaps it's because most people around there could afford to replace their clothes rather than wash them. In fact, we calculated that you could probably buy a years supply of M&S underwear for about £900!) Hence, Sunday morning was spent hand washing loads of clothes while we had the fresh water available. Unfortunately, one of our favourite stories about our adventure was ruined in this marina. We had always enjoyed the fact that on the whole journey so far, the most expensive night had been our first, in Cowes. Botafoch, however, by charging extra for electricity, water and showers turned out to be more expensive.