Resurrection weekend is coming…

All around the world, people associate Easter with resurrection for the obvious religious reasons, but here in Ibiza, the long weekend is also associated with the island coming back to life. Easter marks the the time most island businesses, bars, hotels, shops and venues come out of winter hibernation in preparation for the season ahead. OK, so they’re not being brought back to life per se, but please allow me to make a blasphemous association in the name of clickbait and let’s move on… In the lead up to Good Friday, the signs of a reawakening are everywhere. Well, that’s not 100% true –  most places still have their signs in storage, or wrapped in protective plastic – but what I mean is, the signs of the island awakening are omnipresent.

You can smell the fresh paint in the air whenever you walk down a street in Ibiza town or through Dalt Vila; you hear the sounds of drills and hammers on the beaches as the beach clubs start to reassemble their daybeds and furnishings. You can see it on the roads, as more and more cars start to pile onto the streets as more and more workers and pre-season tourists arrive. And if you’re really lucky, you may even get to taste it, as all of our favourite restaurants host pre-opening days as they test out their new menu items on friends and family.

Speaking of Good Friday – and feel free to stop me if you’ve heard me say this before – but this has got to be one of my all-time favourite occasions in Ibiza. If you’ve never witnessed the religious procession that snakes its way from the cathedral in Dalt Vila all the way down into the port and throughout the town, stopping in to each and every one of the churches en route, well may I suggest you book yourself a last minute flight and get yourself over here pronto! It’s spooky (the participants are dressed in long flowing robes with tall pointy hats – traditional ancient Catholic costumes) and they march alongside ENORMOUS effigies of Jesus on the cross, which are hoisted onto the shoulders of sinners (there’s no shortage of those on this island!) and lugged around from dusk until very very late indeed. It’s eye-opening, jaw-dropping and unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Except I have seen it 12 times already (not to mention the rehearsals I see from my balcony during the lead-up), but every time it blows my mind…

Anyway, I digress (sorry – I did tell you to stop me!). Once the long weekend arrives (early here in Spain, kicking off from Thursday lunchtime), the island will pick up exactly where it left off after Halloween – sunny breakfasts and brunches in our favourite urban and seaside haunts (I’m mostly talking about the many Passion Cafes of Ibiza here!), leisurely long lunches on any of the island’s beautiful beaches, afternoon cocktails in the port of Santa Eulalia or Ibiza town, iconic sunsets in the west, decadent dinners in Dalt Vila or the best campo locations in the north and south (The Giri Café and Can Domingo, I’m looking at you!) and of course, late nights spent dancing to the best music in the world, played by the best DJs in the world, in the best nightclubs in the world.

Ibiza friendships are often resurrected this weekend too. Those who left Ibiza at the end of last season in search of warmer climates (the joke’s on them since it stayed warm all winter here on the island) return to a hero’s welcome, getting to tell the tales of their travels to fresh ears and catch up with long-lost friends. Although it’s not even a six-month break any more, it can feel like a lifetime when one of you has been off on the other side of the world and the other has remained here on the island. Regardless of which one you are (you obviously know which one I am), it’s always good to see familiar faces and take part in a homecoming celebration. The homecoming hangovers are never quite that welcome however…

Most people’s diet and exercise regimes are also resurrected immediately after the Easter long weekend. Four days of feasting – not to mention binging Cadbury Crème Eggs that you drive all the way from Ibiza to San Antonio to ‘stock up on’ and then have to drive back again the next day because you ate them all – will do that to a person who knows true beach weather is just around the corner. Cue a rush on yoga, Pilates and gym memberships while personal trainers get a surge of enquiries.   Very soon, it will be like winter was all a dream. Anyone who has lived in Ibiza for a long time will simply switch gears and get on with the show like it’s the most normal thing in the world. Because, well, in our part of the world, resurrection weekend and everything that comes after it IS what constitutes normal – and we wouldn’t have it any other way.