CHURCH OF SAN MIGUEL

SANT MIQUEL DE BALANÇAT´s CHURCH

The September 29th the little village of Sant Miquel is celebrating their Saint patron day.

It seems that this year the weather will be not the best due a threat of storm and raining.

The white shape church of Saint Miquel is the oldest church in Ibiza after the Cathedral and in it´s origin was as well a fortress, the church dates from the XIV century.

Indoors shows a beautiness and white temple.

This three crosses, which are usually in each church in Ibiza, were very famous at the beginning of the 70´s decade due a famous turistic picture that with the name of Ibiza promote the Island all over Europe. In the picture appeared also a Ibicencan old lady entrying to the church.

In the XVII century were added two chapels on both sides of the main altar. The north chappel was called d´en rubiò and the South one was called "de Mitgorn" or "de Benirras", is also knowed as the painted chapel due the interesting paintings on their walls. The words JHS are the main motive of the paintings.

This cross is outside of the church. As all the churches in Ibiza the Via Crucis sign are located with fourteen different crosses around the church. This one surrounded by nature remains that this church is also from the country side of the Island.

This is a very curious image. Saint Vincent in this image seem a very modern image and also with great movement in opposition to the others images of the church which are quite serious.
On the main Altar of the church we can see Saint Miquel in the middle and Saint Rafael at one side and the other one is for a image of Maria Goretti a young Italian saint. Sant Miquel and Saint Rafael fest day is the same day 29th september, but for any reason the village of Saint Rafael in Ibiza celebrates it on October 24th.

There exist 7 Archangels, though in the Bible they appear three, one of them Michael. The church puts Michael first. he is represented in the art as a warlike and conquering angel of Lucifer to the one that puts the heel in the head of the wicked one. It is the angel that defeated Satan and his followers and threw them of the sky with his sword.

ES CASTELLAR - SES MARGALIDES ISLANDS

SES BALANDRES (CORONA)

Es Castellar is a breathtaking zone of precipices, at the northeast coast of the island and very near of the small village of Santa Agnès de Corona. Precipices that fall down dramatically on the sea. As may be seen in the picture above the name of "Castellar" derives from the Castle and is that in this zone one finds a few high places of precipices that are very similar to the walls of a Castle.

From this zone can be observed the islands of "Ses Margalides" that the legend says that Christopher Colón (who according to Nito Verdera's thesis was From Ibiza) put to the Island Margarita of Venezuela this name in honor to these islands.

An excursion downwards is not a bad idea, but is necessary to go well prepared. " Es Amunts " is a northern island area that starts for the west with the Cap Nonó of Sant Antoni, and ends to near San Vicente at the east side.

The colors of the water of the sea contrasts with the green colour of vegetation of the nearby precipices.

It is possible to come down the precipices of this zone, using some paths and these when they do not exist, only there are some slightly risky options... as you can see at this picture.
Ses Margalides is composed by several small rock islands. This island has the endemic lizard which has a black colour. In addition it possesses a natural arch of great size that up to small pleasure boats can pass across.

I anarem a Sant Miquel

SANT MIQUEL DE BALANÇAT

Some decades ago, the music group UC, released the song "anarem a Sant Miquel" "We went to Sant Miquel" it´s a funny song that get really popular all over the island. The song was converted in a kind of Ibiza´s hymn. But the little village became even more popular.

It seems the origin of this song, was nothing to do with this village, but in the origin was a house called "Can Miquel des Canal des Tumei" at the very other side of the island near Sant Josep de S´atalaya in the south side of the island. In that house lived a lady with two small and very entertaining girls. So when people where visiting the house in "colla" (group) they were singing this song that in future became the song we know now.

This song as the years went by, was distorted changing the original - Can Miquel (Miquel´s home)- into Sant Miquel and creating great reputation like that to the village. Undoubtedly it is a song of the most popular and more famous in the island. And in addition in this epoch in which the major amusement of weekends was to be going to take something to some village of the island, Sant Miquel took the best fame to be often visited by the island´s inhabitants and this way the streets and the bars were filling with people that went to the village of Saint Miquel due the so many reputation created by the song.

The village does not lack motives for being visited. Since it is a village with very much captivation and from Ibiza flavor. It has been a village that has could make last traditions as the dance payés that for many decades have been celebrated every Thursday of summer in the court of the church. The houses near the church have an unequivocally from Ibiza and like that architecture we see it easily across their thick, bulky and white walls.

SANT MIQUEL TO THE DUSK

Some years ago the schedule that had assigned for the religious office was " to the dusk " as it was saying an advise paper in the entry of the temple. And always I still had the doubt ... that exact moment was the dusk? Was it before putting on the Sun?, was it after putting on the Sun?, when the lampposts were ignited? After having ignited them?, and still today I continue with the doubt how residents knew the exact moment to start the mass office?. In the picture above is possible to see that still it exists the same tabacco shop that existed does more than half a century behind and a bar that little has changed since then. They are placed close to the church and what before they were shaping the center of the village now already it has grown even down of the small mount.

Es puig (the mount) of Sant Miquel is crowned by a church that is of the simplest, white, ancient and beautiful from Ibiza. But on the part of behind shows us his origin apart from religious purposes. It was a strength fortress where the inhabitants were going to shelter of the Berber assaults and all the dangers that Ibiza had to confront in those times.

Opposite the church years ago there was installed a sculpture of Marià Villangomez i Llobet. The Sculpture is built in bronze , a celebrated poet from Ibiza who deceased in 2002. Although he was born and dying in Eivissa's City, he was a teacher in Sant Miquel. Since here we can watch him reading a book and looking at the village from the very top.

Below we see a sight of " puig of missa "(mass mount) of Sant Miquel. Two famous ones exist " puig of missa " or mount of mass in Ibiza. In Santa Eulalia and this one of Sant Miquel both offer a few beautiful views whom they raise up.

HECTOR ROSELLO

I was talking about a Julius Verne´s novel on the previous entry and exactly about his novel Hector Servadac. And I received the good new about the birth of another Hector who in fact is the son of another Ibiza´s blogger. The proud father is Pepe Roselló which is my mate work and he is the one that create the blog http://islaibiza.blogspot.com . So this new Hector will leave in a beautiful island called Ibiza and may be in a future will be able to travel around the space as Hector Servadac did in the novel. At the moment Hector Roselló is doing what he has to do, get feed, and dont let the parents sleep too much. So from this blog I want to share such a wonderful new and send my CONGRATULATIONS to Pepe and Norma for such a nice baby.


Photos courtesy of Pepe Roselló.

FARO DE LA MOLA - LIGHTHOUSE OF LA MOLA

THE LIGHTHOUSE AT THE END OF THE WORLD

The Queen Isabel II of Spain gave order to build this lighthouse. On September 13th 1861 the lighthouse starts operations for the boat´s safety. Still nowadays it´s known as "Far de Formentera" (Lighthouse of Formentera) because during lot´s of years was the only one lighthouse on the whole island. Just two times in the live of this lighthouse the light of it lamps turned off. During the Philippines war and during the Spanish Civil war.

This lighthouse is on an impressive cliff of 192 meters on the sea level. Julio Verne never visited Formentera, but it immortalized the island in his novel "Héctor Servadac" they say that inspired by this lihgthouse, though other sources indicate to this lighthouse as the inspirator of the writer´s novel " the lighthouse at the end of the world". Nowadays a monolith exists in honor of the writer. In these cliffs there are lots of the endemic small lizard (called sargantana in Ibicenco) and a numerous colony of gulls that flutter constantly the surroundings of the lighthouse.

The light of this lighthouse reaches a distance of 23 miles, it was electrified in 1.973. The square plant floor is of 300 square meters. In this lighthouse lived at the same time till three families of "fareros" or tower guards.

During the years between 1860 and 1880 there were about thirty maritime accidents in the surrounding areas of Formentera. Apparently the inhabitants certain know-how in attracting to the ships in nights of storm, with luminous equivocal signs, up to the coast where they were running aground, to plunder it later.

In 1.923 a road was constructed linking the Port of The Savina and La Mola. It was finished in 1.925.