Balafia Ibiza

Situated off the main road from Eivissa to Portinatx, close to Sant Lloren and beneath the shapely mass of Es Fornas, Ibiza's third highest peak, Balafia's first claim to a Moorish heritage is its name; it is one of the few on the island that survives from the time before the Christian invasion. The name means 'good water', the village having been sited near a spring of sweet water.

Access to Balafia is via a very narrow rough track, opposite the turn to Sant Carles-Es Canar and the Cana Pepeta restaurant. The village, consisting of just seven houses, is a wonderfully evocative place. As you walk around it feels as though you have not only shed several centuries, but also changed continents: Balafia is a small part of Africa deposited here on the outskirts of Europe. The houses are probably the oldest on the island and follow the traditional design square walled and floored, the walls brightly whitewashed and flatroofed with windows that let in the air but keep out the sun. They are grouped around two squat towers, similar to those found along Ibiza's coastline. When the invading pirates, not content with raiding the coastal villages, swept inland the Balafia villagers retreated to these towers in the hope that the marauders would move on before the towers' stores of food and water ran out.