PHOENICIAN SA CALETA IBIZA

In the history of Ibiza, Sa Caleta is famous as one of the two original Phoenician sites on the island, the other being at Eivissa. Phoenician Sa Caleta, however, was inhabited for as little as 40 years or so, and seems never to have been much more than a settlement peopled by shipwrights and other workers. When it was abandoned all Phoenician interest in Ibiza was concentrated at Eivissa.

Today Sa Caleta is a delightful cove, its picturesque qualities enhanced by the scattering of fishermen's huts, all that remain of a small, but once thriving, fishing port. To the west is the curious headland of Punta Jondal a skeletal finger of rock poking out into the Mediterranean. The rock of the headland and Fita des Jondal, the hillock which separates Sa Caleta from Cala Jondal, is a beautiful golden brown, a fine contrast with the green pines that top the cliffs and the clear blue waters. Cala Jondal itself is popular despite its apparent isolation. It has pebbles as well as sand, and a good restaurant set among cedars. From it Platja Virgen (the Virgin Beach) is sign-posted.  The beach is rather better known than the name would imply.

On the other side of Sa Caleta is Platja des Cod, a rocky beach situated right at the end of the airport runway. Depending upon your point of view this is either entertaining or an earsplitting nuisance. What is undeniable is that the beach offers excellent views towards Es Vedra  to the west, and Cap des Falco to the east.