Our search for Atlantis on Ibiza

Atlantis of Ibiza, a mythical place where every tourist has heard of, but no local will tell you where it is. So of course, after living more than 5 years on the Island, we from One Villas Ibiza wanted to find this spiritual core of Ibiza.

With some vague directions, we went on our way. Our starting point was the viewpoint on the rock island Es Vedra on the way to Cala d’Hort.

From there we hiked up hill to an old watchtower. The Torre des Savinar was built in the 16th Century as part of a system of defensive and observation towers on Ibiza. Watchmen kept lookout for the feared pirates and used light signals to warn the population, who then fled into the forests or fortified churches.

Deep down below us we could see the remnants of a city, but how were we supposed to get there?

Down the hill we found the start of the trail, which is marked by two magic stone circles that were built by hippies and are used in different ceremonies. The custom is that everyone who start the descent, should leave a pebble on the wall.

So if you want to do this hike, don’t park at the 2nd parking where you are close to the Es Vedra viewpoint, but at the 1st parking.

The first part of the descent was immediately strenuous. The undefined path was strewn with debris, went over pointy rocks and sometimes had an angle of 45 degrees. Somewhere half way is a cave with a shrine with a mural of an Asian God.

We forgot to check, but I think it took us 30 minutes to get to the sand dunes. Sand dunes??? Yes, the last 80 meters down appeared to consist of dune sand.

The view on the sunken city was breathtaking. It had the feeling of the ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru. The remnants of the walls were topped over, we could see basins with water, stairs, terraces and ancient carvings in the soft stone walls.

Had we discovered the legendary Utopian city of Atlantis? Well, I have to disappoint you now. What we photographed is an ancient quarry whose stones were cut out of the rock and used to build homes, defensive towers and the walls of the citadel of Ibiza city to protect the city. What is left is an interesting formations that look like there has been buildings that now have been abandoned and gone with time.

It takes a lot of effort to get there and even more to get up again through the shifting sand of the dunes. We could feel the muscles in our calves and our lungs were burning. But for sure it was worth it!