MARKET LIFE - Behind the scenes of one of the most famous hippy markets in Ibiza
How did we end up here, sitting on this step in the cold, in the empty square of San Juan, at seven in the morning, hoping it won't start to rain?
It's a question we've asked ourselves many times, in the ten years since we've had a stall at the San Juan market, in Ibiza, one of the island's best-known artisanal markets, the kind people still call "hippy markets."
When you start doing the market you don't get a fixed spot straight away: you have to earn it. That's why we were sitting there on the steps, waiting for our turn, until the organiser assigned us a spot. And then, little by little, through showing up, through persistence, through consistency, we earned our fixed spot inside that community.
Each market has its own atmosphere, its own personality, and the way you present yourself and show your work is how you earn a place in one of them.
WHERE IT ALL STARTED
Iglesia de Sant Joan de Labritja
We never planned this. We never even thought about it, becoming market sellers. It happened almost by chance: once we closed the shop we had at the port in Ibiza, at the end of the season, we still had some stock left to sell, and the San Juan market was one of the few that stayed busy even through the winter. So we started, facing the cold, the wind, the rain, with more than a few struggles along the way.
There was one day, maybe the hardest one of all, when we'd just finished setting up and found ourselves in the middle of torrential rain. The street had turned into a river, and the plastic sheet covering our stall kept filling up with water, so much that we had to keep pushing it off with a stick just to stop it caving in on us. It was freezing. And right at the exact moment Gio couldn't hold back a curse, there was a crack of thunder and a flash of lightning, as if Zeus were underlining our worries, cursing us and understanding us at the same time!!
The comforting thing, though, is that your market companions go through the good and the bad with you. You're all in the same boat, the same joys, the same troubles. It's all in those relationships: the market has taught us how to build freer, deeper relationships, less tied to social convention. Over these years we've watched kids be born, grow up, become teenagers around those stalls. And we've said goodbye to people who aren't with us anymore.
Here we are, still, ten years later, every Sunday, setting up at this beautiful market that has become, for us, sort of a second home.
We all come from completely different backgrounds. But that's exactly what's beautiful about the San Juan market: it's a mix of so many different personalities, people who arrive from different countries, different worlds even and who, one way or another, build their life this way, choosing freedom.
A DAY AT THE MARKET
Every Sunday morning we share this freedom with all of those who just come for a stroll, or to grab some bread, or for a proper Sunday breakfast. Some come to church with the whole family. Others are tourists on their way to the beach, hoping to find a small treasure to take home. You'll find everyone here: the local lady out for a walk because her cousin is visiting from Palma, the wealthy bohemian traveller who's flown to Ibiza from Mexico to experience the vibe of the island, North European families with barefoot kids, the elegant gentleman from the South of France.
Somehow all these different worlds land in the same square at one o'clock, when the live music starts, and for a couple of hours San Juan feels both entirely local and completely international at once. But here's the best part: it's small enough that you can wander through without rushing, without ever feeling overwhelmed. A truly slow market.
BEYOND THE MARKET: A LITTLE PLAN FOR THE NORTH OF THE ISLAND
If you ever end up coming to San Juan, of course every stall has something special and beautiful about it in its own way, but there are a couple of things you really shouldn't miss.
If you find the village tobacco shop open, the one on the square run by Vicente (he's not there every day), ask him for his hierbas ibicencas, made to his grandmother's recipe. We won't make too many comparisons, but for us they're easily in the top three on the island.
And keep an eye out for the guys from Sabores Naturales, who have run their little restaurant for years now. Everything they make is vegetarian, simple and healthy, but full of small details.
After the market, if you feel like continuing the day with an afternoon at the beach, here's where we'd go:
We love Cala d'en Serra: wild but beautiful, and close to the market. There's a fairly steep path down, and at the bottom you'll find a chiringuito. Getting into the water is a bit like stepping into a lake: there are pebbles and once you're in, you find yourself in a small round cove surrounded by mountains, with the varaderos, the old boat sheds, around you. And the water can be truly breathtaking.
If you'd rather keep things simple, there's Cala Sant Vicent, a small, slightly out of the way village in the north, with a real vintage feel to it, popular mostly with locals and families. There are some good restaurants too, like the Boathouse: fairly well known, a bit of a classic, but always good, and it never lets you down. One of those places that pleases everyone, and for once we mean that as a compliment.
There's one more area near the market worth mentioning: Portinatx, one of the northernmost beaches on the island. Along the road that takes you there, you'll pass a string of small coves, each one more beautiful than the last, and a real spot for anyone who loves fish, the chiringuito at Cala Xuclar, where they serve it fresh and you eat with your feet in the sand, in one of the most beautiful settings around.
Past these coves, the road opens up into Portinatx itself, which spreads across two beaches: S'Arenal Petit, smaller and more intimate, and S'Arenal Gran, much wider, with a walk along the sea connecting the two so you can walk from one to the other. The water there is beautiful, the sand pale, and the sea completely clear. One of our favourite restaurants on the whole island, Rebrots, sits right on S'Arenal Petit. And on the bigger beach, S'Arenal Gran, there's a nice detail too: you can rent small boats, including the traditional Ibizan llaüt.
San Juan will always be the one closest to our heart, but it's far from the only market on the island.
Stay tuned for the review of the other "hippy markets" in Ibiza.
See you at the Market ->>-
