We’ve known Lenny for about 9 years or so now and it’s always a pleasure to catch up with the master of chill… He’s got tracks on more chill-out compilations than most of us have had hot dinners and has been resident at probably most of the venues on the island and continues to play & DJ all over the world. Cafe del Mar, Khumaras, Las Dalias (insert name…) and elsewhere like Japan, Israel, etc etc

Lenny, Co organiser of the DJ Awards At Pacha

After spending the early part of 00’s on Warner Music (licensing his Ibizarre Records label to them), he left after their takeover and culling of staff and he once again decided to go on his own.

He calls Can Chill his home where he also has his studios, near Benirras and he finally has a manager he’s comfortable with (and actually is also a nice bloke - Philipp).

Lenny is preparing a full weekend show on Sonica which will run throughout the summer and beyond and will cross the gamut of styles. One of the highlights is going to be the airing of a bootleg gig in instalments that was made here on ibiza by a very very worldwide famous artist.

Lenny with Mike from Manumission at Ibiza Rocks

Lenny’s always been busy remixing some famous artists & tracks (cf: The Doors etc) but there’s a couple he’s working on now, one of which you wouldn’t normally associate with chill out (think english alt rock band) and another one is a jazz remix “best of” of a pioneering american pianist and musician who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues…

If that wasn’t enough there’s more international DJ gigs, a best of Ibizarre, the new website (nearing completion), the ibizarre label will be doing more with 3 albums scheduled for the summer and a booking agency for just Lenny, Valentin Huedo (Cafe del Mar), Nima Gorji (Minimal House) and Orli&Martie (Progressive House).

There’s also his annual involvement with the DJ Awards and some new innovative local projects with the Consell and a big project here that will be very exciting when hopefully it comes off…

cheers lenny, most easily :)

and an excuse to repeat some of our favourite sunset vids from this year - We couldn’t decide on one favourite so we thought we’d just bung up the links again: (All use tracks from Lenny’s Ambient Collection series.)

21st March

9th March

14th Feb

8th Feb

4th Feb

1st feb

24th Jan

This bay offers a real taste of paradise - island insiders have been raving about Cala d’en Serra, located to the east of Portinatx, for years now. The tiny, craggy bay is rather difficult to reach, which means that it has not been monopolised by the masses.

The sandy beach is small, with a wonderful view of the rugged cliffs and the location is ideal for snorkelling. If you opt out of taking a dive, you only have yourself to blame. You won’t find any pedalos or jetskis here, because Claudia, the owner of the one and only beach bar, wants to keep things the way they are. She likes her peace and quiet. Her beach bar offers snacks and drinks. The atmosphere is relaxed and cosy and many holidaymakers choose to return here year after year.

Just in case you’re visiting Cala d’en Serra for the first time, the ugly ruins of the building overlooking the bay have been crumbling away for almost 35 years. No one knows what’s going to happen but many plans have been put forward - some of which involve tearing the old walls down, others suggest putting up new ones - but to date, neither has happened.

How to get there:

They do say that it’s often worthwhile to go the extra mile – and this is especially true when trying to avoid the holiday crowds. It is actually impossible, but the extra mile can often deter the worst elements of modern tourism leaving you with at least a bit of class on the beach.

Living in Santa Eulària we find ourselves spoilt for choice in the beach department, having a dozen to choose from within five kilometers of home and since the main reason for going to the beach is to get out of the hot and into the wet, traveling miles in holiday traffic seems counter productive.

However, there are exceptions to every rule, so when I’m feeling particularly pleased with myself and worthy of reward I make a day of it. Once in a while it is nice to get away from it all and remind oneself just how lucky we are to live in this island paradise. On days like this I tend towards the rugged north coast, and often to Cala d’en Serra.

When the day is mine and time is not an issue I take the circuitous route cross country through the Morna Valley and along the magnificent coastal road to Cala San Vicente, with its picture postcard views over Aguas Blancas and Es Figueral, then Cala San Vicente itself.

A left turn over the mountain to San Juan follows with the ascent offering spectacular views of the northern coastline and your passengers cooing with delight as they take in the views. Taking the first right turn as you enter San Juan takes you over another range of hills with yet more spectacular views out to the sea beyond the Portinatx lighthouse – so don’t forget the camera!

At the bottom of the descent Cala d’en Serra is signposted off to the right, but your adventure is far from over yet! Lots of sensible people park their cars where the tarmac runs out at the top of the cliff overlooking the pretty bay.

Unfortunately, the first time I found the beach I met a group of heavily perspiring ‘sensible’ car owners as they returned to their vehicles at the top of the hill – and curiosity got the better of me…

To call this route of descent a ‘camino’ would be generous, and an insult to the many other miles of self-respecting camino. This one is more of a roller coaster than a route, but in the summer months I suppose it keeps the ‘riff-raff’ out?

If you’ve found a parking spot after your adventure the last few yards down to the beach will seem like child’s play. There – we’ve finally reached the beach and already had more than a day’s worth of adventure?

The beach is quite small, some 45 metres long by 20 metres wide, and is flanked by boat-houses to the left. It is terraced into two levels the upper of which is served by a chiringuito without a name run by Claudia who, when pressed, calls it ‘Cala d’en Serra.

The food is good, particularly the ‘patatas ibicencas’ served with alioli, and the drink refreshing enough to take your mind off the return leg of your journey home. Being horse-shoe shaped the bay is sheltered which makes it nice for swimming and particularly snorkeling, as there are so many cliffs surrounding the water’s edge.

Incorporating snorkeling into your day gives you the best of both worlds – a bird’s eye view of the island on your way here and a fish-eye view of the world upon arrival?

You’ll sleep well tonight?

Sunset video is a bit late tonight as we spent the afternoon and evening in the company of Ibiza’s chillest & coolest person, namely mr lenny krarup (ibizarre). This summer should be very interesting music wise - cheers Lenny :)

Music is from Ibizarre - The Ambient Collection Vol. 3 - 13 - Savannah - www.ibizarre.com

One of the most popular beaches of the south coast by virtue of the towering presence of the imposing island of Es Vedra and her little sister, Es Vedranella.

The sandy beach runs in a wide sweep of a couple hundred metres between the towering cliffs that surround the bay and, despite the massive size of the magical island offshore, the beach still gets good waves from the open sea when the wind comes from the south.

This could be because the island is actually several kilometres offshore.

Only the foolhardy should attempt to swim to the islands, the rest of you should join us at one of the two restaurants on the sand, or make the journey to the excellent ‘Es Boldado’ restaurant perched on the cliffs at the western end of the beach.

Tomorrow is Cala d’en Serra

A beautiful new Ibiza beachside venue opened today overlooking the beach of Cala Nova, just north of Es Canar.

The ‘Zen Sea’ is a stylish restaurant in prime location, much like its sister Parot restaurants, ‘Es Pins’ on Es Canar beach and ‘Xtu’ on the main street of Santa Eulalia.

The huge front terrace is decorated with tastefully arranged tables and huge comfortable sofas, from which to enjoy the view from this fabulous location, perched on the cliffs above the beach, out to sea along the coast up to the island of Tagomago.

There’s ample parking in the area and an imposing entry ramp of sanded concrete railway sleepers interlaced with flower beds full of white crystal. Unusual, imaginative and the perfect introduction to the black and white of the terrace and interior decoration.

The opening party was a splendid affair with all of the locals out in force ready for their imminent summer season. A crowd of local Ibicenco business owners, and their ‘almost nationalized’ foreign compatriots, enjoyed a sample of the food that will be on offer here this summer washed down with ample wine and other treats.

We’re not a great fan of puddings, but the chocolate and passion fruit ice cream with some lemony looking milk was to die for… (Picture deleted, by accident!)

In the meantime our most versatile local band, the Lost Mountain Orchestra, provided the music with that spectacular view in the background.

Think you should check this place out – its like the way Ibiza should be soon…

Open every day till sunset, then Friday and Saturday evenings until the season kicks off (and the evening before each fiesta day, of which there are many here!), when it will be mobbed!

They do a daily ‘menu del dia’ for 16 euros, rising to 19 on Saturdays, but the quality of the food looks well capable of justifying that…

We’ll be going back next week to conduct more research, which is not something we say every day in this tedious restaurant review business…

Zen Sea – Cala Nova
971 807 026

The Pacha calendar has been an instituation on the island for years now - it shows you when the new moon and full moons are. We know its March already but we’ve been meaning to point out something on the Pacha calendar for 2008…

We would’ve scanned it but its slightly too wide for a scanner and it would be a pain to stich all the scans into one image so we took a dodgy photo of it.

See if you can spot the obvious problem with this years calendar… hint - look at February & September…

We assume its either an error or something to do with the chinese calendar but after a few google searches we realised that the chinese calendar has a mind of its own and left us highly confused….

Answers on a postcard please…

We lied yesterday - for some reason we thought that Cala d’Hort comes before Cala d’Albarca…

A visit to this bay is more of hiking expedition than a day at the beach. There is a road that takes you most of the way to the bottom, but it’s not a road that you’d risk taking your own car down - we know - we tried it once.

The sensible and not unpleasant walk down this rugged camino to the cove is a trip back to the way the island would have been when people traveled on foot or donkey from one corner of the island to the other – not that they very often did!

By virtue of being almost totally untroubled by human interference, the lizards here are the friendliest on the island.

They won’t mind at all if you clamber over the rocks to cool off in the sea before the long walk back to reality.

It’s almost impossible to describe where this is so here’s a link to Cala d’Albarca on a google map…

Tomorrow is definitely Cala d’Hort…

This sheltered little bay sits just to the north of the long Cala Tarida beach and is a natural cove that local fishermen have valued for centuries.

It is reached by taking the right turning downhill from the roundabout that is Cala Tarida.

At the foot of the hill you will find a small harbour for a couple of dozen boats, which you will need to negotiate in order to reach the cove.

The bay into which the harbour empties is semi-circular and dominated more by small boats than beach lovers.

It is a real contrast to the busy main beach of Cala Tarida.

Tommorrow’s Ibiza beach is Cala d’Hort - the best place on the island to sit and stare at Es Vedra…

Again it was exceedingly windy today but we just think it makes the sunset videos more interesting….

Music is from Ibizarre - The Ambient Collection Vol. 1 - 07 - Dreambird - www.ibizarre.com

The British Embassy in Spain and Vodafone launch photo competition to celebrate The Queen’s Birthday.

Capturing positive images of British influence in Spain could win you an invite to the Queen’s Birthday party, held in June in Madrid, as well as great new mobile phone kit from Vodafone and free flights to London. Winning competition entries will also be exhibited prominently in UK consulates around Spain.

Britain’s influence in Spain isn’t just felt in tourist areas, though British people have loved coming to Spain on holiday for many years. Images that reflect British/Spanish fusion in fashion, music, culture, sport and business, or photos showing how UK people and ideas have been beneficial for both cultures are sought as competition entries.

Anyone interested can either send photos from their mobile phone via MMS or upload digital photos and send them to fotos@corp.vodafone.es

The photos will appear on a special website, www.vodafone.es/britishstyle. Photos can be sent from 27 March to 20 April both dates inclusive. Entrants will be able to vote for their favourite photos.

A panel made up of the British Ambassador and members of Vodafone will chose the winner out of the 10 most voted photos by Internet users.