Ibiza undiscovered

There’s nothing like a free holiday. Thanks to a banking ‘cash-rich, time-poor’ brother, a girlfriend and I jumped on a plane and headed to his empty finca in the hills of Ibiza. Our mission was to give it a lick of paint in return for a fortnight’s free board. The pool was green and fetid and there was no electricity or running water, but it was hot during the day, cool and mosquito-less at night and we could happily cope with an ancient generator and the odd pee in the garden for two weeks of such sun-soaked serenity.

Call me a hippy (I’m not), but there really is an element of magic about this enchanted isle. Yes, it’s the clubbing epicentre of Europe, but off-season it is a haven of tranquillity and calm. They say the rock of Es Vedra gives off some kind of mystical energy (something to do with Odysseus and an alleged magnetism that makes navigational tools go haywire).