Placed at 79km off the coast of the city of Valencia, Ibiza (Catalan: Eivissa), the third largest of the Balearic Islands, is well known in our days for its summer club scene which attracts very large numbers of tourists. Colonized by Phoenicians in 654 BC, then ruled successively by Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Moors, Norwegians, and Aragoneses, became part of Spain, maintaining its own self-government in several forms until 1715, when King Philip V of Spain abolished the local government's autonomy. At the geographical heart of the island, the village of Santa Gertrudis is Ibiza in microcosm. Steeped in tradition, its main square houses the whitewashed church and a cluster of bars, restaurants and shops, whilst in the rich agricultural landscape all around, live sheep, goats and the island's only dairy cows. The architecture is sober and simple, and the folklore remained on the same line, perhaps with some colorful touches.
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