The Village of San Rafael, Ibiza (Sant Rafel)

The small village of San Rafael can be found on the main road between Ibiza town and San Antonio. Like all Ibiza villages it is dominated by its late 18th Century church which affords views all the way down to Ibiza’s harbour, busy with cruise ships and big ferries.

The two main features of the village itself are the many, many restaurants and the roadside pottery workshops.

Foodies can experience culinary karma at a string of eateries which serve both typical local cuisine and more exotic concoctions from the Mediterranean area.

Can Pilot is a great favourite with the locals and is packed to the rafters on Sunday afternoons, whilst newcomer Es Tancó, winner of an award for best renovated building, plies traditional food with a modern twist.

Just down the road, both El Ayoun and L’Eléphant, provide a more upmarket and adventurous alternative ‘lounge’ scene with North African and Provencale cuisine for the clubbing set.

San Rafael has been declared the only artisan zone – Zona de Interés Artesanal – in Ibiza because of the traditional pottery shops there. The Icardi ceramic workshop has a wide selection of pottery made in exactly the same way today as when first introduced to the island by Mediterranean invaders thousands of years ago.

Just outside the village are two temples to equestrianism. The Hippodrome (on the road to Santa Eulalia) is home to the trotting races which take place on balmy summer Saturday evenings and the more frenetic moto cross events in winter. On the main road no one will have failed to notice the enormous estate which is the stud farm called Los Olivos. Covering 80,000 square metres and costing millions of Euros, it houses 32 thoroughbred Andalucian horses who even have their own swimming pool.