Hope and excitement. These are the words most repeated by the merchants from the Marina and Dalt Vila. After two years of obligatory stoppage due to the pandemic, this Thursday Ibiza Medieval begins. In what will be the XXIII season there will be 95 craft and food stalls that, along with the activities and shows organized, will attract hundreds of people.
“We hope that after the ‘plague’, Ibiza Medieval will fill the streets with people,” Miguel Angel Guillem confessed yesterday next to his stall “I love Ibiza” in the Mercat Vell. They are always prepared for tourists, he acknowledged, but “this event is a very important incentive for the neighborhood”. He sells local crafts and says he has a “very specific clientele”.
The preparations began yesterday next to the Reina Sofia park. The countdown has begun to get everything ready for one of the most anticipated fairs every year on the island. “Let’s see how we do this year, everything looks very good,” said Rosi Méndez, from the Lovi Ibiza store. “We are looking forward to working after these last two years,” she added.
Ibiza Medieval a “boost” for business
Méndez assured that the Ibiza Medieval fair is an important “boost” for businesses in the area, although she explained that they have already been working for several weeks at a better rate than in the years prior to the pandemic. “There are many more people. We opened at the beginning of April and Easter was impressive,” she reiterated. “We have done much better than in the same dates of 2019, which is the year we use as a reference,” she said.
In the same vein was Carla León, from Popa restaurant, in Dalt Vila. “At Easter we have worked four times above normal,” she maintained, partly because they have changed the dynamics. “Before, restaurants generally opened only at night, but after the pandemic they started to work during the day as well, and the change is noticeable,” she said. Added to this is the start of the fair, which will be four days of uninterrupted activity.
“We usually open around 11am and close around 2am, but it all depends on the people,” said León. And, as she said, “there is no tourist who comes to Ibiza and does not visit the castle. In addition, they want to see it during the day for the views, so if you add a medieval fair, you have it all,” she added.
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