Back to Medieval times in Ibiza Town

The site of the festival, the fortified town of Dalt Vila is a maze of narrow cobblestoned streets, ramparts and viewpoints, which was awarded Unesco heritage status in 1999 and is the perfect scenic location for this historical festival, which is a highlight of the Ibiza events calendar. 

Inspection of the ancient ramparts took a back seat this weekend though as there were far too many displays, exhibits, performances and parades occurring to allow for much wall gazing. The usually peaceful and residential Dalt Vila was transformed into a colourful pageant ground decked with medieval flags and banners, tents and stalls, with street performers and vendors alike dressing the part in the medieval garb of their trade. There are some diverse influences in Ibiza’s history due in part to a variety of traders and invaders over the years including; Pirates, Christians, Romans, Greeks and Moors and the festival showcases this variety in the merchandise and skills on offer.

All museums and galleries within Dalt Vila are free to enter over the festival period and all run exhibitions and displays in keeping with the medieval theme but there was no need to enter a museum to get a sense of history, just wandering the streets was an education and was exceptionally entertaining. There were blacksmiths, lace makers, weavers, leather workers, artists, carpenters and jewellers all manning stalls at which they were making as well as selling their crafts. Other traders were offering artisanal fare; the mounds of locally produced herbs, oils, perfumes and soaps made for a fragrant passage through the crowded streets which lead ever onwards to the next spectacle. Lingering around the food stalls one could fill up happily on the endless samples of local cheese, olives and sausage, pastries and breads before moving on to desert at the sweet stalls where chocolatiers were hard at work in between candied fruit and nut stands. 

If the stalls didn’t satisfy your hunger the feasting area certainly would. Restaurant tents were set up around huge open fires and roasting pits displaying barbaric looking slabs of meat; racks of ribs, endless strings of sausage, sides of bacon and whole pigs roasting on spits in every direction. For the less carnivorous person there were stalls selling falafel, jacket potatoes, crepes and seafood and always nearby were the grog huts, pouring beers, sangrias and ‘medieval’ mojitos as fast as the crowd could drink them.

A true foodie and shopoholic’s paradise one could wander for hours between the maze of stalls, admiring, buying, eating and drinking everything on offer but more often then not you’d find yourself distracted by one of the street performers, bands or battle re-enactments that popped up all over the place and invited you to follow them. Witches, wizards, peasants, peddlers, belly dancers, acrobats, musicians, minstrels, soldiers, clowns, archers and knights roamed the streets entertaining the masses and leaping out of alleyways to delight and terrify the children. The performers were wonderful, embodying their characters perfectly and working hard all weekend but the performers were not all human, camels, donkeys and geese, were herded good-naturedly through the crowds and birds of prey stood watching with disdain from their perches as dragon riders galumphed through the streets. 

The festivities stretched out all day long and late into the nights and the enthusiastic atmosphere never lessoned, if anything the crowds got bigger and the displays more involved as the weekend went on. If you are thinking of visiting the festival next year, I would recommend avoiding Saturday night, the crowds reached epic proportions and anyone with a buggy, wheelchair or excitable children struggled to find passage through the narrow streets. Dalt Vila is predominantly built on an incline with cobbles, steps and hills in all directions, sensible footwear is recommended and anyone needing assistance should visit earlier in the day when the streets are quieter.  

Definitely mark the Medieval festival into your calendar for next year, it’s great fun for adults and children alike, its free to enter, the entertainment is all free to observe and the stalls offer up food and souvenirs for all budgets. Be warned though if you enter with children they will not want to leave without a helmet, shield, sword, their body weight in caramel apples and probably their own camel!