It has no hotels, two bars – Bar Canvi Vell (est 1925) and Bar Canvi Nou (est 1926) – a church, the small, traditional white cubic houses of its people and views of the distant Pyrenees mountains plus on a clear day, the coast of France.
It became briefly famous in the 19th century when vast dormitories of oyster beds were discovered in its waters, which because of prevailing currents and prevalence of plankton, developed a taste and succulence so unique that Queen Victoria's consort Prince Albert would eat nothing else but Canvi oysters for breakfast!
In the modern era, Canvi de Sentit's only claim to fame – or so local legend has it – is that Roger Waters based his song 'Ibiza Bar' on one of the village's two hostelries. The story goes that Waters, on the island with the other Pink Floyds for the film More, had been 'out all night looking for Syd Barrett' (who by that time had been missing for over a year) when he stumbled into the bar and wrote the song on the back of a handy packet of Ducados.
Approached by narrow winding tracks, Canvi de Sentit, is approximately 8 Kms from the main road to San Miguel and is served by only two buses per day.
Its local Saint's Day, San Cambio, is celebrated on April 1st every year.
Funny how the council's attempts to popularise the village withe plenty of signposts have been so unsuccessful. The French have had the same problem with Poids Lourds which is part of Poisson D'Avril.
ReplyDeleteHi,i find your story about the little town very special since i lived in port jesus Ibiza 3 years 71-73,in 2006 i went back to Formentera&Ibiza,because i first lived on Formentera,then Ibiza,the name of the house in Formentera was Casa Con Pedro Mona,the name of the house in Ibiza was Casa Bellenset.I spent one of the best times in my life for 4 years.I hope you find this intersting,i find you all Super.
ReplyDeleteI have often driven past the turn-off to Canvi de Sentit but have never actually been there. I have heard though, that once you go there, you end up driving in the opposite direction fairly quickly...is it so bad?
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