Fireworks in San Antonio - August 24th
by matt @ 6:49 pm. Blogged under Travel / Holidays
On Thursday at around 8am we were rudely awakened by what I thought must have been a fire in a local fireworks factory - about three minutes of the loudest fireworks all going off in quick succession. I poked my head out of the balcony curtains and couldn’t see anything going on in the early morning sunshine so went back to bed. I’ve never heard of fireworks in daylight before, so I assumed it had to be an accident of some kind - perhaps a display going off early during set-up. Later that day I discovered that it was August 24th - the festival of St. Bartholomew, widely celebrated in Ibiza by early morning firecrackers and again later that evening with a huge fireworks display. Nice of the hotel to warn their guests they’d wake up to the sound of explosions!
It seems that Bartholomew was one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus and is now known as the patron saint of bookbinders, butchers, plasterers, shoemakers, tailors, vine-growers, and the sick / those with nervous disorders. Apparently this annual festival is a big thing in San Antonio / Ibiza and each year fireworks are set off at Sa Punta des Moli (recognisable by the windmill located on the sea front).
The evening firework display began at around 11pm with a bang so loud that it nearly knocked me off my bar stool at Ray and May’s where we were preparing for our trip to Amensia nightclub. We were compelled to go outside to watch the display and it has to be said, these were the biggest and loudest fireworks I’ve ever experienced in my life. I thought Brockham bonfire was a big event on November 5th but these put that to shame. I took a few snaps on the phone as shown but they don’t do it justice; at one point I thought the hotel Hawaii over the road from us was going to catch fire, its silhouette against the smoke and lights reminded me of something you might see on CNN covering a middle east bombing raid (right). A fantastic fireworks show though, so well done San Antonio. If you’re in Ibiza around this time it’s definitely worth making the time to watch.
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