Catalonia, which includes Barcelona and the Costa Brava, was expected to make sunseekers wear them even when they were topping up their tans, although on Wednesday it emerged the exceptions on their use extended to sunbathing. Pictured: British tourists without masks in Magaluf, Majorca, on Wednesday. The new rules on face masks have already kicked in in Catalonia and are expected to start applying in the Balearic Islands from Saturday.
Britons who were pictured arriving in Majorca on Wednesday were not wearing masks. Up until now face masks in Spain have only been obligatory in closed public spaces like shops as well as public spaces outdoors where social distancing of around five feet could not be guaranteed.
Pictured: Ibiza. The change means that tourists and locals will leave themselves open to fines if they go for a morning stroll along an empty stretch of beach or leave their spot on the sand to walk to a beach bar.
Those who share the same roof will also continue to be allowed to take off their face masks to travel by car, meaning a British family who hire a rental vehicle will not face any action if they are stopped for not covering up their noses and mouths while they are on the road.
Police are expected to be advised to give foreign holidaymakers who may be unfamiliar with the new rules a warning before they start fining people. There has been no news yet on whether other Spanish regions including the Costa del Sol will follow suit in the next few days. The rule changes in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands come on the back of mini-lockdowns caused by new Covid outbreaks in La Marina north of Lugo in Galicia, and the Segria region of Lleida province near Barcelona.
The lockdowns, which have led to police closing down the regions to outsiders, have affected around , people. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. Argos AO. Privacy Policy Feedback. Young Britons heading to Ibiza are offered a 'menu of drugs' including magic mushrooms, cocaine and laughing gas on UK-based WhatsApp groups At least two WhatsApp groups offering the Ibiza service have been discovered The groups are UK-based but share a Spanish phone number to their members Drugs offered in the groups include marijuana, mushrooms, cocaine, laughing gas and ketamine and are aimed at young Brits heading to Ibiza this summer Members are also informed of illegal raves and pirate taxis on the Spanish island By Rita Sobot For Mailonline Published: GMT, 9 July Updated: GMT, 9 July e-mail 8 shares.
Share this article Share. Comments 48 Share what you think. View all. Even basic techniques are ignored. Officers rarely do spot-checks of tourists at the airport or search cars coming off the ferries in the ports at San Antonio or Ibiza Town. John Abbott, the director general of NCIS, led a British delegation to Madrid and Ibiza last year to encourage a more proactive approach, without much success.
We have to accept that they have their own way of doing things. It's frustrating, but there is nothing we can do. And the effect of this hands-off approach? Although British drug dealers often fly out to Ibiza, the business they do is regarded as "incidental and opportunistic". It is believed that most of the drugs are bought in Amsterdam, where prices are cheapest.
There is little, if any, manufacturing on the island. There are two pan-European surveillance operations currently under way that could force traffickers to use more sophisticated methods than driving a car crammed with drugs from Holland and catching a boat to the island. Drugs, mostly ecstasy but also cocaine and speed, fuel the dance culture, and - with 35 British clubs hiring venues this year, including Cream, the Ministry of Sound and Manumission - the biggest headache for dealers is ensuring punters know where to buy their pills and having enough of them to go round.
According to Howard Marks, the one-time drug baron, who has been working on Ibiza as a writer during the summer, the street trade is controlled mainly by Spanish gypsies, who recruit people such as Lizard to roam the beaches during the afternoon and tout for business.
Up until now, there has been very little trouble. You don't get the kind of drug-associated violence and intimidation you get in Britain. We met him outside a bar on Salinas Beach in the south of the island. When I said I had no cash on me, he said to come with him and that he takes cards.
It wasn't even too bad. There's always a fear of getting scammed here unless you have reliable sources," she added. When she saw her friend wandering into the yonder, Alison was concerned Caroline might "be kidnapped" and taken to the Far East to have her organs harvested or something. My favourite prisoner, Michaella McCollum, 24, from Dungannon, was allegedly introduced to the drug cartel through a low-level drug dealer there.
Soon after, she was famously caught trying to smuggle Michaella was spotted in Ibiza recently, so I thought I'd stick my head in the door of Bar Amsterdam to see if perhaps she was there to see out her season in Ibiza, which ended so abruptly the last time. I didn't find her, and luckily wasn't picked up by any cartels - or anyone, in fact.
It was all pretty humdrum dive-bar stuff. There was a bang of robbery off some of the people there, though. I was surprised the next day that everything made it home safely - especially my camera. My entire luggage was robbed in Madrid one year, and another time someone tried to rob my camera with a coat hanger through a car window in Barcelona while I was sleeping.
Plus, earlier that evening, a few street vendors from Mali had tried to rob us. It was our fault though, to be fair. We were being total gimps. We'd had one or two at that stage. I guess that's what happens when you have a well-earned, albeit brief, break from single parenthood. So there were mojitos and mimosas for breakfast, followed by rum, Long Island iced teas, beers, wine, countless shots, whiskeys, champers, etc.
The walk along the promenade in San Antonio was a bit of a blur, but I do recall two guys trying to get us to buy some nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas.
I had fond memories of it from Burning Man in the Nevada desert 10 years previously, and from giving birth - two entirely unrelated milestone events.
It's a colourless, odourless gas, which is also used as an anesthetic, and needless to say, it also has euphoric effects when you inhale it. It's perfectly legal, and you can buy it in cartridges and stick them into cream dispensers - like the ones you get in restaurant kitchens that make whipped cream.
Rather than fill the canister with whipped cream, you just inhale the contents of the cartridges via a balloon. We said no on this occasion, because it was still bright and not a time for being overly euphoric in public, but a bunch of lads from Thurles said the vendors were selling duds, and they didn't get the desired high.
The lads - there were 19 of them - were staying in San Antonio for a week. They disagreed, as young men of something often do and thought I "was like, 28 or something". Amnesia is a 5,person-capacity superclub in San Rafael between the two coasts of the 25km-wide island.
Famous for its laser shows and retractable roof, Amnesia plays host to numerous nights with half-naked pole dancers, fire dancers, lots of trapeze artists and more. Personally, I'd rather have set fire to myself than have gone, but that's just me.
I'm 42 now, and the first time I was here was in , so the lads were still in nappies. The fact that I'm the oldest swinger in town didn't put me off - it's more the minimal techno and the punters wearing shades indoors while pouting that doesn't float my boat. I'm more of an old-skool kinda chick. However, because of its extremely chill atmosphere and music policy,. Kumharas felt like it was located on an entirely different planet. The bar is built on a small cove. It is decorated with Buddhist symbols and colorful tapestries and has some of the most comfortable wicker chairs on the island.
It was an amazing experience watching the sunset with such a massive crowd of people from all over the world, who gathered on the back porch of the cafe and the beach in front.
The atmosphere was one of intense peace and mutual admiration for nature and music. The time took on a divine quality when the pink, purple, and orange hues of the setting sun mixed with the azure blue water of the Mediterranean, white camera flashes, fire-jugglers, sailboats crossing the horizon and soothing, uplifting music tantalizing the soul.
After the sunset, I took a taxi to Space with my British mates to see Carl Cox, but when we arrived the line was well over an hour long. After a brief deliberation, one of the girls, Helen, said she had heard of a small club located way out on Cala Jondal. We consulted a few taxi drivers until we finally found a guy who knew where it was.
The drive was thrilling, my stomach in knots the whole time. It was one of those nights where you knew something was going to happen. When we arrived, all we could see were dimly lit figures sitting around small fires on the beach.
We walked around to the entrance of the club and went inside a nature-inspired, semi-open-air interior with a cozy dance floor tucked away in the back. The vibe was intense and the sky totally clear. It seemed every star in the universe was out. We walked around soaking it all in, eventually moving outside to chill by one of the fires. The night seemed to last forever until the sun finally spread its radiance into the sky and we all went inside for one final dance to the sounds of Trance and live tribal drumming.
Then, we began the long walk back. After recuperating all day Monday, Julia and I decided to rent a scooter for a few days to go explore the more remote and less-touristed Northern part of the island. It was during this time that I came to realize the deeper symbolism Ibiza can offer the enchanted traveler. Ibiza has a magical landscape: hidden sea coves, parched red earth, olive groves, watermelon patches, and dense, sheer valleys rising up to awe-inspiring mountains.
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