Our Lady of Jesus Church

Behind the high altar stands the reason to time a visit: a Gothic altarpiece of painted panels from around 1500, attributed to the Valencian painters of the Osona family, its saints and scenes set against gold grounds.

The building around it is plain. Whitewashed walls, a simple front, the shape Ibiza's country churches have kept for centuries. Franciscan friars began it in the fifteenth century, and it still serves the village of Jesús as its parish church. The contrast is the point: a modest white church on the edge of Ibiza Town holding a piece of Valencian painting from the turn of the sixteenth century.

• The door is locked outside short daily opening windows, most of them in the evening. Arrive at another time and you see only the outside.
• On Mondays the church stays closed all day.
• There are no toilets, drinking water or tourist information near the church. Sort those out before you come.
• The altarpiece is inside, so a visit that misses the opening window misses the main thing.

The church stands in the village of Jesús, just outside Ibiza Town on its north-eastern side. Coming by car, the nearest car park is about 100 m away in a straight line, with a second about 470 m away if the first is full. By bus, the nearest stops are about 380 and 400 m away in a straight line, and the rest is on foot through the village.

Best: inside one of the opening windows, which fall mostly in the evening, with an extra one at Sunday midday.

Avoid: Mondays, and any hour outside the opening times.

The altarpiece is the reason to come, and it can only be seen while the door is open; the rest of the day the church shows nothing but its white walls.