Sant Mateu d'Albarca Church

The church is the first thing you see as the road comes into Sant Mateu d'Albarca: a white block at the centre of the village, with fields running off behind it. Nothing competes with it. The village is quiet, and the bus pulls up by the door. Inside, the nave is plain and white, cool after the sun, and calm enough that people come in just to sit for a while. This is inland Ibiza, the side the coastal resorts hide: farmland, a church and very little traffic.

• There are no toilets, no drinking water and no tourist information near the church. Bring water, especially in summer.
• The nearest car park is about 100 m away and unpaved.
• A bus stop named Sant Mateu d'Albarca sits about 15 m from the church.
• This is a working parish church. When a service is on, sightseeing waits.

The approach ends in the village itself. Drivers leave the car at an unpaved car park about 100 m from the church and walk the rest across the village centre. By bus it is even simpler: the Sant Mateu d'Albarca stop lies about 15 m from the church, so you step off at the square. There are no facilities along the way, so arrive with water.

Best: early morning or late afternoon, when the low sun warms the whitewash and picks out the fields around the village.

Avoid: midday in high summer, when the white walls throw back the glare and there is no water near the church to fall back on.

Around the church there is only the village and its farmland, so the light does most of the work here.

Sant Mateu d'Albarca Church is a consecrated, working parish church. Dress as you would for any church in Spain: cover your shoulders and leave the swimwear in the car. Keep your voice low inside, stay at the back if a mass, wedding or funeral is under way, and do not photograph people during a service.