Summer Bliss

In the words of one Belinda Carlisle, "heaven is a place on earth" - when you're test-driving the facelifted Rolls-Royce Cullinan in sun-kissed Ibiza, that is.

- JAMIE NONIS

Mention Ibiza, and images of unbridled hedonism in the world's clubbing capital naturally and notoriously come to mind. So when Rolls-Royce invited us to the Spanish isle to experience its revivified version of the Cullinan, its super-luxury SUV, over the summer, we had an inkling that something more magical than the carmaker's legendary "magic carpet ride" oath might await even if our partying days may be over. You won't find us dancing our soles and souls away at Pacha or Ushuaïa till dawn.

As we travel along the rugged coastline, fringing turquoise waters glistening under the Mediterranean sun, the beauty of the Balearic is upstaged only by the magnificence of a convoy of Rolls-Royce Phantoms ferrying the likes of us like super VIPs.

We soon arrive at Six Senses Ibiza in the quieter north of the island. As our chauffeur-driven alter egos egress, I envisage the days ahead filled with excess and finesse, a hedonism of a different kind, for Rolls-Royce masterfully traffics in the art of the exquisite and the sublime.

CHANGING CODES OF LUXURY

Just before sunset, when the gods show off once again, gloriously painting the sky all manner of ripe citrus speckled with gold, Rolls-Royce decides to unwrap the Cullinan Series II, and the "Rolls-Royce of SUVs" stands regal against this proportionately epic backdrop.