Category: Spain

I wasn’t going to do another post on this beach resort town, but we went for a wander on the Friday before we leave Spain and…remember the last post where I mentioned the ‘Carnaval’ that is here every year.  Well, that was in February, so I am not writing about that. However, we did run smack into…Gay Pride week.  It started yesterday and runs until Monday with the big parade happening on Sunday.  Not sure if we are going to this but it might be fun, so we’ll see.  We did get some pictures though and I thought I should write something to showcase the photos. Most places have a…

We’re sad.  The Europe part of the adventure is ending, but we will be back for sure.  We’re also a little tired.  Trekking from place to place every week or two takes a toll.  Which is why our last stop here in Sitges is a good way to decompress. It’s not a household name like Madrid or Lisbon so unless you are a local Barcelonan, you may not have ever heard of this place.  Sitges is a picturesque upscale seaside resort that is basically a suburb of Barcelona, about 30 minutes away.  Day tripper locals, tourists, great weather, beaches, million-dollar homes, and lots of trinkets.  We are staying in one…

We’ve ended the Spain trip on a beach note.  Valencia was the start of this and Sitges will be the end.  In between was a nice 4 days in Tarragona.  In hindsight, it would have been better to spend more time there and less in Valencia, but you don’t know what you don’t know. The trek to Tarragona was easy although the train ride took us through the back end of Valencia, lots of abandoned buildings, dock and port infrastructure, and general run-downiness.  Not what the tourists are seeing on the other side.  The Spanish train system was fast and efficient as usual, and we arrived in Tarragona in good…

We were going to go to the southern beach, El Saler, but the weather was so-so and it’s a long bike ride, about 50 km round trip.  If we had had our own bikes, no prob, piece o’ cake but while the bikes we have here are actually pretty good, they are a little uncomfortable, especially the seats. So, we gave the beach a miss and instead biked as far as the sci-fi set again.  This time though we parked it and walked around the huge complex.  It’s very futuristic and the edifices look almost like modern urban sculptures as opposed to functional buildings.  Maybe that was the point?  Dunno,…

So, we’ll do these in order. The biking here is great.  We hopped on the bikes and peddled our way towards La Malva-Rosa beach which is the main one here in the city.  A good 25 km trek there and back and all of it on bike paths, none of it through traffic whatsoever.  The bike lanes are integrated into the wide city sidewalks and not the roads.  You reading this Gregor?  They didn’t chop off a lane on the road and make it narrower, they just used the existing sidewalk.  So much nicer not having cars whizzing right by you. We got to the beach midday, and the sun…

We relaxed for the first couple of days to recharge.  And we’ve become a little jaded I think. It’s a new place but the desire to rush out and see more cathedrals and castles….meh…not so much.  We are winding down and I think we are starting to get into full-metal vacation mode.  Lay around, soak up some sun, order drinks with tiny umbrellas.  Except we are in an airBNB and tiny umbrellas look stupid in a can of beer.  So, we may have to wander over to the beaches where we can lay around properly. Valencia is quite pleasant. It’s the 3rd largest city in Spain and has a different…

Some of you might be interested in what we are actually paying for groceries over here.  I mentioned in a previous post that food is cheaper and the beer and wine more so, but we thought it might be helpful to show some actual numbers.  Especially for our favourite diet foods – beer, bread, cheese, wine, and chorizo.  I’m not kidding about the diet. This will probably piss a few people off but, we are losing weight. Anyway, here’s a photo of some typical items: (The Euro/Dollar conversion is rough, but it will give you an idea) · 6 pack o’ beer (Heineken) – $5.75 · Bottle of wine (decent…

  It seemed like a longer day than it was.  We got up in good time, ate breakfast, did the final pack and clean, and walked to the train station.  It was raining though, and we got a little wet.  Surprisingly, we had a couple of major downpours in Madrid over the week.  We had expected hot and dry, but we got rain a few times along with some pretty wicked thunderstorms. The train to Valencia was fast, clocking well over 200+ km/hr. for most of the trip and when we arrived, it was HOT.  No rain in sight, but that would follow us later.  We took our time getting…

As I mentioned, lots of parks here as well as squares or plazas and almost all cities have a Plaza de Espana.  All the parks and plazas have, usually, a large monument, or an interesting piece of artwork/sculpture, or they may just have a plaque commemorating something.  The monuments are often tall columns with soldiers or horses or both; generals with swords, guys with cannons, you get the picture.  Historical stuff.  The Spanish love their monuments. We’ve run into some not so usual things though in these parks and plazas.  Not the ‘Worst Tours’ type of stuff but more just oddball or whimsical.  For instance, just north of the royal…

When we’ve stayed in the central areas of the bigger cities, it’s been interesting in the morning to open the windows and listen to the sounds of the city and people and feel the day getting started.  The most interesting sound though is the birds.  In Jerez, Lisbon, Porto, and Madrid you hear a lot of squawking and chirping.  Some of this comes from caged birds in windows but most is just regular birds.  It’s surprising and not what we expected in the middle of downtown.  It’s very pleasant.  All I ever heard in Richmond was seagulls and crows.  On our last day here, Sunday, just outside our window, we…