Last Updated on 17 April 2023 by gerry

It’s Palm Sunday today and families gather in the church square in Arenys de Mar with rams for the children. These are tall bouquets of palm fronds, decorated with all sorts of things like sweets and toys. There is a blessing of these rams outside the church. To be honest, we missed all the action and found the crowd in the aftermath of the religious ceremony on our way to find some Vermut time. With so many people now filtering out of the square there is significant competition now for tables at nearby bars for Vermut, but we manage to get the last one at El Celler del Rial. This is the first time we have found it open and they have a special offer for Vermut time of a little vermut, olives and crisps for €3.50.

One little vermut leads to another bigger one, shock horror! And then we discover that this pub specialises in live music and on Fridays they have a jam session. Who’d have thought it? A session bar right on our doorstep all this time we’ve been here. At least we have one Friday left to try it out.

We’re in the swing of this Vermut time now, just as all the more sensible locals are heading home. We decide to make a bit of a pub crawl of some restaurants in Arenys de Mar, which at this stage in the afternoon (approaching 4pm) are closing for food but happy to serve wine to an odd couple from Scotland and Ireland.