May 2023 Archives

2023-05-09 – last full day: Sant Pol, Bon Repòs and heavy rain

Last Updated on 29 April 2024 by gerry

Our final full day saw us get our bags packed first thing. Hotel reception had a handheld digital suitcase scale which was a great help to figure out how much we could get in the big case for our 20kg. We seemed to be managing quite well considering we’d acquired a few items of clothing, although most of our toiletries were used up at this stage. With all that mundane stuff reassuringly sorted out so early, it felt like we still had the whole day to squeeze a bit more fun out of our trip. Continue reading “2023-05-09 – last full day: Sant Pol, Bon Repòs and heavy rain”

2023-05-08 – hiking in Canet and our return to La Musclera beach

Last Updated on 29 April 2024 by gerry

With two full days left, we opted to spend a bit of each day on a couple of our favourite beaches. I voted for La Musclera beach for today’s sunbathing, nestled between Caldes d’Estrac and Arenys de Mar. It’s a beach we first spent some proper sunbathing time on my birthday (31 March) and to our surprise we haven’t really been back to that particular stretch of sand. First though, we set off to hike up through Canet de Mar to Castell de Santa Fiorentina. It is the one remaining Catalan Game of Thrones location we have yet to see – it was used in the TV series as House Tarly. Continue reading “2023-05-08 – hiking in Canet and our return to La Musclera beach”

2023-05-07 – vermut time in El Masnou and wine tour in Alta Alella

Last Updated on 29 April 2024 by gerry

It’s our last Sunday of our trip, so the big question on our minds is where to spend our last VERMUT TIME! Yesterday’s transport difficulties with getting to our wine tour means that today we need a better plan for acquiring a taxi in the vicinity of Alella, so what we’ve come up with is to celebrate our last vermut time in Port Masnou and ask the establishment we are drinking in to order us the taxi. Continue reading “2023-05-07 – vermut time in El Masnou and wine tour in Alta Alella”

2023-05-06 – El Masnou, Alella, Cabrera and Estrac Pizzeria

Last Updated on 29 April 2024 by gerry

As we count down the last few days of our stay in Catalonia, we plan some activites in places we haven’t yet visited. On our list of things to do is some wine tourism in Alella, so we have booked a tour for today at a winery called Alta Alella. Continue reading “2023-05-06 – El Masnou, Alella, Cabrera and Estrac Pizzeria”

2023-05-05 – Malgrat beach, Casa bella and jam session

Last Updated on 29 April 2024 by gerry

We enjoyed a nice relaxing Friday morning at our apartment in the hotel today. In the afternoon we went to the beach in Malgrat de Mar for a little bout of sunbathing and swimming. We caught our first glimpse of the Senti la Costa Brava boat, which amazed us by sailing right up to the beach beside us for passengers to get off and on. The sea is just deep enough close to the sand to make this possible without a harbour or pier. Continue reading “2023-05-05 – Malgrat beach, Casa bella and jam session”

2023-05-04 – rest, fideuà and the new crown and anchor

Last Updated on 29 April 2024 by gerry

After our excursion to Girona we fancied a quieter day today, closer to home. In the morning I went to Carrefour for what would probably be our last proper shopping trip for food as we are into our last week now. Just enough ingredients for one last rissoto, stir-fry and for tonight a fideuà with chickpeas. Continue reading “2023-05-04 – rest, fideuà and the new crown and anchor”

2023-05-03 – daytrip to Girona

Last Updated on 29 April 2024 by gerry

Girona is only 50 minutes away from us by train, now we are in Santa Susanna so a much easier daytrip destination than Barcelona and Sitges now. The highlights for the tourist are primarily the city walls, the cathedral and other religious buildings, the atmospheric narrow streets of the old town / Jewish quarter, the many foot-bridges that traverse its river Onyar, a multitude of Game of Thrones locations and all that the abundance of bars and restaurtants have to offer. Continue reading “2023-05-03 – daytrip to Girona”

2023-05-02 – food and sun in Llavaneres / Caldetes

Last Updated on 29 April 2024 by gerry

Now that the threat of the stormy weather (which never really materialised) is out of the way, our plan today is to go to a nice Catalan restaurant in Sant Andreu de Llavaneres called Pins Mar and afterwards walk along the coast towards Mataró and find a spot on the beach for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Continue reading “2023-05-02 – food and sun in Llavaneres / Caldetes”

2023-05-01 – climbing the zodiac

Last Updated on 29 April 2024 by gerry

Behind the coastal hotel development of Santa Susanna there are a number of hills quite heavily populated by a hotch-potch of houses. The weather forecast is still predicting a violent storm at some point today, May Day, our anniversary day, probably after 1pm, so we take a notion in the morning for a quick excursion to explore one of these hilltop settlements. It is the “urbanisation” called Can Torrent and the steep streets winding their way up the hill have been named after the signs of the zodiac in Catalan. Continue reading “2023-05-01 – climbing the zodiac”

2023-04-30 – vermut time in Malgrat

Last Updated on 29 April 2024 by gerry

Today we are still expecting a bit of changeable weather and we choose to go to the centre of Malgrat de Mar for vermut time, which traditionally starts from about 12pm on Sunday. It is the last day of April and therefore the last day of the 4-month Abonament recurrent free Rodalies train ticket, so we ride the train one last time on these tickets just one stop to Malgrat and find our way along Carrer de Mar to the main squares of the town. Continue reading “2023-04-30 – vermut time in Malgrat”

2023-04-29 – cava on the beach

Last Updated on 29 April 2024 by gerry

It’s Saturday and we are looking forward to yet another celebration over the weekend. On 1 May it will be two years since we first met each other. The weather forecasts are predicting a storm coming on Sunday and Monday so we are a bit circumspect on making too many weather-dependent plans. We had fancied a nice meal and a beach day on Monday, but we decide to defer that till Tuesday and return to the rooftop terrace / restaurant for a special meal on Sunday. For today we are mostly chilling out. Continue reading “2023-04-29 – cava on the beach”