From Fun to Flu

Castelldefels by quiet night

Castelldefels has a hint of the Queensland Gold Coast about it which is why I think I liked it so much. Stunning expanse of sandy beach, fabulous restaurants and cafes, and a hop, skip and a jump from Barcelona - oh, wait - maybe not that last one.

Paella anyone?

It was fun to hang out with the fluffy one’s nieces and nephew - and of course the accompanying husband and children. The best part was being able to park along the beach front and eat gorgeous seafood. The worst part was the Saturday night revellers outside our van tooting and arguing between 2 and 4 in the morning. Oh well, can’t have everything.

Giant chairs R Us

The fluffy one has had little/no interaction with children so I was alarmed when I saw him accept the olive his 4 year old great nephew handed him and place it in his mouth. The child had been rolling it around in his boogie-covered hand and, sweet as it was to be offered this delicacy, there’s is no way on earth it would have come anywhere near my face let alone end up in my mouth. Needless to say, two days later the fluffy one awoke with a severe case of man flu. He won’t be accepting boogie encrusted olives from well-meaning youngsters again.
He has soldiered on and drove to a winery in the mountains, Celler Masroig, which allows motorhome to stay. He slept after arrival as I stocked up on wine, olives (clean ones) and tapenade from the cellar shop. I had to resort to wine from the box last night as he wasn’t up for much more than a whisky and lemon juice so I’ve saved the posh stuff for when we can both share a glass.

View from the winery

Today we’ve ended up by the river in Deltebre, the rice field area south of Tarragona. The wind is coming up and it’s a little rainy so we’re tucked up in Dickie, Mr Fluffy feeling sorry for himself with his man flu and me playing mindless games of Candy Crush on the iPad. I think I’ll get out the jigsaw.
Tomorrow, who knows.

Freak Out Flamenco

As we sit at the beach south of Barcelona the temperature is around 17 degrees. The locals are walking past in their puffer jackets and scarves while I am sporting a boob tube and hot pants and Mr Fluffy is showing off his budgie smugglers and magnificent chest. Not really but you get the picture.

‘What’s that Hugo? No more singing???’

Our tally of how many Paellas one can eat on a holiday in Spain is swiftly reaching double figures as we had the best one yet at Chinguito Manolo at the Port of Ginestra in Sitges. There’s nothing better than sitting in the sun eating seafood and drinking cold beer, that is until the amplified Spanish guitarist and accompanying flamenco singer start playing and Hugo has a fit of shivering terror. We had to leave before he turned himself inside out with fear. Party pooper! They were actually very good despite the fact that she sounded like she was having her heart ripped out with the sorrow of a lost love.

Hugo quite keen on this meaty market

Bread the old fashioned way

Yesterday we had a taste of the medieval winter market in Castelldefels and checked out the fluffy one’s niece’s new bar. Sonia opened ‘Kohsi’ four months ago in the town centre. The garden out the back is particularly fabulous in this sunny weather. We’ll meet Sonia and her brother Berend and sister Monique tomorrow night at Sonia’s other bar ’Takua’ which is closer to the beach.
We can only hope there won’t be a flamenco singer to freak Hugo out again.

Bonkers Church Visit

If you’re ever in the mood for checking out some bonkers architecture pop along to the Gaudi church/crypt in Santa Coloma de Cervello. It’s marked as a hidden Gaudi gem and it’s certainly different. The stained glass windows throw vibrant colours onto the cacophony of different styles of religiosity within - and there’s even a stone henge type structure on the roof. Quite bizarre but interesting nonetheless. There’s a Black Madonna on one altar and a rather over the top collection of deities on another. Here are a few photos to show you what it’s like.

Vibrant windows

Holy family

Black Madonna and friend

Pink prettiness

Swirly ceiling

Giant hand basin

Up on a roof

Better Legs This Time

After wondering why thousands of Spanish people were out and about and on the road today we decided to google it and discovered the reason. Happy Constitution Day to Spain; a public holiday where everything shuts just as I’m about to check it out, e.g., the Gaudi Crypt in Santa Coloma de Cervello which shut at 1500 hrs, one minute before I arrived at 1501hrs. Oh well, it opens at 10 in the morning so I’ll get my chance then.

Yummier than trotters but still legs

Luckily we found a restaurant that had stayed open and the fluffy one was able to consume some more palatable legs than he did yesterday - squid not pig. A couple of beers, some octopus, peppers and more squid later and we’re tucked up in Dickie waiting for dinner time.

Interesting architecture around here

Gaudi church and crypt for tomorrow 

The Aire is full so we’ve tucked ourselves away in a nearby car park for the night. Hugo has managed to find a friend to wee on and sniff the buttocks of. Meet Lex, a lovely young local bitch out on her walk.

Hmm, may I sniff your butt?

I’ll just wee on your nose if that’s ok 

Tomorrow Castelldelfels.

Pea Soup and Trotters

Not impressed with trotters

There is one reason, and one reason only, why I would love driving through a pea soup fog over gigantic mountains and that is because it obscures the view of the sheer 2500 metre drop at the side of the van as we traverse the Pyrenees. Apart from that we can live without it.
We’ve made it safely across in vile weather to a sunny spot near Andorra, La Seu D’Urgell. It’s a pleasant town with restaurants that don’t even think about opening until 8pm which we discovered as we wandered aimlessly around from 7pm looking at shuttered shopfronts in the vain hope of finding something vaguely food-shaped.

At last - food!

All ended well as Mr Fluffy got his long-desired paella and pulpo (octopus for the uninitiated). Hugo had to wait in the van as dogs are perro-non-grata around town. This morning was filled with thrills as we discovered an Olympic kayaking park just outside town. It was all I could do to stop the fluffy one from diving into a spare kayak and getting his mackerel rod out. Thankfully he saw sense and was content with a slow amble along a canal path instead.

An odd wheel

No kayaking today

Today we are arrived in Cervera which we discovered is a witchy place with an Avenida de los Brujas (witches) and has an annual witch festival at the end of August. The main church has a Black Madonna (one of our favourite things) but, as most churches so far on the trip, was closed so we couldn’t pay our respects.

After

Before

We were excited to find a menu del dia for 9.50 euro so we entered the establishment and proceeded to order some choices from the Catalan language only menu. You can imagine my thrill when I received a plate of two pig’s feet smiling up at me. Mr Fluffy kindly offered to swap his lovely fish for these hideous feet as I was about to throw up in my handbag. He says he won’t be ordering them again but Hugo (who was allowed in today) really loved them. - almost as much as he enjoyed semi-attacking the waitress.
Tomorrow a place of Gaudi.
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Not High in the Pyrenees

Not bad to wake up to

If any of you is thinking of going to the Aire in Alés in your van you might want to pick up some cheap bottles of wine, some dope and some heroine as that is what most of the people hanging around there looked like they were consuming. Needless to say, after our fabulous weekend consuming too much expensive wine, the thought of cheap plonk did not appeal so we moved on to a more civilised setting at St Jean Du Gard.
There was an ever-elusive British couple there in their Burstner (only the second one we’ve seen so far). Where is everyone??? The site was behind a barrier and had electricity, water, and WiFi - hoorah. We awoke to scenes of horses grazing in a misty field, a far cry from the drunks draped over the tables at Alés which was not that far away.
The sun has been shining as we’ve made our way across the Pyrenees and we’ve only had to wipe the mud off Hugo’s feet once or twice. He pretends he’s not keen but by the look on his face I think he secretly likes having his feet cleansed.

Aaaaaah

After a night in a cute village with absolutely no shops (not even a boulengerie) called Salesc we are now in the easily pronounceable (NOT) Duilhac Sous Peyrepertuse and tomorrow we’ll be in Spain. Olay!

The chateau above D S P

Still getting tele

A Truffly Visit

Who doesn’t love a truffle? Well, me but I do enjoy a truffle market that sells other stuff too. We’ve been lucky enough to stay with our friend, Carleen, in Richerenches in the Vaucluse region of France. Step outside her house on a Saturday and you can pick up veges, cheese, honey and wine within a few steps of her front door. What joy!

Les truffes 

A meaty feast

More truffles 

The local wine cellar, Le Cellier des Templiers, had a duck tasting on Saturday - yes, only in France would a wine merchant have a day celebrating the humble duck. We were treated to complimentary fois gras (average) Maigret (cooked duck breast - pretty good), dried duck (noice) and duck sausage (excellent).

A ducky day

Hugo was thrilled with this activity as was his little french friend Elvis the Yorkiepoo. In fact, Hugo refused to eat anything else but canard for the rest of the day, until the guinea fowl for dinner which he managed to consume with great delight. He’s back to Caesar today and is not impressed.

Elvis