No photos as I forgot to copy them onto the usb as I´m using an internet cafe to post this. Next time!
Tuesday,
8th
November
I’m
writing this on the terrace of Simon Dolan’s ‘beach house’.
OMG! Picture if you will, it is about 20C,not a cloud in the sky and
I can see both the ocean and the mountains. St Andreu de Llavaneres
is a beachside village about half an hour north of Barcelona. Simon,
the Professor Peter visited on study leave in ’09 offered us his
house (he and his wife Adella’s main home is in Gracia, Barcelona).
The ‘beach house’ is part of a complex which has two swimming
pools, manicured lawns and reminds us a little of a resort at
Mooloolaba. The house (what we would call an apartment) is a
four-bedroom, 2.5 bathroom, three level apartment, two dining areas,
two living rooms, three terrace/balconies. Very impressive indeed.
AND Messi, Barcelona’s top soccer player, and Barca’s coach both
live here. OK, I’ll stop now.
Simon
collected us from the airport, which is on the other side of
Barcelona, and drove us to Llavaneres, providing a quick tour of the
apartment before taking us to lunch at a little nearby restaurant. He
invited his neighbor, Xavier, to join us so we could meet him and
contact him if we had any difficulties during our stay (Simon left
for Portugal on Tuesday). The restaurant, not at all easy to find
(you would never guess there’s a restaurant up this little dirt
lane) is so obscure not many people know about it. It is run by a
Ukrainian Family who make everything from scratch and grow all
ingredients used in the cooking (obviously not the meat though). If
it’s not in season, it’s not on the menu. Three courses,
including wine, cost 8.50 euro and they only open for lunch. I had a
lovely bean soup and a platter of mixed small whole shellfish and
fish. Peter had cannelloni (made with finely diced beef, not mince)
followed by pork with green? Sauce and potatoes. Unbelievable value!
To
think that just that morning we were up at 5.30 am for 6.30 am
departure. Our hosts, Leann and Guy were up to say goodbye which we
thought was very nice. Set Nancy the Navigator to Toulouse airport
(a little over a two hr drive) and headed off. After ignoring Nancy’s
directions to turn left a few times, we finally relinquished. Big
mistake. She was taking us on possibly the shortest route but
definitely not the fastest. Memories of us driving in Italy to catch
a plane in Milan came rushing back. No doubt Joe & Pam will
remember very well. We finally got on the motorway and found we’d
only lost about 15 mins in the end.
Peter
drove splendidly in Toulouse. It was just on peak hour and the
traffic was crazy but he kept his cool. Their toll system is
unbelievably slow, as you enter the motorway, we take a ticket and
then as you exit the motorway, we put the ticket in the machine &
it advised you how much to pay. It took us literally 20-30 minutes
to pay, then there was congestion on the other side where about eight
lanes merge into two! Another 20 minutes to get past that point and
then normal peak hour speed of about 20km/hr. The motorway speed
limit was 130km/hr so we seemed to be crawling!! Luckily Mr
Organised, Oh yes, when it comes to catching trains and planes, it is
Mr
Organised, had allowed over an hour extra time than I thought we
needed. He was right and I was wrong. There, it’s on record.
Wednesday
morning we caught the train into Barcelona. The train follows the
coastline nearly all the way so very pleasant trip indeed and took us
right into Placa de Catalunya. First thing on the agenda? A coffee.
I remembered a little café not far and in a matter of minutes we
were in a side alley off the busy Placa de Calalunya and having a
lovely coffee.
We
then met up with our friend Scott, a PhD student and teacher at
ESADE. He’s the big guy from Montana who you might remember from
photos of our previous visit to Barca. He took us to a fabulous
Turkish restaurant where I had a delicious meal of chargrilled
chicken on skewer, savoury rice, salad & chargrilled veggies.
Peter had the same only with lamb kofta.
We
then started on one of Scott’s walks (he’s a huge walker), but as
my boots were starting to hurt, I decided to let the boys go off on
their 1.5hr walk to “a bridge by the …, which has amazing views”.
Go boys! Meanwhile
I meandered around some old haunts. How I love this city. As soon as
we walking around Llavaneres, although I wasn’t familiar with it,
listening to the locals speaking, I felt so comfortable. Can’t
really explain it but I love Spain.
Wednesday,
9th
Nov
We’ve
decided to stay in Llavaneres today and chill out. It is a stunning
day and it’s so nice to enjoy this beautiful home by the sea. I
strolled up to the shops this morning while Peter put the final
touches on his lecture for tomorrow. He is giving a three hr lecture
to International Masters students at ESADE. I bought some lovely
fresh produce at the shops and we had lunch on the terrace, with ham
and mortadella, gouda, fresh bread and salad and a wee glass of red.
Not bad I must say. I had an excellent coffee at a café/restaurant
so when we were looking for somewhere for dinner, after a 1.5 hr walk
along the beach, I suggested we try it. Well it was just so much fun!
The waitress spoke a little English (from school she said) and after
asking us if we could understand the menu in Catalan (we actually
could understand quite a bit) she explained the more unusual dishes.
She was simply lovely and actually referred to our Spanish phrase
book a number of times to check what something was in English. Food?
The most tender calamares, plus fish which tasted like it had just
caught. We had a bottle of chilled rose which our waitress chose. She
did very well.
Thursday,
10 Nov
Well
I’m off to catch the train into Barca and hopefully call into an
internet café to post this blog! Adeu.
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