Lazy Saturday in Sitges

Piso cleaning, window shopping, wine shopping, long lunches, sun sitting. Yes, another hard day in Sitges. High points? A leather murse for me and a local artistsan neckace and earrings for Sharon. We spent the day with Claire before sending her back to Barcelona. A most enjoyable visit! The day was finished with wine and brandy on the roof then dinner or salad, jamon, cheese, olives, and wine in piso #2.

 

Montjuic and Osmosis

Wow. Just wow. Our second luncheon at Osmosis and better than our first last year. The food - exceptional. The wine - perfectly paired. The service - attentive and good natured. The company - our wonderful extended family of friends can't be beat. The room - full of wine and books. All in all an experience to be fondly remembered.

Earlier in the day we took the train from Sitges to Barcelona and the the Metro to Placa Espanya then up the stairs and escalators to Monjuic. We split up and Beth, Dave, Sharon, and Jorge and I went to the Miro foundation. If you enjoy Miro this is a place not to miss.

A day in Barcelona with Claire

Claire as been studying in Barcelona since January and will be heading back to the U.S. in May. We were lucky to have our timing match so that we could spend some the day together. It is obvious that she loves Barcelona - she certainly is a top tier tour guide! Is was good catching up and sharing with Claire. Thanks.
Back in Sitges, Beth and Dave have arrived. More good friends made for a raucous late night dinner in the piso!

Ahhh, Sitges

Time to relax. Last night we had a wonderful Sitges meal in the piso. Four and a half bottles of,wine, three kinds of olives, three cheeses, two begets, a big salad, jamon Serrano. We had a great time.
Today Katie and Sharon did laundry. I wandered the town taking pictures. All of were on the beach at one time or another. We had another great lunch and then went to a place by the sailing club for cafe. Then all to the beach to lay in. This is serious vacation time! A little computer time, then shopping for our late night dining, then cocktail time, then dinner. Jealous?

 

Perpignan-Barcelona-Sitges

We are on the train from Perpignan to Barcelona and currently pulling into the station at Cerbere. We were up early and walked to the train station and waited for our train. It is nice to be sitting on a train letting someone else do the driving.

Breakfast this morning and yesterday were at our hotels as there was no other nearby option. Sadly, the hotel breakfasts, which are not inexpensive, do not come close to matching the experiences outside the hotel. In each of them our coffee was delivered by a push button operated device, not a person. And, the quality of the coffee was not nearly as good as at a cafe. On the other hand, the croissants and pan chocolat were as delicious as usual. I did have cereal on Monday morning and yogurt both days and that was a pleasent change. But no sitting and watching people pass by on the street.

When I organized this trip we discussed driving versus training our way south. I was leaning toward the train, Sharon toward the car. The car won and I was happy with our decision. Now though, in hindsight, we probably would have preferred the train and visited different cities. The only thing we would have missed was the gorge, and of course the rain, and the problems getting out of Orly and returning the car in Perpignan. Of the places we have been so far we, of course, enjoyed Paris the most and then Limoges. I would say if we were to do this sort of thing again we would, if the TGV ever gets figured out from Paris to Barcelona, that we would go direct from Paris to Barcelona. Perhaps a stop in Lyon? Bordeaux?

At the border the Policia came on the train, in force, to check passports. They were at each door and then others in the aisle, highy organized.

We arrived at Barcelona Sants at 11:50, schlepped upstairs, stood in a very short line to buy tickets for Sitges, went back down to the tracks and were on the train to Sitges at 12:08. Smooth! A short familiar walk took us to the Soler piso and soon we were off to lunch. Ahhhh! They are all at the beach and I am kicking back at the piso.

Aftermath

A little shopping and we are stocked with wine for a day or so. Eleven assorted bottles of Spanish wine for €94. We are now ready for serious relaxation.

Carcassonne to Perpignan the long way.

We were not impressed with Carcassonne I suppose it is not our cup of tea and we had such a build up to seeing the old city and the castle. The town, old and new is somewhat seedy and it is obvious the economy is suffering. IWithin the walls of the old city were shop after shop selling cheap souvenirs to the crowds. With that we were excited to leave Carcassonne and explore the region on the way to Perpignan.

First destination Limoux. This is a prosperous city with lots of wine money, in fact on the way to Perpignan we went through a nu ber of villages that appear to be supported by wine in one way or another. Our next stop was Rennes-les-Bains. This is a very lovely little village which attracts lots of tourists during the season as evidenced by the many gites and little hotels. The attraction is primarily the hot springs, but it seems to also be attractive because of nearby climbing, biking, hiking, and I suspect fishing! Check it out here. We stopped in at Maison Christina and had cafe'. A nice little place with rooms and a cafe.

We continued on our drive following a scenic route indicated on our Michlin map heading to les Gorges de Galamus. The country is beautiful, lush, green, grape vines, fruit trees, and cattle. We drove into and out of a valley and I commented that we must have just seen the gorge. Oh no! The gorge was ahead. As we got closer to the gorge the road got twistier and narrower and rockier and more beautiful but then we got to the narrow section of the george with the road cut into the walls of the gorge. White knuckle driving time.

Not much wider than one car in spots.

Our next challenge ended up figuring out how to return the rental car. First, some of the roads leading into Perpignan have been recently rerouted and Madeline did not know about it. Then, I had programmed Madeline to take us to the Avis office. But it had moved. We found the new one but no one was there. Oh crap! Then I looked at the contract and it appeared our return address was in the train station parking garage. It took us a while to find it and the Avis office. We had also i tended to fill the car with gas before turning it in, however we could not find a gas station in Perpignan. Where do these people buy gas? Our half empty tank is now going to cost us €80. A other oh crap!

We did get the car returned and walked to the hotel, about 1/2 mile. We are an an Ibis Hotel. Not fancy, but cheap and adequate. Our planned di ner spot was closed, in fact many resaurants here are closed on Lundi! We had tapas, not great but the server, from Ireland was nice. Back to the hotel and ready to get out of here early tomorrow on the train to Barcelona and then on to Sitges. We are ready to relax in Sitges and visit Barcelona.

This one is for Lee