Josep had a nice spacious apartment, and we were lucky enough to have our own private bathroom. I wish I had a picture of Josep because he kind of looked like an old heavy metal rock star with long curly back hair. He was also very passionate about Catalonia breaking away from Spain. In fact, you saw signs of that all over Catalonia. Many people had flags in their windows and wore ribbons of solidarity on their clothes. Josep had taken part in the recent protest that made the world news several months ago. He also told us that he has never felt a part of Spain...and never will.
Josep's apartment was located in a great neighborhood. There was a walk way that led to the ocean...and along the path were many restaurants, shops, and on some days musicians that preformed for a free will donation.
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| Above is a photo of the neighborhood where we stayed. In the evening you can see many people strolling arm and arm...or enjoying a glass of wine and tapas at the cafe's. |
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| Many people flew flags showing their solidarity for Catalonia |
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| This was a jazz band from the United States. They were very good and popular with the crowd. |
Since our time was limited here, we decided to take a bus tour on our second day in Barcelona. It gave us a good overview of this beautiful city. Unfortunately, it made it hard to take good pictures of the buildings that we saw.
Monday, April 23, also happened to be La Diada de Sant Jordi. It is considered to be Barcelona's most romantic day of the year. It is a day of Roses, Romance and Books. Women are presented with a rose, and men are given a book. This celebration is inspired by the legend of Sant Jordi, who slew a dragon to save a princess. He then plucked a red rose for the princess from a rose bush, which had sprouted on the exact spot where the dragon's red blood had spilled.
Everywhere you went in the city you saw hundreds of tables set up with books, and flower stands with roses. At first, we thought there was a book festival in town. As a matter of fact, they do incorporate some literary events along with this holiday, including authors who give presentations and others who do readings to the public. Unlike the states...book stores seem to be alive and doing well in Europe.
Barcelona is a beautiful city and we would enjoy coming back here someday to get to know it better. Below are just a couple of pictures I was able to take on our tour.
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| La Sagrada Familia basilica....is the world famous unfinished church by Antonti Gaudi. We had hoped to see the inside, but were unable to get tickets for the tour. |
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| Street scene in Barcelona |
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| Torre Agbar....is a tall bullet shaped skyscraper. |
On Tuesday, April 24th, we left for the Costa Brava. We had made plans to hike the most scenic parts of this trail that stretches along the Mediterranean Ocean from the town of Blanes to the French border. We decided to pick the trail up in a pretty little town called Sant Feliu De Guixois. We spent the night at a cute little boutique hotel...
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| The bar in our hostal |
and left on our hike the next morning. Lance made arrangements for our luggage to be picked up and delivered to each town where we planned to spend the night. This was a great decision on his part because many of the hills we had to climb were very steep and challenging. The extra weight on our back would have made it much more difficult.
My apologies to all my Facebook friends...as you have no doubt seen many of the pictures I am posting here.
The town of Sant Feliu De Guixois
Day 1...Sant Feliu De Guixois to Palamos
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| This was the footpath we tried to follow during our hike. There are signs posted along the way...but they weren't always easy to find. |
One of my favorite places we stayed was at this beautiful classy looking hotel named Hotel Trias in the city of Palamos. I believe it was built in the 1930's. Not very expensive...and the breakfast buffet was wonderful.
Day 2...Palamos to Llafranc
We were very lucky...as every day was sunny and a little bit cool. Perfect hiking weather. If you go...consider going in spring or fall.
Day 3...Llafranc to Tamariu
Day 4...Tamariu to Cala d'Aiguafreda
Our final destination was a very small hostal (only 5 rooms available,) with an award winning restaurant located in a small private cove. The hostal was situated in the woods near, but not on the water. The rooms were simple...yet tastefully decorated. The owner was from Barcelona. He had owned an Ad Agency but sold it 17 years ago to build this hostal and restaurant...even though he knew nothing about running this type of business. Today he is a great success and his hotel and restaurant is featured in many different magazines and books on travel. We elected to stay there 2 nights...just to soak in the atmosphere and enjoy our success in completing the hike.
For those who are interested in doing this hike...here is some additional information. First...it is not hard. I believe you only need to be in moderate shape to compete it...especially if you are already someone who hikes on a regular basis. Many of the paths are groomed and often there are steps for your use. However, there are parts that are definitely more challenging. You will have to climb some pretty steep hills.
I would definitely recommend that you use hiking shoes. Lance and I made the very difficult decision not to bring our shoes with us on our trip to Europe due to weight issues in our suitcase. Not having good traction on our shoes made parts of this hike very difficult for us...especially when climbing up and down the steep hills. Below is a picture of parts of the trail that you will typically encounter on your trip. This, of course, is fairly easy to navigate. However, what is hard are the hills that are covered with rocks and dry earth that crumble beneath your feet. Sometimes my feet would start to slide and there was often nothing to hold on to. It could be very scary. That being said, it was a wonderful trip. I have no regrets and we are both grateful to have seen such a beautiful place.
