Had a lovely sleep and it’s so nice to just to get out of bed without having to clamber over a dog and a human to get to the loo.
The house is vast! Over three floors, the balconies overlook the beach and it has a beautiful little courtyard at the rear. We’re doing a lot of running up and down the stairs as the kitchen is on the ground floor and the lounge area and balcony are on the next floor! Keeps us fit!
The Pup discovered that she could peer into daughter’s bedroom via the balcony and the patio doors and barked to be let in – bit of a rude awakening for daughter who was sound asleep at the time!
We went to the local bakery for the usual croissants and ate breakfast overlooking the sea. It was quite noisy as the street cleaners were out in force and the trains were still parping and the klaxons wailing, but it was okay. The trains are rapidly becoming background noise and it’s great to see the streets so clean (it was mainly leaf litter) despite the early hour.
After breakfast we decided to go for a walk on the beach so we wandered south of our place, along the Main Street until we came up to the river which was dry and sandy. We dropped on the beach which was a bit of a disappointment – grubby from either seaborne debris or careless visitors, there were bits of rubbish everywhere especially on the tide line. We walked in the surf to escape the worse, but it dropped away and it was hard to walk on barefoot. It was more grit than sand – our feet had a good exfoliation! The Pup enjoyed playing in the water albeit on a long lead (as per local by-laws). We got to a point where there was an old concrete bunker from the Spanish Civil War and we had to walk up close the railway line which was totally unfenced – we were practically yards from a live track. So weird. We walked a little further, but there seemed to be no bridges or underpasses to get to the other side and it wasn’t the prettiest path. So we turned around back to Sant Pol de Mar and followed this sandy path by the side of the railway track, until we spotted a few locals skipping across the tracks from a shady park area. We hesitated to whether to follow their example, but the park was so much nicer than this path, so we scuttled across (looking both ways) and through a flattened piece of fencing. This was so much better, under shady plane trees and grass on either side. We bobbed out by the dry river again and stopped for coffee at a little cafe amongst the locals before taking the higher road to check out a couple of monuments. We ended up wandering through the residential area which was very nice and finally came out above the railway tunnel and the back of our house – we could peer over a bit of rusty fencing and down into our sheltered courtyard from high above.
We could hear music on the beach, so we had a quick look at a nearby prominent church, then dropped down to the railway crossing and back to our little pad. The music was coming from a basement tapas bar directly opposite our place and it sounded fab. We had a quick look at the menu and scurried back for wine, beer and nibbles on the balcony, enjoying the music wafting across. This was perfect! We decided to try and book a table there for tonight and once the music had finished, I sauntered over armed with my best Spanish.
I did my usual introduction – I’m English and my Spanish is crap, so please forgive me – and asked for a table for tonight at 8.30, feeling very proud of myself as the lady behind the bar understood me and I had said fairly fluently. Unfortunately, her face was crestfallen as she replied that the restaurant was shut in the evenings and only opened at lunchtime. Pah!
I took the bad news back to the family. We would find another place, so we settled down on the balcony, catching the afternoon sun on the sun loungers and relaxing. This was the life.
As it was Halloween, there were lots of children and adults all dressed up starting to wander around and having lots of fun. Later we wandered into town and it seemed that the whole town had come out, celebrating – we were sticking out like sore thumbs dressed in normal clothes. We went to check out a Halloween party at the local park, but it was young children so we wandered back into town and found an intimate little restaurant outside the main hubbub and enjoyed a lovely meal there. Afterwards we headed back, the town a little quieter as the younger children headed for bed. We sat on our balcony and watched the young teenagers gathering below again, the group ebbing and flowing. It was fascinating to watch – obviously excitable, but just hanging out together. They eventually drifted off and we went to bed.
We think there was a Halloween disco as just before 1am, they were back, still lively and adding a bit of tomfoolery into the mix. In the night air, their voices were amplified and it disturbed us. They were only having fun, but we wanted sleep. Finally they decided to go bed around 1:30. Hooray!
Tomorrow we’re planning to catch the train to Arenys de Mar, a couple of stops south and have a change of scenery.
