Iberian Sea

Tuesday 4/4 Beautiful sunrise seen from our balcony this morning, and away we went with 23 others and guide Sylvia to Sitges which is about 40 minutes south of Barcelona. One of Pete’s work colleagues had told him that she stayed in Sitges, I think in the 80’s, and really loved it, but we knew that since then it had grown and was a real tourist town so has maybe changed a fair bit.

In a nutshell the countryside was fairly dry-looking but inland it’s a great grape-growing area and is famous for Cava, as well as growing olives. Sitges has 17 beaches in a 4km stretch, has become something of a dormitory town for Barcelona so there are traffic jams, there are a lot of new-build apartment blocks in the town and some very upmarket houses with pools. In contrast there’s an ‘old town’ with narrow lanes, pretty views, lots of ceramic tiles on the buildings for street signs, traditional blue and white painted houses which are very popular with tourists but accommodation along the beachfront is very expensive.

Back in hippy times it was a mecca for alternative people and today it still has that reputation, a lot of gay bars and shops, cannabis shop and plenty of nightclubs, that sort of thing. Goes crazy in summer.

We walked through the town down to an old 16th century church above the beach, had time to walk or have a cuppa (errrr, this is Spain, coffee and a pastry). The church bell struck 10 while I watched, it doesn’t use the clappers but has an electric ‘hammer’ striking the outside, makes a great noise too. I got a great shot of the church showing a cannon emplacement directly outside for protection against the English in a great battle.

Next to the church is what looks like an old building but it was explained that a rich American who loved the town built this place using all sorts of styles: renaissance, baroque, traditional Spanish. You look carefully and realise that the stone carvings are too crisp to be old, that sort of thing. The path leads to one of the beaches, the wind was nippy but one hardy soul was out swimming. We walked through the old area down to the next beach and along an avenue of palm trees. These were planted by locals in the 19th century who had gone to the USA to make their fortunes, came back and built big houses on the waterfront to show off their wealth. One of these was the Bacardi family of rum fame.

I hadn’t realised that a ‘snack’ was included in the tour so it was nice to sit at the window of a beachfront restaurant with a pleasant American couple from Los Angeles, we chatted and ate the FIVE different tapas served up with a glass of cava. Definitely happy with all of that.

We went along to the Wintergarden for high tea at 4pm, it was crowded and the crew were flat out with plates of sandwiches and cakes, warm scones with cream and jam, a huge tea menu and drinks as well. We sat by the window, joined by an older American couple, she was as funny as anything with stories of past travel including being helped by Italian cops in Naples when she and a friend were trying to get pizza but couldn’t cross the road. The cops asked if they could help and said ‘jump in, we know where the best pizzas are’, proceeded to put on the siren and speed to their destination, wouldn’t let them pay for the pizzas, put them back in the police car and drove them to the dock. She said they could be seen by everyone on the ship, the captain came rushing down to see why two of his passengers were being returned by police, what had they done? She told a great story.

The ship sailed at 5pm so, being by the window, we had a good view of the harbour as we sailed out. Time for the port talk about our visit to Cartagena on Wednesday, then we had dinner in the slightly posher restaurant, again by the window so the sunset was every bit as good as the sunrise. We went to the show which was really professional, worthwhile seeing – Britt Lenting is from the Netherlands and has appeared in several West End productions so she was talking about her career and singing songs from the shows, everyone thoroughly enjoyed it too.

This is being written at 1.30am, I can’t sleep so might as well write the diary. We’re currently out at sea about half way between Barcelona and Cartagena, in port around midday so planning a quiet morning.

Check the next instalment for extra photos of SitgesRead more