Blogs from Catalonia, Spain, Europe - page 9

We’d struck a dry week, on several levels. Not only has P2 been off his appetite for beer and panaderías, with a bad dose of the man-cold, but the weather had that consistently good clean quality. Temperatures are now sitting higher overall, pollen counts are definitely higher (there’s lots of yellow - green residues about town adding to sinus sufferers woes), and spring activity is popping up everywhere, with lots of little vege planter boxes in the old town apartments looking tended to. Sunday was the best choice for what I’d been meaning to do for so long. No trucks on the N road, and the Costa Brava rally drivers had shipped out, with tyres marks in their wake to the west of town. Leaving P2 and his ill state, I took off up the Vall ... read more

While Alex slept like a snoring log, I was to excited about the Palace Real to and woke every two hours. Finally at 8 am I got up to shower waking, somewhat, Alex. We then went to a nearby Chocolatria so I could have churros and hot chocolate for breakfast. Yummy! May become my new favorite. Alex only had a bite, he seemed to have caught a stomach virus... Guess someone has to get it every trip. Returning to the hotel, we packed up then dropped off our luggage prior to heading to Catedral de la Almundena for a revisit. This time we were able to walk the church and see the amazing art, status, and stained glass. Amazing that it took from 1882 to 1993 to finish the place. Next door we headed to the ... read more

It’s said time passes faster with age? And I’d add, experiences. Approaching 4 weeks here, the noticeable change in temporary population reinforces that the Spanish off season is definitely the preferred time. We imagine Barcelona would be intense all year round. Girona has a lot of architecture and tourist attraction to boast, so, on a fairly quiet Monday morning, we headed to the nearby Arab baths. We made an about-turn immediately after a big school group entered, being only four rooms big. Later in the day around 6pm, we passed and enquired, to find a quiet haven, without anyone else. In we went. It may have been grey / grim / artistically ‘moody’, but you’d easily conjure up visions of bathers, moving through the changing rooms, frigidarium, tepidarium / flotarium, and calidarium all generated from a ... read more

Settling into Girona life we had to apply some ‘Amazing spaces’ adjustments to The Nest to make the small space work better. A simple setup, the wobbly orange fold out couch got the first fix with the Allen key, then table to the window, then the bikes with their funny cantilever brakes. Driven by the difficulties of cartage up and down 3 narrow flights of old town stairs with the said bikes, we’d then converted our space to that which we’d visioned. Me, sat by the window, gazing at life on the third floor metres away in the old quarter, thoughts of lingering work obligations diminishing, and a decent ride done, or planned. The time slipped by. And with the weekend comes an influx of visitors to Girona. A quiet season to visit we’re told, midday ... read more

One of the hardest times in my life you found me. Emotional and vulnerable you gently, slowly and tenderly got to know me. You never pushed too hard or made me feel like I wasn’t being enough. I knew that even if all we had was those few weeks, you had come into my life for a reason. It’s been more than a few weeks now we are easily slipping into a few months, we are effortlessly making plans for the future and when I look at you, like really look at you, I can feel myself falling in love. One of the things I have to do is let go of the others, to finally release the pain. I have to consciously make sure that I am not allowing them to effect us, that I ... read more