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Published: August 17th 2007
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My last blog entry had me sitting in Girona bus station with my new American friend Jordan. We had a few hours to kill so got to chatting about travel, life etc and reflecting on the value of travel. Before I left Australia I had a minor freak out about spending so much money on ´flitting around the world´ and mum reminded me that travel is education. I have kept this in my mind the entire time I have travelled andit is so true!! I have learnt as much from the places I have visited as the people I have met along the way. I have come into contact with people from all around the world, and seen some amazing things. I have been priviledged to spend 6 weeks in beautiful France in such an interesting time for the country, with a new president and all. It has really made me feel how lucky I am to have this opportunity in my life and appreciate all I have. Anyhoo, enough of my reflecting! I just thought it was worth mentioning....
So - I have been in Costa Brava for the last few days. At first I was worried about not
Coast of Costa Brava
Its usually postcard perfect blue - green but due to wind not looking that great speaking Spanish, but it hasnt been too much of a problem so far. Costa brava is quite touristy (more than I thought) and there is a real mix of languages. There are many Brits, Dutch, French and Italians here and most people in restaurants, my hotel speak french over english which is good as I have probalby been speaking more french the last few weeks! I did think L'estartit was going to be small as it gets a small mention in the Spain lonely planet. Lesson learnt - just coz it isnt in LP doesnt mean it doesnt exist or isnt fab!! So there are lots of english pubs here and places they do what I can only refer to as Bali braids.... man, I thought that went out of fashion years ago!!! Still, it is quite pretty and not too big. I can't imagine what Costa del Sol would be like as it is supposed to be the really touristy part of the Spanish coast, but I am thinking I will not be going there!!
I came here L'estartit for the sole reason of diving the Iles Mendes off the coast of Spain - it is classified as
Outside the Teatro Dali
Interesting sculptures of ladies carrying loaves of bread & ancient diving dude Spain´s best dive site. Illes Mendes is a group of islands, quite close to the shore of L'estartit - think Julian Rocks in Bryon but much bigger. Interestingly, many times when I told people I was coming diving in Spain they were surprised there was good diving here. The dive I did was nice, but nothing too special. I sound so spoilt!! There isnt much hard coral but there is soft coral which was lovely, and I guess I went diving on an overcast day and apparently there are many more fish than we saw. There were massive groupers and some starfish, and some divers were lucky enough to see a moray eel and an eagle ray (not me!). Actually, the people that saw those things got caught in a really dangerous current in between the islands and had to get rescued in the rubber ducky by the ships captain!!
I met a really nice Scottish man and his son while diving and we actually went out for lunch after our dive. Interesting guy - is an investment banker and he and his family have a holiday house in France but right near the Spanish border. We had a
fab seafood meal - I had grilled cuttlefish and rice and veg - yum!! Bring it on.
I had planned to do 3 dives but it turned out to be more expensive than I thought and with the conditions not being great (big choppy waves) and my sinuses still not feeling great after my throat infection I decided to cancel the rest of the dives. Bit of a pity, but I would rather be safe than sorry when going down 25m underwater!!
Unfortunately it has been cloudythe entire time I have been here,so beaching hasnt really been an option. Thats been ok tho - being alone I amnot sure I would feel safe leaving my stuff on the beach. The cloudy weather doesnt deter the Brits tho!!
I talked to John & Alistair (Scottish guys) about what was good to do in the area and they told me I had to go and visit the Dali museum in Figueres. I had read about it in LP and didnt think I would have time to do it, and as I hadnt met anyone who had been there, didnt realise how good it was supposed to be. So when
I woke up this morning and saw it was overcast again I decided to jump on the bus and head to Figueres for the day.
Wow - I am so glad I made the trek. Dali was one crazy dude and he has transformed this old theatre into his version of a musem, complete with full interior decorations anda huge collection of his works. It was definitely worth the 10 euros!!! The photos really speak for themselves but it was a delightful mix of paintings, paintings on rooves, sculpture, drawings and interior design. The other highlight was the Dali jewels which are in a different building and amazing!!! I highly recommend it to anyone and thoroughly enjoyed it. Unfortunately there isnt much else to do in Figueres so I only wentfor the museum.
It was also an interesting look at Europe in the height of the tourist season. They all say the first 2 weeks of August are the time when everyone is on holidays, and today I really experienced it with huge queues to get into the museum (only a 40 min wait tho), and the place was crawling with people pushing in to lines etc. It
wasnt too bad but goodto know, so I will try to avoid this period for traveli in future!
The hotel I have been staying in isinteresting tho - there are dutch, Italians and french and everyone speaks to the other in their own language at breakfast andexpects the other to understand - its quite entertaining!! In particular there is one italian lady who must be 70, kitted out every morning in her walking gear (think blonde hair, bike shorts & parachute material windbreaker) - she and her husband sit together and every morning she talks the entire time through breakfast (this morning she kept repeating 'tutti frutti¡ which was quite entertaining for me) - and every morning on her way out she will speak to an eldery french man who is here by himself. She speaks to him in rapid italian, he nods andsays 'oui' and when she leaves he shrugs andsays he couldnt understandher - hilarious!!
The rest of my time Costa Brava has been spent snoozing, readinbg and looking around the shops. I had a pensione booked for me by the dive shop so it has been a luxury having my own room (with 3 beds!)
as well as a balcony. Tomorrow I head to Barcelona to meet up with mum and Eric - very excited!!
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