FAREWELL TO SPAIN

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Our last day in Spain's sunshine. Perfect sunny day. We received an invitation to the Marina from a fellow we had met the day before while we were doing our laundry at the Fresh Laundry laundromat. Frank Quinn, is a pleasant Irish gentleman who owns a sailboat moored in Vilanova marina. Frank and his wife live in Dublin. We arranged to walk to the marina and join Frank and his wife Laura for a drink and chat about Canada and Ireland onboard their sailboat La Chacharoona.

We walked to Club Nautica at the Vilanova marina. This is a nice restaurant right by the marina and Frank said he would find us there which he did and then escorted us to his sailboat which was adorned with orange, green and white streamers which made it very festive. Apparently friends had brought these banners and decorated their boat. We got on board the boat and enjoyed a lovely afternoon of drinks and nibbles and friendly chat. Frank had just retired only 4 weeks before and had been on board the boat for about two weeks. Laura had just arrived from Ireland the previous day and would be in Spain for a week. They have 4 kids and one of their daughters Hazel is moving to Toronto for 2 years with her boyfriend. They wanted to know all about Toronto and all the information we could give them about living in Ontario and we talked about skiing in Collingwood and how much live theatre there is in Toronto. We offered our phone number and reassured them that if their daughter needed help , we would be there. Super couple !! They also offered us a stay in Ireland. There may be a house swap in the futur but there is nothing better than enjoying a new country with people from that country. Wayne wore his Dubln T-Shirt over to the afternoon event on the sail boat , which he had packed as a spare and it brought us great luck in meeting fine Dubliners !

After a relaxing afternoon on the boat with our new Irish friends, we said our goodbyes and wandered back up the Rambla towards our hotel with a stop for pizza. It was a lovely evening and we lingered at our outdoor cafe as it was our last night in Vilanova. Spain has been a delight and we want to stretch this night out for as long as possible. Tomorrow is a travel day and we head for Amsterdam and must prepare for our flight.

We were up early on Sunday morning and said our goodbyes to our favourite front desk sweetheart Lia. All our front desk ladies had been fun. Lia, Mary and Paghi. We had fun talking to them all week. The three girls all took special care of us, and treated us like we were their Moms and Dads . Goodbye Gatell Hotel. Time to move on.

We made our way to the Vilanova bus station, a block away from the Gatell hotel, and on to the bus to Barcelona Airport an hour away. We checked in and luckily got the last two seats on the plane KLM to Amsterdam. Wayne actually rode in the jump seat so that we could get to Amsterdam- flight was 1 hour, 50 minutes. We made it to Amsterdam, our next adventure awaits...

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Photos

Laura and Frank Quinn
Our new Irish Friends

Enjoying our afternoon on board
On LaChacharoona boat

Frank and Laura Quinn
Two Irish sweethearts

Deb and Lia
At Gatell Hotel Vilanova

Wayne and Lia
Gatell Hotel, Vilanova, Spain