27th April
Tarragona

28th April
Salou/Cambrils

29th April
Tortosa

3rd May
Valencia

8th May
Malaga

12th May
Sevilla

16th May
Madrid

18th May
Barcelona

On the 24th of April 2001 Rob and I departed for Barcelona. We left cold, grey, wet, dreary London on a coach to Luton airport (which incidently was the nicest scenery Iīd seen since arriving in the country), and got on our el cheapo Easyjet flight to warm sunny Barcelona. No incidents on the flight as it was less than two hours long. As it is a budget flight though, you walk out onto the tarmac, donīt get any food or drink (unless you pay) and we actually watched through the window as they were loading our luggage onto the plane, but the actually quality of the plane is very good. Flying over France we had a lovely view of the Pyrenees and then the Mediteranean coast just before landing.

On arrival in Barcelona we decided to hire a car and drive out of the city because of the Grand Prix etc. The motorways can be quite confusing and Rob did pretty well driving with the Spanish maniacs driving at you from the wrong side of the road! The motorway was a bit confusing at first, as at one tollgate we got a ticket, then had to pay at the exit, but we couldnīt work out how and there was no one to ask! There was no slot for coins of anything just a ticket slot..... we finally workedout that we had to stick a credit card in, it was a bit of a panic at first though!

It took us a couple of hours (via a toilet stop at McDonalds) but we finally arrived at Tossa de Mar, which is a smallish town on the bottom of the Costa Brava. The drive there along the coastal road was really beautiful (although we did drive through a couple of places that looked exactly like the Gold Coast and/or Coffīs Harbour), past beaches and then through winding mountain roads with impressive looking houses in the mountains. Tossa itself is on the beach and is surrounded by hills and mountains, the cliffs around the main beach being bordered by old medieval walls and fortressy looking stuff.

We stayed in Tossa for three nights at the Hotel Oasis Tossa.. .and for the same cost of our shitty hostel we got pool (indoor and out) sauna, gynm, TV, our OWN bath and shower (woohooo!!!) and breakfast etc etc etc.... only problem is that the hotel resembled a retirement village in a few too many ways. We were the only Australians there, the rest of the guests were old people and/or geezers (British ppl).

On our first night in Tossa (after a nap!) we went into the town to find some food, but everything was pretty much deserted. It looked like a ghost town... it certainly was low season. We managed to find somewhere to eat though and had a lovely jug of dark red sangria... much stronger than the way they make it in Australia! I had a bit of a run in with a Paella which turned out to have all this meat in it that I wasnīt expecting, and a really strong, pungent taste that I just couldnīt handle.

Our second day in Tossa was spent exploring the beaches and the old Medieval ruins. I loved the fact that the old stone houses inside the city walls were still in use and you could wander around the narrow stone streets as well as climbing on the old city walls adn walking up to the light house. We spent quite a bit of time lying in the sun this day. The hotel entertainment that night was ... well interesting... I got roped into a stupid competition but I won a bottle of champagne which I canīt complain about! The next act was a magic show, with the magicians assistant wearing progressively less clothes eah costume change until she was in a skin coloured leotard, so all the old men probably though she was naked anyway.

On the 26th Rob and I drove out to Figueres, which is North right near the French border. I wanted to see the Salvador Dali Theatre-Museum there, which sounded really interesting. The drive took longer than expected after missing a turn off and after all the driving the museum was a bit of an anti climax. It was interesting as the whole building is a work of art in itself... but after all the driving... it didntīhave all the famous paintings that I was expecting to see :(

Rob took a huuuuge nap... I couldnīt wake him for hours!... after we got back and we went out to take some night time photos of the city walls etc... it was quite creepy walking around the old buildings at night, and the cathedral bell tolling the hours. It was a nice thing to do on our last night in the town though.

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