Pretty Picture

I just thought I would share this pretty picture the Handsome Husband took in Spain.

Girona, Spain

On one of the afternoons that we spent at the beach, we decided to drive into Girona. It is about a 30 minute drive from our hotel. After a miscue from Garmin GPS on finding the old town center (ending up in a neighborhood in front of someones house, who happened to be on their front porch) and finding parking, we finally found our way to the old medieval town. I loved this fountain. It is the second time I"ve seen plants growing on the fountain. I loved it.
Let me just say, it was worth every wrong turn down one way streets that we made! It was everything the handsome husband was looking for. It was very medieval and it was very picturesque and clean. We loved it. It was one of the highlights of the trip.

The castle wall that runs the perimeter of the historic old town. You can walk along it.

Inside is a rabbit warren of tiny streets filled with restaurants and shops. Loved it. It is built on a hillside and we climbed a lot of stairs.

View towards the church and castle. Everytime we turned a corner, we were in awe.

You could walk all through the castle passageways and on top of the turrets and walls.

I could just imagine these torches lit at night lighting the streets.

Platja D'Aro, Spain

For the last couple of days of our vacation, we stayed at the Hotel Jorge in Platja D'Aro. It was a beautiful resort on the Mediterranean. The hotel grounds were gorgeous and we had two beautiful coves to frolic on. The hotel rooms were super clean, but were just utilitarian. I was very disappointed. The walls were paper thin and the shower was tiny and went back and forth from hot and cold. But, we had a beautiful sea view and an enormous balcony. The public areas of the hotel were awesome, just not the rooms.
This is one of the coves. We didn't really hang out here, we liked the other side better. The other side was less crowded.

The guard rail was missing in a lot of places along the path. There was just a tiny homemade sign that read, "pay attention to the missing guard rail". If this was California, the whole trail would be shut down for months while they fixed it.
The sand was not as fine as the sand in Cal., but it was great for laying out on. It moved and conformed to your body super easy and made for a comfortable base to put your towel.

Checking out the water upon arrival

I loved the water. It was the perfect temperature, cool and refreshing. NO WAVES!!! This is what I liked best. Because it is the Mediterranean, it has a lot of salt and it was so easy just to float and bob in the waves. I loved it. It was not crowded. We began everyday at the beach and stayed until about 2pm. Then we would go in, shower up and head out to sightsee.

The girls found this little black cat on the first day and loved him up every chance they got.

Monserrat - Outdoor Wednesday

Please join our hostess, Susan, at A Southern Daydreamer for more outdoor fun!
One day we took a morning tour of a monastery called Monserrat. It is up in the mountains and we drove up a very TINY road with big drops and no shoulder or guard rails in a very BIG bus.
The setting was beautiful and serene. The monastery was originally built in 1038, but Napolean destroyed it and it was rebuilt in the 1800s. We didn't see any Monks, much to the girls disappointment. I have no pictures of the church as they were not allowed. (This seems to be the norm in Spain).
It was a very scenic spot and on one side was the monastery and on the other side was a wilderness area where you could hike around and find quiet spots to enjoy the breeze and scenery.

The founder of the monastery.

The girls called this their "Honeymoon" picture! What is a Spain post without Gore girl antics?

Enjoying the view and the cool breeze.

Rambling down Las Ramblas

Las Ramblas is a main street to walk down in Barcelona. The "Old Town" surrounds it and it is where the street performers gather to show their talents. It ends at the port. One night after dinner we decided to ramble down Las Ramblas.
There is a main walking sidewalk down the middle of the street. There is one lane of car traffic on each side and then more sidewalk. Trees line the middle section and a cool breeze blows. You have to be aware of pickpockets here.

The street begins at Placa Catalunya. It is a huge square with beautiful fountains.

Off the main street of Las Ramblas are many little alleyways to shop and are full of restaurants and hotels.
Following are some of the favorite street performers. We could not decide if this was a woman or a man.

Everyone loved the Gargoyles

The famous market, full of fruit, vegetables, and meat.

This was everyones favorite performer. He acted like he was being blown by the wind and was trying to walk against it.

Look at this guy!

There was a lot of beautiful buildings everywhere.

Of course, these guys pulled the biggest crowd and they were sooooo good. I couldn't believe the way they threw themselves down on the stones.

I hope you enjoyed your ramble down Las Ramblas