Well yes, we needed a day off to get accustomed to the new environment and routine. This is also a place where people make a holiday pilgrimage to, so it behooved us to show it some respect and spend a day here and check it out.
This is one of the few places that we booked ahead while we were still at home. It is an extremely popular holiday destination, for good reason, and although it’s early season still, just, we wanted to be sure we had a place to stay. We’re in a lovely apartment in the old town, on an incredibly scenic and steep rough stone cobble road about a block and a half from the water front.
Today’s routine was to get up, eventually, stroll down to the beach and get a coffee and a small bite to eat, no need for a big high protein breakfast today. With this arduous task out of the way, we went back to the apartment, about 200 m away, and took out the load of laundry we had done and put it on the drying rack for the day (yes the apartment has a washing machine and a drying rack … one half of the team is ecstatic!). That set us up for a wander and photo tour around the amazingly convoluted and acheingly beautiful streets of Cadaques. The only task we had to complete on this wander was to book a 2 hour boat cruise that would take us down the coast to the Cap de Creus where the Pyrenees end at the Mediterranean Sea.
That pretty much gives away the next activity, a 2 hour cruise down the coast under brilliant blue skies and fresh sea breezes. It was so interesting to see the lands we’ve been cycling through from the perspective of the sea, and we didn’t even have to break a sweat.
The sea cruise ended just in time for a wonderful small lunch at Talla, a wonderful small restaurant on the west side of Cadaques right on the water with really innovative ‘small plates’ K and I shared a gazpacho with small prawns and a basil sorbet(great in the heat of the day), lobster Thai salad (green papaya, fish sauce) and prawn ravioli in a green curry sauce. It was marvellous.
After this … siesta time, we’re really going local, to set us up for a wonderful dinner at Es Baluard where we feasted on fresh local seafood in a very elegant setting looking over the bay.
Life is good and we are quickly getting accustomed to this Mediterranean seaside thing.
Enough said (or written), here’s Aunt Betty’s photo album to fill out the day.
SOTD - Upside Down, Jack Johnson.
I know …. he’s from Hawaii making this almost as relevant as my British guys in Jamaica from yesterday, but bear with me.
On the boat we were on they had some music playing softly in the background, and there were a number of JJ tunes in the mix. It was such a relaxed day, just like his music, and his music is rooted in water and beach culture … so this works for me. … and K loves Curious George too … like her favourite cycling jersey!
K and Curious George on the High Rockies Trail back home in 2021
‘Silence is a right’ … in Catalan. Written along the wall of a house at the end of our street. I can see this as an issue for folks who live here full time. We are not even close to the high season and last night at 1 pm, when the bars closed, we had quite a bit of pedestrian traffic past our apartment … and these streets really don’t go anywhere. Probably just people heading back to their own B&B’s but the noise was noticeable, in July it would probably be quite disruptive.
And if you’re a cat lover, they’ve got a society in town that’s just right for you. This guy’s looking at signing up! seriously though, they do have an organization that takes care of the large number of semi feral cats
Same same for these two. This and the previous two pictures were taken as I was standing in one spot on a corner of a few streets that came together. I think it was by one of the cat societies ‘food banks’
I’ve noticed that there are a number of other CB folks who are identifying and logging the different birds they see. I’m not much of a bird guy but I’ll try to get with the program. This one is a gull … I think. He’s wondering about that himself.
Kirsten KaarsooTo Karin KaarsooIt was a bit as the wind was quite strong but the boat seemed to travel through quite smoothly. Reply to this comment 1 year ago
We stopped for a gelato after lunch fro dessert. Timing is everything. Not more than a minute after getting served, a mob of about 30 school kids descended on the place and chaos ensued
A Catalan classic .. a stew of potatoes, monkfish and the most tender prawns imaginable (they were freshly molted and you could almost eat the shells). Looks pretty basic, and it was but perfectly executed … mom’s own cooking if you grew up here.
Kirsten KaarsooTo ann and steve maher-wearyIt sure was. We are happy that we went to Cadaques as it was relaxing and to me a perfect example of the coast of Spain. Reply to this comment 1 year ago