Thursday, August 27th - Mataro, Spain

Today was a slightly different but not too taxing day.  After a leisurely breakfast we headed off about 10 a.m. to do laundry.  We walked about ten blocks to Placa de Cuba where there was a nice new self-serve laundry mat.  It was much more efficient than any I've seen in Canada but then I don't frequent a lot of laundry mats so what do I know.  

Doing laundry wasn't cheap.  A couple of my new tops were red and I was afraid they might run so I did them separately in a small machine.  I also did a load of whites in a separate machine so I could use some hot water on them.  However, I think I forgot to hit the hot water button so that was a bit of a waste.  Everything else just went into another machine.  The dryers came in two sizes too so we just dumped everything into a big one.  Almost everything was done after one round but a few things needed the second round.  It took about two hours in total, which wasn't bad, and with detergent and everything included it cost about 20 euros or $30, which seemed a bit expensive when we started adding it up later.  Oh well, we have clean clothes to start our bus tour.

While the laundry was being done we took turns wandering around the area.  It was obviously market day as the narrow streets all around Placa de Cuba were filled with tents selling just about anything you might want.  Of course I had to buy something else - two new light shirts for 10 euros.  I'm not sure what I will throw out of my suitcase but something is going to have to go if I keep buying things.  Randy is always laughing at me for buying stuff but even he bought a new shirt when he was out.  

The centre of Placa De Cuba is the Mercat or permanent market.  I went in there for a visit and it was quite amazing.  This is the fish and meat market.  Yes, it smells a bit like a fish market but not bad, and it is probably the cleanest fish and meat market I've ever seen.  The fish were quite amazing and I had no idea what most of them were.  I kept trying to find a monk fish as that was the one I had to eat the one night and really didn't enjoy it all that much.  I later looked them up online and one would definitely not say they were pretty with their huge head and mouth.  I probably saw some of them at the market but just didn't recognize them.  The other meat was mainly beef and the cuts of beef look very good.  

After laundry we found a little restaurant in the area and had a light lunch.  Then we went back to our hotel.  Randy took off to the beach and I sorted through clothes and did some repacking for tomorrow's departure.  A bit later I went down to the beach too.  I read for a while in the shade and then went down to the sandy beach and sunny area.  It was lovely as always and I even went in the water.  It was much calmer today with just a green flag up - for the first time we could remember - and very refreshing.

About 6 p.m. I went back to the hotel to shower and wash my hair.  We went just down the street for a sandwich about 7:30 p.m. and then at 9 p.m. we went to Torre Llauder, the Roman ruins, to an outdoor jazz concert.

The concert was fantastic.  The advertising and ticket said "Jimmy McGriff i Victor Puertas" so we expected two performers.  However, it was one band with eight people:  drummer, guitar/percussion, guitar, four horns, and a keyboardist who I assume was Victor Puertas.  It turns out Jimmy McGriff was a black American who was an organist who played a lot of jazz and blues.  He died several years ago.  Victor Puertas plays a lot of his songs and is also an organist.  I don't know exactly what he was playing but it wasn't your typical keyboard of a rock band.  It had a larger console with several keyboards on it and it sounded very much like an organ.  He could get many different sounds out of it and many different ranges by changing the settings so I think we'll call it an organ.  Puertas also played the harmonica a few times and sang a few songs but mainly it was the whole group and they really were amazing.  Two of the guys on horns (sax and trumpet) were unbelievable.  The other two (same instruments) were good but less amazing.  The guitarist was fantastic and did a number of solo spots.  The drummer and guitarist/percussionist were just kind of in the background but still good.  Overall the sound was loud but wonderful in the outdoor setting.  Some of the songs I didn't know and others I did.  They played for almost 2 hours straight and it only cost 12 euros so it was a great deal.

It was a nice warm night with a beautiful sunset and an almost full moon.  The ruins were lit behind us and to our right and the band was playing in front of us so it was a perfect setting.  And even better, it was only about two blocks from our hotel so it didn't take long to walk back at the end of the evening.