Tuesday, August 18th - Mataro, Spain

It was raining hard this morning so sleeping in and getting a slow start was really easy. After breakfast I came back to the room and did some blogging.  It was still cloudy but not raining by noon and a bit later on there were patches of blue appearing.  By 3 p.m. it looked like it was good enough to head out but because we had nothing planned we just went to the beach.

I sat on a bench in the shade for the first two hours and it was great.  It was cool and quiet and comfortable and very relaxing.  About 5 p.m. I decided to go down to the beach to  see what was happening and then spent another two hours reading down there.  It was very nice.  The clouds covered the sun at times but it was still warm enough to be comfortable.  When the sun was out it was hot but bearable and you knew you weren't going to burn too badly at that point in time.

Just before 7 p.m. we decided to head back to the hotel.  We passed by Nau Gaudi and it was open so we decided to go in.  Gaudi is in the name because he designed the building.  It is apparently the first one he ever designed.  From the outside it definitely doesn't look like a Gaudi because it is just a rectangular shape and very plain.  On the inside it does have curved beams, which look a bit more like his style, but it's still pretty basic for him.  Obviously his style developed over the years and this was just his first attempt at it.  This building was built for the textile workers' cooperative and it was part of a larger plan to build a whole community to support the workers.  Only this building and a couple of smaller connected ones got completed.  The smaller ones are gone and only this one remains.  Gaudi is not from Mataro but he is from the Catalan region and is probably the region's best-known personality.

The building is now used as an art gallery and houses the Gueron collection at the moment.  This exhibition is called Unofficial Russian Art as the artists are all Russian but were not allowed to express themselves during Stalin's time and after.  I'm sure to someone it really says and means something (like Gueron who bought it all!) but to me it was not interesting at all and I certainly wouldn't want any of it in my house.  It didn't take long to go through the whole exhibition and I hate to say it but the only truly appreciated part of the visit was the washroom stop.

Dinner was at a Japanese restaurant down the street at 8 p.m.  We were the first ones in but that was fine with us.  The meal was very good - more expensive than other places but good.  But the wine was cheap at 7.5 euros or about $10 for the bottle.  We really only wanted a glass each but when we heard the price of the bottle we figured we could afford it.  They also gave us a small martini to start our meal - not sue how that is Japanese - and some sake at the end so by the time I got back to the hotel I was definitely ready for bed.