Saturday, September 12th - Pineda de Mar, Spain

I slept well and woke up around 8 a.m.  The sun was up but hidden behind neighbouring tall buildings.  It was already feeling very hot and humid.  I guess I forgot about the fact that I didn't enjoy the humidity in this part of the country.  Oh well, I'll probably survive with both a pool and the Mediterranean to cool off in.

I went down for breakfast shortly after 9 and my original plan was to catch the 10 a.m. little tourist choo-choo train to Calella, the neighbouring town, where they have a Saturday morning market.  Well, I went to the wrong square to catch the train so by the time I got to the right place it had departed.  I then walked down to the water front to pick the train up at another of its stops.  At 11 a.m. I was in Calella.  Well, technicallly when the train stopped I was in Pineda de Mar but once I crossed the street I was in Calella.  The two towns are divided by the street so the north is Pineda de Mar and the south is Calella.  That seems to happen a lot in this area.  The towns all just run togetherr.

I walked down the pedestrian street of Calella and it was very nice with lots of shops on both sides and lots of people shopping or just sitting and having a drink.  And it's always amazing to me to see many of them drinking beer - even before 10 a.m. at times.  It seems a bit early in the morning but the beer is probably the cheapest drink on the menu.  I kept walking until I finally decided I must have gone too far.  They said the market was a ten-minute walk and I'd already walked for over half an hour.  I'm slow but probably not that slow.   When I asked for directions, sure enough I had gone too far and had to turn around and retrace my steps and then go about 3  blocks in a new direction.

The market was nothing special.  Mainly it was fruit and vegetables with just a couple of clothing and household stalls thrown in.  I wandered around for a while and then decided to head back to catch the tourist train again.  For some reason it was late and we had to wait for over half an hour but eventually it did take us back to the town centre in Pineda de Mar.  There was supposed to be another all-day market here but I never did find it.  I returned to the hotel, got out of my sweaty clothes, turned on the air conditioner and rested for a couple of hours while doing blogs.

Oh, I almost forgot.  While I walked past the market street the first time I did find the church so decided to go in for a look.  The Parish Church of Calella was founded in the 16th century but this church was built in the 18th century.  The exterior is simple white or light brick built in a neoclassical style and the inside is basically white as well.  There are some paintings and sculptures in the side chapel areas but it is pretty plain   It is 49  meters long and the tower is 42 meters high.  The entrance to the church has the 12 disciples carved around it and above that there is a beautiful rose window that looks lovely from inside the church.

It's now the end of another day and I must confess that resting took the place of blogging.  I actually fell asleep for  a couple of hours and that almost never happens to me during the day.  I guess I really am worn out.  Once I woke up I went down to the pool to read for a while but that only lasted for about 30 minutes before it started to rain.  I then decided to go get some dinner.  Most of the outdoor restaurants had closed their outdoor dining but I did find a sports bar with a few outdoor seats available.  I had a delicious Hawaiian pizza, which I watched the guy make and put into his stone oven.  The place was busy to start with as there was a Manchester United game on the big screen but once it started drizzling again it got very crowded.  

I walked quickly back to my hotel in the rain.  I got wet but it was still warm so that was okay.  I stopped to buy water on the way back.  Supposedly this water is okay for drinking and I have been drinking water in all the other European cities.   However, the water came out quite brown when I first turned the taps on so I think I'll let it run a few days more before drinking it.  

The hotel is in a great location right above the main square.  The one section of the square is a children's area and even now in the rain there are lots of children out playing.  They were still out playing after I went to bed last night at 11 p.m.   We've noticed this in many Spanish towns.  The children are up and outside playing until 10 or 11 or 12.  We assume they must have a siesta in the afternoon to give them more energy because they do have school to go to on some days.  It's a weekend now so it will be interesting to see what happens during the week nights.

With the kids screaming and the fans in the hotel lounge cheering, it could be rather loud for a while.  Yesterday and earlier today, the lounge was always empty when I went by.  Tonight it is full and everyone is watching a soccer game.  I think Barcelona was playing at some point today so maybe that's the big attraction now.

Speaking of Barcelona, that makes me think of the big parade and festivities yesterday in that city.  Barcelona is part of Catalonia, which is a region along the coast just north and south of the city.  They have always wanted to be a separate country and yesterday was a holiday for them and they had a big parade in Barcelona as well as festivities in the smaller towns.  They do not speak Spanish but rather Catalan, which is very hard to follow, and they re very serious about breaking away from the rest of the country.  Of course they have been very serious for decades or perhaps even centuries so I'm not sure anything will happen.  It seems like they have a good number of holidays though.  When we arrived in Mataro on August 14th it was a holiday and when I arrived here again yesterday it was another holiday.  I don't remember the details of the first one but the second one was definitely Catalan only, not all of Spain.