Tuesday, August 25th - Pineda de Mar

Well it is now September 13th and I am back in Pineda de Mar so I figure I should complete this old blog before getting on to a  new one.  I don't have a single note about what we did on the 25th so hopefully I can remember most of the details.  

We were staying in Mataro and took the regional train to Pineda de Mar, a trip of about 30 minutes and a cost of about $3.  The train follows the coast all the way so enroute we got to see the many different beaches of Costa Brava on the Mediterranean.

When we arrived in Pineda dd Mar our first stop was the tourist office.  It took us a while to find it as it was in the town centre, not by the beach, but we did eventually get there.  For such a short visit she suggested the local church, the art gallery upstairs, the beach and a ride around the city in the little tourist train.  When we asked  about the Roman aqueducts, which was what Randy really wanted to see, she told us where they were and said it was an easy walk and that there were other ruins up there too and  lots of other hikes in the local park.

We had walked by the church on our way to the tourist office and since it was only open for another hour, I decided to go there.  Randy decided to go for the walk to the aqueduct.  

The Parish Church of Santa Maria (St. Mary) was consecrated in the 11th century.  As expected, it has gone through numerous changes form Romanesque to Gothic to Baroque.  In 1936, the interior of the church was totally destroyed by fire.  The exterior is basically a beige colour but the main entrance facade has tan decorations on it - mainly geometric patterns.  There is a brick bell tower that is thirty meters high and octagonal in shape.  You can climb it but I did not as there were no lights on and no one around to tell me how to turn them on.  The interior is basically white with plain square pillars and high arches in the ceiling and one main tome.  The central altar is pretty plain with some gold and darker tones against the white.  A lot of the decoration is again just geometric design with some centre sculptures or paintings (I can no longer tell from my pictures!).  Other side altars are fancier, especially the Altar of the Immaculate with its four gold pillars, statue of Mary, other statues and carvings, and beautiful paintings on either side.

The lights weren't really on in the church so I didn't stay too long.  Because of that I decided I might as well walk to the Roman ruins and aqueduct to see what was there.  It was supposed to be a couple of kilometres so I knew it would take a while.  It was a really hot and humid day but I assumed, since this was supposed to be in a park along the river, that there might be some shade and coolness.  Well that was a wrong assumption.  I was just walking up a dirt/gravel road with trees at the side but not a lot of shade where I was walking.  I walked for a while, absolutely sure that I was on the right route, and then I started doubting myself.  There were no signs and no people around and I was just walking farther away from the town into absolute nothingness.  I was at the point of deciding that I must be on the wrong path when I saw Randy coming up the road behind me.  He too wondered if we were on the right road but since we had both heard the instructions and ended up in the same place, we decided to continue on. 

Randy went on ahead  as he walks way faster than I do, and I followed behind with the gap between us growing all the time.  I eventually saw the aqueducts in the distance so turned off to thee right to go see them.  I assumed Randy was still ahead of me and I would find him there but there was no sign of him.  I thought about calling his name so he would turn around and come back (assuming he heard me) but decided against that because there were definite signs that people were living on the site.  Clothes were out to dry and a curtain was hung on one door.  I didn't think anyone was supposed to be living at that location so then I started worrying about who these people were and what would happen if they found me wandering around alone.  I took a couple of pictures and hurried back to the main road.  

Back at the road I decided to continue on even though I had seen what I came for.  I knew I wouldn't like catch Randy but I had to keep going in case he had stopped to wait for me.  Along the way I found the old Roman bridge and took a few pictures of that even though much of it was overgrown with plants.  Still no sign of Randy so I kept going.  I decided I'd just go until under the huge highway overpass that was going from hillside to hillside over the valley.  I stopped in the shade of that for a while but still no sign of him. At this stage I no longer knew if he was ahead of me or behind me but there was a curve in the road up ahead so I continued on.  Then there was another curve and then there were some signs about a park so I kept going.  Eventually I got to the Parc Natural Del Montnegre and there I found Randy sitting on a stone waiting for me.  He had been there for some time but then he had missed both the aqueduct and the bridge so I didn't feel so bad.

There were more ruins at the start of the park.  I believe it was oven or kitchen area and then a mill of some kind run by water.  There were clearly marked trails now to various locations and other ruins in the park.  There was an old church high up on the hill above, and there had been big old ruins of various buildings all the way enroute.   We both decided to just go back down.  One of the signposts told us that town was 3.3 km from that point so 6.6 km was more than enough for me!  I told Randy where to look for the bridge and aqueduct and he took off ahead of me again.  Going down was a lot faster than it had been going up but it was still really hot.  Luckily there had been a tap in the park so we could refill our water bottles for the hike down.  Part way down I met Randy coming back up.  He had found the bridge but not the aqueduct.  We kept walking and I showed him where the entry was.  He went in and I just kept going.  Once I reached the bottom and got back into town I went to the nearest park bench and sat in the shade to wait for Randy.  

I could have stayed there for the rest of the day but we did need something to eat as it was now getting late and we hadn't had anything since breakfast.  We found a little restaurant on a quiet street while on our way to see other ruins.  Their doner kebabs were delicious.  We were the only ones there but then he probably only had seating for eight people outside.  We continued on our trek to see the ruins in the city and just couldn't find them.  Eventually it hit me why we couldn't find them.  We were going by the Points of Interest list on the map but then we were looking for those points of interest by the hotel numbers, which were also on the map.  Once we realized there was no more to be seen in town, we headed for the beach for  well-deserved rest.

The beach is not as fine a sand or as clean as in Mataro but it's still pretty nice.  There are lifeguards on duty here too.  We spent the afternoon there relaxing, swimming, reading, etc. and debated whether to eat here or catch the train home.  We decided to eat in Pineda de Mar and then take the train home.  We went to a fish restaurant right on the beach.  It had cooled off and was a bit windy but it was still nice.  We both ordered fish (sole I think) and when it came it was the whole fish and nothing else.  It was absolutely delicious and really nothing more was needed.

By the time we were finishing our meal we were worrying about catching the last train but we did make it.  It was very busy and we really didn't know why there were so many young people on it until we got to the first stop in Calella and almost everyone got off.  As we continued on our way we realized that there was a large carnival or fair going on and hordes of people everywhere. 

We got back to Mataro and walked from the train station to the hotel and by then I was totally exhausted and ready for bed.  I think I managed some stretching first and probably a shower, but certainly nothing more.  It was a good day but a tiring one.