Saturday, October 10th - Cambrils, Spain

I was up early so I could finish packing and get ready to switch rooms.  There are three buildings in this complex so I was only moving from building 3 to building 2 - not a big change but still a change so everything had to be packed up.  And this time I had to take food and kitchen supplies as well as just the regular luggage.  I did finish the cereal and milk and orange juice before I left though.  

Official check-out was at 10 a.m. and I think I made it by 10:05, and that was after checking into the new place at the new office and moving a couple of loads over.  After going back and making sure that I had everything, I then went to the old office and checked out.  It was actually a rather strange process since the buildings are all one complex but there are three different offices.  I guess the first one I was in was just short-term rentals.  This new office is more for those who might be time-share owners, and the other office is for total owners.  But the people they deal with in each of those situations could be in any of the three buildings.

I can say that the facilities in the new place are a bit nicer in some ways: nicer furnishings, quieter as the patio doors are more soundproof, bigger, etc., but the old place had its benefits too like having a washing machine.  I wasn't expecting to move into a time-share unit that did not have a washing machine.  By the time I decided to move it was too late to do a couple loads of laundry because it takes so long in these washing machines that the sun would no longer be out to dry them before I had to pack them.  So I didn't do laundry at the old place but was assured by the office in the new place that they would find me a washing machine to use before I go.

I am now further from the beach but only by half a block.  I'm one floor higher though so the view is just as nice.  I'm closer to the grocery store by half a block, which is good.  It's really not that different.  I spent most of the morning unpacking and getting organized in the new place and then decided to head off to Cambrils.  Hmmm. I guess I'm half a block further from the bus stop too.

When the bus arrived in Cambrils, about 25 minutes later after many stops all along the beach route, I decided to walk to the tourist office first.  For the first time ever, I have to say that the people there were not very helpful.  There were two girls and both were busy and there were people like me waiting in line so they may have felt rushed.  I was there with my map from last time and had circled the places I wanted to go.  All I needed to know from them was what times the various places were open as it was now just after noon and I knew some of the places would likely close over the siesta period. First they tried to give me another map and tell me where to visit.  My map was right there and already had the places marked.  Then, when we'd agreed where I should visit (which I already knew!) I asked again about the times.  I'm going to have to assume there was some language problem because the girl I was talking to stood and waited to interrupt the other girl and just stood there doing nothing for about five minutes while everyone waited.  Then she went and put a sign or something on the door.  Eventually the other girl said something and my girl said the times for everything are posted on the door.  I went out and looked and there was nothing but the times and a closed signed for the tourist office, and the door was locked so no one else could get in.  It was a great way for her to get rid of me but it was perfectly unhelpful for what I wanted.  Perhaps I'm getting more demanding in my old age.

I went first to see Parc de Pescador or Fisherman's Park where the castells or human pyramids were going to be at 6:30.  It turns out this is also the park where the wine festival is happening.  They call it a Wine and Gastronomy Festival but it certainly looked like all wine when I went through.  However, I'll get back to this later as I returned in the evening as well. 

I next went to another park, L'Albereda or Mall about three blocks away to see the Roman ruins (La Llosa Roman Village).   The ruins are of a villa from sometime between the 1st century BC and the 4th century AD.  The park itself was very nice and I could see the ruins although they were fenced off.  I walked around to the other side of the fenced area to go in but it of course was locked.  The sign there said that they gave tours on certain days/times so I guess you have to be there at the assigned times and have to do the guided tour.  I think the tourist folks should have been able to tell me that.  However, I'll now stop commenting on their performance.  

As it turns out, this is a holiday weekend and Saturday appears to be the holiday as there is nothing open.  But then it is also siesta time so I'm unsure if that's the reason.  Perhaps I'll never know.  All I can say for sure is that it seemed like a pretty deserted town.  Now I'm not walking in the touristy area by the beach.  I'm heading more through residential areas as I follow the river up to the old town.  The river, by the way, is totally dry but there is a formal channel - cemented in some areas - for the water to run and there are wide banks on either side to handle the overflow if needed.  It's hard to imagine them ever being needed but obviously they can be.

I came to the Tower and the Hermitage ITL de Deu del Carri, which appears to be a long name for a tower and a church.   The watch tower is from the 14th century and was a lookout for both coastal area and the Royal Route or Via Augusta that led from Rome to the southern tip of Spain near Gibraltar.  Obviously even after the Romans were long gone, their roads were still the main means of transportation.  I didn't see much information about the church but the two were obviously connected in some way other than the walkway that joined them about three storeys up.  The church was much newer (18th century) than the tower and in a totally different style - perhaps having replaced an older church that was destroyed at some point.  The tower itself is original and in great shape.

From there I walked into the old city itself and as usual the streets are narrow and seem to twist and turn in various directions so I kept getting lost.  There are small squares on many of the street intersections and the Plaza Mayor is a much bigger and more impressive square.  City Hall was at one point on this square and it was the most important one in the city at that time.  Now it is just another quiet and restful square with restaurants and cafes around the outside and most of them were closed when I was there.

The buildings in the old city are definitely old with most dating from thee 12th century.  Some are very narrow and about three storeys high.  Others are both wider and higher but not by much.  Some have big arched entrance ways that I assume were wide enough for horses and carts or carriages.  Most of the buildings have small iron balconies and many of these have flowers or greenery on them and vines hanging down so they look quite lovely.  One street was called Lovers' Lane (or at least it looked like that but spelled differently) and it had many green potted plants down at street level as well.  It was totally different than the other streets and looked like a little oasis in the otherwise stone desert - very refreshing.  Of course there were also a lot of clothes drying on the balconies so that certainly added another dimension to the picture - sometimes very colourful.

The Museum of Agriculture would probably have been an interesting stop, especially since they do grow grapes and make wine, but it was closed.  The wine festival did have a special tour here today but it was in the morning so I missed it.  The building was once used for wine production so it would have been an interesting visit.  Across from the museum is the Municipal Market, which was also closed.  I'm not sure if it is open every day or only on certain days.

I eventually found a place to eat about 3 p.m.  I was starving as all I'd had to eat was a small bowl of cereal at about 8 a.m. but so far on my walk very little was open.  There were different groups of people sitting around so I decided to assume the place was open and to join them.  Well, it was open but it was exceedingly slow.  Despite the fact that I'm sure the two guys beside me had steaks, the only menu I was offered was for tapas and that was what the other tables seemed to be eating.  I decided to have some patatas brava (think wedges) and some pork on bread.  Luckily things come with pictures when the menus are not in English.  It took her a long time to acknowledge me in the first place (probably thought "oh, no, another foreigner!") and then it took her a long time to take my order.  Then, quite a while later she came back to tell me they did not have any patatas brava so I ordered the tortillas patatas (think potato and egg quiche).  She came back some time later to tell me she didn't have that either so I ordered pinchos which looked like they were chicken skewers.  Eventually, over a half hour later my food arrived.  The pork was absolutely excellent and like two thinly cut loin chops seasoned nicely.  The bread they were sitting on was soaked in what I assume was olive oil since they really like that stuff over here, and was just dripping with it - a bit much for me.  When the skewers arrived they came with potatoes!  Again everything was soaked in olive oil but the top ones were excellent.  The chicken was good too but not as great as the pork.  So lunch was a whole lot of protein and oil and some potatoes as my token vegetable.  I think being a vegetarian would be very hard around here since you seldom see vegetables on a menu.

After my long lunch, I found another church I had been looking for - St. Mary's.  I'd actually seen the steeple several times but kept taking streets that ended up going past it or around it.  As I approached I could hear singing so I thought that was a good sign as the church was open so I would be able to get in for a quick visit.  But when I got there I realized that there was a funeral going on at the time so I decided not to stick around with the hope of sneaking in for a visit.  Masses are always pretty good on time; funerals not so much.  The church is a rather simple-looking brick building with a high tower to the right with bells that still peel.  The facade of the church has some smaller gothic spires on top and a fancy arched window above the door but other than that it is just small red brick with light mortar between.  The church was originally built between the 15th and 17th centuries (they don't know for sure) but rebuilt in the 18th century.

I kept wondering and eventually saw a stone portal which I assume was once a part of the old 13th century city wall.  A number of the buildings around seemed  to have walls of this same old stone.  I exited to another park and another sculpture.  This one was Estela Falc, which was supposed to represent a scythe and a plow and a circle of continuation that represented the areas agricultural heritage, the battles that had been fought for it and the almost never-ending circle  of life in the area.  Trust me, if I didn't read the material I'd never figure some of these things out!

Some of the statues were pretty easy to sort out.  Individual people were recognized in a few places but I did not recognize any of the names.  At one point there is a young boy selling fish and that one made sense.  Outside the agricultural museum there was a man carrying a basket of grapes on his shoulder and a lady picking grapes.  At one point down by the sea there was a statue of two women sitting and mending fishing nets, and one of a tall curved design that tapered at the top.  I figure that one out right away as a sail as it kind of reminded me of the sails statue in Kelowna.  It also helped that there was a sail boat regattta going on and there were lots of sailboats out on the water as I went past.

Okay, back to the walk.  As I left the old city and followed the other side of the river back down again, I came to the "Moli de les tres Eres" Museum or the Mill of the Three Eras.  The name sounds distinctly French but I'm not sure what the connection is.  This museum has two main parts.  One is an archeological exhibit, which was very interesting once I figured out how to make the English booklet match the exhibits.  A number of the exhibits came from the Roman ruins I was at earlier in the day, but the entire exhibit covered much more going back thousands of years to the early cave-dwelling hunters who moved around a lot then into the start of agriculture in the area, and a few other civilizations before reaching the Romans.  It was a small exhibit but well done except maybe for the fact that it wasn't in English.  Even the person in charge apologized for that and said they were very disappointed it wasn't.  But at least they had a little booklet for you to take with you as you wondered around and you could then read about each exhibit - not in the same details but enough.  

One of the most interesting parts for me was the lamp stands.  One looked like a floor lamp we used to have at home.  It had a base that stood on small clawed feet (like an old bathtub but smaller), then a tall slender ribbed column that went to platform at the top where you put your candle or lamp.  Ours of course had a light bulb and shade but it was amazing how similar the design was.  Another one was even more intricate with the statue of a boy holding a tray in his hand to hold a lamp and leaning against a branch or tree that ended in several different branches up higher with shelves on them.  They were beautiful pieces and apparently found in a rubbish pile at the Roman ruins.  I don't think they went back to Roman times but rather to the time of the home that was on top of the Roman ruins and they found them when excavating.

The second exhibit was an actual guided tour and it was great.  In fact it was the highlight of the day.  The building used to be an old hydraulic flour mill and was used until the 20th century.  It was one of 11 in the city at one point and they were all connected.  So first, one has to imagine that the river that doesn't have a drop of water in it today was once a wide, fast-flowing river.  Water was diverted from the river to each of the 11 mills and used as power and then returned to the river.  Eventually the river ran dry so they started using well water that came from wells farther from the city.  Underground stone pipelines or open stone ditches sent the water to the first mill.  They used it and then let it flow on to the next mill and this continued until it eventually flowed into the sea.  When that source ran dry they extended the pipeline system and brought the water from the higher hills around the town.  Those might be the three eras referred to in the title but I'm not sure about that.

The water was stored at each mill in a huge reservoir.  The one at this mill is now much smaller but it is still quite large, probably about the size of a recreation centre pool.  The tour guide unlocked the mechanism and cranked up the gate so the water would flow into a smaller but deeper tank because apparently the system requires the downward pressure of water.  When I think of water-run mills I think of water flowing past buckets or blades that will turn as a result of the water flow.  This system is different in that the water must rush down with a lot of pressure and hit a horizontal wheel with many slats in it.  The force of the water causes the wheel to turn which causes the centre crank to turn and that is connected to the upper stone in the grinding room so it starts turning.  And it was amazing how fast that heavy stone would turn.  I was expecting a slow grind but it was incredibly fast and it was one big heavy stone.  The bottom stone was equally big but did not move and that allowed for the grain to be ground into flour.  The wheat was put into the hopper above the stones and the flour came out the bottom.  It was also amazing how much water came rushing out.  I stood downstairs at one point while he went up and turned on the water.  I nearly got soaked even behind the glass divider.  It takes a while to get going but once the water is hitting it continually the wheel turns faster and faster.  These days the mill is only run for demonstration purposes like for these tours.  The water used is pumped back into the reservoir so the system is now self sufficient.  It was a great demonstration and I'm really glad I saw it.  At least one museum was open - of course it was evening by this point so perhaps they were all open.

I left there just before 7 p.m. and walked back to Fisherman's Park.  The place was much busier now than it had been around noon although there were lots of people out at noon drinking wine and having tapas or sample of food.  I almost stopped to have some at that point because I was hungry but I really didn't want any wine and that was what you were actually buying.  You could just have one glass or you could buy several glasses and some food.  There were various price categories but I wasn't really into any of them.  However, I have to say it made for a very nice location for a wine festival.  For obvious weather reasons, most of our festival activities are indoors.  This one was much more relaxed and informal, but then this is Europe and they drink wine everywhere.  And the kids were running all over the place and no one seemed to mind. The wine festival even includes events for the children where they get to learn about the wine making process.  I don't imagine they get to drink much wine but they seemed to be having fun.  There was a large group of individuals sitting on chairs at tables in the one area and they all had about a dozen wine glasses in front of them so I assume they were having a formal wine tasting demonstration.  It's a three day event and there are lots of different activities every day so people have a lot to enjoy.  Most people had a special container around their neck which allowed them to carry their wine glass if it was not in use.  These were obviously the people with three-day passes or multi-event passes or something.  It seemed like a great idea and looked very light and inexpensive, and it worked because I saw people walking home with their wine glasses neatly tucked away.

One of the things they got to enjoy as they drank their wine and visited was the castellers.  There were two teams in the park and they alternated building pyramids.  It was interesting to watch them, which I did for about an hour.  It's a slow process so you really need to have some wine to drink and people to visit with while you wait.  Then all of a sudden a tight group of people, mainly men, start raising their hands and you realize they have formed the bottom layer and are about to start building.  The people on the second layer climb up and walk across the shoulders of the people on the bottom layer.  Once the people on the second level are in place and balanced and secure, the rest of the team starts scrambling up and things move much quicker.  There is also music to announce that a pyramid is going up.  The highest one I saw this time was six high so they weren't as high as the ones I saw on TV.  However, they were still interesting to watch and I'm glad its them and not me doing the building.  There were no falls while I was there but there were several false starts and there was certainly a lot of shaking and leaning from time to time.  They all stare at a point in space and definitely not at the crowd, and the intense concentration on their faces is amazing.  So is the teamwork that's required.  Because of the hour, I couldn't really get any great shots but I got a few okay ones.  

I caught the 8:15 bus home and once back in Salou I went to the grocery store to get some supplies for the next few days.  Unfortunately I didn't buy anything healthy for dinner so it was a delightful dinner of chips and pop and a chocolate croissant fresh from the bakery.  Oh, I had a carrot to start so that part was healthy.  But then I did cover all of the food groups over the whole day perhaps just not in the right quantities.  

I finished the day with some computer work and that was it for me.  It was a good day, although hotter than expected, and I certainly walked a lot further than I expected but most of it was fairly level so it was okay.