L'Escala day trips

 Our next excursion was to Figueres and Roses. Figueres is Salvador Dali‘s hometown and he is also buried there. We were really keen to go to his museum even though it doesn’t have his best works but  it is supposed to be pretty amazing. Aidan was telling me about this wacky dream he had the day before so it was a great way to explain the meaning of surrealism. Bad timing for us though as the line-up for the museum was too long (2hrs+) in the hot sun so we took a pass and decided we would come back on another day (only 40 minutes from our villa).

Instead we drove back to the coast to a town called Roses. The Bay of Roses is spectacular. Winding coast of sandy beach and turquoise water with the white homes built up into the side of the cliffs. We headed to one of the many beaches and set up for a couple hours. The kids were happy I remembered my bathing suit. Party poopers!  Calvin and Noah went for a little walk along the beach, like they do on every beach visit.  Hmmm what could they be looking at? We all enjoyed swimming in the very shallow, warm Mediterranean.

The kids were eyeing up this paddle /waterslide boat for the past few days, so we gave in and decided to rent one. If you can picture a paddle boat with a park slide strapped over the area where the peddlers sit – you got yourself a money winner on the beaches of Costa Brava.  We had envisioned it to be pretty pricey but it turned out to be the equivalent of $14 for an hour. Funny thing was that the guy who rented the boats didn’t have a watch so how would he keep track of the hour? Then he spotted my watch...darn! The MacInnis 5 fit on one and the Amanat family took their own out as well. It turned out to be lots of fun and we spent an hour and a little bit peddling and sliding into the water.  After an hour swimming, we came back to shore to join the sea of sunbathers for a little while.  Calvin and Noah went to the car to drop some more euros in the parking meter – an hour, two beer, one coke and a plate of calamari later, they returned.  I guessed they were on another inspection of the beach! Aidan and Devin built sand castles and I relaxed after all that peddling.

On our last full day in L’Escala we rented a boat/skipper with the Amanats to close out our Spain trip with a splash. The boat was absolutely perfect but it wasn’t easy to arrange as the owner, Peter, speaks very little English and Calvin’s Spanish hasn’t improved at the rate we had hoped.  Calvin was able to determine the cost, location and time.

We found the Marina and handsome Peter – finally!.  He showed us to his boat.  It was a 15+ meter power yacht with an upstairs for sunning and sightseeing and a downstairs with three beds (not that we were sleeping on this thing), a bathroom = plenty of room for the 9 of us.  Away we went. Peter and the kids downstairs and Mo, Jay, Calvin and I up top ! Perfect! 

We followed the coastline from L’Escala to L’Espertit. Peter took us into many coves with massive cliffs towering above us. The turquoise water and the caves were spectacular. It was some of the most beautiful seascape I have ever seen. We pulled into a few coves and jumped in for a swim. Freezing cold but it didn’t seem to matter to anyone.

While the Moms made lunch on the boat the Dads and kids took their masks and snorkels and went looking for fish.  This is Aidan jumping off the top of the boat.  The area was full of colourful tropical fish and a barracuda to boot.  Poor Monique got some wicked motion sickness and could not stand on the boat, so while everyone was eating she jumped in the water and treaded water until we were ready to leave. It was the only thing that made her feel better. I really sympathized with her and was worried Devin and I would end up in the “same boat”...ha ha - couldn’t resist. But we were both ok.

The ride back to the port was so relaxing.  I lay down on the top deck and fell asleep for a few minutes and it was heavenly. We said goodbye to handsome Peter and headed back to the villa.

Without any internet access at this villa it has been really difficult to book our next accommodation and we leave tomorrow!  We are looking at it as an adventure…not a problem!  We said adios to the Amanats who were on their way to France for a week or two before flying home to North Vancouver.  We had a great time with them and will miss them.  Safe travels back home!.