On the Road to Rocallaura (new country song perhaps??)

Rocallaura – Last stop in Spain  

We packed up the car in the morning and headed to our favourite croissanteria for café and breakfast. Believe it or not I don’t think I have gained any weight. I think it is all the walking we are doing and because of the heat we really don’t have big appetites but this croissant breakfast has got to stop. While Calvin and I went online to look for accommodations the boys played some pool. We stayed for quite a while but they are so laid back around here that we could have sat there all day. Aidan tried some Spanish to ask for the key to the washroom but came back with his legs still crossed because they tried to give him a knife. I went back in and we figured it out.

I really did not want to leave the area without going to that Dali museum and so we drove back to see if we could do it but no luck.   The line was longer than the last time and the day was hotter so we said it just wasn’t meant to be. Of course, the museum was in the opposite direction of our ultimate destination that day so we backtracked the 40 minutes and started our journey to our new villa. 

Calvin found an amazing accommodation for us in the tiny country village of Rocallaura.  We drove in the general direction while stopping every 30 minutes to send another email or make a phone call to the owners of the apartment with the hopes we would finalize the price and arrival time.  Well done Calvin for getting us a last minute discount! 

This is a thankful change of pace after L’Escala.   Rocallaura is WAY out in the country with a population of about 200, no shops in town and NO English to be found but a local pub and very small park where you can share a cool beer with the locals.  History interlude – there are two diverse groups here in Spain: the Spanish and the Catalans (different language, different flag, different culture and a hope to separate one day – sound familiar).  Rocallaura is a Catalan community so whatever Spanish we learned was not terribly helpful although some of the locals knew Spanish and sign language which we have mastered over the past few months.   We will be kicking some butts at the Christmas family charades tourney. 

Rocallaura is about 90 minutes inland from Barcelona and the villa is called Can Sula.  It’s about 400 years old. It was a farmhouse that was recently renovated in such a special way that retains the old charm and character but has all the modern conveniences that we expect. After loading up on groceries we met two of the owners, Roland and Oriol at the house. Two great guys who were so enthusiastic about this project that they undertook with 2 other partners that they spent about an hour and a half with us drinking cava and telling us great stories about the place. 

The home had been vacant for over 40 years.  The owners left to visit Barcelona one day and never returned.  When they pried the doors open, it was just as the owners had left it the day they went to Barcelona with sheets on the bed, bottles in the wine cellar, etc..  

They found some great antiques and all have been restored to perfection and are integrated with all the new furnishings.   The guys were leaving for France and invited us to meet them at their place at the beach near Tarragona upon their return but we had already booked our flight to Venice – too bad, we were having a blast. The guys also pointed out all kinds of interesting spots to visit on the map.   

 The villa is divided into 3 separate apartments with a huge shared common lounge/bar area that used to be the barn.  Spanish construction of that period had the animal accommodations below the human sleeping quarters.  I’m not sure how they rid the place of 400 years of horse smell but there’s a Fabreeze commercial in the waiting.  You would never know it was a barn if it wasn’t for all the farm equipment decorating the walls.  Our place was a self-contained apartment with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, kitchen and laundry.

There is a roman pool which was a small, freezing cold pool to dip in and jump right back out. Good for cooling off but definitely not laps.  The best feature in my opinion was the terrace off our kitchen. It had a breathtaking view of the valley and rolling hills below the village.  The only downside to this home we later discovered was the excessive amount of flies. I guess the farming fields below us brought them out, but it was very irritating to deal with.

We were so high up in the valley that the breeze in the late afternoon was so beautiful that we wanted to have the windows open but the flies were too bad. After a day or two, we mastered the fly flow and reduced their numbers to a civilized few.  That first night we went for a little walk around the village and everyone was very friendly, greeting us in Spanish. We found a little park and the kids played for a bit and then headed back home. We met the other family that was staying in one of the other apartments.  A really nice couple from Limerick, Ireland – Annette and Sean and their 13 year old daughter, Caoimhe  (pronounced like Queva ). We sat down in the lounge and talked for a couple hours and they shared a nice bottle of Spanish Beer (wine bottle size) and some very dry Sherry that is made locally.  We ended up spending another night with them staying up very late listening to Irish music and feeding them my vodka cocktails.

On that first night I went out to the terrace to hang up some clothes and just happened to look up to see a shooting star! I was so excited. The next 3 nights we all laid down and watched the sky together and every night we were rewarded with many shooting stars. Apparently it is the time of year for it??

We spent many days relaxing in Rocallaura. The quiet village atmosphere seemed to warrant it. The owners told us that twice a week the baker came into the village and honked his horn to let you know he had arrived. We were playing cards together and heard the honking on Sunday. We all looked at each other and yelled “the baker is here”!!

I grabbed my wallet and we all went out. We stood in line with all the grandmothers and waited our turn. Fresh baguettes, loafs of bread and a sweet treat that seemed to be a large thin baked cracker with sugar on top. We bought a couple of those and some fresh bread. The baker short-changed me 5 euros and even after I brought it to his attention he still played ignorant. I thought the ladies were going to put a hit on him…they smiled at me and glared at him while wagging some powerful looking fingers in his direction. Doesn’t matter where you are, us sisters stick together!

One of the cities not too far from Rocallaura was Tarragona.

 

The city has roman ruins (yup, Roman ruins along the water….it’s hard not to be impressed by the Romans and their ruins) and a walled city so we thought we would look for some WiFi at one of the malls and then venture into the old center. It turned out to be quite a big city.   

Noah has been interested in building models so he found a hobby store and bought a car model.

We just missed the festival by one day that features castellers which are breathtakingly tall towers made entirely of people. These truly impressive feats of teamwork, strength, and bravery are the product of traditional festivals in the Catalonia region.  And yes, castells do occasionally topple back to earth. Small children top the tower and wear helmets. Even though we missed the festival there were many monuments and museums that show the towers, usually about 8 people high with four people at each level so that’s 32 per tower with another 30 holding the base together.  

The amphitheatre was one of the best we’ve seen.  The romans had the best real estate available when they conquered a city and did a great job putting it to use. 

We had dinner at an Italian restaurant within the walls of the old city and left Tarragona with a full belly.