Our French and Spanish Adventure - September 9th - 23rd

Total blackout!

Unfortunately, I wasn't asleep for long and woke up to total darkness. I checked my phone battery and it was now critical. I tried my best to go back to sleep, but at about 1am I got up and went into the living room. I figured I could steal some power from my laptop for my phone. Sophie heard me wandering about and came out as well. I felt very on edge and hated the darkness.

She was hot, bless her, and said she was finding it difficult to sleep as well. I connected my phone to the laptop and found out, purely by chance (thank goodness for 4G), that the power cut was an "unexpected outage" and was expected to last until about 1.30am. 

Sophie could hear voices outside and we both peered out of the patio doors. At the top of our street, there were men working, which was reassuring, and we could see our neighbour talking to them. We then saw a police car drive slowly past. 

We opened the doors for a little while to get some cool night air and after a while decided to go back to bed. My battery had climbed back up to 20% so I could use the torch if I needed to!

I went back to sleep, and Sophie came in at 4.30am and said the power was back on and to plug my phone in to charge, which I did! Hooray! I'd had visions of the power being off for a long time and wondering what we'd have to do!

A bit of culture

We were all up at 8am and I cooked breakfast of bacon, leftover hot dog sausages and a tin of tomatoes. This was all mopped up with bread and butter and mugs of hot coffee. The day had dawned sunny but noticeably cooler than previous mornings.

Once breakfast was eaten and cleared away, we had showers, dressed, and set out for the Dali-Gala Castle in Pubol. We were very lucky in that we skipped through the green lights of the roadworks but the oncoming traffic had been halted for ages, judging by the length of the queue!

We drove through lovely farmland where tall rows of apple trees were waiting to be harvested. We didn't know what the apples were being grown for? Cider? Apple juice or just to be sold as fruit? I have to admit, I'd never heard of Spanish cider!

We had both Googly and Trish barking directions, but in the end, we turned Googly off as she kept directing us onto non-existent roads and it was all getting a bit chaotic! We saw a sign for the castle and we were soon parking in a large car park next to the museum.

We had an arrival time of 11.30am but there was nowhere to have a coffee so we wandered about admiring the buildings next to the castle. There were ample opportunities for someone to have a café here but nothing was open!

We discovered a shop selling artwork and gifts, and I bought some beautifully scented soap to take home.

At 11.30am, we saw a group of people who had been waiting go through into the castle. We imagined that they had booked for 11.30am as well, so we followed them in. We then became embroiled in a shouting match between the staff who kept talking to us in Spanish (Catalan?) and we didn't understand a word of it! It transpired we'd inadvertently mingled in with an official tour group!

We went back to the ticket booth, where I showed the tickets stored on my phone and we were allowed in. I'm sure we could have entered earlier as ahead of us was a woman buying tickets at the door!

We visited the beautiful gardens first which were shaded and peaceful.

Elephant on stilts

It was lovely to wander about and admire the statues and artwork. There was a lovely pool with a sculpture and lots of big urns and pretty shrubs.

Once we'd visited the gardens, we went inside the castle and down a flight of steps to Gala's tomb. It was lovely and peaceful. Back upstairs, we found we couldn't access the castle as there was a group going around, so we went into the shop, where Sophie bought a tee shirt and a couple of postcards, and I bought two of my own.

We eventually sneaked into the castle by the back route, up a flight of outdoor steps, and came across the kitchen, living rooms and bedrooms.

We loved this lamp!

It was all very ornate and reminiscent of 70s décor!

Gala's bath

Breasts with the head of men!

Gala's bedroom was all in blue and she had an ornate dressing room and bathroom. She had an interesting life, was born in Russia and was married at first to the Surrealist artist, Paul Eluard. She met Salvador Dali in 1929. They both embarked on an affair and married in 1934. She was Dali's muse until the day she died and was ten years older than him. The 11th-century castle was bought for her as a place of refuge and peace.

It was fascinating to look around and try and imagine them both living there. There was a small exhibition of artwork and a dress that she'd worn. It was definitely worth visiting and one day we'll try and get to his house in Port Lligat, which had been fully booked.

By now, we were thirsty and we hoped that a nearby restaurant would be open for a light lunch and drinks. We walked up to find it firmly closed, both to our astonishment and another British couple who had walked up at the same time. I mean, really? I can understand the restaurant being closed when the museum wasn't open, but today I'm sure lots of people would have sat and enjoyed drinks and something to eat on the sunny terrace. The castle has no café and didn't sell drinks in the shop, so we were all really thirsty after the bacon of this morning!

We walked back to the car in the hope that somewhere nearby was open but everything was closed. Madness! We did see some cats, though, who very graciously posed for these photos taken by Sophie.

Lunch at last!

I suggested going to Peratellada for a drink so we programmed the town into Trish and set off. She took us on some very dodgy, narrow roads (especially on the outskirts of Bisbal d'Emporda), and when we arrived we noticed the lovely bar we'd had a drink in last week was also closed!

It didn't matter as we went to another, beautiful bar in a square by the church and enjoyed beers, sandwiches and tapas. The waiter was friendly and delighted that Sophie spoke Spanish, the place was quiet and peaceful and the food was good. It was heaven to sit and relax and enjoy a long, leisurely lunch.

Beautiful, private house, I think

A lot of the other restaurants were closed and the antique/ceramic shop was also shut up. Maybe it was siesta? One thing we can be sure of... never take it for granted that a favourite restaurant, bar or shop is open!

We took a slow drive back to Els Masos de Pals, stopping at the supermarket to buy wines to take home. I spent 63 euros, while Sophie splashed out 50 euros on drinks. We found Spanish cider, made in the area, and I purchased a bottle of the Ratafia liqueur to take home.

Back at the house, it was time for a dip and the pool company arrived to give the pool a good clean. They were followed by the gardener who spent about half an hour doing some pruning and sweeping. He asked us if we'd been affected by mosquitoes... Goodness, had we! We're still being bitten!

Back to Antic Casino

We'd booked a table for 7.30pm this evening and while we were getting showered and dressed it clouded over again. We have a warning for thunderstorms and a forecast for rain tomorrow, but we face a busy Wednesday, packing and getting ready for the journey home.

We sat outside tonight, in the lovely courtyard at the front of the restaurant and we were glad we'd booked as it was busy. As well as the outside courtyard, there was another outside eating area and of course, the beautiful dining room we'd sat in last week.

We ordered a bottle of Rosé and a hummus dip with bread to start. This came with onion, carrot, celery and cucumber! Vegetables!

Keith and I opted for the same main course, the veal sirloin, while Sophie chose the cod which was served with a pear pureé. I was delighted with the steak and chips and Keith and I also had Padron peppers with our meal.

Again, we had a lovely evening relaxing and listening to all the different accents around us (for the third meal running we had a group of French people next to us) and watching the wait staff expertly serve everyone. We all found room for puds - chocolate fondant (or coulant) for me, which sadly failed the Masterchef test, tarte tatin for Keith and Bailey's mousse for Sophie. Although my fondant didn't ooze, it was still delicious!

We discover the murderer!

The bill came to a reasonable 130 euros which was great value for three courses, wine, water and bread. We paid up, walked the short distance back to the car and headed back to the villa. We were relieved to see the lights shining!

We had two episodes of Only Murders in the Building to watch and we discovered the identity of the murderer who I guessed at the opening of the ninth episode! I won't reveal who in case you watch this excellent series! Roll on the next one!