Holiday in L'Escala, Spain - 24th September - 8th October

Day 5 - Ancient ruins

According to the weather forecast, today was supposed to have been cloudy but it's been gorgeous with clear blue skies and warm sunshine. We'd decided to drive through L'Escala and explore a bit, and then visit the ruins of Empuries, an ancient Greek city just outside the town.

I made scrambled eggs for breakfast, and we sat outside at the back of the villa for a change, where it's a lovely suntrap. 

This area has a barbecue and grill and more tables to eat at, as well as another little space for relaxing. We also have a large upper terrace with views over the town. We're spoilt for choice!

After stacking the dishwasher and showering, we set out for the Ruins of Empuries, a short drive away. We drove the way we walked yesterday and then headed inland through the town. L'Escala is a lot bigger than we first thought!

We followed signs for the ruins and parked in a shaded, woody area. It was 16 euros to go in and we were given a free audio guide. The city was established in the 1st century BC by the Greeks but was later taken over by the Romans. It was a large area with mostly crumbling walls and tanks for storing water and fish and was discovered in 1908.

The museum

The views over the Bay of Roses were stunning and there was another beach just below us. I think you can walk to this part of L'Escala from where we're staying, and we saw a lot of people strolling past.

The audio guides were good, but we preferred just looking at the ruins ourselves. It was hard to imagine this was once a major city.

The museum wasn't properly open, but we did see some ancient artefacts that had been discovered during the excavations. Some were quite startling...

Phallic items - not sure what!

Others, more conventional:

Thought to be Asclepios, the Greek God of Medicine

After wandering around for a good while, we headed back to the car, stopping at the small gift shop on the way so Sophie could buy a postcard. Our next stop was supposed to be Saint Marti d'Empuries, an old Roman village a little way up the coast. However, there were only two car parks, and the price to park was 31 cents a minute! We turned around and headed back to L'Escala, but I'm determined to get there one day!

Before returning to the villa, we called into Mercadona and bought some food for dinner, as we'd decided to stay in tonight. The forecast for this evening was thunderstorms and we didn't fancy getting caught out by a downpour again!

Back at the villa we put the shopping away, had some pâté and bread for lunch with a cold beer, and spent the rest of the afternoon sunbathing. It was lovely and warm in the sun and Sophie and Keith went in for a dip. I chickened out!

Towards the late afternoon, the sky clouded over, and we heard the first rumblings of thunder. The two men painting the villa opposite, carried on, despite the threat of an imminent downpour. Sophie and I played Scrabble and drank a bottle of cava that was a little sweet.

Dinner was a cooked chicken we'd bought, heated up in the oven with a pizza, and salad. We ate outside and watched a constant show of lightning, accompanied by booms of thunder, and heavy, heavy rain. We went inside after the meal and cleared up before watching Blonde, a film about Marilyn Monroe, on Netflix. We didn't see the end of it, we were too tired!