We awoke to yet another beautiful day with cloudless skies and hot sunshine. I love getting up early and sitting on the terrace with a coffee and watching the swifts wheel about in the sky. It's too early for the crickets (I think they're crickets) to be making their racket - they wait until it's hotter, and then the noise is deafening! We also have some noisy magpies and the occasional pigeon sitting in the trees. Oh, and the ubiquitous barking dogs!
We had decided to shop at the supermarket in Pals this morning and have lunch at the beach nearby. We had very fond memories of the beach bar in 2023, but Sophie thought it may have closed down. We set off, got rid of our rubbish and two bags of recycling, and drove through the busy town. The market was taking place today, so there were a lot of people on the streets.
Once out into the countryside, the traffic thinned and we had a good journey to Pals, passing through fields of maize and apple orchards. We shopped for lunches and dinners, bought wine, beer and water, and enough milk to last us the week. We had frozen a large bottle of water and put it into our cool bag to keep our purchases nice and cold. Next door to the supermarket, I bought two more bottles of Factor 50 sun cream; we're getting through it so quickly because of the heat. I find it impossible to actually sunbathe, it's so hot!
We drove to Platja del Grau, the same beach we went to back in 2023 and found a space in the large car park, which was much busier today! When we visited last time, it was grey and foggy, and there was hardly anyone about, just a handful of surfers. Sadly, the beach bar was closed (and appeared to be permanently shut down), so we went for a drink at Les Dunes restaurant instead. They were serving food from 1pm, so it was lovely to sit and chat in the shade and watch people come and go.
A couple next to us had a delightful little dog with the longest eyelashes we'd ever seen! She kept flopping down in different places, then getting up and flopping down again, occasionally having a cuddle with her Dad, and she was so sweet!
Genuine mistake? Or an attempt to rip us off?
By 1pm, the restaurant was filling up with diners, mainly those who had been on the beach. We ordered our lunch: Keith chose half a rabbit, and Sophie and I opted for the escalopes and shared a Russian salad.
For some reason, we'd been given a bill for our beers, but this was taken away when we ordered food. We tucked in, and the meals were delicious and plentiful! Keith's rabbit was huge! We even found room for dessert as we hadn't planned on eating again for the rest of the day. Sophie chose ice-cream served with Bailey's, Keith went for Tiramisu, while I fancied the profiteroles. It had been a lovely, very relaxed meal, and it was great that the men with the dog spoke to us every now and again and were friendly and chatty.
The restaurant was now buzzing with people enjoying their Sunday lunches, and we asked for the bill. Sophie had popped to the loo, and when one of the waiting staff brought out the bill, it was for 177 euros! I nearly fell off my chair as this was more expensive than the upmarket Ultramar the other day!
It was then that I noticed that seven beers amounted to 105 euros... making them 15 euros each for a little over half a pint! You wouldn't pay that in London! I asked the waitress to take it back and correct it, so she disappeared back inside. When Sophie returned, we said we'd totted up the bill, and it should have been about 90 euros.
After another long wait, a second waitress brought out the bill, which was 105 euros. Before I could query it, Sophie paid with Keith's credit card. It was then that I noticed they charged us for 6 beers at 2.50 euros, but one at 15 euros! It was still wrong! By now, I was seriously annoyed and was wondering whether it was a genuine mistake or were they trying to rip us off? We will never know, but they brought back 15 euros in cash to the table, and we left. It hadn't spoiled the meal, but it did leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Keith went back to the car while Sophie and I ventured onto the dunes, as we did last time. It was mightily different today, though! People were sunbathing and we could see the views to either side clearly. Last time, the sea had been shrouded in fog.
Sophie said the sand was burning, so she dipped her toes in the water, and we returned to the car. Jeeves took us back to the C31 through the sun-baked rural countryside, with the mountains in the distance. For the whole journey back, Keith and I argued about whether the mistakes made in the bill were genuine or was there something sinister going on? I argued that they were trying it on, and hoping we wouldn't check the bill, as I couldn't see how they'd calculated the beers at 105 euros! In the end, we both agreed to disagree, but it just proves how important it is to check a restaurant bill!
Back at the house, we put our shopping away (the fridge stuff had stayed lovely and cold) and donned our swimsuits. It was then into the pool for the rest of the afternoon to cool down. The pool man had added two bags of salt yesterday, so the water was salty, and we needed to have cool showers afterwards to rinse it off. It does make the water very buoyant, though!
We attempted to sit outside again with a drink in the early evening, but with sweat running off us, we ventured back indoors to Keith's lair, where we watched the remaining two episodes of The Åre Murders. We hoped there would be a second series!
By 9.30pm, we had finished watching and we sat on the terrace to see the different colours of the sky. It was beautiful!
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