Return to L'Escala: 20th June to 6th July 2025

House-hunting

Keith woke us up at 8am this morning as he was desperate for a cup of tea! I woke with a horrible headache and made myself a cup of coffee before joining Keith on the terrace. Again, it was a gorgeous morning and the temperature was perfect!

We had a booking to visit Salvador Dali's house in Port Lligat, near Cadaqués, today, so we were ready to go by 9am as it was about an hour's drive from L'Escala. We stopped to fill the tank with petrol on the way, delighted by the cheaper prices than in France! We'll definitely stop again to fill up on our way back on Thursday.

We had a pleasant drive at first, through farmland and small towns. As we neared Roses, the road started to climb. Our next-door neighbours, Vince and Sue, had lived in Roses, and Vince had told me about the road to Cadaqués, which goes over the mountains. He wasn't wrong! The road climbed and climbed, and the views were stunning! Sophie went very quiet in the back of the car! At a lay-by, I stopped to take a couple of photos:

We carried on along the very twisty mountain road, and I took it carefully! Jeeves directed us to Cadaqués but then took us along a rough, very narrow road, and I had no idea where we were! The signs for the house had disappeared, and he kept telling us to park and then walk to our destination!

We came across a beach with boats moored out at sea and turned into a dry and dusty car park. I managed to park under a tree, and we trudged back along the beach to Dali's whitewashed house, which sits right by the sea. 

We had a tour time of 11.10am, and the tickets on my phone were exchanged for paper ones. While we waited to be admitted at the correct time, we stored my bag in a locker and bought two bottles of water from the small café. It was, need I say it, fearsomely hot.

Sophie and I also looked around the shop, and I spotted a book called The Secret Life of Dali, which I planned to buy after the tour. Extracts from this personal diary looked most interesting!

At 11.10am, we were admitted and we waited for our little tour party. Our guide was fantastic and switched from Spanish to English, to French with ease. The house was truly beautiful, and we were able to see most of the rooms with all of his and Gala's personal possessions. They had pet swans, which they'd had stuffed and put on show. The guide was very knowledgeable and gave us lots of information about each room.

The interior of the house was blissfully cool, even though we couldn't see any signs of air conditioning. We went into his studio and saw two unfinished paintings. Gala died in 1982, and Dali never returned to the house, living instead at Gala's castle in Pubol.

We also saw two of his reworkings of the famous painting of The Angelus, showing two people praying in a field.

I found the bedroom particularly interesting, and the bathroom, which seemed very basic! 

Gala's private quarters were full of stuffed animals and very cosy. The house seemed designed for privacy and comfort, and I can imagine they had a wonderful life together there.

Once the guided part of the tour was over, we could wander about the grounds. There were a lot of steep steps, and the visit certainly isn't suitable for those who are frail or unsteady on their feet. 

We came across their swimming pool - it was gorgeous!

White geraniums complimenting the white buildings

This part of the house reminded me of the buildings of César Manrique in Lanzarote. I did wonder whether the two of them knew of each other. I could just imagine the parties they had and the fabulous times they had relaxing at the house. It was a haven of peace and tranquility.

We finished our tour and I bought my book, while Sophie treated herself to a bottle of perfume. It was insanely hot now, and we made our way back to the car, stopping at a beach bar on the way for a drink. The heat had made Sophie use her inhaler, and she ordered a Fanta orange as she hadn't had any breakfast - none of us had!

We sat and chatted and decided to head to Cadaqués for lunch. Walking back to the car was like walking into a hair dryer on full blast, and it was lovely to get into the car and switch on the aircon. Everywhere you go, you can hear the whine of the aircon in cars!

We followed a twisty road to Cadaqués and found ourselves on narrow streets. They led down to the harbour area, and at one point, we were on the harbour itself with no barrier between us and the sea! We then became stuck behind a people carrier that had stopped outside a restaurant. I had a van behind me as well, and I should really have sounded my horn to get them to move! A couple of women got out, oblivious to the waiting cars behind them!

Cadaqués was hectically busy with people wandering about the streets, and we decided to leave. We headed back the way we'd arrived, negotiating the twisty mountain roads again. At one point, I pulled over as the car behind me had overtaken the van (still with me) and was bearing down on me. I didn't really want him so close on the hairpin bends!

Unwelcome neighbours

Once the road levelled off, we called into a Lidl and bought food for lunch. The journey back to L'Escala took us through sleepy villages and towns and very rural countryside. Once back at the house, we made lunch (pizza for Sophie and me, chicken for Keith) and relaxed. Unfortunately, we seem to have new neighbours who inflicted their music on us all afternoon, and it was so loud it affected our enjoyment of the pool. The music was cheesy Spanish or 80s songs, and was awful. I felt very angry that a group of people could be so thoughtless and selfish.

While this was going on, our immediate neighbours arrived, a family with teenage sons, and we retreated indoors, feeling so annoyed at the noise that we looked at leaving a day early and renting a house near Narbonne for Wednesday night! 

Luckily, at about 7.30pm the music stopped, whether another neighbour had said something or whether the group had gone out for dinner. Peace reigned! Sophie and I played cards, and we ate the leftover pasta from last night with salad.

We have one more day here in the house, and I hope it's a peaceful one!

Return to L'Escala: 20th June to 6th July 2025

A pressing need...

I was awake at 6.30am and enjoying the cooler morning temperature sitting on the terrace. It's the perfect time of the day!

Gradually, I was joined by my family, and Sophie said she wanted to iron some of her tops. She fetched the travel iron we'd brought and turned it on, but it didn't get hot. No matter how much we fiddled with it, it refused to get hot even though we knew it was definitely switched on. It was extremely frustrating!

As I had some things I also needed to iron, we had no choice but to ask our host, Marta, to bring one over, even though an iron had been listed on the amenities at the house. She replied that she couldn't bring it over today as it was at another house, and she'd drop it off tomorrow. We were speechless! Was she saying that there is just one iron between all the houses she rents out? Were we now going to make another family annoyed by nicking their iron?

At the moment, on this holiday, we seem to have some sort of drama going on every day! Whether it's an infestation of flies, the hottest June for Spain on record, a lack of laundry facilities, one of us falling over or problems with bills, we seem to be having an interesting time! As Sophie says, when something goes wrong, "It's for the blog!"

We gave up with ironing, I hung yet another wash out on the line, and we adjourned to the pool to cool off and relax!

Lunch was taken on the terrace again, and we enjoyed crusty bread sandwiches and a beer. Bliss! I could see clouds bubbling up on the horizon, but I don't think any thunderstorms are forecast, which is a shame. A good storm from our vantage point would be excellent!

We had a lazy afternoon relaxing by the pool, snoozing, reading and swimming. At 4pm, it was time to cool off properly, so we retreated inside, had showers and got ready to go out. The problem with the air-conditioning is that you forget how hot it is outside, and getting in the car is torture! I couldn't touch the steering wheel, it was so hot and initially, the aircon in the car blasted out hot air!

We parked in our usual place, and Keith and Sophie went to get a ticket. They were gone for ages, and I could see them talking to another couple, so I wandered over. The woman asked if I was local, and I said no, and she asked for help with their disabled badge. Sophie and Keith went to another pay point, and I chatted with the couple. It turned out they were from Melton Mowbray, not far from Northampton! They had also driven from the UK and had been together for nearly 60 years. They were such a lovely couple! Sophie, while getting our parking ticket, bought one for them, and they were really pleased! 

We said goodbye, wished them a safe journey home and popped into the treasure trove of a shop opposite again, this time to buy Keith a shoe horn! They had everything you needed (and stuff you would never imagine you'd need!) stuffed into a shop that was crammed full!

We walked slowly down to the front, had a look at the menu for Ca'l Galan (for our last night on Wednesday) and had a drink at Ultramar. We sat in the shade, and I asked for a bottle of mineral water to go with my Aperol Spritz.

We sat and chatted for an hour and then made our way to La Tagliatella. On the way, Sophie and I went to see if the art shop was still open, which had been featured on A New Life in the Sun, and we saw the man talking to a customer. I spotted some beautiful prints in the window!

We sat inside at La Tagliatella, right by the window, so we could look out over the sea. Our waiter was lovely, albeit slightly hesitant and timid, bless him. We ordered a sharing platter of cold meats and cheese, and fried tortellini. For our main courses, I chose the Bolognese sauce with tagliatelle, and Keith chose the same sauce with meat ravioli. Sophie opted for the Ragu Antico with campanelle pasta.

The starters disappeared in a trice, and the food was delicious. I have to say that my Bolognese sauce was good, if a little sweet, but (not blowing my own trumpet!) the sauce I make at home is better! We had so much left over, our waiter boxed it up for us to take home for dinner tomorrow night!

The wine - a local red and a mix of grapes

As there was chocolate fondant on the menu, I was forced to have this for dessert while Sophie chose Tiramisu. My fondant was on a par with the dessert I had in Chateauneuf-du-Pape!

Look at the ooze on that!

We paid the bill, gave our hesitant waiter a nice tip and walked slowly back to the car in the humid heat. Back at the house, we sat on the terrace for a while, and then it was time for bed!

Return to L'Escala: 20th June to 6th July 2025

Out for lunch

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!