The Brit from our B+B in Calella had recommended a hotel in d'Empuries. And it looked like there was hiking nearby and some ancient Greek and Roman ruins right next to the hotel. So off we went.
Even though it was sunny, April had memories of being in the cold rain yesterday so she dressed up in her long riding tights and long sleeve wool shirt. Then she was hot almost immediately. No skillz.
We again had the mix of paved and dirt. Nothing special to report. We saw some people collecting wild asparagus. It's getting late in the season for it because all the grasses are growing up hence it's hard to spot the asparagus. We've only seen it once while riding.
At the last town before the coast, I had the map, and I managed to sneak us onto a fantastic paved road. There was a dirt bike path that we normally would have followed, but I "accidentally" steered us to the paved road. Not only was the 8K stretch fantastic, it was even more pleasurable because of it's illicit nature. Haha. Life's little pleasures!
We got to the hotel early, like 2:00, and signed up for the romantic package, which meant we got the room, breakfast, dinner and two massages at the hotel spa. We couldn't resist. Ate lunch at the hotel restaurant. Fixed price of $25E each. Sort of a ripoff. But we figure what the hell, it was supposedly a good restaurant, and we were right on the beach terrace. April had a tomato tart, then a grilled monk fish, and a little cake thing for dessert. I had a cod sashimi type of thing, a steak (entrecôte), and then some home made chocolate ice cream for dessert. Also had water and wine.
Service was very slow, quite unlike most of the places we've eaten. I've been loving that the Spanish take your order and get the food out quickly. Not like in Italy where you have to freakin beg for the check at the end of the meal. And the other thing is the Spanish are very friendly yet very matter of fact. They're warmer than the French, and they don't behave like they're the lead actor in some melodrama like the Italians. Haha, what the hell, some generalizations.
After lunch we explored the beach, then hit the spa for the massages. Turns out they were great. In expected euro fashion they gave April the male masseuse, while I had the female. In the mens changing room they gave me a locker, and in there was a pair of sandals, a super short robe, a long terry cloth robe, and what looked like the eye covers for airplanes. Well I wasn't going to put on the short robe as my ass would have been hanging out, and i certainly didn't need the eye covers, so i just donned the long robe and went au natural underneath. And in a slight tweak of expected protocol, in the massage room, my masseuse said hang the robe on the hook then jump on the table, and she stood there waiting. Hmm. I guess they don't make a big deal out of being naked here. So I whipped off the robe and jumped on the table.
Like I said the massage was very good. They used a ton of oil, which I really like because my hair doesn't get pulled that way.
Then afterwards April says to me, "so weren't those underwear things weird?" I say, "what underwear, my locker had eye covers." April starts laughing, that wasn't eye covers, it was a mini underwear thing, which explained the short robe, and the masseuse telling me to hang up my robe while she stood there. Haha!! Live and learn. Couldn't quite understand why I needed those eye covers.
We walked the beach again. Looked at the ruins which were just a bunch of low lying rocks. Nothing significant left. The history is this was first Greek settlement on the Iberian peninsula, around 600 BC. Then the Romans showed up around 200 BC to cut off Hannibal's supply route. The whole show was abandoned about 200 AD, after the Germanic tribes came down and kicked ass.
We chilled a little before dinner. I noticed my white t-shirt had some oil stains on it, I must have spilled some olive oil on it during lunch. Then I notice 30 minutes later, more oil spots. Turns out there was still so much oil on my chest that it was soaking and staining my t-shirt. What a drag, as I only have two.
So we go to dinner expecting this nice fancy meal, and the menu is the same fixed menu from lunch. Huh! I get pissedI tell the waiter we can't eat that same meal again, April gets mad at me, but finally we all settle down and they cook us some different options, chicken and cod. All's well that ends well.
Now for the finale of the Romantic Package!!!! Only in my dreams, as we both fall asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows.
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Location:Carrer de Pianc,Cadaqués,Spain
Sorry to hear about the mix up at the spa.....we have heard from Spanish sources that the poor woman resigned.
ReplyDeletePerhaps if you did 10 kilometers early in the morning and ate a tad less you could be more productive in the evening.