Hard bed or not, we both slept well. Today was always planned to be a catch-up day. We had only one thing we really wanted to do, and that was visit the Uniqlo store. It's a great clothing store, which we first came across when we visited Alastair in San Francisco many years ago, and again in Japan.
There was no point getting up early because none of the retail shops open until 10am, but our first stop was breakfast. We spied a small and clearly local cafe (Cafe Lleones) and chose going there instead of any of the chain premises dotted around the neighbourhood. The man behind the counter was very friendly, clearly happy John ordered an espresso and didn't want an Americano, and served us our freshly-squeezed orange juice, slices of tortilla and coffees with a smile. It was a perfect start to the day. My cortado (espresso with a dash of milk) was sublime. We got all this for the price of just two coffees in Iceland. Wow.
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| Our accommodation area, Barrio Gotico |
Uniqlo was easy walking distance away. To be brief, we spent a long time there and bought a range of clothes at very good prices. The store is based in Japan, but has branches around the world, but unfortunately not yet in NZ, nor does it ship to NZ. Lunch was a snack at a nearby modern cafe, a rather disappointing toasted sandwich when it arrived. Lesson - stick to the old-school hole-in-the-wall cafes, not the more modern ones filling many of the street corners.
With the temperature climbing to 32 degrees, we retreated back to our room for a siesta and 'blog time'. We are actually a bit disappointed we are not spending another day here. Ceret is having its annual bull-run fiesta this weekend, when the entire town goes berserk and partying extends to 4am in and out of all the bars. It's great fun, and we've been there a number of times for it, but this year opted to delay arriving until tomorrow (Sunday), when the celebrations/bands etc will still be in full swing but the pubs and bars will close early at 2am on Sunday night. Needless to say, the town will be very quiet next week while everyone recovers and the barriers, temporary bars, performance stages and everything else are dismantled and put away for another year.
After our break, we headed back out for a quiet drink, ending up just 2 doors from our room at last night's bar, where the beer was again excellent. We finally got to order some chipirones - tiny deep-fried cuttlefish - that we have missed for 944 days since last leaving southern Europe. Delicious! A glass of local wine to follow and we were very content.
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| Chipirones and extras |
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| Tosca Bar |
The Palace of Music opposite opened for an evening performance as we left the bar, so we took the opportunity to have a look inside. It was so lovely we thought we should try to get to a concert there sometime this year.
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Palau del Musica
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We thought we'd look up the pintxos and cava bar we'd been to (separately) with Alastair & Bella on previous visits, and spent a very pleasant hour sitting in the cathedral square watching the people go by. There are so many people about. Mostly university age we imagine, but all ages, shapes, colours and styles.
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| Placa Nova |
