We awoke early on Tuesday, partly because of the recent change in time for daylight saving and partly because we leave today and were just a little excited! We were off on our last walk on our Fields Loop while it was still getting light. Final tidying, mopping floors and so on and then we headed to the bank. John wanted to check a bank charge that was coming out of it. We'd tried yesterday but of course the bank is closed on a Monday! We were out of luck today too because it's All Saints Day, so it a public holiday. Of course. It's not a biggie and we will check it out next year.
It was time to savour our last moments in Ceret so it had to be a last coffee at Le Comptoir. It was wonderful, enjoying the breeze in the plane trees, a balmy 21 degrees in the warm sun and a lovely soft dappled light through the leaves. At one of the nearby tables, every morning at around 11am, a foursome of three men and one woman, most retired, gather for a coffee and chat together. We have been on waving and smiling terms with them for a number of weeks. Today, as we were departing, we went over and said goodbye. They were all extremely pleasant and said they were looking forward to seeing us next year.
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| The group of four French people who we enjoy seeing daily |
As it was going to be a late lunch, we opted to go to one of the bakeries and pick up a 'pain au chocolate' to see us through. On one of the walls inside was a page of children's handwriting declaring his/her love for grandparents. John remarked on it to the baker's wife, who was serving, and out came her photo on the cellphone of the three grandchildren in their Halloween costumes. We then did the same, and the baker came out to have a look at our three littlies. A chat then ensued and ended in them wishing us a Bon Voyage and also a welcome return next year. It's been very cheery farewelling a number of the French locals we've got to know.
We locked up the apartment at 12:45pm and lugged our heavy bags plus backpacks down the three flights of stairs. One of our friends was driving us to the bus station in Perpignan because there were no local buses going due to the public holiday. We arrived in good time. The bus actually departed 10 minutes early from Perpignan, so I assume all the booked passengers had turned up. Neither of us were very impressed with the driver. She veered off the highway lane a few times, driving along the rumble strips before hauling the bus back into the lane. A few other passengers were giving her some dodgy looks too, suspecting that she was rather too sleepy for their liking. It was quite a relief to pull up at the bus station in the heart of Perpignan two hours later.
It was a 20-minute walk to our hotel, but our first stop was a cortado coffee at a small cafe, to boost our flagging energy. Spanish coffee is SO much better than French coffee. It is rich, full-bodied and tasty and makes the French version seem a very watered-down option. We found the hotel easily enough, and it is purposely located only 50m from where our airport bus leaves in a few days' time.
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| Lovely detail in the old building where our hotel is located |
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| Busker immediately outside our hotel building. She had a stunning voice. |
With just a 10-minute turnaround to check in and dump our bags in our room, we were off to explore a little of the Gothic Quarter before heading to Bilbao Berria, a pintxos/tapas bar we have been to a few times before during the past 10 years. We've taken Bella, Nic and three-month-old Rosie there, plus Alastair on another occasion. They remember it well. The tapas is very good, and the variety of dishes to choose from is always impressive.
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| The Gothic Quarter |
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| Placa Nova. Bilbao Berria in on the extreme right. |
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| Some of the pintxos lined up on the counter at Bilbao Berria |
It was very full, even at 5.30pm. We sat down at a table close to a couple who clearly looked like tourists, as no doubt did John and I. We struck up a conversation and ended up chatting for over an hour. They are Canadians, from Newfoundland/Nova Scotia. They have a summer apartment in Florida, but love travelling all over the world, including a cruise around New Zealand. The guy was an Olympic level athletic coach, and he was an enthusiastic supporter of Arthur Lydiard's coaching methods. They were a very interesting couple to talk with, and we've exchanged contact details. Perhaps it might lead to a home exchange some time in the future?
A Gothic Night Market was underway in the church square beside the tapas bar, with a fascinating assortment of odds and sods. This included just about anything you can think of in the way of antique jewellery, ceramics, brass and wooden ornaments, army paraphernalia and so on. We were ready for bed though. We tried watching a bit of the Hobbit on TV, but with 25+ adverts between each TV segment, we soon switched it off and went to sleep.
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| Night market |
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| Plensa sculpture outside the Petit Palau music hall |
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| The Petit Palau |
Wednesday dawned fine again. We have had the most fabulous run of weather since coming back from Italy. It's now November, and every day has still been comfortably over 20 degrees, mild and pleasant. We had a bit of a sleep-in, as Barcelona doesn't wake up until 10am. Out the door and we managed to find the little cafe (Cafe Lleones, now closed), where we had breakfasted 4 months ago on our arrival to Europe, and had another pleasant breakfast. There are not many of these old traditional cafes left; most cafes are more modern, and part of a chain of others. They don't have the same charm or service.
Next goal was to quickly check out Zara and Uniqlo in case there was anything we felt needed to be brought back to NZ. Nothing found.
We love how cosmopolitan Barcelona is. Every ethnicity, colour, creed, sexuality, shape and size. I don't suppose it is all that different from many other large cities, but we do tend to try and avoid giant cities on our travels. Despite this being a weekday, the city is full of people, with tourists congregating along the Ramblas and at the Boqueria Market, though being very late in the season they are nowhere near crowded. We had a quick look around the market, then stopped off for Karen to have another cortado. This one looked very ordinary, but turned out to be just as good as all the other Spanish coffees this year. I bought a little paper cone of mixed dried meats, salami and cheese - delicious. We wandered down the Ramblas to the seaside end, noting that there wasn't a single fake statue busker. The last time we'd been here there had been literally dozens - you couldn't avoid them.
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| Food market just off the Ramblas |
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| Sitting at the bar for lunch, choosing tapas |
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| Small helpings of fish/seafood. Everything is designed as an easy takeaway |
A gelato, then we came back through the Gothic Quarter, the Barrio Gotico. We had no idea how extensive it was. Interesting little shops everywhere, not all of them tourist-related thankfully. After a rest/sleep during the afternoon we set out again at 5.30pm. At the first tapas bar we stopped at we nibbled chipirones, baby cuttlefish. John simply loves the latter. We ended up chatting with the American couple at the table next door. They are Texans but abhor Trump. The guy (who was a banker) said he had personally refused a loan to Trump on three separate occasions in the 80s, based on his poor character.
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| John chatting with the Texans at Andurina Bar |
We cruised the shops a little, before sitting down at a cafe in a student area and enjoying a plate of meatballs and salsa. It then then simply a matter of generally savouring the flavour of the Gothic Quarter at large as we wandered back to our hotel. At 8pm the streets are buzzing with people and all the shops are open. We're keen to stay in just the same area when we next pass through Barcelona.
