Sun 20 Feb 2005
Our Spanish Vacation, Day 3
Posted by Sandi Atherton under France, spain, vacation
1 Comment
The guide book said that Tossa De Mar is one of the prettiest towns along the Brava coast. So today, we went to see for ourselves.
Along the way we saw a church that looked enormous and sat high on a hill. We saw it from miles back and so we just had to stop and check it out.
We reached Tossa De Mer by way of winding mountain roads again. We found the city center and parking easily and set off to find the beach. I think kids have something embedded in them at birth that makes them able to sniff out the otherwise impossible-to-find by mere adults. Anything from the beach to McDonald’s to candy and toy stores. We set their noses free and followed them right to the sand. The beach was deserted but beautiful. It was filled with tiny pebbles. This to me had to be the most perfect beach in the entire world. The pebbles were just small enough to be able to walk on and play in but not so small that they stick and crawl into every corner of you body. And alas, Mother Nature was kind to us. The weather was beautiful, sunny, and warm. My hope was beginning to return.
The town really seemed sleepy. We saw virtually no one out and about. It really did make for an odd feeling. Like we were there on a holiday or day of hiding and did not know it.
We were able to talk Carissa into taking a picture of us. Quite good considering she is only 5!
We sat watching the tides and looking at the town while the kids played in the pebbles. We sat on the rocks and took a few pictures. We then found a seaside restaurant to eat lunch at before heading up the hill to look at the old city.
And it was very old. I am not even sure I can find words to describe it. It was a small set of buildings set high on a mountain of its own that jutted out into the sea and so it was surrounded by water on three sides. From the top you had views of miles of coast and the city in the valley. There were remains of an old church and I began thinking of who had walked these streets before me. It left me with quite a feeling. The view over the towns from this height shows you how all the cities in this area are basically the same. The houses were built with white stucco and roofed with orange curved tiles. The whole town looked the same from every angle.
We had heard about siesta time in Spain and that almost everything is shut down between 1 and 3 each day. We avoided that and at 3 headed back into town to shop around. The streets were filled with shops but they were all closed. I think everyone went into hibernation instead of siesta time. Things were down right deserted! Was there some unwritten rule that in February everyone is supposed to head for the mountains to ski? I really did not care. The town and walk were beautiful and the lack of shopping did not spoil my mood.
Later, we headed off to Besalu, another nearby town we had read about. The guide books said that it was a very old town and did they ever get that right. I could not even imagine that people really lived here. If it were not for the cars and the laundry hanging to dry I would not have believed that they did. Every building was in shambles and falling apart. Yet, this was what made the city so charming. The few stores that were open were so small that I wondered how they supplied enough goods for the people living there. The town had a magnificent bridge that we saw on the way in and we walked out onto it. Built around 1027 it still had an iron gate that was raised just like in the sleeping beauty fairy tale. It ran over a trickle of water that I can only hope in the spring becomes more of a stream than today.
