Roda de Bara

Arrived at the med coast near Roda de Bara, 50miles south of Barcelona, on Friday afternoon. Visited two monastries at Poblet and Santa Crues on the way, the former still has a few monks in residence but the later was abandoned a century ago and is now being restored to is former glory. We enjoyed the tours (in Catalan unfortunately) and collected the leaflets in English for later!

Its a holiday weekend in Spain and the huge 5* site we are staying on (website) is now full to bursting.

Site is more like a holiday resort with its 1400 person Roman pool area, open air forum that seats 500 for the entertainments and a shopping complex. Even has the Sunday Mail on Sunday morning - so Rosemary is very happy here! Good sandy beach and a nice promenade to next village, in each direction, which will keep us happy till the crowds are gone again on Monday night. The price for pensioners - 12 euros per night.

Rosemary cooked a paella for Sunday lunch, which went down well with a litre of Sangria. Very friendly Dutch neighbours going home tomorrow. Weather is settled, sunny and 25 deg'ish with a gentle breeze off the sea - ideal geriatric weather in fact.

Walked down the coast path to typically Spanish resort of Le Roc de Gaita and had a nice but pricey lunch on a terrace overlooking the sea. Path closed for repairs on the way back, so a hot detour was required - planked out by the pool and had a cool swim to recover.   

Its our 42nd wedding anniversary today, the crowds are all gone so we had a quite relaxing day with a stroll down the beach, siesta and an excellent evening meal in the site restaurant (with 10% discount for pensioners).