And Freddie Came Too

There's a certain amount of bittersweet in reaching Sitges and Barcelona, in that when we first thought about doing this trip, it was in Barcelona that we would turn round and head South and finish our travels. So getting to Sitges, we looked forward to the buzz of the town and the bars and nightlife that it offered. We were not disappointed either as it's a great place to visit. For the unknowing, Sitges has the unofficial title of Gay capital of Spain, maybe even Europe and has a Joie de Vivre that permeates through the town.

Late night in Sitges

We decided to stay on the site for five days as we wanted to use the buses to get into Barcelona over the weekend.

The shore front.

The weather is still warm and sunny and every day is spent just soaking the rays. We've both lost a fair amount of weight since we left the UK, due to all the walking that we do and the very healthy food that we eat every day. Of course this loss of calories is offset by the volumes of wine and vodka that is consumed, but I count the wine as part of my five a day fruit intake, so no guilt felt there.

The church in Sitges.

We've picked up a few 'war wounds' on the van, mainly due to low trees and adventurous parking. I'm hoping that with a bit of elbow grease and some cleaner I can get rid of the worse of these. When I will get time to do that I just don't know.

There's a song from an old musical which really sums up most of the days we've been travelling.
'We're busy doing nothing working the whole day through,
trying to find lots of things not to do,
we're busy going nowhere isn't it just a crime,
we'd like to be unhappy but, we never can find the time.........'

So the days in Sitges passed and mucho fun was had and then it was Barcelona time. Remember, we wanted to go to Bordeaux but mozzies forced our early departure and then it was gonna be Seville, but the storm put paid to that, so the capital of Catalonia and arguably one of the best cities in the world was not going to be missed.

Friday was spent hunting for Gaudi and cathedrals and good food and better wine. Plus Jake met some of the locals.......

A Gaudi house at the top of La Rambla

I don't know if anyone told him he looked good in Lycra...........

We walked and walked and walked. God knows how many miles, but I felt that we should have had sponsorship. Could have paid for the trip!!

Inside one of the beautiful churches in the city.

The most wonderful building in the world.

Then it was Saturday and El Classico. Barca at home to Madrid, the best football game in the world and we are in the city. Messi versus Ronaldo, would Bale make the team, can Barca defeat their age old enemy and once again rub the noses of the Ruling Spanish into the sand as is their want?

I wish I could do that through the centre of Barcelona.

We decided to go to the official Bar de Barcelona to watch the match on one of the ten large tv screens in the place. We got in early and informed the barman we we're on a five hour marathon. As the game approached, the place became packed with maroon and blue and the singing began. The bar played traditional Barca songs to whip the crowd into a frenzy, all of a sudden, Freddie bloody Mercury and that Caballe woman erupted on every screen and the song 'Barcelona' was blasted throughout the bar.

 Hairs on the back on the neck stuff, tears in old men's eyes, beer waved in the air and then Kick Off.

It's enough to say that Barca won 2-1 and a whole city, nay a region of Spain rejoiced in unison. We had a ball, we witnessed one of the great sporting occasions at first hand and became for a fleeting moment, one of the cules or soci and it was great.

All to soon our time was up and we prepared the van for our journey down to Benidorm for the Fiesta and then our return home. Oh, and it's Jacky birthday too, so something else to celebrate, as if we needed an excuse.