It was Gilly’s 50th Birthday and we chose Sitges because it was close to Barcelona, where Philip was working, and because it was a lovely town close to the beach. The Villa we hired was modern, with a pool and just a short walk from the town, albeit up a hill! Ali, Chris, Clare, Philip & Tom all stayed, although Tom & Phil only stayed for a few nights. But we had a great time and it was made special by us all being together to celebrate her birthday, here’s what we got up to:
Monday 17th October
Great start, after 20 minutes of waiting for the taxi, phoning with no answer, decided to drive and park at Gatwick, no dramas there except having to pay the price of not prebooking. Usual wander around the North Terminal left us late for the flight, one of the last ones on!
Just train and walk to the villa to negotiate, what could go wrong! Train brilliant, picked up keys, did some shopping and took the bus, bus went on a massive detour and after what seemed an eternity we were dropped off close to the villa. Villa very nice, modern and clean. Unpacked and walked down to Sitges for dinner in a sports bar. Walk back to Villa which is up a fair hill.
Tuesday
Stroll into town and a wander, nice lunch followed by a supermarket stock up of goods, real fitness test of lugging bags of shopping plus water back to the villa.
Dip in the very fresh pool followed by another trip back into town, fairly bland dinner and another mountainous trek back to the pad.
Wednesday
Out reasonably early and off to see the sights in Barcelona, first stop Sagrada Familiar which was covered a lot by scaffolding and fully booked to see the inside until 6pm, quick tour round the outside and a fairly long walk to Parc Guell, greeted by more hordes of people and and fully booked until 4pm! WTF! Where have all these people come from? Anyway another quick spin round the outside and metro to the La Ramblas and the Gothic Quarter, shops, cake, coffee, nice buildings and repeat. Train back to Sitges.
Stayed in Sitges and had a meal by the old quarter by the beach, really nice meal with a hugemungus starter. Conceded defeat and got a taxi back!
Tom arrived at 1am.
Thursday
Gilly 50 today!
Lounged around, popped into Sitges for a wander plus coffee & cake.
Phil arrived just after lunch time.
Lovely meal at Greys restaurant down by the old part of town, lots of wine and a lovely meal made for a very enjoyable evening.
Friday
Chill out day today, weather not great. Bit of a wander around Sitges. Played card games in the evening.
Saturday
Cloudy start but cleared up a bit, late trip to Barcelona. Everyone went to Las Ramblas but I went up to Mont Juic. by cable car, nice up at the top with an impressive view and castle, caught the funicular back, met every one back at Las Ramblas and went for a lovely tapas meal at Cachitos Rambla. Train back to Sitges and walk back to the villa.
Sunday
Tom first off, walked down with him and had a wander, beautiful warm sunny morning. Met up with the rest of the crew as Phil went for the train back to the airport. More of a wander and headed off to the Marina, girls kept stopping on route, turned out the nudist beach was gaining the attention! Marina very nice with lots of nice restaurants, quick drink and we headed off back to the villa. Still warm, quick dip in the pool, snack, wine, beer. Walk back down to the beach and a light meal. Lovely warm evening. Last walk back up the hill!
Monday
Taxi back to the airport, no dramas.
Sitges-nice place, hilly, walked on average 10 miles per day!
