#1528 2 weeks in Barcelona day 8: sunrise, Rosamar and family

Let's get right to it! This is a family-heavy post...

Monday 21 September 2015

The sun rises over the Mediterranean at Platja d'Aro. The night before I'd consulted with my weather app to find out exactly what time the sun would rise, which was around 7:30. I thought if I happened to wake up in time, it would be good, but I didn't set an alarm.

For some reason, I woke up right at 7:30 and was rewarded with a pretty sunrise.

sunrise

sunrise, a minute or two later

I went back to bed and snuggled under the blanket - it was chilly at 7:30! I was awakened promptly at 9:00 by the beginning of the petanque tournament. The morning's pairing were being announced I guess. The announcer table was directly below our apartment, so there was no avoiding hearing it all.

We probably had some breakfast, then Lizzie decided she wanted to go for a swim in the sea. I walked down to the beach with her, but I wasn't interested in getting wet. The water is too dang cold! It was so cold that Lizzie lost her breath for a couple of minutes until she became acclimated. She was dang happy to be in the water after that though.

Sonia came over around we walked around the town a little before we headed to a restaurant that Sonia knew called Rosamar. We drove along a winding road through the hills with the sea on one side. It was completely gorgeous. I was sitting in the backseat trying to snap photos. There were a lot of blurry ones, but here's one that came out:

driving to Rosamar

The restaurant sits on a hill above the sea. There's a rocky little beach down below the restaurant that you can walk to along a nice path. There's a nicer little beach on the other side of the restaurant. We just looked, no swimming for us.  The views were wonderful.

The temperature was quite warm that day and there were a lot of flies and wasps. Sonia said that September is the season of the flies because it's harvest time for grapes and vegetables and fruits, so the flies and wasps are out in force. There weren't many grapes or fruits and vegetables at the restaurant, but the flying beasties really liked Nicole's Coca Cola. The poor kid was freaking out about it. Mom, Lizzie and I may have wanted to flap our arms about and squeal too, but we had to hold it together.

The meal was quite good. I can't remember what I had for a starter,  but I remember that I had butifarra (farmer's sausage) and fries for my main dish and it was delicious. Mom had monkfish, which she loves; Lizzie had macarones. Sonia and Nicole shared a paella and that really brought the flies!

After lunch we walked around and took some more photos. Sonia took this one of us that I quite like.

Lizzie, Mom and I at Rosamar

After lunch, we went back to Platja d'Aro to prepare for the meeting of the family. My Tia Nuri was coming to visit along with my cousin Monica and her two daughters Aida and Irina. I had never met Monica's daughters although I'd seen photos of them through the years and on Facebook. It was nice to meet them and good to see my aunt and my cousin.

We went to dinner at a restaurant on the beach there in Platja d'Aro. There was lots of talking and photo-taking and laughing. My aunt was talking about a mile a minute. I don't know if my mom got many words in. We just listened and did some chatting with Aida, Irina and Sonia.

A couple of pics:

The cousins: Sonia, Lizzie, Monica and me - I'm really not a giant

all the girls (except Nicole)

When the meal was over and the talking mostly done (for that day), everyone went back to San Feliu or Santa Cristina with the plan to meet again the next day. Mom, Lizzie and I went to the lobby of the Hotel Aromar which was the only place we could get wifi, although it was terribly slow. I was tired from being up so early and I think I went to bed kind of early that night - probably before midnight.


So there you have it, day 8. :)