Homes Under the Hammer!

Ever since we bought our apartment in Lloret, this building has always been derelict and home to the odd squatter now and again! The garden was over run with shrubs and weeds, so much so that we could only ever see part of the building.
Maybe 3-4 months ago now we noticed that someone has begun to clear all the garden and empty the place of all the rubbish in there. All the window frames have been taken out and it sounds as though they are knocking down walls or something inside. Even with the way it looks now is a vast improvment to how it used to be!
It will be interesting to see how the villa will look if, and when it's completed. We have the 'before' picture lets see how long it is before we get the 'after' one!

(I'm sure this will be of interest to Julie and Ray in Holmfirth!!)

Lloret de Mar - Beatles Tribute

Last nights Clon Festival was a massive success, this was the second time we had seen 'Abbey Road' the Beatles tribute band. They had to abandon their show in August last year owing to a very bad storm which started not long after they had come onto the open air stage.
So everyone was there to see them perform and finally complete their show.

What a show it was!
The area where they played was packed with 'Beatles' fans, they did a very good selection of songs from just about every stage of the Beatles career, and went on for much longer than the usual 2hrs.

Lloret de Mar - Fenals Beach Today.

Here's a short clip of photos we took today down on the beach in Fenals and from above in the woods.
As you can see its quite packed, but still the bars and hotels in town are not very busy, some businesses are having their worst year yet.
So its highly likely that a large percentage of the people on the beach today are locals who have their own property in and around Lloret and like to spend their week- ends on the beach.

Lloret de Mar - Boat Trip

On August 13th at 8pm there will be a special boat trip leaving Lloret de Mar, the cost of this trip will be €20 and this will give you a return trip to the beach of Santa Cristina. Where on arrival you can dine in the restaurant on the beach, the cost of the meal will be a set price of €24.
Places for this event will be limited, I understand that tickets will go on sale at the beach kiosks next Monday.

Happy Birthday to Colin!

Colin from Gerry's Bar had his 60th Birthday this week, celebrated by 2 parties.
His birthday was 7th July and the celebration started during the day with a variety of sandwiches and chicken pieces etc all set out on the pool table.
Then yesterday (Saturday) was a massive BBQ out in the garden. All the meat was cooked by the local Argentinean lads who did a great job, and made sure that everyone was kept well supplied with food and drinks!
We all had a fantastic day out... thanks to everyone who helped out!

Lloret de Mar Events - Clon Festival

The annual Clon Festival starts tonight in Lloret de Mar, this is the 6th one of its kind. Taking part this year is the Kiss tribute band - 'Dressed to Kill' They are a British band, you can read more about them on their website HERE.

The next nights entertainment will be 25th July with the Beatles tribute, Abbey Road. Hopefully they will be able to finish their show this year. Quite a few of us went to watch them last year but they had to abandon the show owing to a raging storm. We all had to walk back over the hill to Fenals and got absolutely soaked to the skin, so good luck to them for this year! Here is a link to last years piece about 'Abbey Road'

The 3rd and final act to take part in the Clon Festival is Galetes Franklin she will be appearing 7th August, and is an Aretha Franlin tribute act. I cant find any info about her so I have no idea where she is from.

All acts will be on stage from 10.30pm onwards at the usual place down near the beach in Lloret

I have just received a message from Joan (see comment below) She has kindly taken the time to send a link for 'Galetes Franklin' My Space site...Click Here!

Lloret de Mar - Tour de France

Here we have another set of photos from today's Tour de France in Lloret.
After seeing the highlights on TV tonight it looks as though Lloret de Mar was the driest part of the race, they had to cycle in very bad and sometimes dangerous conditions owing to the rain for most of the way between Girona and Barcelona...weren't we lucky the lucky one's!

Lloret de Mar - Tour de France

Lloret de Mar had a huge honour today as being one of the towns to host part of the Tour de France race for the first time. The bikes had set off from Girona to Lloret which was a 64km stretch of the race and they were then making their way down the coast to Barcelona.

The roads were closed from 12 noon and the crowds started gathering well before in order to find the best viewing point. The hotel balconies on route were full of spectators, and everyone started cheering and waving as the riders came through....a very good atmosphere!

The first bike to come through was David Millar one of the British racers, this pleased all the local Brits and the many British visitors here for a short stay in Lloret especially to watch them go through the town. Some of which include Peter, Liam and Alex from Barnsley, as seen above!

Lloret de Mar News

Just three snippets of news from Lloret de Mar today.

The beach bars are to be given a complete facelift and renovation as they are said to be in poor condition after they have been used for the past few years. No date has been given just yet, but work such as this is normally done at the end of the summer season.

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A documentary is to be made by the Lloret council about the early years of tourism as seen from the viewpoint of women. They are looking for women over the age of 75 to take part, any volunteers! ?

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Finally, a reminder about the Tour de France. The Tossa to Blanes road will be closed from 12 noon until 4pm on Thurs 9th July, it will be virtually impossible to come into Lloret or leave the town until the road is reopened. Some airport transfers have told their clients that they will have to be at the airport well before this time no matter what time their flight departs - so it sounds like a chaotic day at Girona airport!

Lloret de Mar - Tour de France

Another new event for Lloret de Mar is the Tour de France which is to pass through the town on Thursday 9th July. The bikes will follow the route as above, coming from Girona and heading towards Sant Feliu on the coast. From there it follows the coast down towards Tossa de Mar and is said to be passing through Lloret on the main road towards Blanes at approx 12.45pm. More details can be found on the Tour de France site.

To any one who has no interest in the Tour de France will probably find this a huge inconvenience as the roads on the route will be closed, how this will affect people travelling either to or from the airport I have no idea. The Tossa to Lloret road will be closed from 12 noon onwards.