Holiday weekend in Lloret

 Yesterday in Lloret was the hottest day of the year so far, the temperature rose to 30ºc and its forecast to carry on for the coming week. At present many of the hotels on the coast are full owing to it been a holiday weekend in Barcelona, and those with holiday homes are now in town to enjoy the good weather.

Views of Lloret de Mar

 Today we are viewing Lloret de Mar through a long telephoto lens, all these shots were taken from more or less the same location on the headland above the Dona Mariners statue.

In the foreground in the 1st photo is the Selva Mar Hotel up on the road leading out to Tossa de Mar, the apartment block behind with the orange blinds is the Norest where we have stayed many times over the years!

Looking at the tallest building on Lloret sea front

Bar Cala Banys

Catalan towns, Cardona Castle

While travelling around Spain it seems that built on every mountain top is a castle or some sort of ancient fortress. Today we visited one of the most important fortresses of Catalunya - Cardona Castle overlooking the town of Cardona. The castle dates back to the 9th century but has since been restored throughout the years and is still undergoing restoration even today. During the 11th and 15th centuries it was occupied by the lords of Cardona who were one of  wealthiest families in Europe owing to the the surrounding salt mines/quarries which the castle protected.  In 1976 the castle was opened as a 4* luxury parador/hotel with rooms decorated in beautiful medieval style.

Overlooking the Cardona country side.

The old town

Salt is still been mined in the area

On the Beach in Lloret

 25ºC today and it now looks as though our summer is here.

 The beach has been much busier today than previous days and it really looks as though the holiday season is underway!

Even the Dona Marinera statue had more visitors than normal with standing room only!

Stormy skies over Blanes

 Yesterday we had a trip down to Blanes to get some shots of the dramatic looking skies from the Sant Joan tower, it had been a nice sunny day but it was looking very stormy at times. We could see in the far distance that rain was falling further down the coast and also over the mountains towards the back of the resort which enabled us to get these shots of the stunning cloud formations.