Santa Cristina festival

Everyone's favourite event of the annual Santa Cristina festival is the fireworks display held on Llorets main beach. Last night there were thousands of spectators watching the display from all the best view points around town. Our photos were taken from the hillside between Lloret and Fenals from where we can see all over the town with the bright lights of the hotels and nightlife area in the foreground.

Lloret de Mar Nightlife

Lloret de Mar is well known as the nightlife capital of the Costa Brava...appealing mainly to young clubbers, just now with the months of July and August we are right at the hight of the season. Unfortunately though as you can see from these photos taken just last night (Friday) on what should be one of the busiest nights of the year the streets are still relatively quiet. Compared to what we normally see at this time of year the clubs don't have the long winding queues of people waiting for them to open and instead of having to fight your way through the crowds some of the streets in the centre are now almost deserted!

It does make you wonder just how long the businesses can cope with the dwindling trade year after year, I believe its now time time that those in the town who are in charge of promoting Lloret de Mar did so in the right manner by not just bringing people into town and thinking every thing is ok because a few hotels are 80-90% full these same people honestly don't even know what else the town has to offer....for instance I wonder how many of those who are in town just now know of all the fantastic live music events, fireworks  and other activities that have been or are taking place for the Santa Cristina festival, very few from what I've heard! 

Our local parrot!

Regular viewers of this site may remember that early last year I mentioned about a lonely male Ring Necked parakeet who had made Fenals his home particularly around the area we live, see the post here > Parrots in Lloret.

We never saw him with a mate and hoped that one day he would find one as he used squawk and squawk in the trees just of our balcony as though he was trying to attract a mate. 

Well, just recently it seems that he has finally attracted a mate and they've now produced a young baby parrot...so all that squawking has paid off and he's now not such a lonely sorry sight in the trees! 

We managed to catch just a couple of snaps the other day as he brought his family back to the same tree and arial on a nearby apartment block.

A day at Estartit

If you have the benefit of a hire car for your holiday in Lloret de Mar and you want to explore more of the fantastic Costa Brava coastline then Estartit should be added to your 'to do list!'
From Lloret it's a pleasant 1hr drive up the coast to reach the resort which is located at the southern end of the Bay of Roses. These photos from our visit show the Medas Islands just offshore which are very popular with divers and snorkelers owing to the varied marine life living out there around the rocks.
Sports lovers are well catered for at Estartit with boating, fishing, cycling, water skiing, para gliding, hiking and surfing. The local outdoor market is held on Thursdays, but for a more laid back day you could sìmply make the most of the 5km of sandy beach or visit one of the numerous restaurants scattered about the town!

Free Entrance to Lloret Attractions

As part of the current Santa Cristina celebrations some of the most popular attractions will have an free open day this coming Thursday 24th July. Santa Clotilde Gardens, Sant Joan Tower, Can Saragossa and the Museum del Mar on the seafront are the places you can visit for free.
Sant Joan Tower is open 10am - 1pm and 5pm - 7pm.
Santa Clotilde Gardens  10am -7pm
Can Saragossa 10am - 1.30pm
Museum del Mar 10am - 1pm & 4pm - 7pm

Sant Joan Tower

Santa Clotilde Gardens