Ripoll & Gombrén

Heading towards the Pyrenees just a little over 100 km from Lloret is the fairly large town of Ripoll surrounded by some lovely little villages and set in amazing countryside, very popular with hikers and rock climbers. Ripoll town centre is a good shopping area with an abundance of cafes, restaurants which cater for its 11,000 + population.  The Pyrenees can be seen in the not too far distance from Ripoll and just now are covered in snow so you also have great views of the snow capped mountains.

One of the nearby villages is Gombrén where set in the hills is the ancient monastery - Santuari de Montgrony which is first documented in the year of 899 and rebuilt in the 12 century. 

Winter Pastimes in Lloret

 It seems that we will soon be seeing a sharp drop in temperature and the good weather will end according to the local weather forecast. Rain is expected tomorrow and next week daytime temps will be only in single figures! Recent photos from Fenals beach show these fishermen making the most of the good weather, even though the sea is very rough they can still be seen down on the beach every day enjoying their daily fishing session!

Lloret de Mar Graffiti

One thing which I'm sure many of you will agree with that spoils Lloret is the graffiti which can be seen all over town. Its an eyesore which gives a bad impression to the thousands of tourists who visit every year...but just take a look at these photos taken in the Reiral area along the the road where the weekly market is held - its almost like a free art gallery. Any day of the week you can see the artists down there with their spray cans creating another masterpiece!

Primer Bany de l'Any - Lloret

 Lots of brave people gathered on the beach this morning at 11.30 for the 21st edition of Llorets first swim of the year, luckily it was quite warm and was told on good authority by Gary that the sea was also very warm! All those taking part had a short exercise session to get them ready for the dip.

And off they went, some were quite apprehensive but others just ran and bravely dived in.

Below is 'Nog' the dog patiently waiting for his owner Gary to return from his dip.

Cala Banys - Lloret de Mar

 Although the bar at Cala Banys is closed for the season (reopens 13th March) its still a nice place to go and look out to sea and take a few shots of that amazing view...and better still when the winter temperature is 20ºc as it was today!