A day at Roses - Catalunya

 For those of you who have ever landed at Girona airport you may have noticed a large sweeping bay on the coast just a few minutes before landing...this is the bay of Roses where the town of Roses lies to the Northern end of the bay. The beaches here are very fine sand which slope gently into the sea so its ideal for families with young children. Boat trips will take you out the picturesque Isles of Medes off the coast at Estartit just a little way down the coast. We took these photo when we visited Roses just this Thursday 9th Oct, we were very lucky as it was just the right conditions to get these shots of the stunning cloud formations!
We will go back to Roses at a later date and book into a hotel for a couple of nights as we found it would be the ideal location from where we could visit other places up in that part of Catalunya such as Cadaques, Port de la Selva and the monastery of Sant Pere de Rhodes.

 Santa Margarida area of Roses - a residential area where the residents all have their own mooring for their boats right on the doorstep!

Sant Antoni horse parade

This Sunday the horses and riders from 'Club Hipic' taking part in the Sant Antoni event will parade through Llorets streets as they make their way to the seafront and around the paseo in front of the town hall. They will gather at the club early in the morning where they will been making sure the horses look their very best for the event, from there they will  head towards town down Calle Sant Pedro towards the church and then onto the town hall at 12 noon 

A stroll around Llorets shops

 As you stroll around the centre of Lloret there are a wide variety of shops selling just about anything you need for your holiday and also to take back for your friends and family.

There are plenty of small privately owned supermarkets which might be only a fews doors from your hotel, these are handy for your basic groceries, drinks or a sandwich to take to the beach.

   

 Gift shops and fancy ceramics.

 Maybe hair extensions or a tattoo as a way to remember your holiday!

 Cool white cotton clothing for those hot summer days.

 Traffic free zones!

 Friendly staff!

If you need to take the weight off your feet for a while there are lots of cafes and restaurants to choose from along the streets. 

Costa Brava Rally 2014

We have the Historic Costa Brava Rally cars running about the town and the roads leading out of Lloret so there maybe some minor hold ups if your out and about over the weekend. We managed to capture a few shots of the cars as they were lined up before the start of the event yesterday.

Historic Costa Brava Rally 2014

The X1 Historic Rally Costa Brava is taking place in Lloret this coming weekend Thursday 2nd till Sunday 5th October. Approx 80 teams are taking part with all vehicles over 25yrs old to qualify for the race. The cars can be seen leaving the podium at 7pm on Thursday evening by the Town Hall on the seafront.

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Stormy September weather

 After yesterdays non stop heavy rain and storms which caused havoc with power cuts, floods and transport cancellations in some parts of the province, today in Lloret the sky was blue and the sun shone once again. Down on the beach holiday makers were making the most of the good weather but with the red flags flying the lifeguards were having a tough job of keeping everyone out of the dangerous rough sea.

Llorets attractions - free entrance

It seems that quite a number of people have taken advantage of the free entrance to the gardens and museums in Lloret de Mar. We visited the Maritime Museum on the seafront in Lloret and also as we are lucky enough live just minutes away we visited the tower of Sant Joan and also Santa Clotilde Gardens, it's always a nice way to have a leisurely stroll around the gardens which we do quite often but it's even better when it's free! As usual we went with our cameras to take a few shots of the scenery and here are the results....

 Sant Joan Tower 

and views from the top.

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Maritime Museum

 Views from the outdoor terrace and the rooms indoors where you can see and read about the history of Lloret de mar.

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Santa Clotilde Gardens

A day at Castellfolit de la Roca

Earlier this week we took to the road and headed inland towards Girona and then on towards Banyoles and Besalu, bypassing these places we came to Castellfollit de la Roca - the most unusual place in this region we have come across yet. We had been told about this place previously and decided we must see it for ourselves...and so glad we did!

The town which is almost a kilometre long is actually built on the narrow cliff where two rivers the Fluvia and the Toronell flow on either side more than 50mts below! At the narrowest end of the town stands the local church with its 4 sided bell tower, where climbing to the top gives you spectacular views of the countryside, the mountains beyond and the rooftops of the medieval town as seen in the above photo.

This local lady has opened her home to sell her fruit and homemade produce to any passersby.