Lloret de Mar - Santa Clotilde Gardens.

The last few photos from the Santa Clotilde Gardens in Lloret de Mar.

One of the ivy covered staircases, leading up to another level from which to view the gardens.
Pathway, with one of the ancient statues at the end, and a view of the sea between the trees.

Lloret de Mar - Santa Clotilde Gardens.

The gardens are open from May to October. Times of opening are from 10am - 1pm then reopen 4pm - 8pm. The last admission is 45mins before closing time.

Santa Clotilde covers an area of 27,000 sq metres, and belongs to the town council of Lloret. Paths and staircases guide you around the gardens giving you the best views from various angles.

Lloret de Mar - Things to do. Santa Clotilde Gardens

For a very nice half day out while in Lloret de Mar, visit the Santa Clotilde Gardens, set high on the cliff top in between the beaches of Fenals and Boadella

The open top bus which runs from the bus station in Lloret will take you up to the gardens or if you can make your own way there you simply pay on the gate (about €5) - but you can have a short free tour here in photos over the next 2-3 days!

Lloret de Mar - Things to do.

Fenals beach this year has its own watersports centre, which includes Parasailing, Waterskiing, Flyfish and Banana Boat.

 

Lloret de Mar, Summer Temperatures.

Today in the Fenals area of Lloret de Mar at 11am there was hardly a spare place to be found on the beach. Temperatures are now in the 30s every day.

Quite a few holiday makers are walking around with what looks like very painful sunburn, after spending too long in the sun not realizing how strong the sun is here!

The above picture was taken while walking home at about 2am after a night out. The temperature can clearly be seen on the corner.... 25degs!!

Lloret de Mar in Full Colour.

Here are just a few of the colourful balconies you can see as you walk round Lloret de Mar.

The flowers can been in full bloom like this for about 9 months of the year.

Most people prefer to make their balconies look like their own little bit of garden. While others prefer to make them look like a old back yard with bicycles etc, a good example can be seen below!

 

World Cup in Lloret de Mar

While the world cup is being played in Germany, the flags are flying in Lloret de Mar !

There has been a very good atmosphere in the town, with supporters from every country here

on holiday...

...but the English fans seem to out number the others by far.

COME ON ENGLAND !! 

The Port of Barcelona

As you reach the Port of Barcelona, over to your left there is a large covered shopping precinct along with cafes, bars and restaurants, but in my opinion the best value in all of Barcelona (if not Spain) is the boat trip round the port......

The cost of the 35min trip is only 4 euro!

The boat will take you all round the port and along side the many cruise ships which have docked there from their travels around the Mediterranean and other parts of the world.

The Ramblas, Barcelona.

Walking down the Ramblas you will come across stalls selling all kinds of goods, the flower stalls add colour and decoration all the way down.

 

Over to the right there is the Mercado de la Boqueria. (more of which can be read about on our previos post-dated April 8th)

As you arrive at the bottom of the Ramblas you will see the Christopher Columbus column, pointing to where we are going tomorrow....

... the Port of Barcelona !!

The Ramblas, Barcelona

As you leave the Plaza de Catalunya and head towards the Hard Rock Cafe, you are then at the top of the most famous street in Barcelona - The Ramblas....

Pictured here are a few of the human statues that earn their living on the Ramblas.

Its quite easy to walk straight past some of them, as they do blend in with the background and look like real statues.

 

A Short Tour of Barcelona......

The Plaza de Catalunya in the centre of Barcelona is surrounded by restaurants, shops and banks.

Always a good starting point for a tour of the city.

From here you can take an open top tour bus, at a cost of 18euro each. These buses have a very good system. They allow you to get off the bus at any of the sights and spend extra time to either walk around, take photos or maybe grab a snack. You can when get on a later bus to continue your tour.

Or from the square you can take a walk down the Ramblas which runs down to the port.

Over the next few days more photos of the sights of Barcelona will be shown....

Lloret de Mar beach.

A colourful photo of Lloret's main beach taken last Sunday, showing plenty of sunbathers just lazing about in the hot sun.

Some even daring to venture into the sea, which is still quite cool at this time of the year.

Costa Brava Holidays

Here on the Costa Brava, Lloret de Mar is now in full swing.

The weather is very good,with sunshine everyday (all but one rainy day) for the last 3 weeks.

The roads in and out of town are very busy with the coach companys ferrying holiday makers back and forward from other parts of Europe and also the airports.

All shops and bars in town seem to be doing a roaring trade along with the water sports amenities on the beach.

Costa Brava Weather.

The weather here this week has been very good. Temperatures have been in the low-mid 20s, ideal for a day on the beach. Rain was forecast, but up to now we have not had any for quite a few weeks.
There has been a strong but warm breeze, for most days this week, which has made the sea quite rough. This has meant that the resort boats and parasailing have not run everyday as they normally do.

But at least with the brilliant sunshine the holiday makers will be going home with a nice suntan!

Litre Bars in Lloret

Lt Bar in the Avenida Just Marles

If you find you are continually up and down fetching drinks during your stay in Lloret de Mar you may wish to cosider a bar that sells drinks by the litre. These drinks are typically sold in plastic beakers which hold a full litre. You are then free to take the drinks out or drink them inside. You can buy litres of beer, sangria, vodka redbull, rum coke, tequila sunrise- and loads more- it generally works out much much cheaper than the traditional measures.

I know of three bars that sell Litre drinks- the LT bar in the Avenida Just Marles, the Torito Pinchito next to the Londoner and the Bar Barretina in the Calle Arenys.

Lloret de Mar - Santa Cristina

Just 3.5km down the coast from Lloret lies the hermitage of Santa Cristina. The small church dates back to the 18th century, but the hermitage itself dates back even further to the 14th century.

The easiest way to visit is by boat, either from Lloret or Fenals beach, unless you are feeling VERY energetic then you can walk either along the main road or over the cliff tops along the coast. The cost of the return trip by boat is approx 8.50 euro.

The beach is a much finer sand than Lloret, and it's a much gentler slope into the sea, so it may be better for children. There is a bar, if you get thirsty and also toilets. You can also hire a pedalo. 

From behind the church you can see excellent views both up and down the coast. During the busy months of July and August it's usually much quieter than the packed beaches of Lloret.

Lloret Season 2006

No queues at WaterWorld

The season in Lloret is hopefully soon about to start.
For the past four weeks Lloret has been inundated with Portuguese students and football teams from all over Europe. This gives some Lloret business owners a good start to an otherwise very quiet perod.

They are now hoping for a strong start to the Summer Season. As Easter fell quite late this year there will not be such a noticable gap between the Spring and Summer tourism.

St George's Day. 23rd April

The official patron saint of England - St George, is also the patron saint of Catalonia.
The usual custom on this day is for men to give their wife's or girlfriend's a rose (or a bunch of roses if your lucky!) quite similar to our Valentines Day in the UK.

Then in return the ladies will give a book to whoever they receive their rose from.

The shops are now full of books on every subject you can think of, and the price of roses is sure to be more expensive this weekend than any other time of year.