Getting used to the Spanish lifestyle and welcoming the Baileys (17th – 22nd August)

Thursday 17^th August - Having seen how sociable life in the shop was for Jacqui I was no longer concerned that she would be spending the day alone and bored if I chose to remain at the house today instead of joining her.  The other thing was that she had to pick Paul up from Barcelona straight after work, meaning that she would be out all day from 9am until past midnight.  I wasn’t going to allow Simon to have that much time in the sun to enjoy without me!  Pool day it was.  Their villa has three double rooms and its own private pool.  Perfect for spending a money-saving day in the sunshine.

It was a shame that I had woken up with a very croaky sore throat. I hadn’t seen that coming.  Fingers crossed it wouldn’t develop into anything too nasty.  At 35 degrees we agreed that it was too hot to have gone out anyway.  

Mid-afternoon we started receiving notifications on our phones.  There had been a terrorist attack in Barcelona, just over an hour away from where we lazed.  In a copycat method that is becoming all too frequent, a van had driven down Las Ramblas in Barcelona wiping out pedestrians and at least 13 people were dead with numerous others severely injured in hospital.  I rang Jacqui to see how she was.  The incident in the nearest City to Girona had resulted in armed Police flooding the area around the shop and the number of customers had dropped off.  Several suspects were still outstanding so people were heading home to safety.  Not an ideal evening to have to drive to Barcelona airport, I asked Jacqui if she wanted to come and pick me up so that she had company for the drive there.  She declined and so Simon had I had a very quiet but relaxing evening in the house whilst we waited for news of how they were getting on.  We spoke to them a lot later when they advised us to turn in for the night.  Due to Police roadblocks and diversions to try and capture the missing suspects, they didn’t make it back until gone 2am.

Friday 18^th August – I got up in time to see both of the Gibbs and offer to head into the shop if one of them wanted to rest and recover from last night.  More than that, Paul had been working such long hours in the UK he probably hadn’t had more than a few hours’ sleep all week.  But no, they wouldn’t hear it and both went off to the shop.  It had previously been discussed that Simon and I would wait at the house today as the Baileys (our friends who had joined us for a fortnight in Canada) were due to arrive mid-afternoon.  It was great to see them. They were only able to join us for a long weekend and had hired a car which meant that we could go on a no-holds-barred shopping expedition to Carrefour Supermarket.  Topping up on barbecue food, booze and pretty much anything we might possibly fancy over the weekend, it really shouldn’t have been so much of a surprise when we managed to spend more than 200 Euros!

Understandably, the Gibbs were exhausted when they got back to the house late that evening so we tried to bolster their spirits with food and beer. Mel joined us again and we sat chatting out by the pool, quizzing Paul and Jacqui about their new lives.

Saturday 19^th August – It was time to show Baileys Girona and pretend like we knew our way round. In between visiting the shop and trying to avoid the hottest part of the day, we toured the city including taking in the wall walk which afforded us great views.  

Despite the Baileys not being GOT fans we still persuaded them that being able to tell people that they had sat on the iron throne was worth it, if just to rub it in, so we returned for a second visit.  The Gibbs had tipped us off for where we would find the best gelato ice cream (salted caramel, yes!) and the best tourist spots, like the red iron Eiffel bridge designed by the same engineer as ‘that’ tower.

Stu looks very at home on the iron throne... I think it's the beard!

Independence Square (above and below)

Jo enjoying the best Girona gelato

All the tourists have to pose on the Eiffel bridge

 

Sunday 20^th August – As the only day off in the week for the Gibbs we had no intention of disappearing off anywhere today and the Baileys wanted to spend some time with them as well whilst we all did some relaxing.  So we had a pool day, combined with a BBQ with Mel and some more Aussie friends who had come over to offer their support to Rohan in his cycling endeavours.   

Monday 21^st August - Andorra. The Baileys were heading on a day trip to Andorra today whether we joined them or not, but why wouldn’t we?  We love a road trip!  We had been warned that it would be a 3-hour drive, so we set off in good time.  We stopped for coffee in a very picturesque Catalan village called La Pobla de Lillet to break up the journey.  

La Pobla de Lillet - what a pretty village

But when we got to the border and joined a long queue we thought that maybe we should have just kept going?! 

Finally.... a view of Andorra worthy of the drive

Three go zip-wiring

Our first impressions of Andorra were not particularly positive.  The first town was extremely retail-oriented town with the terrible traffic continuing! I think Stuart had wanted to come here in particular because of the country’s reputation for large, scenic ski resorts but they seemed scarce at first.  Eventually, having followed signs for a gondola, we managed to park up and ascend into the mountains where we had a really great set-menu lunch. Wanting to get involved in some kind of sporty pursuit but priced out of the mountain biking, the other three selected a zip-wiring experience.

Jo showing the guys how it's done

Not yet feeling 100% and wanting to save the cash I was happy to be group photographer rather than a participant! 

We hadn’t wanted to leave the mountain so we delayed getting the gondola back down.  We’d left it too late which meant we got stuck in the traffic for the Vuelta that was coming through Andorra that day, so it was just as much of a battle to get out of the Country as it had been to get in.  The drive back to Girona was Jo’s first experience at driving on the right with the gear stick on the wrong side! She did well considering she was expected to cope with this new experience in the dark!  By the time we got back to the house Jacqui had turned in for the night and we were all ready to collapse.

Tuesday 22^nd August – the Bailey’s last day.  It was therefore very important to get some more pool time in complete with makeshift volleyball court made of hosepipe and couples’ shoulder-wrestling.  We headed into Girona in time to have dinner with Jacqui and a group of her friends.  The Baileys and I shared an amazing fish paella.  Jacqui had to leave after not even an hour to collect Paul from the airport.  We stayed chatting with the other Expats and even went on to the sunset jazz club where we had a great time playing cards whilst drinking cocktails and listening to some amazing jazz covers of some of our favourite rock songs by a man called Richard Cheese! For example, ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ by Guns ‘n’ Roses and ‘Creep’ by Radiohead.  It was brilliant in its randomness and a fitting way to end a top weekend with Jo and Stu.