Mid-August... beginning of the Fall in Denmark ;-)... time to head out to the South of France again!
We hopped on a low-cost flight from Ryan Air (visit http://www.ryanair.com/en ), which for about $280 took us both from our airport in Aarhus to Girona-Barcelona on the Spanish Costa Brava in two and a half hours. Good idea to purchase the “priority” option for a few extra bucks, because since there is no assigned seating, we got priority to choose our own seats: 1A and 1B, with plenty of leg room.
We arrived in Girona on Thursday August 4, around lunch time. We drove right away to the very picturesque town of Tossa de Mar where we had some fish and seafood, washed them with some fresh rosé, before spending the beginning of the afternoon to wander around the old town wall up on the hill overlooking the bay and through the back streets paved with cobblestones. Later, we went to the beach in one of the nearby scenic coves, appropriately called Rosamar since the sand and the rocks are pinkish yellow, Utah-style.
Tons of tourists at what is probably the busiest time of year, but what the heck! it did not make the sights less enjoyable and anyway we were only passing through. Q enjoyed being again in this place where he spent most of his summer vacations as a kid and a teenager, and C agreed that this was yet another version of paradise on earth, albeit one within reach from Aarhus. Now we only wish Ryan Air would keep flying down there during the winter time, because we feel we’d use it!
Our final destination for the remainder of our stay was Q’s parents house in Vinça. Vinça is a village located about halfway between the Mediterranean sea and the Pyrénées mountains. Q’s family has been in the area at least since the 17th century and probably before that... The house has about 10-12 bedrooms and stands by a lake. For those who remember, that’s where we went two years ago for the French part of our wedding celebration.
This time, we celebrated Q’s mom turning 60 on August 7 (and trying to avoid it...) and Mila’s birth in May. So the whole crowd of family and friends was invited and it looked just like two years ago. Like for C’s sister wedding a few weeks ago, we had not seen most of these people since our wedding celebration. It was nice to hear people still call us les amoureux or les tourtereaux! which means something like lovers or lovebirds. Not quite that old couple yet, so that's good! People were blown away by C’s progress in speaking French and kept complimenting her! Mais oui !
Other highlights from our long weekend included a lunch in the medieval town of Castelnou, which sits atop a hill. We ate some catalan specialties like snails in a red spicy sauce and goat cottage cheese with pine nuts and honey. Another great lunch that lasted for hours took place at some dear friends’ house, where they have this insane view on the plain, hills and mountain, New Mexico-style. C also shopped for some leather sandals in Perpignan, which was taken over by people even more than the coast, due to a special 3-day long sale. Q also had some great bonding time going to the beach with his sister Sigo and cousin Vincent, as well as to a concert with his mom to listen to the renowned jazz pianist and composer Michel Legrand (a French guy who has won three Academy Awards).
Stay tuned for another adventure in the South of France (there will be more)!
