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Some updates on this leg of the trip…

I’m flying with Air France which I was a bit hesitant about given their not so wonderful history of plane crashes this summer. But I shoved those feelings away and tried to be positive (not hard with the plans I have…a positive outlook seems natural at this point!) I have to give props to Air France, my 10+ hour flight was AWESOME. I had an aisle seat, sat next to a really nice girl from SF who was chatty but not overbearing, ate some delicious chicken/potato/veggie dish that seemed to be drenched in oil/cream, AND was served an abundance of cheese at every meal time (dinner and breakfast).

To top it off, Air France’s entertainment services totally rock. You have your own tiny TV with choices of a ton of movies, tv shows, music, and games. I watched four, yes FOUR movies and a few tv shows. It was so great…I had a mini John Travolta marathon with Grease and then that Phelam 123 movie about hijacking a metro train in NY, watched The Ugly Truth AND 500 Days of Summer!!! Quite productive and enjoyable, to say the least.

Now, I’m hanging out in the Paris CDG (Charles de G…something) airport – a much nicer experience than the last one (see THIS POST from my travels this summer). There are these really cool lounge chairs that I am loving, and I MAY venture to find food. But I don’t really feel like interacting with anyone in “French” (my version of the language – saying “Bonjour” and then discretely switching to English.)

More to come!

Adios!

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More to be posted about my trip to Istanbul later, when I’m not enjoying yogurt and pretending to pack. Until then I leave you with a rare sighting of TURKISH GODZILLA attacking Galata Tower! Rawrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Anyway, we have met a few times, and during our first meeting she took me to the tourist office in Platja d’Aro to talk about more excursions I should go on. It should be mentioned, at least to give an idea of her personality, that during that same meeting she brought me to a book store, to a shop where she bought her daughter a skirt, offered to drive me to some volcanos to sightsee and invited me to her house to meet her family and her dog.

One of the places she suggested is yet another beach side village called Tossa de Mar. It is actually quite close to where I am staying, so my friend said he could drive me there on Thursday, hang out for a bit and then come back to get me after he did other things. We headed there in the afternoon, around 2, and started off at the beach (this is becoming a trend that I love.) After he left I explored the city which quickly became one of my most favorite places I have visited so far. There is a medieval town running along part of the coast line which was built in like the 12th century or long time ago. At some point the town was walled off and a castle was built inside the walls as well. What is really cool is that you can walk through the town and also along the wall, very high up, and it gives an amazing view of the Mediterranean Sea.

High up view of Tossa de Mar

Perfect!

Sightseeing alone from about 4 until 10pm was daunting and exciting. This was the first time on this trip where I was really comfortable in being by myself, wandering in a place I didn’t know. Here are some notes I took while having dinner:

“I am enjoying being alone. This is a new and very welcome development. The town is charming and quaint but also has a good energy to it. I found myself imagining what it would be like to live here, which is a first. You can actually rent an apartment WITHIN the original castle walls! Like, live in a place made out of stone from hundreds of years ago…so cool. Actually they are probably literally, SO COOL, with the stone and all. I walked all over the town, up into the ancient city area and even found the bus station. And yes, I navigated myself around using a MAP! Woot! Only got lost once and it wasn’t so bad.

Narrow street.

Another coastline view.

I have had a total of three successful interactions in Spanish. There was one slightly confusing one where I may have pointed an old woman and her granddaughter in the direction of the freeway instead of the bus station. She sounded like she understood as she walked off, but she may have just been trying to get away from me and my possibly faulty information. She is just one of a few people now who have stopped me on the street or in stores with questions. How much do I love the fact that they think I speak Spanish and have enough of an idea of what is going on to give them information? About as much as I love it when I speak to someone and they actually understand me.

Dinner time view.

I feel like a douche for writing these notes on my phone…I should have brought my handy notebook. I want people to somehow know I’m doing something worthwhile not just surfing the web while sitting at a cafe where I could be enjoying the beach instead of staring at a screen. Oh well. For all they know I am some important doctor who has to keep in touch with patients even on vacation. Paging Dr. Petra!

Update: A couple of Germans just walked by and I am 99% sure they said something along the lines of, ‘Oh yagh, zee IYEE-PHOAN! Har, Har, Har!!’ Or something like that. Putting zee iyee-phoan away now.”

After being shamed into putting my phone away I sat for a while long enjoying the view and the feeling of being content with just myself. Then I wandered around the town more, fell more in love with the city, made plans to come back and visit (or live?!?!?), and bought some delicious smelling soap from a tiny shop that was playing John Mayer.

Needless to say I slept well that night, happy and tired and wanting more.

When do I move in??

Dead bat. Sorry dude.

Are there any “ranches”  or animals in pastures that you can see?
Not as of yet, but I have seen lots of stray cats. And a dead bird. Actually, lots of living birds too.

Are there any flowers blooming or is it too hot?
Yes! We drove by fields of sunflowers the other day, turning toward the sun. Beautiful!

Do the kids go to summer school?
There seem to be lots of summer camps that I noticed when in Barcelona, but near the beach there are TONS of children with their families.

Do you hear any music or town bells?
So much music, from peoples apartments, from their cars, etc. And on the beaches starting this Friday night there will be Jazz concerts. I have experienced a few church bells marking the time, but not an everyday thing.

After spending a very relaxing day at the beach on Thursday, Carolynn and I were ready to do more sightseeing in Spain today (Friday). My friend who lives here graciously offered to drive us to a region called Empuries where there are beautiful beaches alongside Roman and Greek city ruins. History AND being lazy in the sun? Sounded like the perfect combination.

And really, it was. Arriving in the heat of the mid-day sun we decided to start at the beach and then explore the ruins which are 100% outside, with no trees for shade. Ancient Greeks and Romans were a much tougher bunch than the three of us, so we bee-lined it to the water’s edge and I immediately jumped in. Well, jumped isn’t quite the right word, more like waded for a mile before the water touched my chin. A very different shoreline on this part of the coast, for sure. Even the sand was different, the kind that is very soft but that gets in all your crevices as opposed to the pebble variety at the beach near our apartment.

Nonetheless, the water was equally crystal clear and relaxing. With jagged islands that were inspiration for some of Dali’s work just a swims distance from shore, it was amazing. Though the sun was scorching (and Caro and I have pink backs to prove it) we laid out for a good 2 hours before retreating to the shade of a café on the beach for some lunch. This region, I learned, is also known for its anchovies! Salty little pieces of goodness coming from the sea. I tried some “tostada” (toasted bread) with red peppers and anchovies on top. Oh, and oil. It was delicious. Back to the beach after lunch I promptly fell asleep for an hour or so before Caro nudged me awake telling me it was time to see the ruins.

You can swim to the ruins!

This is the second set of ancient ruins we have seen on our trip, the first set being Roman ruins underground in Barcelona, right near the Gothic Cathedral. Carolynn and I spent a significant amount of time at the first set, though they were enclosed underneath a building so the temperature was much more suitable to my delicate sensibilities. It was late enough in the day today where I was only sweating a moderate amount (I’d like to think my face just had a pretty sheen to it, rather than it pouring off in buckets). Anyway, we explored there till it was closing time. I’ll try to post photos of Caro and I acting “ancient” and “Greek-like” as we went around.

On old stones

Heart/spade pattern in a mosaic from the floor of the Roman area

Walking on the steps decending from where a temple was - I had chills!

Exiting the ruins, looking in.

On our way back to the car we walked through the beachside village that is taking great advantage of the economic gains of being the only village near such a destination point. It was getting to be around dinner time (9pm or so) and the village was hopping. It was so quaint and perfect, with little cafés set amidst these huge stone buildings; I was immediately sucked in. We decided to have a light dinner there if for no other reason than to enjoy the scenery and the experience.

At this point Carolynn and I realized that we were still in our wet bathing suits (from a last minute swim as the sun was setting) and towels. Our attire was a bit too casual for these eating establishments so we decided to change into our pre-beach clothes. Unfortunately there was no place we could tell that would work. Instead of looking outside of the 1 block radius we had previously checked, we decided a just as suitable option would be to change in the street. The street we were on was fairly deserted, and I found a doorway that was large enough to block me from the street view. Caro stood guard as I quickly threw on a dress and started to take off my bathing suit underneath. No sooner had my top come off that the light from inside the door burst on, scaring and propelling me out of the doorway, clutching my bra and bathing suit to my body. Turns out the “empty” doorway was actually that of an apartment building in use. A surprised looking girl and her disgusted looking boyfriend exited the building, to be greeted with a flustered and embarrassed pair of American tourists, one of which was gripping a strapless bra and shouting “Sorry!” in their faces. In tense situations that require quick thought I can never remember Spanish. Lo ciento, it just doesn’t happen.

As if it wasn’t clear enough that this was a bad plan, I didn’t know where else to go to rearrange my clothing so I stepped back into the doorway. Again this backfired when the girl returned to lock the door. OK, I get it, this is your apartment and I need to move. So we walked down to the edge of the street into an open area that had some brush and cars parked at one edge, along with a very tall stone (duh) wall to face while changing. I was able to complete my mission with Caro holding my towel up for modesty’s sake. Then it was her turn. She is a self proclaimed expert at changing in tight spots (don’t ask me how she gained these skills) so she was moving quickly as well, with her towel wrapped around her waist. As her bikini bottoms came off so did our cover of quiet. People started coming at us from all angles, and looking around I quickly realized this was not some dead end street but the main town plaza.

I start freaking out as a set of parents with a child approach us; in my head I imagine that they are going to run us out of town for being so indecent and stupid as to change our clothes in the middle of their city center. I announce to Carolynn, “This isn’t working, we need to leave!” To which she replies, “I have nothing on! I can’t move!!” I don’t see what the problem is, she has a towel on for god’s-sake, but hey, I’m not the half naked one. She continues as I try to find an angle to shield her where it somehow blocks out any nudity that might happen at any minute. I grab her tank top and hand it to her; there is no time for more things to be removed, at this point clothes need to be put on, and fast.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity with the entire town of Empuries coming out all at once, stray cats and the children’s choir included, Caro was at a point of being able to move. Shaking his head, my friend laughed as we slunk over to where he was, tails between our now clothed legs. “I was wondering what you were thinking,” he replied. Yeah, me too.