Calella

Our last stop in Spain was Calella. It is described as "one of the most beautiful villages on the coast." The city has embraced tourism without being swamped by it giving you the feeling of the true lifestyle of the locals. There is a relaxed charm about the place and it is truly an enjoyable town with a population of only 17,000.

With our 2:30 pm departure from Girona, we arrived in Calella around 4. We checked into our room, walked to the local grocery for some snacks, and headed straight to the beach. As you can see from the pictures below, the beach was a convenient 1 minute walk from our room. We camped out there until the sun went down around 7-8. It was so wonderful to feel the warmth of the sun beat down on our skin again in contrast to the cloudy skies in Harrogate. The beach we laid out on only had a few differences than one you might find in Redondo Beach, CA. First of all, the sand is extremely course and is more like pebbles. And secondly, you might find that about 10-15% of the locals, both male and female, are at the beach dressed a little differently than what we're used to, if you know what I mean. It was unique... to say the least. We just tried to mingle more with the touristy crowd and mind our own business.

The remainder of the night was spent walking around town and getting dinner. We couldn't resist the local pizzeria and were comforted by the food that reminded us of home. After dinner, we had some gilato (amazing Italian ice cream) and went on a romantic evening stroll. Ahhh, it was paradise... Writing this entry is making me want to go back!

Day #2 in Calella was in my opinion the highlight of the whole trip and quite possibly one of the most wonderful days in my life. By 1:00 we were heading out into the Mediterranean Sea with everything we needed for the next 7 hours. We rented a motorboat and snorkeling gear, bought a raft, and were fully stocked with all the delicious food a girl could want. The rest of the day was spent in complete and utter relaxation soaking in the sun and basking in the glory of the day with my husband... It was a day of luxury.

We stopped at several coves and beaches along the coast and found many good snorkeling spots. One of the most surprising things of the day was how the sea was completely loaded with jellyfish! At one point when Brandon was driving the boat I said, "What's all those brown, round things I keep seeing in the water?" He didn't know. It wasn't until Brandon was snorkeling and saw one of those "brown, round things" only 2 feet from his face did he realize that they were jellyfish! From that point on, we were on the lookout in attempt to avoid them as much as possible. We saw over 10 HUGE, white ones that were so beautiful and cool to watch swim around. Their movements were so smooth and angelic and it looked like they were floating in slow motion. The jellyfish were also a little scary and we certainly kept our distance. We had to return the boat by 8 PM that night, but the whole day was just so perfect! It couldn't have been planned any better.

Our last night in Spain was similar to most evenings on vacation: relaxing, soaking in our environment, getting some dinner, and walking around in town. And of course, we had to get our last fill of gilato in before our departure back England and real life.

Spain is an amazing place and the trip was more than I could have hoped for. A big thank you goes out to my wonderful husband who did all the research, all the planning, made all the phone calls and reservations, and provided all of the funding. :) Three cheers for España! Hip, hip hooray.