Sant Jordi Day

Sant Jordi day was on Monday. Bucky had mentioned that people at his office had talked about it the week before so he was aware. I had seen hints that Sant Jordi day was an event in Barcelona, but I had no idea how big of a deal it was until I headed out on Monday morning to run errands. There were stalls set up EVERYWHERE of people selling roses and books. Apparently, Sant Jordi (or Saint George) is the patron saint of Catalonia and the day is a day to show your love similar to Valentine's day. Traditionally, boys give girls a rose and girls give boys a book. Nowadays, books and roses are exchanged between everyone.

Bucky had made sure I knew what was expected on Sant Jordi day so I headed out a few days earlier to get him a book. Fortunately, we have a second hand English bookstore, Hibernian, right up the street so shopping was easy. I had no idea that books for sale would be available throughout the city all along the sidewalks on the actual day of Sant Jordi. Flowers were aplenty as well! It was impressive. I now feel more prepared for Sant Jordi day 2019!

The stalls are set up in the colors of the Catalan flag.

The vendors of flowers and books seemed to be having a wonderful time!

Another of a plethora of stalls!

And another!

Fun with friends

The first home that Bucky and I bought together was in the Mount Baker neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It was an exciting time in our lives. Bucky was working for Microsoft, Lucie was two years old and we were expecting Kathleen. We moved into the house in the Spring of 1999 and learned that an added bonus of buying that house was that we had wonderful next door neighbors who would become life long friends. Those friends, Barbara and David, have been living in Brussels for the past ten years and we were fortunate to visit with them when we lived in France and were looking forward to seeing them again when we moved back to Europe.

They came to Barcelona this weekend and we had a wonderful time catching up. We spent lots of time talking about our children who are now all adults. We reminisced about when they were little and shared our disbelief in how quickly time goes by. We shared stories about adventures we have had over the years and those we look forward to having. We walked miles around the city of Barcelona and let them see it through our eyes. We ate and drank and were very merry. It does the soul good to spend time with old friends. I look forward to seeing them again soon!

David and Barbara in "our place" after walking through Gracia.

Enjoying a WONDERFUL meal at Mexcla, the BEST Mexican food in Barcelona!

Another Mexcla shot!

Barbara and David at our favorite beach cafe, Chiringuito.

Typical tapas!!

I love it when your dining neighbor offers to take a group picture! Of course, we had rose and sparking water!!

A new bbq

The best thing about our apartment (besides the location) is the patio. We are on the ground floor so we have a large, private patio that is an oasis in the city. Since moving in last September, Bucky has talked about getting a grill. Grilling is something that he enjoys. He expends great effort determining the timing of the grilling, i.e. when to turn it on, how long it needs to heat up, how long the food will take to cook. All of the analyzing drives me crazy, but I support his passion! As the weather got nicer over the past couple of weeks, we put some real thought into buying a grill. Bucky went back and forth between a charcoal grill or a gas grill. Charcoal is much more popular here, but he ended up choosing gas since he can "fire it up" more quickly.

We didn't need anything fancy so we found a basic model on amazon.es and ordered it! The box that arrived was full of multiple metal parts that would eventually become a grill. Bucky and I spent an afternoon working to put it together. I was in charge of interpreting the directions and we did everything step by step with Bucky tightening each nut and bolt with finesse. Once we had the structure together, we had to make two trips to the local hardware store to get the right fittings for the gas (butane) tank, and we succeeded! That evening, we fired up the grill and had teriyaki chicken! We are looking forward to many more meals on our new barbecue!

Some of the parts that eventually became the grill!

More parts!

Bucky organizing the little itty bitty parts!

The finished product!

Our first meal!

Sunny days

The last couple of days have been beautiful here in Barcelona! Here are a few pics showing how we enjoy the nice weather!

Groups of old men are playing cards and doing crossword puzzles together under the orange blossoms. A friend is going to join them!

India and Bisoux lounging on our patio.

Walking up to Park Guell and loving the blooms!

Walking along the trails behind Park Guell!

That looks like a nice balcony to have in this weather!

Tibidabo, which is an amusement park we have yet to visit, looks magnificent on the mountain in the sun!

Leucate and more

For a place that supposedly has little rain, Barcelona has been inundated with showers for the last couple of months! This past weekend was no different as the weather called for rain so on Thursday evening, Bucky and I made plans to get out of town. Of course, top on my list was to go to "vide greniers" so I found a few that were going on in the Pyrenees-Orientales department  of France which is relatively close by. We then looked around for a place to stay that would be enjoyable and accept dogs and found a little boutique hotel called Hotel 19-21 in what seemed to be a cute town, Leucate.

We headed that way on Saturday morning. We were excited for a road trip because we just received our toll pass in the mail and wanted to try it out. I ordered the toll pass so that we could go through tolls automatically and then pay for them via our checking account instead of stopping and paying at each one. We had a similar thing when we lived in France and we really felt local when we got it so we were looking forward to feeling the same way here! Of course we were nervous going through the first toll, but it opened quickly and we celebrated together in the car!

Our drive to Leucate was rainy but we made it there safely. The hotel was so quaint and cool - modern, but very french and the people who run it could not have been nicer. They were so welcoming and definitely dog people so we felt comfortable having India. They recommended we get lunch at the place across the street from them and it was such a memorable meal! It is a bookstore that also serves food - the menu is light, just like the food (think tartines and salad), but it was just what we wanted. Plus, they allowed India to join us!

Leucate is located on a peninsula between the Mediterranean Sea and a huge lagoon called the Etang de Leucate. We spent the afternoon driving to the other towns along the peninsula since it was still raining and going to the beach was not an option. It is apparent that the area is a big wind-surfing place and a destination for families during the summer. The village of Leucate is very quaint, with small streets, cobblestones and little businesses. We had dinner at a pizza place, Dolce Farniente, that only has six tables and has won some pizza awards in France. The people who ran the restaurant were lovely and even asked me to talk to someone who was calling to order pizza and didn't speak French but spoke English. I earned an extra limoncello for my services!

On Sunday, we headed out to rummage through treasures at vide greniers. Luckily, the sun was shining! Our first stop was in Le Barcares where we picked up a little wine pitcher and an old, small patio chair. Then we headed to Sainte-Mairie la Mer where the vide grenier was on the beach which was spectacular. We enjoyed wandering around, but didn't purchase any treasures. Our next stop was at a vide grenier outside of Perpignan which is a big city. The vide grenier didn't have much to offer, but I did end up buying a couple of old shoe forms that were cool. We were really going for it so we stopped at a fourth vide grenier in the town of Elne. The streets were lined with vendors and we ended up buying a postcard rack so we can display pictures in our apartment in Barcelona. Finally, we headed to Collioure, a seaside town we have visited in the past for a brocante (which is like a vide grenier but only has antiques) and lunch. It was a successful day and getaway all around!

This was our first trip with our new toll pass which was very exciting! The pass is in the upper left hand corner of the pic! Meanwhile, Bucky is concentrating on the road!

After we checked into the hotel in Leucate, we went across the street to have lunch at "Entrez Libres," a sweet restaurant that is also a book store! Of course, we started with rose and Perrier.

Bucky modeling the bookshop part!

This is part of the lobby of the hotel and they were setting up for dinner!

Another shot of the hotel lobby.

Bucky and India as we walked around the cute little town of Leucate.

A scene in Leucate!

Our hotel had a dog bed and water bowl set up for India when we got there!

There was a cool trail behind the hotel that we all enjoyed - especially India!

India has become quite the adventurer!

We saw numerous vineyards on our walk!

View of the snow covered mountains on our way to our first vide grenier.

One of the vide greniers was right on the beach!

Our last stop was Collioure where India was a the guard dog for the Chateau Royal de Collioure. 

More rose and Perrier in Collioure!

Two of my favorite people enjoying a beautiful day!

Hills galore!

India and I spend lots of time walking around Barcelona. One of our favorite places to go is Park Guell which is uphill from our house. We usually go there at least a couple of times a week and I always try and vary our routes. The trek up the hill is challenging, but we really enjoy it when we get there! The other day, we found a new way home going DOWN these steps. I couldn't resist taking this picture. We were both happy to not be going up!

Back to Cadaques

Bucky and I really love Cadaques! We went back to the quaint, seaside town for Easter weekend. Bucky had Friday and Monday off so we left on Friday morning and stayed through Monday afternoon. Of course, we took India and the three of us had a wonderful weekend! This time, we rented an apartment RIGHT on the water which was amazing! We spent lots of time just enjoying the view. We also went on long walks, searched the beaches for sea glass and drank rose all day! One day we decided to walk to the lighthouse which turned out to be more of a hike than we expected. It was a spectacular day and we were proud of ourselves for our accomplishment! Words really can't explain the weekend so you will have to learn more through the pictures below!

I just LOVE the water in Cadaques!

View from our apartment window.

Steps from our apartment down to the water. The water was VERY cold!

Bucky enjoying the view from our deck.

The view from our deck.

Who is ready for some rose?

Moving on to Cava for the evening!

India wasn't keen on the noise the waves made outside of our apartment so she staying inside most of the time except when she knew we were heading out for walks!

Early on Saturday morning, we came upon this installation on one of the beaches. Initially, we thought it was something for Easter, but then when we go closer, we saw it was for the independence movement in Catalonia. The crosses had words such as "democracy" and "liberty" on them. It was pretty powerful.

Our attempt at a selfie on our deck on Easter Eve.

The view of the apartment we rented during one of our walks. The building is the second one to the left of the brownish one on the far right.

This is a secluded beach we saw during our hike to the lighthouse.

Another view during our lighthouse trek!

Bucky enjoying the view as we head to the lighthouse.

The lighthouse is the white building on the tip of the mountain. This was taken on the way back.

My love!

This was the view from the restaurant where we enjoyed lunch on Monday before heading home. We were sitting on the terrace of the restaurant and the clear plastic sides were down to protect the diners from the wind. The view was especially neat because the plastic made it sort of shimmer. Nice memory.