Holiday News

A little bit about my holiday to Tossa de Mar. Tossa lies at the heart of the Costa Brava, 95 kilometres north of Barcelona and 100 kilometres south of the French border.

Apparently, Hollywood arrived here in the early 1950s, shortly before mass tourism, putting Tossa on the map with the shooting of The Flying Dutchman starring screen idols Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra, and a statue of the actress was erected in the old town in honour of her stay here.

The most attractive part of this historic town is the Villa Vella (old quarter) with its ancient defence walls and towers still in tact. Medieval Tossa dates back to the year 966 and in 1187 the castle was built on the headland to defend the town against sea borne invaders.

Today it's invaded by foreign tourists who delight in the sense of history and wonderful views to be had from the highest point of this ancient town. The walled enclosure, built in the 12th and 14th centuries to guard against pirate raids, has been preserved along with the original defence towers which have become the emblem of Tossa. The enclosure, accessed via an arched portal, is the only surviving example of a fortified medieval town on the whole of the Catalan coast. It's a delightful labyrinth of medieval alleys peppered with shops, restaurants and ancient houses, some of which are still inhabited.











These two photo's were taken from various points along the pathway of the walled enclosure on the way to the top.

We had a trip into the wonderful city of Barcelona and visited 3 of Gaudi's magnificent buildings together with a bit of shopping.












The Sagrada Familia, thought to be Guadi's greatest work of all and the number one tourist attraction in Barcelona.


Originally called Casa Mila, and now known as La Pedrera, this building was originally built to house apartments, but the owner had trouble renting them because prospective tennants thought that the irregularly shaped rooms would be difficult to furnish.

Can you imagine being able to live in such a magnificent, unique building?
Never mind about the shape of the rooms, I'd have a whale of a time arranging my furniture in there!!


Casa Batlló, on the same road as La Pedrera is another magnificent example of Gaudi's work.

From the outside the façade of Casa Batlló looks like it has been made from skulls and bones. The "Skulls" are in fact balconies and the "bones" are supporting pillars.

The building was originally designed by Gaudi for Josep Batlló, a wealthy aristocrat, as an upmarket home. Señor Batlló lived in the lower two floors with his family and the upper floors were rented out as apartments

In amongst the site seeing, I did spend some time relaxing on the beach, a novelty for me with my previous sun allergy!! Cruising on a glass bottomed boat to a hide-away cove, Medieval Jousting and Flamenco shows, and visiting nearby towns.

I flirted with the waiters for Elaine, and I have to say I took some stick from my girls for it, who were insistant I fancied one in the town in particular. A very nice Dutch born gentleman, who was living and working in Spain, but had also spent a few years in America and had that lovely 'twang' to his accent. Dreamy!


Another 1st - a photo of me, after my sister and my girls accused me of showing too much leg when I was seeing to an itch, just because I fancied this waiter. So I was going to do a repeat performance!!

Michael, I didn't forget your donkey either honey, I bought a lovely Spanish donkey. His name was, well I couldn't pronounce it so I called him Fred. I stashed him away in my hotel room, no mean feat as there was four of us fighting for space as it was.

After a couple of days though, he disappeared. I just got this note that said he needed more freedom and had run away to join the circus. I tracked him down and tried to convince him to come home with me, but he refused.
So here is a photograph!