SPENDING TIME IN SPAIN

For the last week Flat Hawkster continued his tour of Spain by visiting the towns of Sitges and Girona.   He started by taking a 40 minute train to Sitges, which is a beach town 35 kilometres south of Barcelona.  Sitges is well known for its beaches, restaurants and historical sites.  It has a very artistic history due to the many artists who would routinely visit from all over Europe in the late 1800's.  There are 17 beaches providing plenty of sand for the thousands of tourists that visit each year.  Flat Hawkster was very impressed by the powerful waves that were constantly crashing onto the beach.  They were so strong that the lifeguards prevented people from swimming but that did not stop the many surfers who were looking to "hang loose".

This is the main boardwalk for Sitges.  It was pretty quiet when Flat Hawkster
was there because it was the off-season.  Usually it is filled with bikers, walkers
rollerbladers and skateboarders.

Flat Hawkster saw this playground overlooking the beach and was reminded of
last year when Hawthorne had its own playground surrounded by water.  Glad
they fixed that:)

 The above picture tries to capture the the size of the waves that could be seen on
Terramar beach.  The photo below does a better job of showing the water's power. 

Check out these two videos which give you an idea of just how powerful the waves were.  The surfer below has great technique to start off but then finishes with a wipe-out.  He was not hurt and Flat Hawkster was happy to have filmed it all.

The next town on Flat Hawkster's tour was Girona which can be found in the northeast of Spain.  Girona is a well preserved medieval town that has a long and interesting history which began with the ancient Romans. Throughout its history, Girona has been attacked on many occasions and conquered 7 times.  This can be seen in the variety of architecture and churches that can be found within the Old Town area.   Flat Hawkster especially enjoyed the long walk on Girona's fortress wall that surrounds the city and rises up to great heights with impressive views of the city.  Girona is a relatively small town with 100,000 people and relies heavily our tourism.  It is a very clean town that, like Sitges, has a great appreciation for art. 

This is the Onyar river which separates Girona's old and new towns.  It is a nice place to hang out and listen to the ducks.

One of Old Town's many lanes.

Flat Hawkster came across a collector's market while walking through the Old
Town area.  They were trading bottle caps among other things.  In the picture
below the children were trading pokemon and soccer cards.

During his time in Spain,  Flat Hawkster has had to adjust his watch and his body clock.  His watch, because Spain is 9 hours ahead of Ladner.  His body clock,  because the Spanish schedule things differently than what he is used to.  For one thing, the stores and businesses are all closed on Sundays and they shut down from 2-5pm every other day for a "siesta".  This time was once used for naps but now business owners take advantage of the opportunity to catch up on a busy life.   Flat Hawkster can understand why people would need siestas because everything happens so late in Spain.  Dinners don't usually begin until 9 or 10pm.  The soccer games also start at 10pm.  People, young and old, can be found socializing on the street at all hours in the night.  This has all made Flat Hawkster quite tired and he may be recommending daily siestas for Hawthorne when he gets back.

Flat Hawkster took a break from walking and jumped onto this tourist train which took him through the narrow lanes of Girona's Old Town district.  In the picture below,  Flat Hawkster is standing at the bottom of a staircase that leads to a huge cathedral which towers over the city.   Those stairs were quite the workout and he may need to join Hawthorne's new running club.

Flat Hawkster hopes that everyone has enjoyed their first month of school.  He is enjoying his travels but looking forward to a return.  Enjoy the day Hawthorne!