Sunny days in Spain, another costa!

Paloma, our motorhome has continued on her Spanish adventure, she is occupying a beautiful spot on an ACSI site, come on guys you didn’t think we’d be paying the full price of €56 a night, thanks to the discount scheme we’re only paying €19 per night.

So here we are at camping Vilanova Park (N41.2324561, E1.6938566) personally recommend to us last year, so we had to give it a go and you get a free shopping bag !

Vilanova i la Geltru is a charming, endearing seaside town situated on the Costa del Garraf, close to its rather more famous neighbour Sitges, and the metropolis that is Barcelona.

Situated on the Mediterranean coastline, with six kilometres of golden, sandy beaches, Vilanova i la Geltru is certainly an excellent beach holiday destination.

Yet is has more, a lot more !

The town itself has boasts a rich cultural heritage and its privileged location surrounded by a totally natural environment, where the rolling hills that meet the sea.

But let’s start by the sea, Vilanova i la Geltru is home to over six kilometres of fine sandy beaches, and is definitely one of the main attraction’s of the area.

But you know I’d never be satisfied by just another touirst town beach, so thankfully this one offers something else !

This sculpture dominates the town’s beach and is a popular spot for families, walkers, lovers and fishermen. (Yep saw them all this morning)

The sculpture is set on a breakwater some metres into the sea. On a calm day you can easily visit it without getting wet. However, on a day when the sea is choppy it would look even more of a spectacular sight as waves break against the jetty and spray showers the sculpture. 

If you are taken in by the horns and imagine the creature depicted in the sculpture to be a bull

you may be totally puzzled by the figure within the animal. However, the name of the sculpture gives the game away.

It is called Pasiphaë.

If you know your Greek mythology you will know that she was the wife of King Midas.

The king upset the sea god Poseidon and for punishment the god made Pasiphaë fall madly in love with a spectacular white bull.

The bull, however, was obviously not attracted to a human female. So, she had Daedalus (the inventor and father to Icarus) construct an artificial cow and hid herself inside it in order for her passion to be consummated. The resulting child of this brief encounter would be the minotaur.

A combination of the abstract, the mythological and the figurative.

From the sculpture the promenade leads you back towards the main town,look upwards as you walk, as the numerous parakeets that populate the palm trees of the promenade, inject an extra sense of fun and freedom into this lovely location.

Their happy chirps seem to infuse the air with that great holiday feel.

Just after the marina, you enter the The Rambla, this pedestrianised esplanade stretches for over 1km and is lined with hundreds of shops and pavement cafés.

But it’s not just any entrance a huge towering Face greets you, it’s dedicated to Francesc Macià, first president of the Generalitat of Catalo- nia and son of Vilanova,

Then you can begin your stroll …..

This is the main thoroughfare that connects the city centre to the sea front. You can while hours going off down the side streets in lovely little plaza and discovering something new at each turn.

At the far end of the Rambla sits the the church of Sant An- toni Abat.

Walking up on the left side of the church, going up Carrer de la Bomba, you enter Plaça Sant Antoni to its rear, where you can admire its neoclassical façade, and see its white- stoned, slightly inclined, steeple

Off down another side street brings you one of our favourite things to do when on holiday, shop in the local food markets.

When entering this market and see the stall and the produce they sell, you can believe that you are in a market in Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia or Bilbao, it seems incredible that a city like Vilanova has such a market.

as well as delicatessens with Catalan products of the highest quality, the sausages are amazing, the spectacular fruit and vegetables and the butchers have meats, poultry –

Ah food heaven !

Paul.