Spain reloaded 5:the finale – Hasta Manana
A full day of doing nothing but being a tourist! Happy dance, happy dance. Yawn, stretch, this is the life. Of course, on this trip the full day of boing a tourist involved a 6-hour guided tour of the nearby cities of Reus and Terragona, but without a hotel inspection, it was fantastic. I am such a city person. Give me a town with a really cool attraction (monument/temple/hundred foot gold ball of yarn/whatever) that also has a supermarket, at least one McDonald’s, mass transit, a Topshop, public washrooms and a stock of wine gums, and I’m in my element. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot to be said for getting away from it all, but with my attention span (see Spain Reloaded 3), it doesn’t take me long before I want to get back to it all again. Both stops today fit my criteria nicely.
Reus was up first, only ten minutes’ drive from Salou. This is the birthplace of Gaudi, and, more importantly, it’s just an adorable city. Our guide took us along part of the Ruta del Modernisme, a walking tour marked out on most tourist maps that outlines all the funky architecture and history in one convenient package. We saw the Placa de Prim (home to the “statue of the guy on the horse” and the “statue of the guy just standing there because he wasn’t special enough to get a horse”), Gaudi’s birth house (home to the statue of a young Gaudi playing with his balls. No, seriously, the boy is sculpted playing some sort of game with six balls on a wooden bench), the main cathedral and the central Placa Mercadal. Here we broke for a two-hour shopping break. I ended up in the town hall (free public washrooms), and when a couple of us paused to get our pictures taken in front of this pretty marble staircase, the guard gestured that we could go upstairs, regardless of the velvet rope pointedly marking it off. Next thing I knew we were alone amongst all the paintings of the past great Reus leaders, and even in the city council chambers. Stepping out onto the balcony off the council chambers, I found myself staring down at the square, where my peons were all hustling about doing their daily errands. It took everything I had not to break into ”Don’t cry for me Argentina”!
Then onto lunch (there’s that food fixation again, but this time it’s totally deserved). We had asked our guide if she could recommend a good local place to eat, and she suggested “Grandma’s Place”. All I knew was that it was in a church, but you cannot imagine my surprise when we drive out to the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nothing but hazlenut groves, and pull up to the most picturesque stone church, complete with a brightly-coloured wildflower garden and geese wandering around. That postcard in your head? Think even cuter and you’d get this place. A giant table was set up for all of us in some sort of cellar, and we were then served the most incredible three-course lunch (OMG… so much food… but so insanely good… try the stuffed peppers), all for only EUR$11! All I kept thinking is that this would be the perfect place to send someone for a destination wedding (assuming I could ever find it again), as you could get married in the adjacent chapel, then have a reception here in the cellar with the best food ever. And after lunch we toured the chapel (from it’s quaint exterior you’d never expect the modernist, crayola coloured 60’s murals inside), where our guide showed us the perfect accoustics by singing Ave Maria. Goosebumps.
Stuffed beyond all function, it was onward to Terragona, home of “the most Roman ruins within it’s municipality outside of Rome”. And that’s not just a tag line. At first it seems like a very modern city, until you turn the corner and find yourself staring at the giant stone anfiteatro balanced on a cliff over the Med. All we needed were gladiators on chariots, and it would have been perfect. There were a lot of ancient stone walls scattered haphazardly throughout the city center, and every time you turned a corner you had to be careful not to trip over another archaeological treasure. City hall doesn’t have public washrooms, though, according to the guard who escorted me out. There’s also a spectacular cathedral, this one reminding me a lot of Notre Dame in Paris, with it’s tiered entryway, each tier supported by a sculpted saint. Very cool.
That night I used what was left of my energy to repack, as the next morning we flew home. The trip had gone so fast, but, as I wasn’t with my loved ones and had visions of minibars and in-room safes floating through my head from all the hotel inspections, I was kind of ready to go home. I loved Spain, though, and emailed home on that last day in Barcelona that “we totally have to come back here! It’s awesome, you’ll love it!”
So my souvenirs, tan and I are now back in Vancouver. Well, not all of the souvenirs, as the smoked meat I bought for the Boyfriend was confiscated by security. He’ll deal, but it will take time and therapy 
This Spanish Flygirl is already making plans, now that I’ve caught the Spain bug, there is so much more that I want to see.
Oh, and I did learn a ton of handy stuff for work, too.
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- Statue of guy on horse!
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- Statue of guy not on horse!
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- Bite, chew, chew, chew, chew, swallow, repeat.
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- Statue of a young Gaudi playing with his balls
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- We’re number one! At the Reus Cathedral
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- Believe it or not, this is the only cathedral we actually went inside
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- The hall of famous dead people in the Reus town hall
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- The view from the town hall balcony, looking down on my people
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- That’s the private balcony I was out on
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- The undiscovered gem of Spain
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- Adorable!
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- Could this place be any more perfect?
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- Our guide singing Ave Maria in the chapel. Goosebumps!
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- Our table
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- The roman coliseum in Terragona
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- This town hall does not have public bathrooms
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- The Terragona cathedral reminded me a lot of Notre Dame in Paris, but with more sunshine
