We wake up early (for Barcelona) at 7:30 AM and pack our bags. Today we’re heading for Figueres, Spain. Today is the first day of the new travel pattern we’l be following for the next couple of days. Every a new destination complete with a train ride and a new hotel. We make our way out of town by entering a metro stop not far from the hotel (at Liceu) and take that to the Barcelona Sants train station. The inner workings of the metro-Barcelona Sants interconnection is a crazy pachinko machine but we manage to navigate it without too many missteps. Our first ride on a European high speed train! The ride between Barcelona and Figueres is over pretty quickly (about 45 minutes). The train is pretty empty and comfortable. I read most of the way. Both Dawn and I commented on how quiet the train was.
The train deposits us on the outskirts of Figueres and we walk into town to find our Hotel. It’s maybe a 15 to 20 minute walk rolling our luggage behind us. From the street our hotel, Hotel Duran, does not make a striking impression.
Ok, this place is pretty wacky, in a good way. The outside looks ghetto. The lobby and restaurant look disconnected. The lobby is very modern with tasteful comfortable furniture. The restaurant looks like something from a bygone era when fine dining required the proper clothes and decorum. The halls and rooms are actually very modern decorated in clean warm tones. I dig this place. Never judge a book by it’s cover.
After we check-in we head out for our day’s activity. Ditching Figueres and actually visiting the the Greek and Roman ruins Empúries near another town called L’Escala. To get there we need to walk to the other side of town and find the bus depot. Dawn has been trying to book bus tickets for us online...but their system isn’t so modern. The bus depot is about as glorious as it sounds. We purchase tickets, confirm that we’re leaving in an hour, and actually eat at the bus station restaurant. It’s not glamorous but it pretty good, little Spanish baguette sandwiches for the win.
The bus pulls up right on time and we get in. It’s not very full and the seats are small but comfortable enough. The ride to L’Escala is about an hour. Or so I’m told. I have a thing about the riding in big buses on vacation, they pretty much instantly put me to sleep. Iceland, China, Spain, it makes no difference how rough the ride is or how amazing the scenery is...I’m out pretty much immediately. To me the bus ride out there seemed like it took maybe 10-15 minutes.
The bus drops us off in L’Escala and as fortune would have it there is also a tourist information office co-located with the bus stop, which was actually kind of surprising because the bus stop was just a little glass hut on the side of a not very big road. We are dropped off around 2:30 and we have to catch the bus back at 7:00 pm (it’s the last ride out of town!) L’Escala is a beach resort town, but not a big flashy one. It’s a small town the locals go to. There are no big hotels or fancy restaurants. It’s seems pretty small and quaint. We’re told that it’s about a 2 km walk to the ruins and we head out. The good news is the walk takes us along the Mediterranean coast! Awesome views. The bad news is this will not be a shady stroll so we’re going to be walking in full afternoon sun.
We enjoy our walk to the ruins but are a little confused how to get into them. They are surrounded by a fence and it takes a bit of trial and error to find the entrance. I think it’s fair to say that they don’t make a big deal about these ruins. Between two small towns there just so happen to be Greek and Roman ruins and for a couple of euros you can go and seem them if you want. No big whoop. The place is minimally staffed (I saw two actual people working there) including the museum on the grounds! Security is light and everyone is pretty much just trusted to behave themselves. The ruins themselves date back to about 500 or so BC. It’s the standard progression Greeks then Romans colonists. The interesting thing is that the Romans didn't appear to build on top of the Greek ruins. I guess they just re-appropriated it and built their own little town just next door. It was an active settlement for about a thousand years. The ruins were buried and then re-discovered in 1908. Since then they’ve been excavating and uncovering the foundations of the buildings. The town is in pretty bad shape (there is a reason it’s called ruins) but the mosaic floors still look stunning.
Most of the ruin visit was also out in direct sun walking on gravel paths. I’m sure glad Dawn thought to pack sunscreen on this little outing. The lady at the tourist bureau said that if we have time we should continue up the path to the little medieval village next to the ruins. She assured us that it’s very small but very cute. We finished looking at the ruins by 5:00 pm and start walking up the path. We get within eyesight of the village and decide we don't have the stamina to make it. Every step we take in that direction is just one more we’ll need to take to get back to the bus stop. As it is, it takes us about an hour to walk the 2 km back because we’re both pretty tired, the walk is uphill, and we’re moving slow. The sun is a very bright star. The one saving grace is that the weather was once again a perfect 68-ish and there were magnificent breezes coming off the Mediterranean.
We make it back to the bus stop and we have an hour to kill. After a 10 minute rest in the shade we spot a little cafe across the street and shamble into it. It’s not really a cafe but a bakery of sorts. The important thing is they have drinks. We exhausted the water bottle I brought on the way back from the ruins and we’re still both thirsty. Dawn orders a Fanta and I get a canned shandy. At that moment, in that place, it’s the best drink ever. We stay in the bakery for about 30 minutes to recover our strength. Then we head back to the bus stop and wait for our bus. Promptly at 7:00 pm it rolls up and we get it. We’re the only people riding the bus back to Figueres. Again, as far as I can tell the bus ride takes 10 minutes.
Once back in Figueres we walk through the town and eventually find our hotel. We both need to take showers to freshen up before our 9:something dinner at the hotel restaurant. Like I said earlier this place looks like it’s from a different time period. There is a small but elegantly dressed wait staff. All of the chairs have the hotel crest embossed on them. The chandeliers are made of glass. The place has bits of Dali artwork stuck all over the place. The plaque in the lobby says that Dali and his wife Gala were friends with the hotel’s chef and owner and dined here often. I guess that explains on the Dali sketches.
We should be famished, but instead we’re just tired. We forgo the set tasting menu and instead each order a starter and entree. For starters I get a white asparagus soup with Iberian acorn-fed ham and Dawn gets the spicy octopus salad. Both are quite excellent. For mains I get the duck with pears and Dawn gets the monkfish. Again, both dishes are expertly prepared and presented. The waiter recommend a small 500 ml bottle of wine which is also excellent. By then end of the meal we’re both stuffed and head back to the room to fall asleep.
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