I love Parador breakfasts and nice not to have to make it ourselves! We said our goodbyes for the last time to Richard and Ann before we see them again in the UK.
We took some time in the morning to explore the castle and discovered original 12th century murals on a vaulted walkway. It was sunny and the morning haze soon burned off and I wish I’d not worn my trail shoes.
Then it was back into the car and with everything crossed we started the hour and a half drive to Tarragona. I was navigating as Colin wanted to drive. Air con was off - it was hot - and we kept the speed to about 20-30kms less than the speed limit much to other drivers disgust!
We made it without any bad smells or overheating which brings me to my theory about the ants on the car. I read somewhere once that ants are attracted to electricity and can nest in large numbers often causing short circuits or eating the casing off of wiring. I am convinced that is what has happened to us.
Anyway we checked into our little hotel and our room has superb views directly over the sea (with a railway in between). It was warm and sunny so we headed straight to the beach and enjoyed a little tapas at the beach cafe and even another swim as the sea was warm and gently shelving. We had not realised that to the left of the beach was actually a naturist area or as the sign put it ‘sin textiles’!
We headed out later to the restaurant that I had booked a table at earlier by phone, as Sundays and Mondays are often closed days for businesses. It was a slightly longer walk than I had thought - nearly 40 minutes and seemed even longer on the way back. We arrived quite early but were intrigued by loud fireworks around the town. We followed the noise and came across a fiesta which mainly seemed to involve people wearing fireworks on their heads and then setting them off in the narrow streets. Health and safety is an important consideration so the children wear straw hats and science goggles! This is the end of one of the displays and you can see the remains of the smoke hanging in the air.
