It’s Day 6, yesterday I spent the day in Barcelona. Today I plan to have a walk around Calella and see what it has to offer.
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It’s around 13.30 in the afternoon by the time I head outside. It’s not the most pleasant day, it’s raining and quite miserable out however, it’s not going to alter my plans. I’ve seen glimpses of the area on the way to the beach or to the train station but that’s about it.
As mentioned in my last blog I’m staying at the Hotel Neptuno, it’s right on the heart of Calella and only 50metres from the centre so, as soon as you step out your pretty much surrounded by shops, cafe’s, restaurants etc. It’s quite busy, I spent a short while walking Round the shops browsing although, most of the shops were tacky souvenir shops. There are a few high street shops as well as traditional Catalan food shops so, there are many opportunities to try some good traditional food.
As I walk further in to the old town the crowds seem to get less and less but, still I grow bored with the main streets and start to wonder down the side streets, admiring the apartments and the old feel of the town. I soon come to a small museum that catches my eye in a quiet side street.
Museu-Arxiu Municipal de calella Josep M. Codina i Bague
My entry ticket was €2, there is a combined ticket €3.50 which also gives you entrance to the lighthouse and refuge.
Inside is full of ceramics, tiles, archaeological materials, old machinery, clothes, art, Iberian and roman remains, and an old pharmacy. The museum was bigger than first imagined, spread over the ground floor, first floor and second floor, with numerous rooms to enter which keeps the curiosity going. There’s also a pretty garden with benches for people to sit, on better days than today of course. The museum really gives you an insight to the history and traditions of the municipality, it’s definitely worth the €2 and got me out of the rain for an hour or so, as I refused to buy an umbrella.
From here I venture through more side streets and through the residential areas, making my way more towards the sea end near the Sardana monument on Passeig Manuel Puigvert. The shopping streets run parallel to the sea so, as your walking through you get glimpses of the sea.
The Sardana Monument on Passeig Manuel puigvert
I learnt this was where the locals celebrate all their festivals. Many of the festivals are around June to September around the times when there are fewer tourists. One of the biggest and oldest festival is the Aplec de la Sardana. It takes place on the first Sunday in June and a big traditional dance takes place in a circle. The monument shows people holding hands taking part in the circle dance. Unfortunately I do not have a picture of this to display.
Other festivals include The Calella and Alt Maresme Fair, which includes craft shows, traditions and customs of the region. Then there’s the Oktoberfest which lasts almost all of October. This includes visitors from all over the globe, music bands and beer from the Bavarian culture.
Now, I don’t know where the time went but, it was all of a sudden almost 6pm! I made my way back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner.
I’m all freshened up and ready to go down to the restaurant. I’m the second one of the solo travellers to arrive, the German gentleman is already seated and gives me a wave. After getting my food I go to join him at the solo traveller table. Seriously! We actually had a table! We all didn’t speak the same language but, we greeted each other and always sat together.
The Solo Traveller Table
On my third day at the morning buffet, I noticed a lady sat by herself. The tables were rather large so, I sit on her table but at the other end. Moments later another lady arrives, and a few others appear one after the other. They all seem to know each other as they greet each other and have small conversations on what their doing for the day. Then I discovered they actually didn’t know each other as some only said hi and that was it. This was when I realised we were all solo travellers I thought it was really cool. From this day I became a member of the table 😂
On this table I met Joanna who was also from the UK. On this night after my busy day walking around Calella Joanna comes quite late, we always talked so much so, I stuck around for longer. Afterwards we decided to go for a drink at the Hotel bar, it was a really lovely ending to the day.
You see travelling alone doesn’t always mean you have to be alone all the time. There has been many occasions when people say they couldn’t imagine, not being able to speak to people for a week. Well, this is the proof in the pudding, it does not have to be that way.
Day 7 Not going to lie I literally do nothing on this day. Its another rainy day and I don’t feel like getting drenched through like yesterday. My day consisted of using the Hotel gym, chilling out watching Netflix then around 4pm I’m a little bored so go to the hotel bar to watch the football and chat with the Hotel staff. It was just a nice chilled out day as I had to be up at 5am in the morning to catch my plane.
This trip was a fantastic trip without as much worry as the first solo trip. However, there was a little moment of panic on the day of leaving. I don’t want to make this blog too long so, I will tell you about this in the next one.
Thanks for reading 😁
NattyTravels 