La Playa

Today we hopped onto a convenient shuttle bus which took us to “la playa” or the beach as we would call it in English. As you would expect it was fairly busy but we managed to find a shady spot under some trees. You have to be in a shady spot in these high temperatures because your skin starts in burn in a matter of minutes.

It wins Best Beach I’ve Ever Been to by a country mile. Lovely sand, no stones, clear and relatively warm water and it’s quite shallow for a quite a way out. It’s so much better than any British beach I’ve ever been to. We didn’t stay too long because it was so busy bust at least I can say that I have been in the Mediterranean Sea.

Onto other stuff now. Where to begin? Ah yes, the vulture-like qualities of the various staff around here. Firstly the catering staff in the hotel complex during meal times. You have barely swallowed whatever morsel the chef has cooked up for that meal when the plate is snatched from under you ready to be washed up. Similarly, on entry to the Hidropark (a now daily occurrence) the photographers line you up and snap your picture before you can tell them you have already had a family photo taken four times.

And blimey, those photographers! All women and all very attractive. In fact, the hot weather and the number of swimming pools mean I have seen a fair few scantily-clad women during this holiday so far. For someone like me who has been single for a fair while, it’s rather overwhelming. And that’s all I’m saying on the matter.

Let’s end with the language. The staff all speak Spanish to the tourists (their 1st language is Catalonian) if they can’t speak English. I did Spanish at GCSE level and got a ‘B’ so I must be quite reasonable. I’ve been surprised at how quickly a fair chunk of it has come flooding back to me. It’s a bit disappointing that almost everyone speak near-perfect English. Still, at least I can have some foreign title for this blog!