Our Europe Trip Part III: Soaking up the sun on the Costa Daurada
 

For the other portions of this trip, please see

--> Our Europe Trip Part I: Switzerland - Cheese, Chocolate, and Snow in July

--> Our Europe Trip Part II: Barcelona: Ritzing it up with paella and sangria in a Gothic City

We had stored our bags at the Hotel Arts to pick up and catch the 3PM train from Barcelona to Salou. We got to the hotel around 2:45PM, got our bags, and hailed a cab. We asked the taxi driver to take us to the Barcelona Sants station and told him we wanted to catch a 3PM flight. He was real indifferent about the whole matter and said "It all depends on traffic" and then later "We'll get there when we get there." When we got to the station, he wanted to charge 17 Euros for the ride. All I had was a 50 Euro bill. Luckily, he allowed us to change that bill, and we gave him a 20 Euro, which he had no change for as well. He got a much greater tip than he deserved, but oh well, let's not dwell on that.

Once inside the train station, we were a bit overwhelmed. The only time I had taken trains was in Edinburgh and that station is quite small, comparatively speaking. Also, the waiting platforms are covered, but still outside, not underground like in Barcelona. We finally got our bearings, and we were able to ask around and find the place to buy the tickets.

Next we needed to head to the underground area and wait for the train. I tried to get through the scanner, but I was carrying two large bags and a backpack (my wife was carrying our toddler and a backpack), and I was not able to get through the ticket machine in time. :( I woman started yelling at me in Spanish, and I had to tell her "No hablo Espanol" so she wouldn't get any angrier than she was. She must have pressed some override switch, and at that time, I went with one of the bags and got through the security. Now, she had the other bag and was going to go down the elevator to bring it to us, but then she decided to pass the bag through with another person. To make this worse, we had asked earlier where an elevator was, but they said we couldn't take it. What gives?

It was now about 3:30PM so we had long missed our 3PM train. We had an hour to kill in the subway waiting platform near the train.

We caught our train at 4:30 PM and there was plenty of space on the train. After a few minutes, we were out of the underground and in the suburbs, and after some time, we could see the Mediterranean peaking at us now and then through the hills and tunnels we were crossing.

The landscape reminded me more of the Desert Southwest than California - Coastal California is much more lush than the Mediterranean Coast of Spain. The scenery was more like Palm Springs than San Diego, for instance. I wasn't expecting that because both have Mediterranean climates so I would expect them to be similar. However, the juxtaposition of the sparkling blue Mediterranean and the arid landscape was quite stunning, and I was overall very impressed. The only thing I didn't like was the graffiti, which seemed to be rampant in Barcelona along the tracks and scattered here and there. I seem to have remembered similar graffiti in Scotland during rail transit. It's such a shame.

I was also quite impressed with how hilly Spain is. When we toured France on a previous trip, I found most of the country to be rather flat (still beautiful though) except for the area near the Alps. However, it appears that Spain is quite rugged throughout, and very mountainous in places as well (Montserrat being an example).

We passed a few different stops, Tarragonia being one (appeared to be an interesting place to stop) and then Port Aventura later on followed by our destination stop, Salou.

We got off, and I noticed the town was right there across the tracks. It's such a cute town, and very walkable, with shops below and apartments above. We caught a cab and went to H10-Europa Park, our hotel in Salou.

We checked in, and found our rate had been increased 8 Euros per day for VAT - I had not anticipated that. They asked me if I would accept the charges - like I had a choice!

Fortunately, our rate included breakfast and dinner, although drinks, including water were not included for dinner.

More to come...

Please continue - really enjoying this!

It was evening, so we went down to the buffet. We were all starving, so we helped ourselves to large helpings of paella, other meats, salads, breads, fruits, dessert. Everything tasted pretty good, and my son ate free, so that was a bonus. We loaded up his plate with kid friendly items, not worrying about the cost.

For a drink, since water costed about the same as beer, I ordered that. I think my wife ordered a soft drink or something. We got a juice for Chris.

The whole feel of the place reminded me of an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean. Even the weather was Caribbean-like, 28-32 (82-90), except there was no humidity (a good thing). I began to remember why I liked all-inclusive resorts - no worrying about what to eat at night, where to go, etc... There's always something you can eat, and you never go home hungry!

At night, we found out that there was some great entertainment for the kids. A Spanish woman would dance to various songs with the children and the adults would just watch and enjoy.

Our son was a little shy, but there was a British family next to ours, and they had a small little boy around the same age as ours. He was dancing around, very brave, and I could see Chris wanted to join him. With a little encouragement from all of us, we got him to dance as well. We all applauded when he started to dance!

Later, we tried to put Chris to bed, but the music blasted all night until midnight. That was one thing I didn't really like - our son needs to be in bed by 9PM at the latest and he was just unable to. He would say "I want go outside and dance."

more to come...

The next day, we helped ourself to breakfast. They had a variety of Spanish, French, British, and American breakfast items.

Since I hadn't had a good ole American breakfast for 1.5 weeks, I needed my fix. I had eggs and American style bacon. They also had British style bacon (read ham). They also had my favorite cafe con leche and pineapple juice, so I was set. Their croissants were (again) not very good, but their fresh fruits were delicious.

Next we put on our bathing suits and headed to the beach. The beach was only a 5 minute walk, and it was a gorgeous day. We got to the beach, and I admired how beautiful the setup was. There was a great long promenade along the beach, with palm trees and other tropical foliage. There was also a linear park which had different sports activities. However, the one thing that caught our eye were the two playscapes. Chris saw them and immediately headed straight over to them to start playing.

Later, we rented two lounge chairs and camped out in the sand for some good Iberian sun.

The weather was warm, not hot, but after a while I was itching to go jump in the Mediterranean nonetheless. So, I went over to the water while my wife was watching Chris, and I started to go into the sea. I was immediately struck by how cold the water was. Where I live, water is pretty warm this time of year, and for some reason, I thought the Mediterranean would be similar in temperature to the Gulf of Mexico (very wrong). It was probably 22C (74F) or so, not too cold, but still brisk. It reminded me of the Atlantic Ocean temperature near Massachusettes during summer (south of Cape Cod) or the Southern California water temperatures of the Pacific. I went in, and it was real refreshing. I had a great swim, and at that point I've been in the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and now I add the Mediterranean Sea to that list...

My son enjoyed the sun and sand for a while, and then I think jetlag and lack of sleep finally caught up with him. So, after lunch, we put him in for a siesta. We flipped a coin to decide who would stay with him in the hotel. We decided we would rotate each day.

Some comments about the beach at Salou: There are several concession stands that each serve sandwiches, hot dogs, soft drinks, beers, sangria, fruit juices, and water. So, we pretty much ate lunch on the beach each day. I personally don't like to eat a great big lunch on the beach (I get sick if I do that), so a hot dog and fanta was just fine for me.

The sand is very fine and soft, and the color is yellowish. This is not the powder snow white sand you find in Florida or the Caribbean. It's more like the sand you find along the Southern California beaches or along the east Coast from Massachusettes down to Georgia. The good thing is that the sand is not rocky in any way, shape, or form. This was something I was very concerned about, because I had wanted very fine sand, and it definitely was soft and fine.

I talked about the water temperature earlier, so I won't rehash that, however, I will talk about water clarity. The water clarity is outstanding - just as good as the Caribbean and better than most US East Coast beaches, the Pacific beaches, and all Gulf of Mexico beaches except for Florida and the Alabama coast.

Now, somebody asked me when we were at the hotel, "Why would you come to Europe just to go to beaches? Wouldn't Florida or the Caribbean provide much better beaches and be much more afforable?"

My response was "I probably wouldn't visit Europe just for the beaches, because the costs don't justify the extra expense, but if you're in Europe during the summer anyway, it is definitely worth it to plan a seaside excursion"

The main differences between US and Europe beaches is that toplessness is present at Europe beaches, and that everything you need is within walking distance of the beach. However, now, there are some US beaches that allow toplessness (Miami Beach) and many more in the Caribbean, and a growing number of nude beaches both in the US and the Caribbean, so you don't need to travel overseas for that :)

ttt

topping

^^^

More please. We were in Salou a few years ago so I'm enjoying reading your report.

Some more comments on the toplessness if people want to know.

I'd say the overall rate for women was 30-40%, a bit on the low side. Also almost all girls under puberty were topless (>95%) - the reason I bring this up is that Americans like to put a top on a 2 year old girl - isn't that just silly?

Most of the women that were topless appeared to either be older or French, although there were a good deal of topless Spanish women between 25-35. The women that seemed least likely to shed their top were British women with families, although single British women were braver.

Chris woke up a little early from his nap the first day, so we headed to the pool. There were two pools, a baby pool and a regular size pool. The pools were considerably warmer than the sea, as expected. There was also a hot tub in the middle, which was never turned on.

I had asked someone why the hot tub was never turned on, and he commented that it must be because hot tubs shouldn't run in hot climates. I commented that I'd been to Caribbean resorts where the temperature was much higher and the hot tubs were piping hot. Perhaps it's a liability issue with all the kids around.

Now, for the entertainment the next night, the little fellow our son played with was not there, so we found someone else. There was another little kid, and I finally got Chris to play with him, but once he did, he went wild. He ended up throwing his favorite stuffed animal (monkey) into the pool. A teenage boy jumped into the pool to dish the monkey out. When he did, everyone applauded. It's funny all the attention he received.

Finally, after a few more days, our beach time had come to an end. The next day, we had to catch a 2PM train, so our plan was to go to the beach in the morning, come back and check out, store our bags until around 1:30, and then take a cab to the train depot.

We were going to try to get lunch in town, but no place was open when we tried to eat at 12 noon, except, well, McDonald's. To me, McDonald's is the absolute last resort, but we were hungry, all the local restaurants were closed, and we had a train to catch.

So, I ordered a Big Mac meal for my wife and me and I ordered a hamburger for Chris. They asked me if I wanted a "grande" drink. Well, I was thirsty, so I said yes. However, once I said that, they gave me this giant coca-cola glass. I figured I had been had (as we say in America). I figured this was similar to the hurricane glass given at Pat O'briens in New Orleans, which you have to return to get your money back. However, I really didn't care at that point.

One thing I noticed was that there was no ice in my coke. I figured that they would give you ice at a McDonald's, of all places. I can understand not giving ice in Switzerland, where the tap water is ice cold in the summer, but why are people in Spain, which is warm, scared of putting a little ice in their drinks? What do the people in Seville do? Do they like drinking warm water in the summer when the outside temperature is 40C (104F)?

Someone please explain.

The train ride back to Barcelona was quite different than going there. It was packed, so we had to sit on three separate rows. Our son sat in front of me but in back of my wife, right next to a guy that was between 20-25 I'd guess.

At first, I was a bit worried, but I could see Chris really well from where I was seated, and saw that he had fallen asleep. Later on, I saw that Chris had leaned onto the guy next to him as he had drifted to sleep. I was thinking that guy would get tired of that and push him the other way, but he didn't. He just smiled at him and let him sleep that way. Things seemed peaceful so I just let it be that way.

Around an hour into the train ride, Chris started to cry, and the guy attempted to calm him, but that failed. My wife got up and went to our son and calmed him down. The rest of the train ride was relatively free of commotion after that.

I was trying to think of what someone on a subway in New York would do (or Boston or DC - I'm not targeting any particular city). Needless to say, I don't think they would have been so kind.

This incident really helped me understand the Spanish people really well. They are very nice people, their country is pretty, the weather is good, and at that point I realized that Spain is now my favorite country in Europe to visit!

We got back to the Sants station, and they let us transfer for free to the subway to the airport.

Finally, we waited in the Barcelona airport for our flight. There was a flight to Cairo, and a nice Muslim lady gave my son some candy. The candy was written in Arabic so I wasn't sure what it was. It was a thoughtful gesture and I realized that the human connection is there regardless of wars, political differences, and differences in religion. Our son bridged a gap that I would never have been able to do. Maybe I need to add Cairo, Egypt to my list of must see places...

Shortly after, we boarded the return flight back to Geneva.