Palamós - La Costa Brava

Our last CASB trip!  I can't believe I only have 2 1/2 more weeks left in Spain... too much to see and do and too little time!  However this weekend trip was a great way to end the semester as a group (we do have one more group activity left- a goodbye dinner).  It was much better than Madrid because all we did was relax under the sun and the hotel was fabulous.  Super yummy food!  And excellent weather.  Also we left at a reasonable time on Friday (5pm) as opposed to the regular 7 or 8am of previous trips.  And the ride up the coast was only 2 hours on a bus, so not bad at all.  (Beats the 3 hour flight delay we had going to Menorca).

As soon as I got there, I dumped my belongings in my room and wandered along the beach... right in front of our hotel!

And our lovely hotel:

Since we arrived late, the first thing on our itinerary was dinner at the hotel at 8:30pm.  I had zucchini soup, veal cheeks (adventurous!), and vanilla ice-cream with chocolate sauce.

And then a good night's rest to be ready for a bike ride early at 9:30am.  But of course, the breakfast buffet first!

Waiting to get bikes and helmets:

And we're ready!

And we're off!  The bike ride wasn't nearly as bad as the one we had in Menorca.  No rocky terrain or mud to navigate through!  Just a few hills and some dry (almost slippery) dirt.  Although we kept stopping all the time for the people in the back to catch up.  Oh well-- that's what you get for going bike riding with a large group.  But there were nice pictures to be taken every time we stopped.  So no problem there!

After the ride, everyone was exhausted.  But we arrived back around 1pm and it was bright and sunny so of course everyone headed straight for the beach... after all, CASB gave us the afternoon off of any sort of planned activity and we had until 8:30pm (dinner) to do whatever we wanted!

Then I grabbed lunch at a pizza place with some people-- I had a salad because I knew dinner would be too much like the night before.

And then I went for a walk with two other people up to a viewing area above the town to take pictures of the sea.  First we passed a kiddie carnival that was on siesta.

And a view of Palamós' beach:

And then some lovely rocks and water!

And then we walked through town on our way back.  Found a scuba diving school with lots of stickers on their window.

Did I mention how funky the hotel lobby was?

After killing two hours sitting in the shade by the hotel pool, it was finally time to end our day with dinner (although for many, the day continued with late-night drinking on the beach).  First up, I chose a salad with cheese and pesto sauce.  Then duck leg au confit with baked apple, and caramel ice-cream with a bit of whipped cream (nata) for dessert.

Next morning (Sunday) we were going on a boat ride!  We left the hotel at 10am and walked to the farthest boat dock.

They split us up into 2 groups because one boat wasn't big enough for all of us.

And then a lot of people were brave and jumped into the extremely cold water.  I did not do this.  (No towel to dry off, and we already checked out of the hotel so a shower wouldn't be available until later that night).

Back on the boat, we got a snack-- do-it-yourself pan con tomate!

After everybody was back in the boat and the bread disappeared, we headed back to shore.

There were a couple of hours to kill before hopping on the bus to go back to Barcelona.  So everyone changed out of their swimsuits in the hotel lobby bathroom and headed out to lunch (or gelato).  I had some gazpacho and shared patatas bravas with a few people.

And that was all!  After a weekend of laying in the sun, we headed back to Barcelona to face the reality of end-of-semester projects, papers, and finals.  I got a little sunburn on my back as a souvenir.