Day 80...Spain sucks the proverbial part 4 - 14th September

I love Spain... I now have Guardia. No shits, but have bad abdominal cramping and my kidneys and back is sore. Was it the Paella? Nates ok. Maybe the shitty thing covered in sugar. Maybe the Pyrenees cheese. Who can say? Woke up to rain. We packed up, left our stuff with the nice guy in reception and headed to the Picasso museum. We got quite wet and it was unpleasant walking in the cold rain. However the windy barrio streets looked charming and tired. I liked them. We got to the museum and the line wne tout the door, and around the street out in the rain. The musuem mainly has PIcassos early work, while I like his later stuff. So the thought of standing in the rain for an hour didn't appeal to us, and we left. There were touts everywhere hustling you to buy umbrellas which we declined.

Unbreakfasted, we tried to find somewhere for lunch. By then, it had started to pur and we spent a good hour shrieking (well I shrieked anyway) and dodging from storefront to storefront (no undercover in the barrios!) At one point, we got trapped against a wall, saw a truck and new what was going to happen. We cracked up laughing just as it drove past and fully splashed us with muddy, oily, barrio water. Finding somewhere for lunch was hard. The places were either closed, or looked like they were cooking up some tasty salmonella poisioning. Like I needed that on top of Guardia. (Last time I got Guardia was in Mauritius and its not fun). So we decided that though we were cop-outs, McDonalds would at least be safe. We had first tried La Rambla which is Barcelona's most 'famous' street (which has all the same stores as everywhere else - your H&M, KFC, Louis Vuitton - its so BORING). As we walked down it, we passed an older American couple hiding in their plastic ponchos.
She screeched something like "well I'm not having fun!" and Nate and I cracked up laughing. We could concur. So to Maccas we went. In typical Spanish style it took us 10 minutes to order, even though we were second in line. It was ok food, not as bad as the Freemont Experience McDonalds in Vegas when I was there with Kristin - but close. All we needed was a guy to cut a fart and it would be complete. With my Guardia, I almost complied. But I am a LADY dammit. hee hee/ Spain is just one big Freemont Experience Kristin, if you're reading this.

So we got out of Barcelona as fast as possible (after a quick game of 'lets get lost in the deserted and dangerous looking industrial zone). But we kept our cool and were on our way. We headed for the Azure Coast, part of the Costa Brava stretch. Before we hit that though, we passed some beaches that on a sunny day looked pretty ok - apart from the fact that there was a massive big train track all the way along it. the Azure Coast is a narrow snaking road that goes through hilly coast and small towns. It was misty and rainy when we got there - not the best time for driving a coastal road. But even so, you can tell if its pretty or not. Like if you drive Noosa headland in the rain, it still pretty. The Azure Coast was so-so. The towns looked tired and defeated and ready to rob you. Most of the hilly coastal towns were made up of 60's and 70's buildings, from a time when that area was in its hey-day, and now has nothing but its memories...
The town of Tossa del Mar was kinda ok, with a boeat speckled bay and a headland with medieval walls. We had planned to stay there, but it was 3pm in the arvo, and decided to keep going. We wanted to see the Dali museum which was further north and would have to be done tomorrow. So we decided to get as close as we could, without heading inland. (the town where the museum is, is apparently a hole).

Instead, we drove down an isolated road to the end of a headland. Snuggled in a small bay, was the tiny town of Cadaques. The surrounding hills were ribbed with stone walls, either for vineyards or most probably for olive trees. The stone walls were slate, and just covered the mountains! Now overgrown, we weren't sure how old they were, or who would go to the effort of all that work. We speculated the ROmans but we won't be confident in saying that till we get home and research it. And we can't ask the TIC either coz they don't really speak English. All you'd get would be a "ke" or "komo" and a sour look - and we HATE that! We laugh and snort "Keh" to each other alot. (Funnily enough, the Irish accent is still being used by us as well - prolly in part to us both reading Angelas Ashes when in France).

Driving into Cadaques we started to get excited. Only a 1/2 hour from the French border, it was still Spain nonetheless and could it be the redeeming feature for Spain? It was a tiny rocky bay, with a barren rocky shorline and a big fin shaped rock on the left side. Dali used to live here, and was most probably influenced by this scape. We scored a cheap room (well the cheapest in town anyway at 50 euro - if Spain was cheaper to make up for its poziness it would be so bad but it DOESN'T). Our room had the only balcony so that was cool. (Shared bathroom). We got excited about the prospect of the town, and discussed staying an extra night. We still haven't had our beach break yet!

We went to a place on the bay for drinks (it was still raining slightly) and Spain losts its redemption. First, the cheese platter tapas was like rubber, and Nathan got a flat beer. No whinging - it literally was flat! Not a bubble to be found. The waitress was sour so we couldn't even be bothered trying to explain and copping a "komo". Also, the population of Cadaques turned out to be shithouse - weird, wannabe artists hanging onto the fact that this was Dali's town with no originality to go and get inspired by a town of their own. Losers hanging onto someone elses success, trying to be odd and original like him by wearing weird hats and gumboots. Tryhards. Nates mathematics is simple: When the fucked up hobos and/or losers outnumber what they shouold be in proportion to the general population = the place is fucked. So we sat for a while, smoking under no smoking signs, and trying to look cool. Then we gave up and headed for dinner. Had a 3 course menu quite cheap, but what we got was cheap too. We tried 'gaspacho' which turned out to be freezing cold soup. A spanish speciality. Yay. Not!

My muscles were aching from the guardia so we went home, reasted and read until about midnight. Sleep.