So Here's Our Vacation Blog...

Another boring day... HAH!  Not even close.  It was relaxing, since we had been exploring so much over the last few weeks we didn’t feel a need to visit every single tourist or historical attraction, and decided to chill for a while.  So we walked around town, took photos, did some shopping.  We hadn’t said anything about this before, but the streets here are very, very steep, rocky, uneven.  We saw little old (90+) ladies walking uphill with a cane in one hand and holding the wall with the other, taking forever to carefully creep up the rocky paths to get to church, one even had a walker.  I don’t know how they manage to get around like this, but have to admire their tenacity.  Here’s an example of one of these streets.

For those who drive, they do have handicap parking spots every so often, like this.  Good luck getting out of the car without rolling downhill!

For those of us who love cars, get this.  I’ve always loved Citroen Meharis, since I was a little boy in the 50s and 60s (when they made them), but never saw one in real life.  If you don’t know the name, think of a Citroen 2CV (Deaux Chevaux), which you’d recognize from James Bond driving (rolling over, actually) in ‘For Your Eyes Only,’ or Inspector Clouseau driving into the swimming pool in ‘Return of the Pink Panther.’ Take off the body and replace it with one molded out of one giant piece of plastic with corrugated sides.  Fantastic!  Farmers in France used to use them to haul their goods to the market, but wealthy people used them as ‘estate cars,’ maybe to drive from the mansion to the pool, or in this case, to pop into town to pick up some provisions.  We saw grandma, momma, and two little boys hop out with their straw bags going shopping.  The women wearing expensive yachting clothes, the little boys in matching grey shorts and sweaters with pink shirts underneath, their collars strategically peeking out for full effect.  My guess would be they were vacationing in their summer home (mansion) halfway up the hillside, and this was their version of a golf cart.  Yes, I got all that from a quick look at this little gem - it’s that unique.

So we walked around the corner and thought we took a wrong turn when I saw the shoes hanging overhead - like the gangs do in the inner city of Chicago, LA, NY.

Marge was not afraid.  Credit card in hand, she figured out it was a boutique up ahead and they were advertising their shoes!

Around a corner was Cadaques’ version of Times Square, only a bit more attractive.

Then down a hill when we saw something interesting, some sort of scenic restaurant.

Looking closer, it was definitely scenic, but just a little seedy.  A haggard-looking man rolling some questionable cigarettes, across from a couple speaking an Eastern European language in hushed tones.  We didn’t stop.

Back to the apartment, and saw that somebody replaced the little boat that washed away in the storm Saturday night.  I guess the Chamber of Commerce figured tourists expect to have a little fishing boat in the harbor and felt obliged to provide it!

We walked a hundred yards over to a sidewalk cafe to have some tapas and watch the sun go down.  Very different when there’s a mountain (hill?) in the way.  The sun dropped behind the hillside about 45 minutes before the actual sunset, so we got to see one of the boats peacefully floating in the glistening harbor...

another of the actual sunset, red sky and all...

and finally, the serenity of the bay at night.

So good night Cadaques, and tomorrow we say hello to Barrrthelona!  With a little luck we’ll make it in time for the last night’s festivities of their huge Le Merce festival, and you’ll get to see photos of the dragon parade.  Until then...