Caatalan flag

Weather – 24º, sunny, breezy, lovely

Steps – 9,776

Humidity – 54%

view from our room

Despite our hotel being at ground zero for the Sitges Pride festival, we got a surprising amount of sleep last night. I planned to stay up until midnight when the festivities were supposed to end, but I passed out just before that and good thing as I woke up just before 1 and it was still going, Chris says it ended around 1.

For some reason I didn’t sleep much the night before, so I was beat, this helped - I must have been tired because when in the morning I discovered the soap dispenser in the bathroom fell off of the wall and I didn’t hear a thing. I’ve been

our room/balcony

happy with my sleep situation since we’ve been away. I’m usually a fine sleeper at home, but here I’ve regularly been sleeping by 11/1130 and up at 8. I wouldn’t mind this continuing at home.

Anyway…we showered and headed to the included breakfast – I have a submission for the complaints dept re the shower…the volume control and temperature are on the same knob!?! If you want pressure, you have to be prepared for a scalding, don’t want a scalding…you’ll get a drip.

Beckham was more$$

Breakfast was fine - it did the trick. I’m always looking for something local and
new at hotel breakfasts. In addition to any kind of espresso coffee there was the usual, eggs, yogurt, fruit, they had tortilla, a couple of Spanish cheeses, and fuet – a dry, pork sausage, name means ‘whip’ in Catalan because of its long thin shape, this was new to me. I had hoped for Spanish tomato bread…none to be found, but the bread they did have was excellent. Although everybody thinks French bread is the king, in my opinion Spanish is better – I think it’s French marketing.

rehersal..."As Long As You Love Me"

There was also Cava, which I suppose did make it special! I remember the olden days of Chris and I on our first trips to Europe having a glass of something bubbling for breakfast from hotel buffets, just a bucket of help yourself…not so common anymore.

Oh, and fresh squeezed OJ, from a machine filled with oranges waiting for a
‘push’ to be juiced – this was nice.

During breakfast we discussed what we were going to do about being in the heart of loud-ville. Would we try to move rooms in the hotel (doesn’t look like much availability), move to another Sercotel in Barcelona (more $ to move and another travel day), or tough it out and make the best of it - we are staying. If I didn’t want to get any sleep, it’d be fun.

drag show

Tonight’s party theme is Boy Band, last night was Roxette, tomorrow is Amy Winehouse/Rhianna/Shakira, Saturday is Ricky Martin/Gaga/Cher – no shockers. Watching rehearsal was fun, really this is the perfect spot for me to
participate in a music festival…I have no interest in rubbing shoulders with strangers as we jockey for position – I don’t even have to use a porta-potty!

It’s only at night that you’d even know that our hotel was in the heart of party-town. During the day, old couples strolled along, groups of high school kids walked by on their way to end of school year beach days, and people walked their many, many dogs.

Zumba

After breakfast we walked along the waterfront and found a beach-club that we just had to stop at for a beer (5€). It was only about noon, so things were still quiet, but it was a good spot to people watch. The whole Sitges beach area is pretty great and we’re not even beach people.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped for more provisions – wine (1 liter for 1.25€! that was perfectly drinkable), David Beckham chips and more water. Apparently, tap water in Spain is perfectly safe to drink, but it is so dirt cheap to buy, that we bought a giant bottle yesterday and another today - 2 liters for about 75cents.

Our room has a mini-fridge, or should I say mini-cooler. The things put there by the hotel are barely cold, but I guess this is the best we can do and there definitely isn’t ice!

Sports Bar Sitges

We spent the rest of the afternoon, lazing in the room and on the balcony – shaded by about 3.

Around 7 the first drag show started, followed by a short Zumba class, then more drag. Some was in French, English, and Spanish.

Boy Band Revival

Today is the first day of World Cup and of course Chris wants to see some
games – fine with me. Sports Bar Sitges (unique name) is on the same block as our hotel where we joined what seemed like mostly Mexican supporters (and half kids) for the Mexico/South Africa game. A couple of beers (4.90 Euros) and chicken fingers…not exactly what you think of when you think of Spanish food, but it was perfect.

By the time we got back to the hotel Boy Band Revival had taken the stage – they weren’t great. We listened intentionally for a bit on our balcony while watching the fireworks, then listened unintentionally in our room – it shut down promptly at midnight. Lete’s see how things so tonight when the party is supposed to well into the wee hours.