Friendships
- Raff
- Sep 5, 2019
- 3 min read
We are no strangers to Sitges, the beautiful resort town just 20 miles south of Barcelona on the Mediterranean coast.
The town is an upmarket destination full of fine dining restaurants, art galleries and museums. There is a long palm tree lined promenade with large villas overlooking the sea and well kept Art Deco apartment buildings with balconies bedecked with trailing flowers.
This leads to the old town with cobbled alleyways, tiny wine bars, restaurants, jewellery shops and gelato parlours. The old town is dominated by the magnificent church.
Sitges is a popular weekend destination for Barcelonians due to the close proximity to the city, just 30 minutes by train.
We first took our motorhome Harriet, to Sitges in 2012 and then returned in 2016 with our friends Robyn and Dave. 2019 marks our third visit to this beautiful town. I enjoyed my thirtieth birthday party at my favourite Sitges restaurant - La Fragata, which sits in the shadow of the beautiful church of St Bartomeu and beyond to the sandy beaches.
This time we decided to stay at a site on the outskirts of the town at Vilanova de la Geltrù, a five star campsite which we booked through the Caravan and Motorhome Club. The site at Vilanova could possibly be the most upmarket site we have stayed at, with onsite restaurants, tapas bar, multiple swimming pools, Jacuzzis, supermarket and all set within a heavily wooded pine forest. The views from the site are stunning- looking across thousands of pine trees down to the sparkling blue ocean. I think it's safe to say that we would both return to Vilanova Park.
It was at Vilanova where we made new friends on the road - Ian & Donna from Ipswich. It was lovely, after being alone on the road for so long, to meet fellow motorhomers and nice to exchange travel advice and the site gossip!
We also met up with our long standing friends Michael and Phil on our last evening (for us all) in Sitges. We enjoyed a nice catch up over huge gin and tonics at the Parrot bar in the centre of the town.
During our stay, we also visited Tarragona, which was such a surprise. We had planned to visit Barcelona, but after spending a full day exploring the beautiful town of Tarragona, we decided to skip Barcelona.
Tarragona is a relatively large city with tree lined boulevards, a vibrant shopping area, a gorgeous promenade, an interesting and dense ancient quarter with Roman heritage. We spent hours exploring but we left wanting to explore further! We would recommend a visit to this beautiful town if you're ever in the area, it's definitely worthy of an exploration of your own!
We will be returning to Sitges in November to meet with friends for the weekend, which we are really looking forward to.
After a rather relaxing week at Vilanova, it was time to return "home" - to beautiful Calella de Palafrugell.
We avoided the toll roads this time and took a rather scenic route which ran along the coast road and through some heavily wooded areas.
It was the first time we had experienced rain during our stay in Spain and it was quite heavy at times but rather short lived.
The weather has been a consistent 30c, occasionally rising by 6c on warmer days. The evenings are drawing in but it's still warm enough to sit out for meals and drinks (which we do!) We are not using the air-conditioning in the evenings but enjoy a gentle breeze from open windows and a couple of small fans in the bedroom.
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