Hot summer in Spain
It really was piping hot and delightfully interesting. But first things first.
I wanted to visit Spain and, probably, desires, if they are strong enough, come true. And so it happened. We prepared for the trip for about three weeks. Preparation consisted of choosing a place to stay and a hotel. In addition to the beach, I wanted to see at least a little of the country. Therefore, we shoveled a lot of sites on the Internet with reviews and descriptions (By the way, it was this site - "Tour Pravda" - that left the best impression). As a result, the city of Santa Susanna and the Onabrava Hotel were chosen. I respectfully call this small town a city in connection with the first mention in this review. The town is very small, located mainly on two or three low hills, a kilometer and a half from the promenade with a series of hotels. They take you to the city on an excursion by road train. The trip is inexpensive (about 4 euros) and takes about 1.5 hours, and the magnificent views from the tops of these mini-mountains are simply inspiring. These mountains are dotted with charming mansions, very compact and in their diminutiveness and well-groomedness are simply touching. They themselves can serve as the subject of a tour - so architecturally diverse and charming.
Santa Susanna practically merges with another larger town: Malgrat de Mar, i. e. the promenade of one town simply turns into the promenade of another and stretches for several kilometers. It must be taken into account that when you walk, you don’t feel these kilometers, because in the evening, of course, there is a revival, a lot of stalls with resort knick-knacks. walking people, restaurants and cafes in places located right on the street...
But there are few places for youth parties and the contingent of vacationers is middle-aged and often elderly couples. Although there are enough teenagers, they are calm and somehow not very noticeable among vacationers.
Hotel "Onabrava" is located near the western end of the promenade and, like the entire promenade, is fenced off from the sea by a single-track railway. This railway runs along almost the entire Costa Brava west to Barcelona, and east two stops after Santa Susanna turns north, merging with the main road to Girona, etc. Trains, apparently on rubber wheels, because when they occasionally pass, you only hear some hissing and a very dull and rare tapping, so that already at a distance of 30-40 meters you can hardly hear anything, and even more so indoors. The hotel is wonderful . Deserves its 4 stars. Clean, new, cleaned every day, towels are changed only those that are thrown on the floor - this is explained in the inscription in the bathroom. The bathroom is clean and everything works great. The air conditioning is central, but it seems to be connected all the time, because they used it without problems at any time. At the same time, it turns off automatically if the balcony door is opened. All power supply of the room is turned on after you enter the room, close the door and insert the key-card into the card reader near the door from the inside. The card is inserted with effort, as if captured in the card reader. Thus, in order to be able to turn on the air conditioner in your absence, you need to ask the reception for another room key and leave it in the card reader when you leave, and we took one for two with us. The food at the hotel is varied, high quality and tasty. Large selection of meat and fish dishes every day. At least two types of fish: boiled and baked - always. In addition, there is often sushi, a couple of times cut salted trout, there is always ice cream. Fruits are constantly, sometimes, though not the most ripe, but there were watermelons, melons, pineapples, plums, peaches, and, in addition, various fruit salads. And, of course, a lot of different cuts, muesli, sweets (mousses, jelly), yogurts of two or three types, pastries (cakes, buns), etc. , etc.
Children are entertained, but in a European way, i. e. not often and quite simply like music competitions and fun exercises.
The contingent in the hotel - Europeans. There were maybe three or four Russian-speaking couples. And so, the French (in Spain it is much cheaper), the Dutch, the Germans, even the Italians. In August, there was an influx of our own Spaniards. We did not meet Russian speakers among the hotel staff, so they explained themselves in English.
The beach is small pebbles or coarse sand (whatever you like to call it) - municipal, as it is in Spain, but clean enough, and the water is as simple as a tear.
We bought a beach towel for 8 euros and, like the vast majority on the beach, settled on it. Very convenient and not burdensome. It is better to go to the beach at the end of the promenade: if your back is to the hotel, then to the right. At the turn, the transition under the railway and you are on the beach. You can go closer, that is, right across the road, into the transition and past the campsite to the beach. But pay attention to the word "camping". As elsewhere, camping is not the most comfortable place and the beach near it, of course, too.
Traveling from this hotel to Barcelona is very convenient. Firstly, Santa Susanna is almost the last city standing at the railway (only Malgrat and Blanes are farther and the road, as already mentioned above, turns north)
It takes about 1 hour 20 minutes to get to Barcelona. This is to the very center - Plaza Catalunya. Metro and railway stations are quite often combined and this is very convenient for travel, but you need to be careful not to confuse the road in the crossings. If you read signs and signs, and there are enough of them, you will never get lost. In addition, there are staff and police (all of them in uniform), so you can explain yourself.
The train stop in our town is a stone's throw from the hotel (! ). There are old and new train cars. The new ones are generally lovely: clean, with TV screens on which there is always information about the expected stop, the temperature outside, the air conditioner is constantly working in the car.
Tickets for the sightseeing bus to Barcelona are best bought together with the train ticket to Barcelona directly in Santa Susanna at the station ticket office. Then a railway ticket to Barcelona will cost almost half the price.
That's all for now, the rest next time.
