Sitges - Food, Drink & Planning

Sangría is a bad idea in the late afternoon; Rich had inadvertently ordered a jug and invited us to help him finish it, which we naturally did, sitting under the awnings outside the dining room. Thereafter we all headed back to our rooms to freshen up before dinner. Brett and I both dozed off, to awake only about ten minutes before we were due to meet again so, instead of the showering and shaving that we had intended, it was a quick wash and a squirt of cologne before a hurried change of clothes and we were out of the door.

We had booked the highly-recommended restaurant El Jardin for dinner and we chose to eat outside in the garden, which turned out to be a mistake as, with no cloud cover, the evening got chilly quickly. Nevertheless, the food was excellent; Brett and I both ordered the same items again (I worry that he may be losing the capacity for independent thought in restaurants!) tonight we ate grilled provolone cheese with tomato salad and a rosemary oil dressing followed by a fine filet steak served with roasted peppers, a potato and cream cheese. Flushed with our previous success at choosing good wine, we went for another mid-price Rioja which was equally delicious. Dessert was a soufflé-esque (I can’t remember the proper name!) chocolate concoction with a spongy chocolate case filled with a rich chocolate sauce, served warm alongside almond ice-cream; heaven on a plate.

After dinner we went on to a couple of other bars, ostensibly so that Jeremy could be shown where they were in case he wanted to go out and party (Brett and I were clearly too old to want to party, although actually in this case that was true!) We headed on to El Piano, where we had been the previous night, and then a nice little spot called XXL (which is nowhere near as big or as bearish as its namesake in London and which I quite liked the look of.) After a drink in each we took the stroll home.

Today has been just as lazy as yesterday was. We had a late breakfast and then the rest of them went out to roast. I sat in the lounge and read through the guidebooks looking for places of interest to visit (I am feeling more energised now than I was in Gran Canaria and think the attractions of sitting and reading all day will soon wear-off.) There seem to be two likely places within easy striking distance; the Monastery of Montserrat and the town of Tarragona. The former is high in the mountains inland of Barcelona and looks very scenic, while the latter is the provincial capital with lots of Roman remains from its time as an earlier provincial capital. I think we will probably rent a car and do at least the monastery tomorrow. I think we can probably do Tarragona by train later in the week, saving Barcelona for Friday ready for the fireworks.