This past weekend we took a small trip to Costa Brava, specifically a town called Cadaqués. Another sleepy beach town on the Spanish coast. It's the perfect getaway from the fact pace of Barcelona. I joined my friend Emily and her boyfriend Chris, as the trip was their idea. We had a pretty relaxing weekend exploring this little town. However, our repeated attempts to rent scooters were fruitless. Of the 4 scooter rental locations on the tourist map, 3 were closed and 1 apparently didn't exist. The scooter gods were not smiling on us this weekend. However, we still enjoyed ourselves with all the beautiful scenery. This place is famous as being home to Dalí (it's a short walk from his home on at Port Lligat). As such, there are many famous Dalí pieces that portray the area. Images of these paintings were put up around the town in the corresponding places Dalí chose to paint from. Being able to see the town from the same viewpoint as Dalí and see how he decided to portray it was definitely a cool experience.
The main part of town.
Self portrait!
No Arizona sunset, but it's not bad.
The trip proved rather adventurous at some points, however. Our train arrived in Figueras 20 minutes before our connecting bus ride. This may seem like ample time, but since we don't know anything about Figueras, we wandered for a minute before finding the bus station. Then, we thought it would be a great idea to get a snack before our bus ride. We stopped at the turkish stand for a döner kebab (read: new favorite food), thinking it would be quick. This man, however, was happy to take his time when serving us. We managed to make it to our bus, but we we're the last people to board. As we stepped up the bus driver yelled, and I mean yelled, at us for trying to bring food onto "his" bus. We were told that there was no food allowed on his bus and that we were not to bring on the hot, delicious meal-of-the-gods style sandwiches we had just purchased. We asked what we should do, first offering to not eat the sandwiches but simply "hold them" for the hour bus ride (note: he saw right through this plan). He told us we could bring the food on board if it were in a plastic bag. Assuming any bag would do, Emily offered up her canvas tote bag. Small note: these sandwiches were already wrapped in paper, which would have protected them from harming Emily's bag, or vice-versa. Apparently that wasn't good enough for this guy, who we have since dubbed "Der Fuhrer of the bus"(sorry Stephen Karpen and Kaylie Marsh for the Nazi reference, but I didn't think you'd mind). Back to the story:
It was to be a plastic bag or no bag at all.
Next tactic: we asked the bus driver if we could eat the sandwiches quickly and then board the bus. No dice.
Yelling.
Sad faces.
Confused looks from fellow passengers.
And so on.
Finally, I do the only thing there is left to do: stare down the bus driver, ravenously eat half of my sandwich in one bite, and throw the mangled remainder in the trash. Emily and Chris happily followed suit. Walking back to the bus feeling victorious over our oppressive bus driver we couldn't help but notice he was holding something in his hand. Upon catching wind of our predicament, our fellow passengers searched their own inventory for extra plastic bags. As if to taunt us, "el diablo" (our second pet name) held out a plastic bag for us to put our, now trashed, food into. It was too late. We boarded the bus sauce-mouthed and defeated. To add insult to injury every single person in our periphery was eating and/or drinking something. In fact, many defiant travelers better versed than ourselves had smuggled in the same kebabs. We then vowed to dine on kebabs in the near future, whatever the cost. A promise we would keep.
Overall, another cool experience. I'm enjoying exploring around the Barcelona area and getting to know my surroundings in Spain! On the other hand, however, I'm more than ready for Ireland next weekend!
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