Un buen fin de semana...

Wow, what a weekend I have had! This is going to be a long post, I apologize now.,

On Friday evening we left for the mountains, it took about 2 hours to get there and there was the worst thunder storm on our journey. Having only packed thin leggings and a hoody for hiking the next day, it was safe to say I was feeling slightly apprehensive about the weekend to come! We arrived in the dark and in pouring rain, dinner was straight on and we were soon sat down eating a lovely empanada (of course with champagne).

The next day I got woken up about 8 to get ready for the mountains. Luckily, the bad weather had cleared and it was a beautiful day. Núria's brother-in-law, Victor, joined us for the hike too. The Italians decided not to hike and would get the train to Núria (the name of the valley) later on in the day to meet us at the final destination. We had to drive for about 15-20 minutes to park the car, then we were off. The views were honestly so incredible, I couldn't take it all in. The walk seemed pretty easy at first, however Núria insisted I wore a hat. I did try to politely decline but she wasn't having any of it. It was a lovely shade of bright yellow.

Said yellow hat

Vall de Núria. Beautiful.

We hiked for hours, I actually really enjoyed it. It did get quite hard at some points, but I didn't fall over! We got to Núria about 2pm, very thirsty! The water of Ribes is said to be the best, fresh from the mountains. We filled up our bottles with it, but not before picking 6 stones out of the water and making a wish. We'll see if my wish comes true in 2 years time. We headed over to meet the Italians and had a look in the church. It is a very old church with many traditions to do with the virgin, many people travel from all over to come and pray to her. There's also what I can only describe as a piece of furniture. It is said that if you are having problems with fertility or migraines, to put your head inside and someone (typically your husband) to ring the bell three times. This grants you fertility or relief of migraines. Manuela (the Italian) came here years ago and following, she had 3 children in 2 years! The eldest is, as a result, named Núria. Safe to say, I definitely did not put my head in.

We had some lunch then travelled back on the train. Antonio had to walk the whole way back because the car needed collecting. One hike was enough for me. The train was a nice calm way to travel back to Ribes de Freser, although I was sat opposite an annoying Asian/Spanish woman who gave me absolutely no leg room.

When we got back, Berta asked me if I wanted to go for a run. After all the hiking in that heat you'd have thought I'd say no. I didn't. We ran around the town and it was really lovely, but hard. I thought I wasn't going to faint towards the end. Still, it was nice to do something together. Unfortunately once we got back I happened to notice the sunburn on my legs. I slathered suncream all over my face and arms before we went hiking, I completely forgot about my legs because I was wearing leggings. I look absolutely ridiculous.

We ate and drank well again that night, I even tried anchovies. For anyone who knows me well, this is a big deal. I liked them too - revelation!

On Sunday we didn't have to get up too early, I went down into Ribes to take some photos of the town and stole a hotels' wifi to Skype my parents. I came back in with the Italians and Berta, the Italian girls had a drink of milk but they put sugar in it. I have never known anyone to put sugar in milk. Must be an Italian thing..

We left Ribes around 4-5 and headed to Santa Eulalia. En route we stopped off at Ripoll. Ripoll is officially the capital of Catalan culture. Myself and Núria went into the monastery, it is one of the most regarded in the world apparently. It was absolutely beautiful. We arrived in Santa Eulalia for Sant Joan festivities and I met all the family. It was a great night with a big bonfire and fireworks. The food was incredible too. I ate so much. I embarrassingly had 3 portions of dessert too. It is called 'coca'. There are two versions, one with a custard filling and one with cream. I had 2 custard and 1 cream. Yum!! We played some games with the children and all in all just had a great night.

We are back in Barcelona and tonight the Italians are coming round for paella.