We started by heading off to the Coves Meravelles (http://www.eirescot.com/activities.asp?tact=48) in the little town of Benifallet. Getting there was a bit sketchy. You have to travel up the side of a mountain on tiny roads and at one point there were some rather large rocks on the road. This trip was especially challenging for Reen as she is not a fan of heights. Here she is runing away from the edge of a photo lookout that Denise had coaxed her to go onto:
The caves were actually pretty cool. When we got to the little giftshop where you buy the tickets were were unsure if we should actually go in. It was raining and the girls didn't exactly have rubber boots on, additionally Denise was a little concerned about how she would be underground...the confined spaces phobia surfacing a little. We were all actually joking about how this little trip was a little scary...all we needed were some sharks and then each one of us could be confronting our own assorted demons (myself having the ever-so-slightest fear of sharks). The guy at the gift shop was funny and really sold us on going. One of my favorite pictures from the trip is this as the attendant made the girls wear these funny hats that converted into fans:
The tour guide was really nice and asked the group if they sopke Catalan or Spanish as she spoke both. She apologized for not being able to speak English but she really tried throughout the tour to go out of her way to use the little English she did know to point out interesting things to us. We also had printed material in English that was sort of a self guided tour. The tour itself was probably a little over an hour which was a perfect amount of time, no pictures as they were not allowed in the cave. Denise did fine, she was a little nervous entering the cave as it was a bit dark and enclosed but soon opened up and there were some hand rails and it was well lit.
After the Caves we wanted to go to La Cathedral del Vi (which the signs in town call 'Cellar Modernista') in the town of El Pinell De Brai but it was closed for siesta so we went to search out lunch. We ended up in a restaurant in town called 'Restaurant Angel'. We all loved the food here, in fact the girls thought the paella here was better then at the Parador. I had rabbit with snails (conje con caracoles) that was delicious. The starter plates are large and can definately be shared. A pic outside the restaurant with the cloudy contryside in the background:
After a leisurely lunch we returned to the Cathedral of wine. The Cathedral is one of several made by Cesar Martinelli a contemporary of Anton Gaudi, celebrated archetect of Barcelona. Denise and Reen are much more wine aficionados then I but we were all a little excited to see this place. I wouldn't suggest it unless you are really into Cesar Martinelli. The building itself is cool and I have some pictures below but the tour was longer then it needed to be and the tour guide was down right antagonistic to us. She didn't speak English, but again, there was a pamphlet in English were were perfectly fine with reading. She seemed annoyed with us from the get go, if I remember correctly we were the last ones to join this particular tour group and she was waiting about three mintues while we got tickets and made our way to the group. She made it abudently clear she wouldn't be speaking English and then pretty much ignored us the rest of the tour. Additionally the wine you get to taste at the end...was terrible! In fact I'd say it was the worst wine I have ever tasted in my life...the girls hated it also. Here's a link to a site about Martenelli and some of his cathedrals: http://www.gaudiallgaudi.com/AA301.htm
Pics:
We stopped at a few small towns as we made our way back to the Parador but nothing amazing, it was kind of a low key day. Since we ate a big lunch we decided to get some snacks at a store and continue our low key day snacking, packing and drinking wine in our rooms. It was a fun ending to the day, we were all in pajamas just chatting the evening away.
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