We were thrilled to return to San Feliu de Guixols on the Costa Brava in Spain after our Prague trip.
We spent our mornings at Playa San Pol, a beautiful beach David used to go to when he was a boy.
Alexi and Mateo love making moats and building sand castles with David at the beach.
Afternoons were spent swimming en la piscina - Alexi in the big pool and Mateo in the medium pool.
Evenings were spent on the soccer field with friends; the highlight of each and every day for Alexi!
The Festa Major returned to town this year, and Alexi loved riding the bumper cars (as always) and jumping on the trampoline once again.
Mateo enjoyed driving different vehicles...a Spiderman car and a yellow tow truck...not yet driverless vehicles.
After the festival we headed into town to have churros on la rambla. When you go right before closing time, you get extra and get to save some for BREAKFAST the next morning!!!
Our oven in NYC is not working (Con Ed cut off the gas to our building), so we decided to bake tricolor cookies in Spain for dessert (way easier to find food coloring than we thought it would be!).
Perfect tricolor cookies straight from the oven and absolutely delicious!
We were thrilled that the drum line competition was in town while we were there; got to see old favorites and some new performers who really got the crowd into the festival.
We did most of our food shopping this year at L'Hort d'en Climent for their excellent selection of organic produce. They had a market stall in the past, though this year they operate solely out of their store.
Mateo loves driving (or pretending to drive) the vehicles in town...Alexi gave him some euros so he could drive the train (sweet brother!).
One Sunday we spent the morning in en pueblo and the afternoon as guests at our dear friends Pallares for la comida in their summer home right on the beach of Platja d'Aro.
Lots of fun awaits visitors to Platja d"Aro....a ball pond and a super dangerous obstacle course (we did not attempt the aerial obstacle course, since for most of our time in Spain we thought it was public art!).
We LOVE eating outdoors on the balcony while in Spain....including on super cold and windy days!
On once such cool day (as evidenced by the long pants), we decided to ride the trolley to the beach.
Instead of a day of swimming, we headed to La Ronda for our annual walk along one of the most beautiful places in Spain. UNESCO, make this incredible vista a World Heritage Site already!!!
We go here annually to walk and explore; looks like we're raising the next generation of tree huggers!
On another cloudy and overcast day, we decided to drive to La Bisbal and Girona. First stop: Graupera for the most delicious cookies in the world!
Delicious 3 course VEGAN menu at B*12...we sampled every single special on the lunch menu.
The following week, when sunny skies returned, we spent a day at our favorite beach Castell. We enjoyed some fresh coconut on the beach ("4 for 5") and it seems like we have an aspiring beach model!!!
We think the reason Alexi and Mateo like Playa Castell so much is they have a restaurant right on the beach where they get to have ICE CREAM!!!
We returned to our Spanish roots by choosing to walk to the beach one morning instead of driving in our rental car. Before Mateo was born, we walked up and down the hill to the beach every single day!
We went to Cala Maset, which is a small beach hidden in a small alcove separate from San Pol.
We carried on our annual family tradition of dressing up and going into town for a family meal (passed down from Sharon's family from the time spent on the Jersey shore).
Cibu restaurant is where we always go, for their delicious pizzas and yummy breadsticks.
Good boys get the good stuff! Dessert on La Rambla after dinner...blue SMURF ice cream is a winner!
We got to spend a day with abuelo and Dawn at Cap Ducal, which was wonderful for Alexi and Mateo.
Sharon and David got to visit the beautiful wetlands in Platja d'Aro that have recently received governmental protection. It is literally within the town center, though there is so much development on the outskirts of town that we had no idea that it was there and had never visited before.
At the wetlands they have a temporary public art exhibition that David and Sharon BOTH enjoyed: large mobius strips by Josep Canals Gual.
We love going to Spain every summer, for both the natural beauty and the delicious food in abudance.
We will see you next summer beautiful San Feliu de Guixols....hasta luego Cap Ducal!