Lloret de Mar
A few months before Brenda’s 68th birthday, I
decided it would be a nice idea to take her to Spain so she could celebrate it there.
Our flight was at 7 30 pm, on Monday the 23rd of
September. We flew from Leeds and Bradford
airport although the flight was delayed by over an hour.
We left Brenda’s home at 4 00 pm in case the
traffic was bad, and consequently, we arrived at the
airport far too early as we couldn’t drop off our bags until 5 30 pm.
The flight itself was straight forward (with Ryanair) and the drinks on the plane were
typically expensive. Two hours later we were in Girona airport where we managed to find the
coach to take us to our hotel in Lloret de Mar, which was called Acapulco.
The hotel was very clean with friendly staff who made us feel welcome. Our room had a
small fridge, good television but no kettle to make drinks. We had chosen to take bed and
breakfast as we don’t eat a lot of foods – as it turned out I had to make do with chips and
crisps most afternoons! The bar in the hotel was very clean and the drinks were not too
expensive. I did not however, take advantage of the pool and jacuzzi part as I was getting
over a long-term chest infection – which returned when we got back to England.
The town of Lloret was aesthetically pleasing and as our primary reason for the trip was to
rest, this is what we mainly did and most days, we didn’t go anywhere special.
However, the 27th
of September was Brenda’s birthday, and so we booked to go on a coach to
Barcelona where we visited Antoni Gaudi’s magnificent ‘Sagrada Familia’ and FC
Barcelona’s famous Nou camp. Because it was a special day, we went into a middle-eastern
restaurant where we had lovely lentil soup and Brenda had falafel, desserts and mint tea. The
staff were lovely there and even sang ‘happy birthday’ to Brenda. It was a day we will
remember for a long time.
I think it is good to travel as not only do you see new places, but you meet people you didn’t
even know existed.
Now let’s learn a bit about the town of Lloret de Mar and its history:
The town is a Mediterranean coastal town in Catalonia and is 25 miles south of Girona and
47 miles northeast of Barcelona with a population of about 40,000. It attracts many visitors
especially in the summer. It has 6 miles of coastline and its main beach is composed of small,
gravel-like stones.
The town has a very interesting history and there are remains of Iberian and Roman
civilisations at various archaeological sites.
As far back as 966, documents refer to the town as Loredo from the Latin “lauretum”. The
Saracens invaded Lloret frequently in the middle ages and also until the fifteenth century, it
had to protect itself from attacks from English, French, Turkish and Algerian pirates.
Interestingly, Lloret’s port became commercially important in the eighteenth century.
The first decade of the twentieth century was significant as it was then that the first
holidaymakers arrived in Lloret, and in 1918, the first summer villas were constructed. Many
of its first visitors were from the Barcelona area and were well-to-do textile manufacturers.
There are some interesting places to visit in the town like the church of Sant Roma, the Castle
of Sant Joan, the Monument to the Fisherman’s wife, Santa Clotilde gardens and the
Maritime Museum.
The church of Sant Roma was finished in 1522 and is a Gothic church which was built as a
refuge from attacks by Turkish and Algerian pirates. After restoration work in the early
twentieth century, it now reflects Byzantine, Moorish, Renaissance and Modernist influences.
The Castle of Sant Joan is a medieval castle from the eleventh century which was built to
repel attacks from the sea. Now only the castle’s tower remains (restored in 1992) and it
offers a great view of the surrounding areas.
The Monument to the Fisherman’s wife is a bronze sculpture and is situated at the end of
Cloret beach. It was erected in 1966 to commemorate Lloret de Mar’s millennium.
The Santa Clotilde gardens are interesting as they were designed in an Italian Renaissance
style by Nicolau Rubio i Tuduri and because they are situated on the top of a cliff, the views
of the sea are very good. It is also worth noting that the garden contains many varieties of
plants in contrast to an absence of flowers.
There are many more places to visit in Lloret if you have the time and the energy to do so. I
can honestly say that we enjoyed our time there and it is a lovely place to visit – even if only
once in your life. The people are nice, the weather is good and it is a very restful place to
spend a holiday. Typically, when we arrived back in England, we were greeted by heavy rain!
With help from Wikipedia.
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