tstone

Well, last Wednesday I went to Tossa de Mar on my day off.  I caught the 8:15 bus (the earliest I´ve gotten up here in BCN as I dont have class til 11:30) and arrived in Tossa at quarter of 10.  I waited for the tourist place to open and got my free map and I was on my way.  I knew the beach was gonna be great to I saved it for later and went right through town first.  The river was kind of disappointing as you can see in the pics, but then I walked along the outskirts of town making abig circle back to the bus stop.  Then I tried hiking up the hill to find the Moorish watchtower.  I had to go past these tourist apartments and stumbled upon the ancient Roman Villa ruins which were not all that much to see, but interesting none the less.  I couldn´t get in cuz it´s not tourist season yet, but as you can see I got a decent view from the hill.  I kept heading up then the road ended.  I was a little confused as there was only a hidden trail going into the woods and I couldn´t see the tower.  After checking the map, it was def there, I decided to go in and sure enough, I came out at the base of the tower.  Unfortunately, I couldn´t climb it but I got some cool pics from that altitude.  I went back down the way I came and made my way through some ramndom blocks of the city, roughly in the direction of the main church.  I followed the map to a "place of interest" that wasn´t that interesting then decided to explore.  I found a huge staircase leading to a road that looked pretty high up.  Sure enough I could see the whole city when I got up there.  I followed this girl walking her dog on a dirt path, hopping chain which made me a little worried, but I´m glad I did.  We came toa construction site but there was a short path right to the edge of the cliffs.  It was amazing.  There were jagged rock shears, cacti, crazy plants and beautiful green water.  I walked along the coast for a while taking a bunch of pics.  It was soo nice that day.  It just smelled like summer, flowers, and the ocean.  It was nice to be outside of the city and all the noise and get some fresh air.  Being on the water was a bonus.  So after a while I wandered down through an expensive neighborhood and was at the base of the midevil city.  I chose a direct root to the beach but once there, decided to turn toward the old city wall.  As I rounded the first corner on that hill, there was a staircase leading off onto the rocks right on the water.  Needless to say, I sat there taking pics and ate my lunch for about half an hour.  I caught some sun and took about a 40 min nap with the waves crashing just below my feet.  It was fantastic.  After I woke up I headup up into the old city and walked all over.  At the top there was a lighthouse, wich a museum I chose not to see, and it was really park-like.  I decended into the village where about 80 tiny houses were sitting inside the wall then went to a little secluded beach on the other side of the old city.  There I was able to walk out on the rocks again.  It was wierd.  There were random manmade steps here and there as if it was a frequently traveled path.  I hopped out as far as I could go and just watched the waves for a while.  After I had my fill, I found my way to the main Church which was gorgeous inside.  When I was leaving it was getting pretty cloudy so I took the Paseo del Mar past the main beach to a third small beach and took a few shots before the rain started.  I just got back to the center of town, around 5 when the skies opened up.  I popped into a store, got a danish and a bottle of red wine and found a huge awning infront of a chinese place that was being renovated.  I sat there for almost an hour writing the days event in my journal before I headed to the bus station.  I had to wait there for about 45 mins but it was raining so I didn´t care much.  Plus I was real tired from walking around all day.  I think I like this place better than Girona.  It was so nice to be right on the water.  If you ever get to Barcelona, check it out!