June 25 Friday Spain back to France

A leisurely start today and after phone calls home we set off to provision for the weekend. A special weekend for Gemma and David with Gemma’s Mum and Dad arriving today and her sister and family plus aunty tomorrow, to celebrate her Mum’s birthday.
Firstly into Rupia for two little loaves of bread plus a big crusty artisan loaf, next the Carnisserie (and this one didn’t specify execucionnerie as well, as some did!) and finally to the “grocers” for the newspaper then off to the market in nearby La Bisbal. En route we passed out best field of sunflowers to date so with great delight snatched the photo opportunity.
The market at La Bispal was absolutely fantastic! Trestles groaned under towering piles of cured meat chunks and slices, with legs of meat hanging like draperies around the stalls, while mountains of fruit and veges glistened and glowed with rainbow colours and a challenging array of varieties (including, to our patriotic delight, some NZ kiwifruit!). Lots of looking, lots of tasting and lots of buying!
Keeping a car even moderately clean with no garage in dry, dusty, rural Spain, is not high on the priority list of locals and we were wondering how Gemma managed to see through her windscreen so, to Gemma and David’s amusement, Fred decided he must repay some of their kindness with a quick car wash which he tackled as soon as we were home.
Next thing Gemma’s Mum and Dad arrived and in no time we were gathered around the table in the shade on the terrace with a magnificent oxtail stew (with tomatoes, bayleaf, wine, onions and mushrooms), fried potatoes, home-made meatballs and rice, plus bread, salad and Cava!! It was so nice to meet Gemma’s parents as we felt like part of their NZ family and were greeted as such despite them having no English and us no Spanish (though we did have good interpreters!)
Then back on the train and goodbye Spain. No Trevi fountain to throw a “come back” coin in here, but Catalonia and the Catalonians we met certainly impressed us.