The Journey

We left our flat in Barcelona at around 1:30 PM with luggage and Sadie in tow.  Were we crazy to be leaving with so much stuff in the heat of the day?  Yes, but it's an adventure.  The three of us walked to Arc de Triomf, purchased our tickets, then sat in the train station for 20 minutes resting our legs and cooling off.  We arrived at the Laverne train station in Subirats at 3:20 PM.

Maybe it was the excitement, or just wishful thinking, we decided to wait to eat until we arrived at the train station.  Certainly they would have a nice little cafe with great tapas where we could sit outside and enjoy the afternoon.  What we found was a rundown train station, with a closed visitor's center, and a water fountain.  There were 2 cars parked outside, but no people to associate with them.  We know we needed to start walking south, so we watered Sadie, and began our march.  It's the kind of scene you would expect in a horror film where the couple is driving along and see a town on a map, and when they arrive it's completely abandoned.  I felt like I was living that film.

No Civilization in Sight

When we booked this little vacation, part of the selling point from Tracy was the walkability.  She mapped out the route saying it would be a short walk to the quaint house we were staying at.  As we began walking, it became more apparent how deceiving google maps can be.  It wasn't quite the trail she thought it would be, just a highway. Thus, the adventure begins.  I'm not sure if this is normal, or if it was just because it was Sunday, but a total of 5 cars passed us while we walked.

After about 20 minutes of walking we found a shady resting point with an iron cross.  Was this a memorial for other misguided travelers?  Suffice it to say, we were warm and thirsty at this point.

We arrived to the village about 45 minutes after we began walking.  Our check-in was set for 1700, so we found a small cafe to eat a bit of lunch.  I went in to order some beverages and sandwiches while Tracy sat with our stuff outside.  When I got back, she had made a new friend.  He was sitting at the table next to us, about 70 years old.  His suit was 2 or 3 sizes too big and his expensive watch could have fallen right off his wrist at any point.  I couldn't help but wonder if he had cancer or some other sickness because the loss of weight was so apparent.  He explained to us that he had 3 children and 2 grandchildren, was a biologist in Andalusia, and had been in Subirats for the last 12 years.  He even referred to us as Mis hijos (basically a nice way of saying my children).  He treated us to a refill on our beverages as well.  What a nice man.

At 1700 we walked to Cal Masana to check in and were told that we needed to wait until 1800, so we camped out in front of this beautiful church for an hour.  Dozing in the sun with Sadie.  If you look closely, Sadie and Tracy are visible.

At 1800 a woman beckoned us and said that our reservation had gotten a bit messed up and they weren't ready for us.  She sat us in the backyard while she cleaned and we enjoyed the shady afternoon in our little vacation spot.  As soon as she was ready for us, she walked us out to her garden, which was her father's many years earlier, and picked us fresh lettuce, onion, mint, potatoes, and handed us some eggs.  We didn't realize it at the time, but she was basically giving us what she could for dinner because nothing was open and we clearly hadn't brought any food with us.  We had a version of a scramble and relaxed in the solitude of our quaint little house.