Pandora Postcards from Tossa de Mar!

We found ourselves travelling further south from Ceret, France to Tossa de Mar on the Costa Brava in Spain for today's adventure.

First stop at Hotel Diana (this is where we spent our first week of our 2014 adventure) for a coffee break before our walking tour. 

               

           

           The unique eaves troughs...

        

    Looking up to the rooftop terrace...

   Diana ...

Some of the inside detail ...

We entered from the beachside and left from the main entrance ...

The morning was spent touring the Castle grounds, the "Vila Vella" the medieval city. We walked up and around on the wall on the hill to the top!

The view from the Hotel Diana rooftop terrace ...

The ramparts and towers are visible from the "newer" town below.

Again the views from the top were breathtaking ...

We stopped to say hello to Pandora (Ava Gardner). 

Tossa de Mar was the setting for the movie "Pandora and the Flying Dutchman" starring Ava Gardner and James Mason. Released in 1951. During the filming Ava Gardner and her husband Frank Sinatra stayed at the Hotel Diana.

The area around the old Castle is full of history, narrow cobble stoned lanes and buildings of character ... with minimal commercialization.

                       

                                   

There were only a few tasteful shops ... an antique shop and a couple artisan shops.

      I like it here ... it is quieter!

Let's head back down to the seaside boulevard to quench our thirst ...

Come back soon, we will be going for lunch and touring the rest of the village!

Coffee with Pandora

It's early Saturday morning, coffee and quiet time in Panama City Beach ... Waiting for the sun to break through the clouds and outside air temperatures to rise so that we may spend the day on the "Beach".

I want to finish reading my book and there is nothing better than being able to do that sitting on the beach with the warmth of the sunshine on your skin.

This year's weather is constantly changing ... here in the USA the weathermen name the "Winter" storms and this morning the latest one called "Pandora" is about to wreak some havoc over the country.

"Pandora" takes me back to our time in Tossa de Mar, Costa Brava, Spain last May.

This was a memory trip for Msr. Honey ... he had travelled here as a young adult on his first trip abroad on his own. 

So for awhile today I will do some armchair travelling back in time by looking at some old photos and reading some of the older posts about our week spent in Tossa de Mar.

I've included a couple to links from May 2014 ... These are just a couple of the posts about our time in Tossa de Mar ...

http://postcardsfromthelot.blogspot.com/2014/05/tossa-de-mar-then-and-now.html?spref=bl

http://postcardsfromthelot.blogspot.com/2014/05/pandoras-influence.html?spref=bl

Hope you enjoy travelling to Spain from wherever you are today.

Sa Tuna Sidetrip...

#SaTuna#CostaBrava#Spain

Tuesday ... 

After a good night's sleep and a delicious petit déjeuner at the Fasthotel in Toulouse, we hit the road by 8 o'clock and drove south through France headed for Spain.

Two and half hours later we crossed the Spanish border heading for Tossa de Mar on the Costa Brava.

About two weeks earlier a page I follow on Facebook posted a wonderful photo of a location north of our eventual destination.

Below is the photo I took ...

Surprisingly, Señor Honey (while in Spain his name has changed) decided that a sidetrip to Sa Tuna for lunch was in order.

With the help of "Molly" (our GPS) and some navigational assistance from the front passenger seat (that would be me) we finally found the idyllic village of Begur and descended to the bay.

A billboard poster welcoming us in the parking lot ... from here we have yet to see the bay/water.

The photo I took when we reached the bay.

After a stroll through the village down to the waterfront, we settled on a restaurant for our first Spanish meal.

I ordered a tuna salad ... fresh tuna, roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, onions, hard boiled egg but no lettuce ... while Señor had grilled sausage and fries.

We completed our meal with Creme Catalan...

We wandered around the bay and narrow cobble stoned streets and walkways ...before heading on to our final stop of the day "Tossa de Mar".

A Window with a View

#CostaBrava#SpanishEyes#Spain#Mediterranean

Day dreaming ...

Hope I can capture some photos and views with my eyes like this one while we are enjoying the Spanish life in Costa Brava on the Mediterranean.

               

            Photo credit to See Spain (official Facebook Tourism page)