We spent the last three days in Reus, a small city about 75 kilometers from Barcelona, where Laia and her family live. It turns out that Reus is a very compelling destination of its own right! Gaudi was born in Reus, and there’s a Gaudi Center there, as well as a Modernist Tour. (You can’t get away from him in Catalonia!)
Reus has been around since the 1200s, and is full of fascinating architecture, righ history, great shopping, excellent seafood, and of course its signature vermut (Vermouth).
Cambrils
Reus is less than half an hour from the Mediterranean coast, so we visited the beach resort town of Cambrils. Although October is the off-season, it was 74 degrees F. We found a wine tasting festival going on and enjoyed performances by teams forming human castles, a regional passion. Cambrils beachfront stretches along 7 kilometers of coastline. Most people visit the better known beach resort of Salou, but we found Cambrils compelling, with a lively port area bookmarked by two lovely stretches of beach, behind the port is a tourist area of outdoor restaurants with water views on a wide pedestrian sidewalk, and off-shoot streets with shops and bars.
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| Cambrils welcomes visitors |
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| The beach |
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| Human castles |
Cambrils is often referred to as the food capital of the Costa Daurada, and we had an amazing lunch. Check out our Guide to Spanish restaurants in Cambrils to learn more about the wonderful food.
Montserrat
We also visited Montserrat, a glorious mountain near Barcelona with a monastery atop, including a famous Black Madonna statue. It has some amazing rock formations, which we couldn’t see because of the unusual blanket of fog.
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| The mountain behind the monastery |
Reus
Finally, we just poked around Reus. We tried to visit the town History Museum, but it was closed form 2-5 PM for lunch. Which bring us to …
Time in Spain
The schedule in Spain is very different than the United States. Much more civilized. People sleep later – no kids catching a school bus at 6 AM for school – eat breakfast, work a few hours, have a second breakfast around 11 or 11:30 AM, work a few more hours, then enjoy a long, leisurely dinner between 2 and 5 PM. Businesses close their doors for three hours for this. At 8 or 9, people have a small supper.
This schedule is designed to really give people time to savor food and enjoy each other.
Food in Spain
The most popular food we saw in Barcelona was tapas, tiny plates, as I mentioned. In Reus, Laia’s father made us paella, a signature dish or rice, mussels, squid, calamari, prawns and more. We were also fed cod, turkey, lots of bacon and ham products, and the bounty from the sea, including escargots. Americans have to be adventurous to enjoy Catalan food.
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| Marius and his paella |
Altogether a fascinating experience. Go!
