STOP (Estop as they say in Spanish)

My apartment is located 8 kilometers from the town of Begur. There are two stop signs between here and there. All of the stop signs here say STOP – apparently, the international designation. But here, at least, it seems to be just a suggestion. Unless someone is in sight coming towards the intersection, I’ve never seen anyone stop at these signs. They don’t even pretend. They may slow slightly, but almost imperceptibly. You can tell someone is a tourist if they actually stop.

On my way home the other night around dusk, I saw a slinky animal hauling ass into the woods – not a squirrel (in almost 7 years here I have never seen a squirrel), it was too long-bodied. After a quick google search, I determined it must have been a European mink! It says they live in northern Spain (check) and they are slinky. And I saw another one a few days later. The photos above are from the Internet, not photos I took myself.

I recently moved my binoculars from near the balcony where I check out the boats, to the kitchen because I can see the Russian’s balcony from my kitchen window. It makes me feel like Mrs. Kravitz on Bewitched watching the strange comings and goings at Darrin and Samantha’s house, but there WERE strange things happening at the Stephens’ home!! Ditto here. I don’t think Dimitri (I think that may be his name, and if not, that’s what I’m going to call him for now) is a warlock, but I do think he might be a spy.

I spent Sant Jordi Day (Catalan Valentine’s Day) in Platje d’Aro, a beach town near here. I’ve included a link to a prior post about the holiday. There were tables set up along the main street where women were sitting making lace. Lots of women were making lots of lace. I don’t think it had any special connection to Sant Jordi Day, but it was interesting to see. The other photo is SJ Day in Palafrugell with all the rose and book stalls set up in the street. The yellow and red striped cloths covering the tables represent the Catalan flag.

I also took a fantastic walk recently with a Meet-up group along a part of the Camí de Ronda. The Camí is a 43-kilometer long footpath along the Costa Brava coast previously used by smugglers, sailors, and fishermen. I’m told that the portion we walked near the town of S’Agaró is the most beautiful part of the Camí.

Oddly, I met up with my parents in S’Agaro at Christmas the year I was in college in Madrid, a long, long time ago. We stayed at an elegant hotel frequented at one time by the rich and famous: Ava Gardner and her bullfighter lover, Peter Sellers and Britt Eckland, Sean Connery, John Wayne, and others. My mother always knew about the places that were “in” or cool. But, it was an odd circumstance when I met my family there as I only went because of a communication mix-up with my then-boyfriend (no cell phones). So I had a mixture of emotions entering the hotel. And then suddenly, I was overwhelmed by the desire to call my mother and tell her where I was. She passed away in 2014. What a gal!