Kokomo (Barcelona - Sitges)

After the excitement of last night's thunderstorm, the morning presented a cloudless blue sky. I still needed to negotiate with the banks to get some cash. Google suggested Sabadell was a no fee bank and there was one about a block away. Breakfast and cash were the order of the day. Of course Google was wrong, the withdrawal fee was €6,95 so it was back to Caixa and their €4,50 charge. Thankfully Macquarie does not charge any overseas fees. Cashed up, we went breakfast.

We had a choice of two different places for breakfast. One had no vacant tables so we headed to the other. The pastries were excellent, the coffee was OK. Back at the hotel, we finalised our packing and called home.

A random flower.

About 1pm, we went down to reception to finalise our checkout and headed out into the sun to drag our bags the four blocks to the station. The bus to Sitges was scheduled to leave at 1:30pm according to the online timetable and 1:20pm by the timetable at the bus shelter. We intended to arrive in plenty of time, just in case. 

At 1:10pm the bus was already waiting with a long line of people attempting to get on. Unlike our reconnaissance trip, it was a suburban bus, not a coach. I stowed our bags underneath and rejoined the line with Jayne. The €4,95 per person was way cheaper than the estimated €80 Uber fee.

We scored the last two seats next to each other, aside from the back row. The overhead luggage racks were narrow so our backpacks had to be nursed. There were 5 stops before we left the city but the bus was already full so we stopped at two only.

The windows couldn't be opened and the temperature inside the bus continued to climb as the oxygen level dived. We started to sweat. People were clearly uncomfortable. Finally the bus driver turned on the air conditioning to the cheers of the young girls seated across the aisle.

Sagrada Familia with the cranes removed.

The remainder of the trip was uneventful. We arrived at the Parc Can Robert and used Google maps to locate the meeting point at Sitges station. Sort of. The first attempt walked us under the railway bridge away form the train line. Certain this wasn't correct, I stopped and reprogrammed the map. It, unsurprisingly did an about face and walked us back to near where we had started, except it was across the street.

Up the incline we dragged our bags. I looked ahead to see where we might be meeting. Nothing stood out. Across the railway lines was the ticket office. We were on the wrong side of the tracks. There was an underground passage to the other side but it meant lugging the bags down the two flights of stairs. Happily there was an escalator on the other side.

Out we emerged and there was a magical sight. Umbrellas. That meant beer. Jayne grabbed a table and I went inside to buy a couple of beers. It was hot and we had dragged the bags up and down Sitges, but we had found our meeting spot. While at the bar, I met our first fellow traveller, Tim. Some of the others were across the road waiting; not us, it was beer o'clock.

Cal Mingo

The day bed.

The two Matts arrived in separate transporters and we loaded luggage and ourselves and settled in for the 20 minute drive to Cal Mingo, a lovely hacienda in the middle of the Parc del Garraf. There are 12 of us plus the two Matts. Matt Dillow is the owner of the Deck Café and Gartelmann Winery in the Hunter Valley.

The pool.

Rooms were allocated, unpacking completed, the property reconnoîtred and at twilight, we gathered around the long tables in the portico to be welcomed and get to know our fellow food and wine lovers. A glass of bubbles accompanied our ice breakers to try to learn each others' names prior to enjoying a sumptuous spanish style barbecued chicken dinner. The dessert was a dramatic transformation of a vanilla sorbet into a lethal vodka slushie that would have made Bryan Brown and Tom Cruise proud on the set of Cocktail. Which brings me to todays' title, Kokomo was the theme song from Cocktail and was specifically written for the movie.

Looking from the pool to the house.

It was some time after this, that the curated playlist of music elicited all our combined vocal and choreographic prowess, prompting our hosts, Matt and Matt, to declare no group's first night had been so out there.  

A reading nook.

I know we went to bed because that is where I woke up.

Until tomorrow.