The 10 day get away was a last minute plan, well it was for me anyway. My friend Rhys booked the holiday to Pineda de Mar for him and his other half originally, however due to some unforeseen circumstances I went in his place, can't complain! Pineda de Mar is a small town situated in the North coast of Spain, just down from the French/Spanish border. We stayed at a cute hotel called the Stella, although only a 3* we were really surprised at how decent it was. Sure it wasn't a 5* but when we were just using it as a base who needs those extra stars. Plus the staff could totally bring it up a few stars in our book, they were so helpful and friendly. We even managed to get a weeks free wifi from just being nice and chatting to one of the receptionists.
The hotel was in a really convenient location, it was five minutes walk to the beach and around a five to ten minute walk into the town centre. It is a really quaint little town and I definitely recommend visiting it on your travels as the scenery is beautiful. Whether it be the historic churches, hilly landscapes, the beach or even just a good graffiti wall, it was very pleasing on the eye all around. It's a town that has intertwined urban and modern landscapes with a strong sense of Spanish community.
The beach was lined with these wooden sail boats in the evenings creating a small border along Pineda de Mar's sea front. I don't know why I enjoyed them so much but they added to the quaintness of the town. Along the strip there were various bars to eat and drink at, however we chose the first one we came across; although we didn't get the name it was absolutely lovely. The service was great, they did us a good deal on a pitcher of Sangria and it was a beautiful setting, what more can you want on a summers evening in Spain? A strong pitcher of Sangria! Yes I swear they topped up the alcohol just to see if us Brits could handle it, and oh yes we could. We did leave the beach a little tipsy but we were on holiday, why not have fun!
The only problem we found with Pineda de Mar was once we had been round the town and enjoyed our time on the beach there wasn't much else to do. We found out there are little trains that run like buses that can take you around Pineda de Mar and to the next town over called Callela, which was around a 15 minute journey. The train was really convenient as well as we had a stop right outside our hotel. You just hop on and the driver comes around to give you a ticket. A return is 3 euros 20, which we felt was quite reasonable as the taxis were pretty pricy. Although the trains are every 30 minutes they run up until 11pm, plus who is in a rush when they're on holiday.
Callela, like Pineda de Mar, is a really cute town however it is a lot larger and has a lot more to offer in the terms of shopping and nightlife. We also found that the sand was a lot nicer there too, so if you're thinking of visiting go to Callela for your beach day! There are also various international bars around if you are finding you're missing home. We found a great place called Alcatraz. The interior is that of a typical British pub, which we actually found fascinating. Alcatraz has a great back story to it and the people who own it and work there are so kind and welcoming. Even if you are going for the full Spanish experience it's definitely worth popping by Alcatraz for a pint or two, or even for one of their unique cocktails to get the low down on the best places to be and when.
We also chose to visit Water World, the best water park in Europe, as all the posters said. I'm not a massive water park person, I'm more of a theme park, roller coasters kind of girl but I thought it would be good to try something different. It cost 32 euros and that included bus transfers to and from the park which was also pretty reasonable. You could also pay an additional 5 euros if you were planning on visiting the park again, making the overall price a lot cheaper. As you enter Water World as a British person it is pretty weird just stripping off in a public place and practically walking around naked but after a while you get used to it as everyone is exactly the same. No one cares about body size so no need to feel poop, everyone's there to have fun!
The park is actually huge and has lots of slides, swimming pools and eating areas that are all shaded to keep you out of the sun after running around in it all day. One thing we found difficult was the amount of walking there was as it was mainly up steep hills. Yes it makes sense as slides need to go downwards but on a hot day with no shoes on it was a little bit of a challenge. Standing on stones and very hot floor definitely kept us on our toes and if anything you've paid for a good workout. The raft slides were probably my overall favourite and they were a lot faster than any of us expected. The pools there were really nice too, the wave pool being the biggest and the best, starting off competitions between us on who could go out to the deepest point. The whole day was really good fun and a laugh and it is well worth the money, so I recommend it.
We also decided to go on a Catamaran Sensation boat party because who doesn't want to go on a boat party right? The boat party is a little more expensive at 42 euros but that included our bus transfers to and from Lloret de Mar and food and drink on the boat whilst we were there. We were totally sold on the idea by our rep from our hotel. We were told about the drinks, the bbq, that there were trampolines and we would stop off some where to swim and also obviously have the party with some embarrassing drunk dancing. Our rep told us we would be on the boat for about 4 hours and so did the people that worked on the Catamaran Sensation, however we were really disappointed as we were actually on it for maybe 2 and half hours at most. The all inclusive food was a little bit of salad and a sausage and a burger with a roll and the drinks selection was rather small too. Maybe we had built the whole thing up in our heads but we did expect a little more for our money.
Despite the disappointment we all had a lot of fun whilst we were on the trip. We were able to jump off the boat into turquoise blue water and swim with fish which was a complete first for me and really exciting! We also go to see a lot more of the coast line we were staying on and also enjoy some good music and dance moves from the boat team and others on board. If you do choose to go on the Catamaran Sensation then I would recommend going at peak season as you'll probably get the whole experience. As the boat wasn't full this may be the reason why we were taken back to Lloret de Mar early.
Whilst we were staying in Pineda de Mar it was the San Juan (St. John the baptist) festival, celebrating the summer solstice. This is one of the biggest celebrations held in Spain so it is well worth seeing if you happen to be there on the 23rd of June, with the largest festival held in Alicante. Even in a small town though there were thousands of fireworks to watch in all directions, literally painting the sky in colour. However it isn't the safest to walk through as their form of health and safety is pretty non existent, they were five year olds setting off fireworks and throwing fire crackers. Besides that you really get into the Spanish culture and spirit with local music being played every where you go and if you aren't one for going home early it is definitely a festival you should go to. The celebrations went on until 5am, unfortunately I couldn't make it until then but the few hours we enjoyed were amazing.
We also had the chance to go to club Tropicana in the neighbouring town Santa Susanna, which was very interesting. The taxi was quite expensive, 11 euros, considering it was five minutes down the road but we had no choice but to pay it. It was also a little pricy to get in, it cost 11 euros but that came with two drinks which actually made it pretty cheap. The club wasn't massive but the atmosphere was great and it was very Spanish. Not speaking much of the language made it a little difficult but all in all it was a really good club. So if you fancy a night of Spanish music with a little English thrown in it's worth the visit.
Hope you enjoyed my small coalition of things we got up to in our ten day get away, we actually did quite a lot so it's hard fitting it all into so many words. I also want to say a massive thank you to Rhys and Eleanor, my best friends! I am so glad I got to experience this holiday with you guys and heres to even bigger and better adventures in the future, I love you.
- Hannah x
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