Day 12 Santa Sussana
stayed a bit closer home after our moutaineering exploits yesterday and took a walk along to Santa Sussana, the next door town, we kept away from the coastal tourist parts and headed inland to take a look at some of the old churches and watch towers, there are several in the area dating from the 15th/16th centuries when this coast was always under attack from pirates from North Africa, most of them are pretty well ruins or just a round tower with nothing to see inside,but one of them Can Ratés (Ratés House) has been added to with a large country estate house with extensive informal gardens and park and now houses a music museum/acadamy and archive, the grounds are open to the public but the music part is only open to serious and authorised students and researchers. They hold a series of concerts and musical events in the grounds in July and August, again it is another one of these places that are largely overlooked by the visiting tourists, we were the only ones there. There are superb stable blocks attatched to one side of the tower and the main Can (House) to the other, just bellow is the largest swimming pool that I have ever seen, built in a roman style with pillars and a bridge crossing it, sadly it does not seem to be in use and the water in it was a horrible green and looked stagnant, again here is a super tourist/historical attraction under used and somewhat neglected. We spent quite a time just enjoying the park and gardens and did go into the tower, but only the ground floor as the rest is blocked of and only opened on special occasions, apparently we were not special enough ! On reading the blurb outside the main house, which gave some of the history of the place in several languages I was suprised to learn that in the 18th and 19th centuries it was owned and lived in by the Gilbert Family who then sold it to the Ratés family who in turn gave it to the local council after the civil war and Franco`s death, I wondered if any pressure was applied, knowing a bit of Catalan history.
We then went back to the hotel for dinner Tappas and traditional Catalan fare on Fridays, not to be missed and then out for a stroll into old Malgrat, sat for a long while at on of our favourite haunts the Blanc i Negre bar in a square with several othe bars frequented mainly by locals and watche some little kids playing football, one of whom we found out was only two and a half years old,, in full Barca football kit, he was very good, one to watch out for in the future ! and then back to the hotel to bed. We ar planning to visit Mataro tommorrow to see view the Roman ruins there.