On October 28th 2016 we arrive in Hospitalet de l’Infant and settle in the small apartment of our friends. We enjoy the balcony – the weather is still warm enough for that.

The late autumn days here are mild (around 20 degrees and more) and some people (most of them retired) populate the beach.

However, the small bars have been dismounted and the slide-boats are now hidden in this backyard waiting for the next summer.

The offerings of the Sunday market have changed: Now we can buy warm sweaters and socks – in summer it was bathing suits and light blouses.

The late afternoon sun produces long shades on the beach.

The waves play gently with the sand.

The clouds remind me of our southwind clouds from the Alps, called “Föhn”. Actually it is a similar phenomena: The wind comes from the north west descending from the mountains behind our coast line and clearing up the sky.

In the morning, Ursula captures the rising sun above the Mediterranean Sea.

Later during our stay, the north west wind is blowing heftily, and I prefer to do my swimming in the large public swimming pool that is open until ten at night. Hospitalet seems to be a wealthy small town: They provide these piscines municipals with attached fitness center and in addition a public library, where we as “simple” tourists can rent out books for free.

In 1306 the Infant Peter of Arragon and Anjou built the hospital of Hospitalet near the pass of Balaguer where the Via Augusta crosses the hills towards Tortosa and the Ebro valley.

The hospital was in use for several centuries. It was destroyed several times, the final and last time by a storm in 1910. One highlight was the visit of Elizabeth Fox, a noble lady from England, that stayed here overnight around 1800. The museum tells her story with much humor.

The shops are open – bakeries have fresh bread, Jordi offers fresh fish from l’Amettla, the grocery shop has delicious fruit and vegetables, the Chinese shop has all we need to complete our small household, the electrician shop repairs our broken vacuum cleaner in two days (and how proud the electrician is of that!), the mercer has everything you may need for sewing, the arts shop frames our pictures and fotos (to decorate our small apartment), the sports shop sells bathing suits… and this shop sells “Fisch Fang Wurmer” or worms for fishing (it is open on weekdays – I am just not sure, how happy the worms will be when used to fang fish).

We have all we need for our two weeks’ vacation – and while enjoying that, we also undertake many excursions into the surroundings of Hospitalet de l’Infant. There is so much to discover in Catalonia.