Sunday, June 6th

Sunday started unusually with a plan. We would walk to the bus station (which could not be that far because Jerry and Fiona had walked all the way wheeling a suitcase) and then we would take a bus to the town of Casta where we would visit the castle.

It was a good plan but it started to unravel when we could not find our way to the bus station. But we made it in the end where we discovered that the next bus was at 12:35. It was at this point we decided it was not a good plan.

So we settled on a less ambitious plan which was to visit the botanical gardens. We bought a travel card and then managed to take two trams which dropped us right outside the gardens.

We had a casual stroll around the gardens and became separated. Barbara and Alan could not find the rest of the group and after wandering around for a while decided the most likely place to find them was at the bar/teashop. This proved to be the case and we sat in the sun having a well deserved drink. Whilst here, we spotted a red sqirrel which was a pleasant surprise.

After leaving the gardens, we negotiated our way back to the city centre by tram where we had a lunch of pizzas.

Not long after this, we were unable to get the girls past the chocolate shop as they had earmarked this for a visit. In the shop which had a outside seating area in the square, they served a variety of flavours of hot chocolate. Jerry decided to go entirely for the hot experience and ordered the chilli flavour. This did not disappoint in the hotness department and Jerry’s mouth was soon on fire. Alan chose the “white with caramel” option which he could not distinguish from ordinary custard.

The eating frenzy continued with an ice cream from the specialist ice cream shop. Following this we returned to the hotel for a siesta.

In the evening we found a secluded courtyard bar where we had a drink before being ejected because they were closing. Things generally seemed to be closed on a Sunday evening and we struggled to find somewhere to have a bit of supper.

We returned to the hotel for coffee where Fiona was still maintaining that the big red pole was too big for her!