Christmas in Catalonia

CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR WAS SPENT in Catalonia. Northern Catalonia to be precise, in the French village of Port Barcares along the Mediterranean coast, just a short drive North of the Spanish border and Barcelona.  It was an especially pleasant experience  because we were joined by much of Melissa's family. Her parents flew into Geneva to meet up with her brother's family living in Albertville, France. We met the crew in Albertville and drove south towards Barcares for a week of vacation (more photos) . 

A sleepy town in the Winter, Barcares is an otherwise lively town set along the beach and in view of the Pyrenees mountains.  

 The parent refrain was "DON'T GET WET!!".   This one was close.  

 The kids collected one or two shells. 

 The dads found other things....

And  Jazzy found a couple good walking sticks (?)....

 Josh, the resident of France, insisted there was no such thing as Christmas markets in France.  So, the above picture, is not a picture of a Christmas market set among palm trees in French Port Barcares.

 And this is not a picture of me eating raw clams and oysters and some hot wine at the Christmas market that did not exist.  (Actually, had they not existed perhaps I would not have spent all of Christmas day in the bathroom. Blech. But I digress. )

 And the kids would have really enjoyed this ride at the Christmas carnival, if there was such a thing.

 And imagine how happy the kids would have been if there was, say, a lady making cotton candy with about 20 different flavors to choose from.   If only there was a Christmas market.

 And ice skating on the Mediterranean? Preposterous!

I will say the Christmas trees do have a slightly different feel that far south....

Port Barcares is uniquely situated within easy reach of Barcelona, some beautiful coastal towns,  Carcassonne, and a few other things....so we have a handful of photo posts coming over the next few days as we get the pics uploaded.