I’m not that opinionated about the specifics of the traffic, just that there’s a parade of people and this particular one is at the crossroads of a hot, hip, happening neighborhood. And that means a continuous stream of folks to watch. If San Diego had cafes like this one, I’d never leave.

Piazzenza was so good we ate there two nights in a row. Another perfect outdoor cafe slash people-watching spot. Nearly perfect. Excellent pizza, a wonderful house white wine for 6 Euros a bottle, and, although you can’t see it in the photo, a nighttime lit-up view of the incredible Sagrada Familia. The salads here, as in most of Spain, take some getting used to, and you need to exercise caution if you like fresh greens. I’m not sure what defines a salad here, but my Salad Roquefort was actually a few pieces of sliced iceberg lettuce, bits of ham, and a generous bath of blue-cheese dressing. My wife’s Salad Mixed was more like fresh greens, but still not too many of them. Stick with the Pizzas and the Calzones and you’ll do fine.

Took trains, automobiles, trams, and a 100-year-old funicular to get here and it was worth it. More tomorrow…

Got to take a moment and give Kate credit for copy-editing these blog entries. As you may know, a dyslexic childhood has left me devoid of any spelling or editing skills, and she has saved me from some pretty embarrassing mistakes. I’ve never given much to this theory, but there are those who wonder what else you do poorly or sloppily, if you misspell.

There’s another Tibidabo post here.

And this is the fearless Tibidabo Flyer. As you can see from the tail markings, this plane was pressed into amusement park service in 1928, and is still going strong.

Just to show that Tibidabo is not all old-fashioned rides, this one is a state-of-the-art roller coaster, set right into the mountainside trees. My kids said this totally crushed it (and crushed them too, after about 5 trips.)

Here’s the first Tibidabo post.

The photo above shows the entrance to Independencia, 350. It is owned by the charming Frédéric and Carmen of Apartments Barcelona. I recommend them highly. Everything was as it should be, and they took care of the very few things that were not. Plus they gave us a great list of local places to eat and took care of a few small bits like arranging for our taxi to BCN. It was almost like a hotel stay. http://www.apartmentsbcn.net/

This is a view of the living room. As you can see, nice room. Lots of light. Something you can’t see: great air-conditioning. They’ve got other places as well, and from what I can tell, all are the same quality.

You can tell from the photo taken from my bean-bag chaise at poolside, that it was.

This is the view from our balcony. That’s the town of Sitges in the background, and the Dolce’s golf course in the foreground. Curiously a train runs down the coast about every 15 minutes, but as all people who live by train tracks say, “You get used to it.”

Special mention goes to Restaurant Blau in Vilanova, which is Sitges’ non-touristy sibling. I recommend it highly.

One of the best things about the Dolce Sitges is how many separate, and some private, places there are to plop down and roast in the sun. This is the Avenue of Chaises.

One last thing. I’m not totally sure what this sign means, but it seemed rather alarming.  What ever it was telling me not to do, I tried to avoid doing it.  Since nothing bad happened, I guess I succeeded.