Trip to Cadaques

31 July 2010

Well, after talking about food, food, food all the time... here comes a post about travel. This would be the second BIG trip I've participated with the IAESTE group. When going for a trip with the IAESTE, there'll always be a dilemma. So little time yet so many activities. During the same weekend, there was another trip to Valencia, which is another city in Spain. So it's like Cadaques or Valencia.. Cadaques or Valencia... for the whole week but in the end, I chose Cadaques. Reason? It's because of the word "kayakking" which is part of the activity. Ever since after National Service back in 2006, I've been crazy about kayakking. There's not much kayakking opportunity in Australia or Malaysia but in Spain, there is. So far, I've kayakked twice in Spain.

Cadaques is a beautiful beach town located at one part of Costa Brava. Pretty small, but very busy like Singapore. There're so many tourists coming to the beach in this town, mostly from other parts of Europe. As for Asian tourists, I guess I represent the whole East Asian continent.
Now I know the difference of the definition for the word "Travel" between Caucasian and Asian.

Caucasian travel = Beach..beach..beach
Asian travel = Shopping, shopping, shopping

I think East Asians would wear astronaut suits if they go to the beach. Even for guys.

However, getting to Cadaques is not easy.. like the proverb, "Every rose has its thorn". To get to Cadaques, we had to pass through the mountains. And it's not like there's a tunnel penetrating the mountains or a bridge connecting the mountains. The only access is the narrow roads built along the slopes of the mountains, wide enough to fit only two cars. There's no way you can overtake unless your car can fly. I can't even imagine what would happen if a car breaks down. And there're so many sharp turnings along the road. Left, right, left right... and there's up the mountain, down the mountain... for half an hour to 45 minutes. I actually had to get out of the car and puke on the way back from Cadaques. First time ever.

In Cadaques, all the buildings are white.. and it is just beautiful when seen from far..3D is much better of course

 What makes Cadaques different is the beach. Instead of sand, the beach is of pebbles and stones. It's the first beach of this kind which I have visited. And it's good because it doesn't get stuck to your body like sand.

Anyways, there are no 18SX scenes in Cadaques. No distractions. Probably because it's too near to the town and there're lots of people. I didn't know caucasians will also be shy..

Rocks, rocks, rocks..

 Nice clear water. So clear you can see every single stone

 However, it's not easy to swim in the water. It's stones are sharp and at the deeper part of the water, there are seaweeds that feels like long fingers rubbing against your thighs and feet. And you can't exactly see them. Just imagine that something soft and jelly like is tickling your thighs but you can't see them.

Three words to describe Cadaques. Beach... Party... Tourists
 

And there are talents too..

These two guitarists are really good at their instruments (guitar I mean). They play so fast and continuously for hours. It's a duet guitar and they don't have to read anything.. Just play, play, play...

Never mind bout that.. the main purpose of going to Cadaques is to kayak. I have kayakked before but this is the first time kayakking in the sea. With waves and at night with the moon as the source of light.

Our destination was to a light house located at a cape at the far end of the coast. I was on a solo kayak so I took quite a while to reach the light house. I was the last one in fact. Really tiring especially when the waves keep on pushing you back. Upon reaching the light house, we had to climb the rocky hills.

At the light house, it is the most beautiful scenery one could view in Cadaques. The sky was full of stars. It's like looking at a galaxy. And with the bright moon.. Awesome!! Unfortunately, there were no digital pictures. Only the ones in the brain. Nobody dared to bring their cameras because it's water that we were dealing with. One of my friends brought the camera and took lots of pictures BUT the camera unluckily slipped off the pocket and into the sea. That's why.

All I have are these two pictures below. Important because it will only happen once with the same group of friends.

Hmm.. the guy in the middle is the odd one out. He's not one of the IAESTE people

At the light house, I tried a kind of Catalan drink where they boil the rum with lemon, sugar and cinammon. And then, they lit the fire on the alcohol to burn off the alcohol. It's good but really strong drink.

On the journey back to the shore, I didn't exactly kayak anymore. Didn't know why but I got seasick so I took the speed boat back. I ate a lot of melons at the light house because I was hungry but all came out on the way back so I got hungry again.

Back on the shore, I didn't have the energy like the rest to party so I walked around the town. It's a beautiful town. All the buildings are close together. It's not really a car city.

And look at this.. it's the statue of liberty but I think they are "kiasu" so they make the statue carry two torches instead of one torch and a book. Sorry bout the blurry picture because it's quite windy.