An extraordinary lunchtime!

During the first week back in January, Brendon and I (perhaps more me...) decided to take a short stroll at lunchtime. Our destination was the small castle at the top of the hill (it would be classed a mountain where I'm from!) behind the school. Castle Burriac, the ruins of an ancient castle ruled by the Sant Vicenç family, stands imposingly at the top of the small village of Cabrera de Mar. It is constantly overlooking the place, and Brendon can even see it from his bedroom window! Thankfully it's beautiful: light-coloured stone walls and the Catalan flag blowing in the breeze. Although we've always wanted to take a walk up the hill to see it properly, we had never got round to it in the first term. So, finally, on a bright and warm January afternoon, we decided to set off for the summit during our 3 hour lunch break.

After around 10 minutes walking we began to appreciate that it wouldn't quite be the lazy stroll that we'd been expecting. Retrospectively, I can now conclude that we underestimated the hill! Neither of us are as healthy as we should be, and the incline soon made us tired. After around an hour we finally made it to the top (after investigating a hippy camper van with a KISS-style head stuck on the top). The amazing views ensured that our efforts were worthwhile. The castle has been well preserved, and as you walk through the ruins you can picture scenes of battles and ancient opulence. From the top you can see the whole of Maresme. The views of the Mediterranean Sea and the surrounding towns are absolutely magnificent. We decided to enjoy these views; to reward ourselves for the climb by relaxing at the top for a while and taking it all in.

Once we finally decided to start walking back to school we realised that we had been a lot longer than expected. I arrived to my afternoon lesson late, sweaty, and out-of-breath!

Verdict: Visit Castle Burriac, but not at lunch time!