С внучкой в Салоу часть 1 7-12 сентября With my granddaughter in Salou part 1 September 7-12

Report on a trip to Salou (Spain) with my granddaughter (September 07 - September 15.2012) Preparatory part. For the first time at the age of 56, we rested with my wife and granddaughter (2 years 10 months) in Spain (Salou from September 07 to 15.2012). 3 months before the trip, I turned to the TA "Renewal" (aka "itour") and for the first time purchased a tour from TO "Natalie Tours" to the REGINA GRAN HOTEL 4 * hotel (they really wanted to go to another hotel, but realized it too late). 8 nights with breakfast and dinner for three, with a visa, two insurances cost us 2032 euros, which, taking into account some itour discounts and transfer to rubles, amounted to about 80 thousand rubles. I received all documents for rest from TO 2 days before departure - September 05. From time to time I studied on the Internet information related to holidays and excursions in Spain, outlined acceptable options for excursions, and once again drew up a preliminary vacation plan for myself. I want to say that my report is based on our feelings with my wife and may not coincide with the opinions of compatriots who rested with us at the same time. This time I decided not to take phone cards and SIM cards in Spain, so in Moscow I bought a SIM card from Megafon with the “Your World” tariff: the cost per minute is incoming in Spain, calls within Spain, from Spain to Russia and SMS messages - for 6 rubles; and calls from Moscow within Russia - 3 rubles. I paid 200 rubles and the same amount was on the account, I added another 200 rubles, it turned out to be only 400 rubles. I didn’t call much, I spent 180 rubles: SMS messages went out regularly, but the calls were systematically disrupted, I normally phoned mobile numbers only 4 times. On September 06.23 hours before departure to Barcelona, ​ ​ I checked in on the Transaero website and printed out boarding passes for seats 28 ABC, it would be better of course 25ABC or 24DEFG or 22IH, but they were not available or busy. Looking ahead, I will inform you that during our vacation the air temperature during the day was around + 260 + 310, mostly in clear sunny weather and without rain. Local time is 2 hours behind Moscow time. I hope that a detailed presentation of some points will help future discoverers of Spain traveling with a small child to navigate the trip. So let's fly. 07 September. In Moscow in the morning it is cloudy +13, and in Salou the sun and +28 were waiting for us. At 8.10 we started check-in for flight UN 331 to Barcelona (scheduled departure at 10.30) and in 55 minutes we passed all the barrier posts and at 9.10 we sat down waiting to board the plane, and in half an hour we were in our seats 28 ABC. The baby stroller was handed over at the entrance to the salon, it was then assigned to the luggage compartment. Departed from Moscow (Domodedovo) at 11.00, Transaero, Boeing 747-400 (capacity about 600 people). They fed normally, the service was at a good level, there was no tobacco smell and tipsy passengers (and it was the same on the way back). Little children, including our granddaughter, were presented with children's sets with felt-tip pens, a notebook, a board game, stickers, a toy, and colored glasses. Arrived at Barcelona airport at 12.55 local time (according to the schedule at 13.10), went through a leisurely control and went to the airport hall at 13.50 with luggage (while the pram was on another baggage claim belt) to meet with representatives meeting party from Natalie Tours. Roll call was held on the bus and we were at 14. The 10 set off on our way across Catalonia to our hotels and began to listen to a twenty-minute audio story about where we had arrived. It is bad that the story was not supported by video and the bus guide did not tell anything on the way. They gave us information brochures, announced the time of the meeting with the hotel guide. At 15.20 we drove up to the outskirts of Salou and began disembarking tourists at hotels. Granddaughter slept for 1 hour on the plane and half an hour on the bus. We got to our REGINA GRAN HOTEL 4 * at 15.50, got 1121 rooms on the 2nd floor, took a safe for a week (15 euros) plus a deposit of 25 euros and forward to our room. Room 1121 was clean, furniture was in decent condition (as in hotels of this level in other countries: Turkey, Egypt, Thailand, UAE). Standard room, 2 beds pushed together and a sofa bed, a balcony overlooking the pool, tiled - you can live, there were no animals, with a TV, with a bidet and a bath, but once again with a terrible level of lighting in the room. There is only 1 trash can in the room, we didn’t have a TV remote control yet (but then, at our request, they brought it after 10 minutes). Once, after cleaning, they did not give 2 towels, but again, after our conversation, they quickly brought them. The overall impression of the hotel is satisfactory: the room was cleaned every day (left 1 euro) with the replacement of bed linen and towels, towels were not taken to the beach, they brought their own. The territory is small, kept clean, the playground has one name, the children's room is closed, the animation is at a low level (I understand that the active holiday season is over, but, after all, we specifically chose this hotel with the expectation that our granddaughter would be interested in spending time , but we didn’t get anything like that at this time of the year, except for an evening children’s 20-minute mini-disco). In short, we were a little deceived about the extensive children's entertainment. We quickly changed our clothes and went to the pool, swam in cold water (+20 or +22 probably), since it was still a long way before dinner, but we wanted to eat, we had a bite to eat at the bar with sandwiches with water and a glass of wine for 8 euros. After that, we could not resist and went to the sea (we walked at a calm pace with a stroller for 12 minutes) - we were there for 40 minutes (water + 26). On the way back to the hotel we went to a mini-supermarket and bought a 5L bottle of water (€0.9) and a bottle of semi-sweet wine (€1.95). I went to the -1 floor (the reception is located on the ground floor), there is a SPA center for 6 euros per day. At 18.45 I met with the guide Olga, but she was - the last day, from tomorrow someone else will be. In a short conversation, Olga told the main points of our stay in Salou, and on that we parted. The dinner turned out to be not as delicious as it was written about in the reviews, the pasta was not tasty, the watermelons did not get, the waiters were not friendly... But as it turned out later, this was the first and last day when it was not tasty in the hotel restaurant, and despite for individual minor shortcomings, for the rest of the time the food was cooked perfectly and its assortment was very extensive; Well, the waiters smiled. At dinner, I took 0.5 liters of water and 1.5 liters of sangria (I paid 10.50 euros for everything at the exit of the restaurant). Wednesdays are seafood day, but for some reason they were served cold. Could be up to 19.00 at the reception to replace dinner with lunch the next day (we took advantage of this when we went to the jousting tournament). After dinner, we went to the embankment to look at the fountain, returned to the hotel at 22.40 and went to sleep. This time (from September 7 to 15) they practically didn’t watch TV (in vain they asked for the missing remote control from the TV), so I can’t even say what channels work there. 08 September. The morning and the whole day passed in some kind of haze at +28. After a delicious breakfast, we went to the sea. Not far from the beach, at the box office of BUS PLANA (local travel agency), I replenished the T10 bus card for 10 trips (gave 10.9 euros) for travel, and also bought tickets for two adults to Aventura Park (88 euros), Barcelona sightseeing (46 euros) , a zoo in Barcelona (60 euros). The cashier worked well, very slowly, gathered a queue. It's good that there was a Russian-speaking employee who helped bring the Spaniard out of a non-working state. We returned to the pool, went to find out the opening hours of the kids club, but it turned out that it was closed from September 1. If they had such information on the website (I read on the Internet that the club is open until October 1), I would not go to this hotel. At 12.30 I met with the new guide Vitaliy and bought from him 2 tickets for the jousting tournament on Thursday (139 euros) and paid for a seat on the bus for my granddaughter (12.5 euros). The three of us went to a nearby restaurant for lunch, ordered a Russian-speaking waiter a vegetable salad, borscht, dumplings, chicken with mashed potatoes, bread, 2 glasses of wine - it cost 32.5 euros. The food was prepared to a good standard. We returned to the room by 15.00 and our little companion fell asleep and slept until 16.20. After she woke up, we get ready and go on foot (granddaughter in a stroller) to Aventura Park (we walked slowly in 30 minutes). And then the first bummer was waiting for us - the park is open until 20.00, the second time it broke off when the granddaughter's height (92 cm) was not available for all children's attractions, except for one - riding a train. We also managed to watch a number with dances in Polynesia, watched a children's play for 10 minutes, tried to climb on a large children's playground and that's it. . Thirdly, it was decently crowded in the evening and the queues were about 15-20 minutes long, and fourthly, to pay 3.600 rubles and just take a walk in the flea market in the park... it’s not worth it. You need to grow at least up to 120 cm, then you can ride something else and have fun. And grandparents, as well as parents for small children, need to come up with something else. At 20.00, leaving the park, we watched the parade of participants and back in 25 minutes by wheelchair-on foot we reached the hotel. Dinner this time was delicious, plus 0.5 water and 1 bottle of wine (all for 8.8 euros) improved the overall mood. At 21.40, dancing began for the little ones, while the granddaughter was having fun, he emptied 2 glasses of wine (3.8 euros). At 22.05 adult dancers were already performing, they watched them for 10 minutes and in bed until the morning. 09 September. It was somehow cloudy outside, but it was +29 and it was warm on Sunday. We decided in the morning after breakfast at 9.50 to go to the water park in La Pineda by bus number 47, you can also take number 4, a stop from Salou opposite McDonald's on the waterfront. We arrived in 25 minutes and it turned out that we arrived early, half an hour before the opening (the water park was open from 11 to 18), but the second at the box office bought 3 tickets for 1 day: 2 adults for 26.95 euros and 1 for children (starting from a child height of 90 cm) for 20 euros. As soon as the gate passed, we were photographed at number 1. Then we went to the children's slides and took 2 sunbeds for 5.2 euros each under the roof and next to the pool. You can not take sunbeds, but sit a little further on the grass or on the ground at the tables. Half a glass of rosé wine costs 3.3 euros, 1 go-dog and 2 burgers cost 10 euros, juice 0.3 l - 2.3 euros... somehow everything is a little expensive and not tasty; therefore, many carried food “from home” in their bags. I liked the process of visiting the children's buildings of the water park, we were constantly with my granddaughter and she learned to swim, spin, jump in a life jacket, which gave us all great pleasure. I recommend it for vacationers with children to visit. If someone wishes to take tickets for 2 days at once, then the second day of stay will cost only 7 euros. After an hour's sleep of the granddaughter, at 16.15 we went to the exit, where we bought 3 of our photos for 15 euros. At the bus stop (a two-minute walk from the water park) we boarded a bus to Salou and at 17.45 left the glorious place called La Pineda as scheduled. We arrived in 20 minutes. Dinner was delicious, we began to take soups in the evening (they are only at dinner and there were always 2 types), I recommend it. I took the password to the reception and talked to the children on Skype, which works tolerably near the cafe on the street, inside and near the reception. Then a mini disco for the little ones and sleep. 10 September. Cloudy in the morning, +28 during the day, sunny. After breakfast, we went to the embankment on the bus to visit a sightseeing tour of Barcelona. A lot of people gathered: 200 Russian-speaking people and 50 people who did not understand the mighty Russian language, so several PLANA buses were required. We left at 10.10, collected other tourists for another 30 minutes and left Salou at 10.40 (the granddaughter overslept the road from Salou to Barcelona). I think that everyone who was on our bus was more fortunate than others, because we were accompanied by an amazing wonderful person and a professional guide at the same time - Andrey Viktorovich (Stavropol citizen from birth). Thank you dear person for a wonderful speech (similar to the monologues of Mikhail Zadorny) and a great time. There was not a single bus late when walking, no one was disappointed in the trip, all the time on the bus he spoke with humor, facing the passengers, from the beginning of our trip to its end. The best guide in their travels abroad did not meet. And in terms of the content of the tour, we can say that at 12.05 we started to inspect Park Gü ell with its buildings from Gaudi and completed at 13.00. ). At 14.20 we drove around the city, looking out the bus window at the house of Mila and others, and slowly reached Plaza Catalunya at 15.00. dishes for your meal. In general, I liked the lunch. Then there was a walk along the Rambla with a turn into narrow streets with shops, and return to the bus. At 17. The beach is large, the sand is cleaned daily, only small things and gobies from lovers of "chicken" remain in it. There were a lot of people there, all this reminds me of a trip to Sukhumi or Sochi in Soviet times, I think that this will not happen again when I choose a beach holiday, I want there to be fewer people. And you don't know why they constantly walk along the border of the water cut back and forth? My granddaughter and I play in the sand, and people go back and forth past us, dizzy. They would lie and sunbathe, go to the sea and back to their place, otherwise: back and forth. Every day the wind blew and there were waves, so the water near the shore was cloudy, no foreign objects were observed in the water itself. If you evaluate the state of the beach and the water in the sea on a five-point scale, then it’s a four. It is good to relax here with small children, since the entrance to the water is gentle and for 80 of my steps deep into the sea you can reach a mark of 1.5 meters. For the first three days, the granddaughter reluctantly and timidly swam in the sea, and then, getting used to the waves, she independently swam in a life jacket from her grandfather to her grandmother and back. Since our granddaughter was a little tanned, we smeared her with a sun cream of 10 units for 2 days, and then stopped, the sun was no longer burning. At 12.35 we left the sea, for about 20 minutes we were on the embankment, then we decided to walk along the market, across the road from the fountain, bought some souvenirs. We had lunch in a restaurant for 40 euros, it turned out to be too much due to the fact that the waitress did not understand our order (probably it’s time for all their waiters to know at least a little Russian) and brought more than we ordered; we did not climb into the barrel and paid the bill. A lesson for us for the future - you need to order until you are sure that you have been understood correctly. At 18.40, after 1.5 hours of sleep, they again came to the beach, the people decreased, the water in the sea became warmer. We returned to the hotel at 20.30, had dinner, talked on Skype, danced a mini-disco and the day was over. It turned out to be a sea-unloading day of rest. 12-th of September. Sun, breeze, +30 during the day. After breakfast at 8.45 we went to the bus stop for a trip to Barcelona to the zoo with BUS PLANA and only an hour later we left La Pineda, picking up everyone along the way. The tour was two-way: some people went to the zoo, some to the aquarium. During the movement, the guide Natalya began to speak at the same time (into the microphone about our trip, sitting in the front row of the bus and with her back to us) and the driver (about his affairs on the mobile phone), so it was impossible to understand anything, such disrespect turned out to us. Natalia spoke in Russian, and then repeated in English, we received maps of the zoo and Barcelona from her. The granddaughter slept before the zoo. Bus drivers always have cold soft drinks from 1 to 1.5 euros. At 11.20 we stopped at the zoo, Natalya showed us there and left with the others for the aquarium, setting aside time for a tour of the zoo; but we decided to return to Salou on our own by train, so we were already on our own (it was possible to go to the zoo on our own). First, we looked on foot, and then swept the territory on a tram (3.1 euros per adult). Visited the cat and dolphin show. In principle, a trip to the ZOO is not required. Buying tickets for d. station (station Estacio de Franca), which is located across the street from the zoo, the search for the right platform and the nearest train to Salou were carried out by polling the local population at a low level of knowledge of English, 20 learned words of Spanish, Russian and deaf and dumb languages. Picked up the train schedule at the hotel reception. I agree with those who talk about the need to know a minimum of Spanish words, expressions, numbers, or at least you need to have a good phrasebook in Russian-Spanish with you. In the end, everything turned out right. The granddaughter wanted to take a ride on the train and at her request we left the tour, and in a comfortable car at 14.46 we went to Salou. The granddaughter slept all the way until 16.20. 2 times the controllers checked the tickets, you can buy a ticket on the train. We left the train, had a bite to eat in a small cafe for 30 euros, returned to the hotel at 17.50. According to our observations, the granddaughter was tired and sometimes capricious from trips, so we decided to cancel the trip on September 13 to the knightly tournament with Natalie Tours, but it turned out that no one would return the money to us, since it was written on the back of the ticket that 100% money is refunded 48 hours before the trip, and 50% refund at least 24 hours. Conclusion: you need to carefully read the reverse side of the purchased tickets. We decided to wait until the next day and then decide on our trip. Changed tomorrow's dinner for lunch. We visited the pool. Dinner was rich in seafood (at the hotel it is held on Wednesdays). We talked on Skype, did not miss the mini-disco and on the side.