Phil & Barbs "Lightning Tours.": Blanes

Tuesday 11^th June. Blanes. On arrival in Blanes my first impression was that this place has retained much of its historic character as a 1960’s holiday resort for the budget travellers from the uk and Germany. Concrete and glass seemed to be the dominant architectural feature and there are blue plaques positioned by the Spanish equivalent of our National Trust to commemorate the places where Germans and English fought in hand to hand battles to regain sunbeds. No stop it! It aint that bad! Its good.

Seriously we drove through Blanes in only the second rainy day of the trip and as we went right through the centre I could see its appeal…loads of bars. Restaurants and even chic designer shops. Quite a bit to do here. We then turned the corner to see the main prom and despite the rain I could see why so many europeans flocked here in the 60’s and 70’s ….a gorgeous beach and long promenade. The many campsites have been ostracized to the very end of the prom, but again that’s ok, we know our place and it is quieter here.

Thursday 13^th Update. We really like Blanes. I will in future keep my mouth shut when advising other travellers. I actually told a guy back home who was coming to Blanes in a camper to think about other places. How wrong was I and I’m glad to say that he ignored me. We are presently on Solimar Camping but there seem to be quite a few other high quality sites in the area. There are a good choice of supermarkets, bars and restaurant all of varying quality and expense and the beach is superb. Everything seems clean and well looked after.

Today we had our first ‘bucket and spade’ adventure of the trip, spending an hour on the beach this morning. Went for a dip, it seemed cold but after 5 mins I soon warmed up and had nearly 20 mins swimming in the 18c water. We were intending to only spend 3 nights here but we’ll probably make that 6 and leave after the weekend. Probably head towards Callela another place that I’ve always avoided so I’ll have to eat humble pie again. Although it can be compared to Benidorm I would say that unlike Benidorm, Blanes doesn't feel British and definitely makes you feel as though you are in Spain.