#Squadgoals. Salou/Portaventura October 2018. Day 3, Shopping,Old Town and Portaventura at night.

[roxie2001]

Saturday 20th October
This was a really busy day, we ended up walking 33 000 steps!

Woke up to beautiful sunshine, what a relief. Just like we have never experienced rain like yesterday, this turned into the hottest weather we have ever had.
Jess wanted to do some souvenir/present shopping today so we went for breakfast about 8.30. This would become my staple breakfast, bread, ham and cheese topped with fried egg with potatoes and beans.

I wasn’t keen on the scrambled eggs. Matt had platefuls though. (He has recently lost 5 stone and having eggs for breakfast fills him up)
Followed by a hot chocolate and something sweet. The glazed donuts were so good.

Breakfast was always followed by a Diet Coke from the upstairs bar.
Paul wasn’t feeling well so Tracy joined us for the shopping trip.
We walked straight along the main road today.

Salou has a lot of tacky shops on the main roads and seafront and also along little rows so Jess had plenty of tat to chose from. She grabbed some pens and pencils for her friends and a joke emoji t shirt at €3 for her to sleep in. I saw these catus fairy lights and thought they would be great for uni but she didn’t want them.

The great thing about going in October is that most things are reduced.
She saw a couple of aprons that she liked the look of but said she would get them later if she couldn't find anything else.
(I stole these photos from Sandy, but we did pass the houses on the way)

We ended up at House of Illusion, which is an all inclusive magic show. We have never been but it gets good reviews. We tried to have a drink on the roof top bar there but it was closed so we went to a cafe instead.

The others were out now and in the Old Town do we went to meet them, stopping by this tree. Sandy saw it yesterday, googled it and said it was an olive tree.

We also liked these cactus.

The Old Town wasn’t very big, we passed the train station and more shops.

then met the others while they finished their drinks and we headed towards Koko roof top bar Sandy read about yesterday.
We followed Matt and Russell who took us on a mystery tour and ended up beside a motorway, it did have a pavement but it was a very long way round. We were all glad to sit down.
The roof top bar was basically a table on a public place that happened to be high up, not realty what we were expecting but I’m sure it’s better in the summer when all the tables are out.
We did have lovely drinks and it was good music.
Sandy’s tequila cocktail.

Lovely views as well

The bar area

We spilt the bill, €8 each, taking off Jessica’s lemonade. I had a sangria and Matt had 2 beers, so it ended up about the right with a tip
Back to the hotel and the outside snack bar, this was closed yesterday but was in full swing today.
I had a burger with chips and tried a seafood salad. It was lovely so had a second plate full.

Time was getting on now so we got changed then made our way to the theme park. We normally get a bus, we have a card and can top up journeys but we decided to walk as it isn’t too far although it is up hill on the way there.
First thing we wanted to do was recreate some photos from 10 years ago. We took our time as Jess wanted to try and get them just right. I think she did a pretty good job.

We brought our tickets from Attraction Tickets Direct, and although they were described as E tickets, we just scanned the bar code at the turnstiles. One more photo just as you go in.

I think it was about 5.30 when we got in and it was very busy. A few years ago we had come on a Saturday in the morning, we got in, saw the queues and walked back out so we were prepared. We really only wanted to ride Shambhala in the dark and watch the parade/fireworks tonight. Matt had a little moan when we rode Wild Buffalos and had to wait 15 minutes. We are used to walking on, but it really wasn’t too bad. We love the buffalos, it’s mad with no rules. You can bump head on and drive in any direction.

We walked around the Far West area. Characters are walking about the park chasing and scaring people so Jess and I were on the look out. The park, as always looked amazing.

The queues were long so we rode Tomahawk, a wooden rollercoaster and a smaller version of Stampida but without the crushing and bruises. It was a really good ride and we only waited 10 minutes.
It was dark when we got off, so it was Shambhala time.
It was a 50 minute wait so we decided to queue as single riders. It still took 20 minutes as it was slow moving. I went first so I didn’t chicken out. I was put on the second row. What can I say? Absolutely terrifying! I don’t really love big rides now but I did ride this in the daytime 2 years ago and even went on a second time straight after and posed for the camera.
This time I couldn’t even scream, I just prayed for it to end which seemed to take forever then jumped off as soon as the bar went up. I couldn’t see Jess or Matt in the queue, I was going to tell Jess to take her glasses off so I shakily walked to the photo booth. They both came off the next ride, they had actually been put together on the front row. Jess said she was terrified but she still enjoyed it. Never again for me!
It had to be Sesamoaventura next, and Magic Fish.

I do love this little ride and it’s all I could manage. And it was a walk on.

Jess and Matt went in the pirate ship, another walk on.

The plan was to get some food and wait for the show but Polynesia was shut off. Lots of lights and smoke were coming from that area so I guess it was some kind of haunted house.
We headed back through the Wild West.
We crossed the bridge and Jess was just saying to look out for characters when a camouflaged scarecrow jumped out on us giving us a big shock and making me scream.
Edward Scissorhands

Stampida was showing a 10 minute wait so we had to ride that in the dark. We really enjoyed this, although it is a real bone shaker.
We had some food, just some fast food and a crepe for Jess. It was ok, then made our way back to the entrance and found a seat for the parade and fireworks. We waited about 15/20 minutes.
It was a nice parade that ended up with a little dance show.

The firework show was great, 2 people which I guess were on hover boards and using hoses with water spraying out to look like they were flying. I’m not explaining it very well, but I thought it was impressive.

We were near the exit so got out the park quickly, walking home again. This did seem longer that the walk there but we got back to the hotel about 11.30. Sandy and Tracy had got a couple of drinks for us, and crisps bless them so we had a quick chat and went to bed. Matt and I popped back down for a drink at the Apple bar and went to bed.

A brilliant but tiring day.