....The Costa del Magnifico, the cost of living's so low..

Rental car to the Costa Brava. Until last summer, the only Costa that I knew was featured in a Dire Straits song (quoted above).

Last year, Costa Brava. Rental car for my beloved and me to Palamos, the Best Beach Town Ever.

Can we recreate the magic. With 5 of us this year?

To start - I yell at K through 10 Barcelona city blocks this morning. "Hurry up - we gotta get the rental car." Magic gone by 9:15 am. Then, I yell at my trusty navigator wife, who swears she has her Dad's "bloodhound nose." Now, I love my wife with all my heart. She makes me a better person. I would be a mere shell without her. But, if she's the bloodhound, then Paul Newman gets away in "Cool Hand Luke." That's all I'm saying.

So, it's a bit of a zoo in our car as we careen 1.5 hrs outside BCN, with the rented GPS falling off the rented windshield every 6 minutes and a Costa Brava station playing US Top 40 Pop - Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, much to M's delight.

And then, we turn a corner, and there's the town of Begur, gleaming in the sun. Begur beats out Palamos like the Yankees beat out the Sox right now (six + games ahead of the Sox and not looking back). Like Angelina vs. Jennifer. You get the picture. http://begur.org/turisme/cat/index.php

Beach after beach. Cove after cove. Sand and surf. Germans diving off cliffs into 10 feet of water (just to show they can). Great waves. Great sun. Homemade salcichon and manchego sandwiches on crusty bread. Quite simply, one of the chillest days ever. Even if the kids wouldn't walk with us up the cliff pathway (and therefore didn't get to see the nude beach when we turned a corner one km up the path, overlooking the coast). And even if the strawberry ice cream was briefly melon ice cream as a crafty vendor sought to move some slow-moving melon ice cream inventory (until I put my foot down and declared, in Castillian, that we prefer our strawberry helado to be made from *strawberries* not melon, gracias). And even if the family wouldn't let me stay forever in the biggest wine store ever, Grau, on the outskirts of the Costa Brava (they carry at least 50 Spanish rosado wines, for starters, and a bunch of offerings from our cava guys, Raventos i Blanc, out in Penedes ... http://www.raventos.com/ ).

And on the way home, Catalan Public Radio - who knew there was such a thing? http://www.icatfm.cat/ - playing Wilco and the Specials ("Message to you Rudy") for a salty family inside the Avis rental car. No navigation fights. No fights in the back seat. A sweet day. Even if I still don't get Lady Gaga.

Go to Begur. Someday. It's great, and is the "Best Place Ever", right now, this summer, just like Chatham, Nantucket, Chilmark and 100 other beach towns...

:)