La Roca & Canet de Mar

For all those shopaholics out there..La Roca is the place to be.

Yesterday my friends and I decided we wanted to do something different, get away from Barcelona pollution and traffic and do something fun. We ended up taking a little road trip to La Roca outlet mall which is basically a retail village. If you are going by car you take junction 12 off the A7 highway to Cardedeu and then follow the "centre commercial" signs. This village has designer clothes ranging from Ralph Lauren to Burberry to Nike and Quiksilver with up to 60% discount prices and real bargains can be made. We were in heaven :). La Roca Village opens at 10 a.m from Monday to Saturday and stays open to 9 p.m except Saturdays it stays open until 10 p.m. There are small cafes located throughout the area (including Starbucks which makes the place look even more American) Pans, as well as ice-cream and slushy stands. The village is really a sweet place. If you drive away from La Roca another 3 minutes, there is a gigantic Nike outlet and a Mango outlet as well. These are bigger than the average sized stores in the Village. After a day of shopping we decided to stop in Canet de Mar and enjoy the rest of the day at the beautiful beach Chirungitos to have a Coronita. From here you can grab a train which takes you straight back to Placa Catalunya (very nice one too..). Getting out of the city for a day like this feels so great. There are new kinds of people, places, and even air. The train ride back into the city is astounding as you are riding along the coast the entire time and you realize the beaches in Barcelona are just endless. There are so many of them with great and fun possibilities of water-sports, restaurants, children's play areas etc. It is on days like these that you realize how lucky we are to live in Barcelona and have the opportunity to just take a short drive outside and discover a whole different world. It makes me sad to think that I will have to leave this place in about a years time. All the memories we have created with our friends and getting to know new people every day. I have so much love for BCN.