Discounts, octopus and car parks...

Last week I went to Girona, capital city of the region in which I live. A friend and I decided to investigate the “fiera” which had been advertised – apparently this happens every year around now, and is set up so that clothes shops, linen and sports shops and others can sell off winter and last season's summer goods at up to 50% discounts. Spain is not like the UK, there are no “permanent” sales or heavily discounted events except in January and in July, at the end of the winter and summer seasons. Even then, you rarely see items for sale at more than 40% discounts, so this “fiera” in Girona is a major opportunity for people to find a good bargain.

The “fiera” was held in a large exhibition hall with each stand well spaced apart, displaying the name and location of the shop. Parking nearby was free and the car parks were full. The strange thing was that, once inside (no entry fee!), the hall seemed very tranquil and we remarked on how civilised it seemed compared to say Olympia in London, where the throng is quite overpowering. This was the perfect place to go if you were looking for something in particular – quality trainers for example, lovely bedlinen or new additions to your wardrobe. Neither my friend nor I had gone with such intentions, so we just wandered around looking for the best buys at each stand. In fact, we came away with very little but the locals were carrying several bags, especially the young, so they had found things that they had wanted.

Smaller towns hold end of season “street sales” whereby local shops sell their discounted stock from stalls, often placed outside the business itself. Here you find a mixture of wares, sometimes handmade items are next to piles of clothes or towels. These sales are usually at the weekends and the public tannoy systems blare out music to encourage a festival atmosphere. How much business is actually done is anyone's guess, but the bars and cafés take full advantage of the crowds so they at least do rather well.

From time to time, towns and larger villages have artisan fairs, where local producers of cheeses, hams and other meats, pastries and breads, wines and olive oil sit side by side with lace makers or wooden toy makers, crafts people and leather workers. It would be wrong to assume that these fairs sell things cheaply, in fact most items are rather expensive but bearing in mind they are not mass produced nor advertised, they offer the chance to taste some really excellent food and drink or to buy a handmade, one-off item for the house or as a present.

Well, after we had walked around both floors of the exhibition hall in Girona, we felt that it was definitely time for lunch and a glass of wine. My friend introduced me to a great little Italian restaurant which offered 2 courses plus glass of good wine for 12.50€ a head, slightly more costly than the usual “menu del dia” but as it turned out well worth the extra euro or two. We both started with “carpaccio de pulpo” (carpaccio of octopus) which was delicious and then had a risotto with sausage and mushrooms which was even more delicious. These, washed down with a glass of good dry white wine, rounded off our day perfectly.....
…. or it would have done had someone not hit my car in the nearby car park and broken the nearside rear light. However, our faith in human nature was quickly restored when we noticed a piece of paper on the windscreen, which turned out to be hastily written note in Catalan with a telephone number.

The next day, I rang the number and spoke to a charming man who explained that a colleague from the college where he worked in Girona had accidentally hit my car and if I would get an estimate from a garage in my town, the college would pay for the damage. This evening, I am going to collect my car, now repaired and all being well the college will refund the cost as promised. Watch this space.

Sally

The Overseas Guides Company
http://www.Spainbuyingguide.com