Ballota had a nice beach, so we stayed. Anne R. And I went scouting for albergues/ pensions while Annie and Maddie guarded the packs. Anne and I walked a bit and found nothing but more gardens and shrubs. We saw no people in the streets. Our last stop was a large pink building on the main road.
We entered an ornate hallway, paintings on one side, a floor length mirror on the other. Old yellow wallpaper everywhere. No one seemed to be home so we started exploring.
I poked my head in a doorway and found a wall-size painting of a woman in a ball gown. She had a small smile and raised eyebrows. She looked docile, and not unlike the Mona Lisa. The room was also full of antiques, including a crystal chandelier, a sofa, an armchair, and a dressing divider that all looked very old.
I turned to Anne.
“Do you think this place is haunted?”
“Oh it’s mad haunted dude.”
I couldn’t decide if that was a pro or a con. We checked upstairs and down and found no one. The stairs creaked eerily and there were several black and white pictures of ancient aristocrats. I decided on con.
We walked back out into the sunshine.
Annie ran up to us.
“I got an albergue guys! Thirteen euros!”
*****
Later Anne and I stirred from our afternoon slumber and went to go find Maddie and Annie at the beach. None of us had actually seen the beach yet, we had just heard a rumor that Ballota had a nice beach. I asked the desk lady how to get to the beach and we set off.
We trekked for maybe two kilometers down a steep dirt hill. Trees arched over us and the trail wound down to the rocky shore. The beach had very little sand but lots of rocks. All along the beach opposite the water were steep cliffs of stone.
No sign of Maddie and Annie.
Anne spotted it first.
“Dude it’s a cave!”
Sure enough, dug into the side of the largest of the cliffs was a narrow cleft. On closer inspection we realized that it didn’t go very deep, but Anne was fascinated.
Anne and I made our way back up the hill as she told me about Neanderthals. Neanderthals used to live in caves similar to the one we had found on the beach. Anne pointed out the red clay in the trail that the Neanderthals used for their cave paintings. She told me about their jewelry that they made and how the introduction of currency and trade ended their art for thousands of years. Anne has a passion for anthropology and archaeology and it’s fun to hear her get excited about it.
We returned to the hostel and found Annie and Maddie. They hadn’t actually been able to find the beach so they had spent the afternoon sitting together on a cliff near the ocean. No beach day, but we had each walked and talked with someone we hadn’t spent much time with. We went to bed knowing more about each other and that made our stop in Ballota worth while.