We stayed at the Quayside Hotel - it's the larger reddish building in the center of the front row in the picture above. We were supposed to have a sea-view room, but we had a courtyard instead. Mark was a bit disappointed, but it was fine. Most of the local restaurants were impossible to get into but as hotel guests we had no problem getting into the hotel dining room. The hotel restaurant was exceptional. The seafood was all fresh (as you'd expect in a fishing village) and the servings were generous. (I had pasta with a fresh crab sauce - I could only manage about half of it.)
At breakfast the next day we asked our waiter if it would be possible to have the chef prepare food for dinner that wasn't on the menu. Mark wanted mackerel cooked in the traditional way and I wanted prawns sauteed with garlic. The chef stopped by and made sure he understood what we wanted so he'd be able to get it at the market that day. It was superb! And all cooked to order.
Mark told me that when he went there as a boy, he and his dad would fish for crabs off the pier. As we were walking past, there was a family with two little boys doing exactly that. Mark made sure he was in earshot of the boys and said, "You know, I used to fish for crabs here when I was a lad. Those crabs can be really mean when you catch them. They've been known to chase boys. They're real fighters."
The boys, who were probably six and eight, looked at each other with a bit of surprise in their eyes. Then they looked at their mom, who said nothing. Then they looked at their dad who just nodded and smiled like it was all true. After giving it a bit of thought, the older one reached down and grabbed his plastic pirate sword. He looked at Mark and said, "We don't care! We have swords!" The younger one grabbed his sword and they both waved their swords around, just as a warning to any crab that might have been looking.
Those crabs were probably shaking in their shells!
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