Celebrating 10 Years of Marriage in Sitges:
Updated: Aug 16
10 years we’ve been married! So we decided on a wedding anniversary trip instead of the usual “date night” why not a “date week!”, we were married 11th June 2016 after being together since 8th September 2013 and for those that dont know we moved in together after just 10 weeks of dating…..The rest they say is history, we like to call it memories💙💙!
How things have changed since our honey moon, which we booked at the travel agents and took the advice of the stranger behind the desk that the hotel we chose would suit us down to the ground, she was of course correct.
The main change in 10 years, we used Chat GPT to plan a lot of this trip, from which hotel, flights and down to how to get to the hotel from the airport as well as things to do it Sitges which I’ll elaborate on more as you read on.
✈️ Airport to Hotel -
Getting from the airport to Sitges, we did metro and train. After landing in Barcelona we connected the airports free WiFi and asked ChatGPT “Barcelona airport to Sitges train station best route and cost please” she came back with simple directions to follow. and predicted a 40 minite journey and a cost of €5-6.
I will note that we did confirm that each step of the journey was correct as we wen,t before committing to each leg of the journy, so while we are putting our faith in her we are not at the trust fall stage in our relationship! (ChatGPT is still the internet so not everything is true!)
We looked on Uber and the cost of an a uber from the airport was €79**
And a hotel organized transfer was €100.
**Uber costs vary with demand at the time
ChatGPT WIN - €5.50 and a 40 minute journey.
Where we stayed -
Sabàtic, an Autograph Collection hotel part of the Marriott group, and of course it’s a Marriott, no surprises there as we collect there loyalty points, so an easy hotel choice as it’s the only Marriott in Sitges. we did of course ask ChatGPT to give an overview. We also love the tag line for the hotel is “Live Every day like it’s Saturday”
The hotel was a 10 minute walk from the station and as we only had hand luggage this was fine, there is a taxi rank right outside the station though.
The hotel its self is beautiful. Very new and modern with a relaxed vibe which is just perfect for us!
ChatGPT WIN!
She (yes….I’ve assigned a gender to my ChatGPT and she learns about you as you go) was spot on it was lovely hotel with a resort feel in a city, this was perfect for us as we were here for a full week and want to both chill out and recharge and explore.
We asked ChatGPT to compare to other hotels in the area as whilst we love collecting our points were not exclusive to Marriott's if there's a better hotel out there. Its just gets better and better, I asked her to put the results in to a picture so I could include in this blog…… look at that - very professional!
We ate breakfast every day at the hotel which is as good as any 5⭐️ resort we’ve stayed in before. Huge array of options, continental, hot traditional with all eggs cooked to order (no one wants to look at a blaine marie full of scrambled eggs with a film on the top) and a the pastries table with every sort of pastry you could think of then some more….. even better it was include in our room rate.
There’s something about sitting outside eating breakfast while your on holiday that just feels so, content.
There is a beautiful pool which was adults only, it has a bar which serves lunch. We of course sampled this a few times and were not disappointed with any of our choices, the menu was typical Pool side fayre, burgers, tacos sales sandwiches etc, good quality and served at your lounger so zero effort involved which is always a holiday win!
The hotel also has a great gym n which offer as yoga and Pilates, there are bikes you can use and also a complimentary car service which will take you to the station the beach or in to town every hour.
We didn’t eat a dinner at the hotel as we were in town for our meals…..more on that later, but there is a nice bar area and a lovely terrace with is table service, perfect for a post beach or pre dinner drink.
There’s a DJ in the bar on Fridays and Saturdays, they also have an outdoor movie night.
We did take advantage of the complementary Vermouth tasting, although Vermouth originated in Italy the Spanish version is equally as good, we were talked through all of the different herbs and spices that go in to making this fortified wine. I’d never really considered Vermont’s a a drink on its own, only really using it in cocktails and cooking. But im a convert……Cheers!
What we did -
Apart from eating amazing tapas and drinking a lot of nice wines and Spanish Vermouth!
ChatGPT was again used for things to do, and she suggested a tapas tour, this turned out to be something we did twice, it’s a great way to see the town and eat some great food from local bars.
We visited so many and did not find a bad one either! If I listed them all we’d be here for ever! But here’s 3 of our favourite
ChatGPT suggests what to eat and drink in each place. We did in the main follow her recommendations but towards the end we had to reduce the tapers down to just one to share. If we did it again, which we absolutely would, we would have changed the Potastas bravias so something else, as its just potato at the end of tha day and theres more exciting things to try on the menus than this.
ChatGPT tip - You can ask her to send you the detail in an email or put them in to a word document if you don’t want to use your phone signal.
We followed her recommendations and had a fabulous afternoon
ChatGPT WIN!
We were lucky enough to visit during the Corpus Christi festival, this is folk tradition joined with a catholic religious celebration the most notable part of the celebration is the flower carpets that line the streets, the locals decorate the streets with flower petal rugs.
We walked through the town centre the night before and the Streets were already alive with a procession of oversized dolls dancing in the streets and the flower carpets already starting to be created by the locals who work through the night to complete.
In a world of WhatsApp, iMessage, email and so on, have we lost the personal touch. I love sending actual invites in the post and have recently started writing to friends and family- yea as in actual pen to paper. Whitest I’m dyslexic and not the best at writing I do enjoy it, hence these blogs.
I we were given some complementary postcards in our hotel room that with a random conversation before our trip with a friend I was inspired. I only wrote 4 and that was enough but the nostalgia of the process was comforting!
What else did we do, We couldn’t not go to Sitges and experience the gay scene which is alive a thriving in Sitges. It was Pride the following weekend which we missed, the town was still alive with the preparations and set up. The bars are all in one place which makes bar hoping easy. The area was very busy, as with a lot of Europe, does not come alive till after 10pm at the earliest! We had a few evenings that tuned in to nights…then mornings!! It’s gay its not classy its not glamours but its a lot of fun!! A couple of selfies of one of the nights. The before, durning and after!
There’s also the walk to the cathedral which is at the end of the beach, and if shopping's your thing there's a huge amount of local independents to try. One place you must try is the chocolate shop - Amazing and all made in store!
We did a week here as we had pool days and out days. You could easily do it in a weekend if you wanted to just explore the town.
All in all the perfect break in a wonderfully inclusive town at a fabulous hotel.
