We told Kit and Stephen that we thought they should visit Toledo as Ton and I think it is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. It is located about 80 kilometers south of Madrid so we guessed the trip would take about 90 minutes factoring in Madrid traffic.
One of the many interesting historical buildings in Toledo.
We arrived at the campground outside of Toledo about 11:30 and headed right into town. Toledo was built on a bluff overlooking the Rio Tajo River. It is a beautiful location for a city.
Looking down from the city walls on the Rio Tajo.
The city is known as the city of three religions. At one time it had large, Christian, Jewish, and Moslem populations living together. There are well preserved synagogues, and a mosque, as well as the Catholic Cathedral.
The Cathedral dominates the town.
Ton and I enjoy the town because it really maintains its medieval feel. There are lots of small pathways and staircases between homes and businesses that are only suitable for foot traffic. This is a city that really makes you feel like you have gone back in time.
One of the city gates. You can see the Islamic influence in the architecture.
We spent several hours wandering the town and enjoying the sites. The only problem with Toledo is that you are either walking up hill or down hill, there is almost no flat to the town. Stephen at one point told me the people in this town must be really fit.
El Greco loved this city and spent a large part of his life here.
Our path led us to the base of the town, so we were facing a long up hill climb to get back to our next stop in the city. Luckily I spotted a series of escalators built into the hill to take you back to the top. We all appreciated the towns investment in this people mover which saved us climbing about 300 feet up hill.
The Cathedral.
After about 4 hours of walking the town we crossed over the old footbridge to the road to the campground. We were only about 30 minutes from the campground but it was going to be all uphill. Ton, Stephen and Kit told me they would gladly pay for a taxi. After about 15 minutes we flagged down a taxi and were quickly deposited in the campground.
Another city gate.
Everyone was pretty tired after the last couple of days so we all relaxed for a couple of hours. Just as Ton and I had decided we would snack for dinner, Kit once again surprised us with another wonderful meal.
We had a team meeting in the morning. There were two questions, should we extend our stay a day to make up for yesterday, and what should we do today. The answer to the first question was No, and the vote was 4-0 to visit the Prado.
Queen Isabella.
We started out at the Royal Palace again, and while Kit and Stephen had toured the grounds we had not, so before heading down the hill to the Prado we did a quick tour of the grounds of the palace and the adjoining Cathedral.
Part of the Palace Grounds.
The Palace is immense with over 3000 rooms. It shares a large square on one side with a Cathedral. We feel bad that Kit and Stephen missed their tour as it was on their bucket list for the trip.
Part of the Cathedral complex next to the Royal Palace.
It was a bit of a long walk to the Prado, and the third time Ton and I had made it. The Prado is one of the great museums of the world, and an incredible collection of art. It is also huge. The original building was built in 1819 to display the royal collection of art.
The church overlooking the entrance to the Prado.
We spent 5 hours touring the galleries and probably did not see half of the displays. They have an incredible collection of paintings by Reubens and other Dutch and Flemish masters due to the Netherlands being ruled by the Spanish during one of the great periods of Dutch and Flemish art.
A frame from Bosch’s tetrarch called “The Garden of Earthy Delights.”
As you would expect there is a huge collection of Spanish paintings including Goya and El Greco (technically born in Greece hence the name). We walked ourselves into the ground because around every corner there was another fantastic gallery with new art to take in.
Another Bosch “The Seven Deadly Sins”.
Ton took a couple of pictures early on, but we were then informed there were no photographs allowed. Afterwards we all decided that there is far too much to see in one day. Museums like this are best absorbed in 2 or 3 hour increments before both your feet and your brain get tired. All of us were tired after about 3 hours, but no one wanted to be the first to admit it. As soon as Ton asked if it was time to leave all three of us said yes immediately.
Walking to the Metro we came across this very nice modern statue in a traffic circle.
Fortunately, the Metro was running and the trip home was uneventful. The evening was spent doing some chores and sharing a nice dinner prepared by Kit.
Madrid does have some modern office towers. This one was pretty interesting.
Well . . . an interesting day. We had a plan for the day in Madrid. Ton and I were going to explore the city on foot, while Kit and Stephen were going to take a tour of the Palace. But sometimes the best plans don’t happen.
The Plaza Mayor in Madrid.
We walked to the Metro station and rode into the center of the city, the trip was smooth. We emerged at the Opera and around the corner was the palace with a giant statue. We agreed to meet at 4pm at the giant statue.
Not the giant statue, but a giant statue.
Since we had some time until Kit and Stephens tour we decided to go together to the market. On the way to the market we found the meeting point for Kit and Stephens tour.
One of the symbols of Madrid.
We spent about 30 minutes in the market. It was a nice market but a bit expensive for our tastes. In truth it is no longer a market, but a restaurant hall. The food looked good but it was clearly intended primarily for consumption by tourists, so Ton and I decided to eat later.
Stephen and Kit stayed with us while we walked to the Plaza Mayor, and another plaza where the Madrid government building was located. Both squares were nice and there were plenty of tourists like us enjoying the beautiful unseasonably warm day.
The Plaza Mayor.
At this point Kit and Stephen headed off to find some lunch before their tour, and Ton and I continued on our walk of the city. Ton wanted to go to the writers quarter. In the writers quarter we found a block on a square with a row of old restaurants offering different kinds of regional Spanish foods. The only down side was the square was undergoing a major rebuild, but we were intrigued with the food. We walked the row of restaurants two times and settled on one that offered a nice 3 course Menu of the Day.
The writers block with a quote from Cervantes in the road.
We were seated and had picked our courses when the waitress told us they didn’t serve the Menu of the Day until 1pm at the time it was 12:25. Ton and I talked it over and we told the waitress that we would return at 1pm. On our way out we used the restroom, and as we were about to walk out of the restaurant the power went out with a pop that startled everyone.
Once everyone got over the shock there was some giggling and we told the staff we would be back at 1pm. When we stepped onto the street we could see the power was out everywhere on the block and I told Ton someone must have cut a power line in the construction area.
We walked around the neighborhood for a while and watched as the wait staff and cooks from restaurants, clerks from stores, and the construction workers all stood around and tried to figure out was going on. I noticed that our access to wifi had stopped so one of our key tools for getting around was not working. By 1pm the power was still out in the writers quarter so we decided to expand our search for food.
The park near the Prado Museum.
I noticed that we were only a quarter mile or so from the Prado Museum which is one of the biggest attractions in Spain so I suggested we go there to look for food. I also figured that it would be far enough away from the construction to be out of the black out zone.
As we walked I noticed that all of the traffic lights were out. When we got to the Prado we saw that they were closing the museum so the black out was more widespread than we thought. At this point we figured that it was more than a local problem. We saw a cafe serving drinks and sandwiches, but when we sat down the waiter told us the food they had left was chips and we would have to pay with cash. So we had a very light lunch. The whole time we were not able to access our phones and I was a little frustrated, but suddenly I received a text from Stephen saying their tour was cancelled. But I was unable to reply.
We decided after our “lunch” to head towards the palace figuring that Kit and Stephen would be there. As we walked we noticed that more and more police were appearing on the streets. Some in plain clothes with just their high visibility jackets. Several of the main intersections were having traffic directed by a mix of different police forces in Spain. We also saw people standing on the streets holding old fashioned portable radios to get news. It was a good day for analog.
The beginning of the walk home.
As we walked towards meet up point we received two more texts from Kit and Stephen but were not able to respond. But just as we saw the big statue we saw Kit and Stephen sitting at a cafe next to it so we were back together. This cafe had some cold Tapas available so we had a quick meal while we figured next steps.
The problem was we could not access the internet to see the news. We heard conversations that the power was out in Spain, Portugal, and parts of France, but no one was sure why.
While we were eating I began to play with the phone, I could still get the map of Madrid on it, and was even able to scroll in and out to get closer views. After a while I was able to locate the campground, and by scrolling in and out discovered that one of the main avenues leaving downtown went straight to the campground. Since the Metro was closed walking might be our option.
I told everyone that I thought we could walk back to the campground as a last resort. I also thought once we got down the avenue we might be able to figure out what bus line to get on to get to the campground. That became the plan.
We passed the bull ring on Calle Alicante.
So we set off looking for Calle Alicante which fortunately for me started at a big monument. It turns out we were about 8 miles from the campground on foot. As we walked we saw the metro stops we had passed in the morning taped off to prevent entry.
Mostly I was impressed with the attitude of the people. On the entire walk I didn’t see anyone behaving badly. The police were calm and professional, those that weren’t busy directing traffic were helping people with directions or information. Twice on the trip when I was checking my bearings people asked me if I needed any help.
Closed Metro Station.
Our idea of taking a bus was quickly forgotten when we saw the first bus stops on the road. There were hundreds of people waiting for busses, and the busses that went by were packed like sardine cans. We kept walking down the Calle Alicante for 2 hours until I noticed that the last couple of busses were only crowded, not packed, and the crowds at the bus stop were much smaller.
We headed over to the next bus stop and a nice young lady told us we wanted bus 77 and even told me which stop to get off at. She was very helpful. We squeezed on to the bus and covered the next mile and a half in 10 minutes. The young lady even went out of her way to make sure we got off at the right station.
We arrived at the campground around 7pm after a big adventure. When I checked my fitbit I saw that we had covered over 10.4 miles today, some of it as tourists and most of it as foot mobile commuters. Everyone was tired but we enjoyed sitting around until dark, and just before sunset the street lights around the campground came on.
We found a well reviewed campground in Madrid, so about 10am we were off for the big city. We love driving the freeways in Europe on Sundays because there are almost no commercial trucks on the road. It is very relaxing being the slowest vehicle, just set the cruise control and head on down the road.
We arrived at the campground a little after 1pm and the place was hoping. They had a little market going and a live band performing in the afternoon. We were setup and ready to go just as the band opened up their set. Ton saw some nice commercial washers and dryers so our afternoon was settled. Just as we finished our laundry the band finished up.
Later Stephen and I decided to do a reconnaissance to the metro station we will use tomorrow. I went into the metro to buy a multi trip ticket, and Stephen went into a store to buy some water for their RV. I got to the machine only to find it surrounded by about 25 middle-aged German tourists trying to figure out how to get a ticket. I watched for a few minutes and then decided it was not worth the wait while the Germans figured out the machine.
As Stephen and I were walking back towards the campground we saw another entrance to the metro so I told him I was going to run in and see if I could get the card. This time the machine was unoccupied, and within a minute I had my fare card and loaded ten trips on the metro on to it. When I came out of the metro I saw Stephen sitting at a cafe with two beers and a plate of potato chips. We decided this was our reward for the reconnaissance.
Later Kit again prepared an excellent dinner. While we were chatting a nice Laotian lady came by and had a chat with Ton and Kit. She lives in Germany now and is fluent in 5 languages.
We had just visited Zaragoza two weeks ago but we had been focused on the area around the Cathedral due to the Palm Sunday celebration that was going on. Today we wanted to explore a different part of Zaragoza’s history.
The exterior of the Aljaferia Palace.
The Aljaferia Palace was started around 1045 AD by the Moorish rulers of Zaragoza and completed around 1080. It is one of the best examples remaining of Spanish-Moslem architecture. After the reconquest of Zaragoza in 1118 the palace was taken over by the Christian kings of Aragon.
Beautiful ceiling panels preserved in the palace.
While the palace has been substantially altered over the last 900 years there was no concerted effort to remove the Islamic style carvings and art in the palace. What was lost was nearly always due to repurposing and redesign of areas of the palace.
Another beautiful ceiling in the palace.
As a result a lot of the details of the building remain from the original Islamic artists and workers who built the building. Also as the building has evolved some of the original construction is hidden behind later construction and being rediscovered today.
Examples of Arabic calligraphy discovered in the Aljaferia.
Many of the doorways remain from the original construction and have the traditional Arabic arches. They are quite elaborate with remarkably skilled stone carving built into them.
One of the Arched doorways with a Goya portrait in the background.
We were lucky because the Goya museum is being renovated so two floors of the palace had collections from the Goya museum on temporary display. Goya is one of the most famous Spanish artists and a native of Zaragoza.
A drawing by Goya.
The displays included everything from pen and ink drawings, political cartoons, and of course loads of religious paintings and portraits of rich people and royalty. There were also some paintings from other famous Zaragoza artists.
A religious painting from the Goya museum. We think it is a Goya but are not 100% certain.
After finishing with the Aljaferia palace we headed to the old town. Our first priority was lunch, but on the way to the old town we came across the bull ring. They are always interesting buildings though we cannot imagine attending a bull fight.
The exterior of the bull ring. Bull rings, more than any other modern sports building always remind me of Roman coliseums.
We found an street lined with Tapas shops and found our way into one. It took us a while to figure out the system (to be honest I was never 100% certain what was going on), but in the end we had an interesting meal of 7 different tapas, and a very interesting regional potato dish, plus 4 drinks for about $7 each.
The entrance to our Tapas restaurant.
After lunch we returned to the immense main square which is one of the largest in Europe. They were setting up for the Goya festival which begins tonight. So the square was kind of blocked off into sections which took away the effect its large size gives it.
One of the displays of the Goya festival which begins tonight.
We popped into the Cathedral which is much larger than it looks from the square. Ton really likes this Cathedral and wanted to revisit some of the parts of it from our last visit.
Mary.
Our last stop in town was the Ebro river which was wider than I expected and flowing fast with spring runoff from the mountains. By this time we had been moving around Zaragoza for seven hours, so the vote was 4-0 to make our way to the bus stop and head back to camp.
A bridge over the Ebro River.
After everyone got a little rest in, we all re-gathered for a glass of wine, and another delicious meal by Kit. The weather has been good this trip, but we had quite a change in temperature in 24 hours. Yesterday when we were sitting around at 8pm it was 80 degrees and we were watching thunderclouds build. Today it 62 degrees and the wind was howling. Around sunset everyone was cold and we turned in for the evening.
Indie Jones and François the campers with two cold old men.
We are back in Zaragoza. We are making our way to Madrid and Zaragoza is on the way and made a good impression on Ton and me, so we have booked two nights here so we can show Stephen and Kit what we saw. The drive over here was going easily until I noticed an electronic sign board saying the Autopista was closed ahead and all traffic would have to exit on the N-2 which is a two lane road. The accident was between two exits so we had to travel about 25 kilometers on the two lane road. It ended up taking about 45 minutes for the detour which all in all isn’t too bad.
The poppies seem to really enjoy the soil next to the highway.
We arrived at the Costco in Zaragoza for a restock and more importantly refuel of very cheap fuel. Both Stephen and I were very happy after we were done. We then went inside Costco where Stephen and I tried a hotdog for €1.50 and a large box of fries for €1.65. Stephen pronounced the hotdog as excellent but he was not impressed with the fries, nor was I. About an hour later we walked out of Costco with an awful lot fo food to put away.
The rest of the day was spent chatting under Stephens awning until an evening thunderstorm drove us into the motorhomes.
We made a short jump down the coast to Tarragona. We wanted to test convoy driving and so I wanted to keep it short today, but we had the complication of driving across the second biggest city in Spain with a population of about 3 million. Much to our relief the drive went pretty well and we arrived at our campground in Tarragona around noon.
Tarragona has beautiful beaches but is not famous as a tourism draw.
After we had lunches at the campground it was time to head into Tarragona. Our quick research showed that it is known as one of the largest sea ports in Europe with a nice cathedral and some Roman ruins. We were not sure what to expect when we arrived as it is not known as a tourist destination.
The Roman Amphitheater is well preserved and has a wonderful location right on the waterfront.
We stepped off the bus right in front of the Roman Amphitheater. While not perfectly preserved like some we have visited it was well presented and occupied the most spectacular site of any we have seen. You can look down on it from many directions and get a good view of how things worked. You can walk thru it, but we decided against paying the admission fee. It was built in the 2d century but abandoned during Moorish rule. After the Moors were driven from the area it was used occasionally for different uses including as a prison. Work to preserve it only began in the 1950’s.
It is quite large as you can see by looking at the school class in the right center of the picture.
After spending time around the amphitheater we decided to head up the hill to the Cathedral. We really enjoyed the walk thru the streets. After our experience yesterday with the huge crowds in Barcelona the relatively quiet streets of Tarragona were a treat.
The streets of Tarragona were just as beautiful as Barcelona without the crowds.
It was only about 450 meters to the Cathedral, but it took us about 45 minutes to cover the distance as every few feet there were interesting buildings to photograph, or an interesting shop to poke around in. One square we saw had been built on top of the old Roman Circus and you could still see how the contours of the circus had shaped the layout of the square. We were charmed by the town.
Cool street art depicting some moment from Catalan or Tarragonan history.
The other thing that was fun about Tarragona is you would suddenly come upon an old Roman or Medieval wall that had been cleverly integrated into a more modern building. On one stretch of a Medieval wall you could see repurposed Roman stones that still had clear marks chiseled on them from the Roman times. Steve explained to me that the marks indicated which stone mason carved the rocks, almost like brands on live stock. So when it was time to be paid it was clear whose stones had been produced by who. It was a simple but effective way of accounting.
An old arch looking out on the back of the Cathedral.
We finally reached the Cathedral and it was also a pleasant surprise. While Cathedrals are always impressive in size and form after a while they begin to look repetitive. The Cathedral in Tarragona had a unique entrance which we have not seen anywhere else. The entrance way had the typical shell structure around the doors but the walls on either side of the door had sculptures carved into them. As you enter the Cathedral you pass thru this line of statues.
The statues lining the entry to the church with a women (we assume it is Mary)on a column in the center of the door.
We really enjoyed the entrance way and spent some time studying the statues and examining the copper door. It was another unexpected surprise in Tarragona.
Close up of the figures on the front of the Cathedral.
We spent another 45 minutes just enjoying a stroll thru the streets of the town. There were interesting things to see around every corner and we all enjoyed just walking at a comfortable pace and taking in the sites as they were presented to us. To me this is a high compliment to the city of Tarragona. After we were done we walked to the bus stop and our bus was waiting for us there. 25 minutes later the bus deposited us in front of the campground and we returned to our motorhomes for a nice dinner ending with a walk on the beach for sunset.
Today was Sant Jordi day which is the Valentines day for the Catalans. We decided to head back into Barcelona for one more day before setting off for other parts of Spain so once again we were up bright and early to catch the bus to the city.
On Sant Jordi day the men give the women roses, and the women give the men books.
We started the day by heading to the old Cathedral in the Gothic district. What we didn’t realize was that Sant Jordi day was a very big deal in Catalonia. Many of the major streets down town were closed and there were more people about than were down town on Saturday.
People taking a rest from their excursion into the city for Sant Jordi day
The square in front of the Cathedral was busy, and unlike Saturday the majority of the crowd was speaking Catalan rather than a foreign language. Ton and I walked around the Cathedral while Steve and Kit went in for a tour of the interior of the cathedral.
The crowd around the Cathedral was much heavier than on Saturday. Valentines day in Catalonia is a really big holiday.
Ton and I spent our time poking into the buildings that used to be residences for the clergy and rich people. We also spent some time in the building that is now the city archives for Barcelona. The courtyards of these buildings while of a similar design were each different enough to be interesting.
The governors building on the square. Note the flags at half mast to commemorate Pope Francis.
After spending some time around the cathedral and some meandering thru the narrow streets of the Gothic Quarter it was time for lunch. Our first choice was closed on Wednesday but Ton had spotted a place nearby and it turned out to be a great find. We got the last four seats available and had a wonderful meal with 4 Tapas, 3 beers, and 2 big plates of Paella. The food was wonderful and it came to around €23 per person.
After lunch we braved the crowds on Las Ramblas to get to the market.
The Market was our next stop. Las Ramblas was teeming with people, and the roads that run parallel to it were closed to handle the overflow. It was a good thing.
The main aisle in the Mercat de la Boqueria.
We spent about 30 minutes in the market and both Kit and Ton made some purchases despite the crowds. It was getting a little overwhelming for me so I was happy when we were done shopping.
No egg shortage in Spain.
Our final stop for the day was at one of Gaudis’ buildings. In honor of St. Jordi they had added Roses to the facade. It was very beautiful, but drew the biggest crowd we had run into for the day. The sidewalk in front Casa Batllo was the densest group of pedestrians I have seen since Tokyo. It was impossible to move without bumping into someone. Despite that Ton and Kit really enjoyed taking pictures while I hung out at the edge of the crowd.
The roses really added to the beauty of the Casa Batllo.
At this point we were all pretty tired from the walking and the crowds so we found a coffee shop to hang out in until it was time to head to the bus for our trip back to the camp. We learned that Sant Jordi day is a really big deal in Catalonia, and a day when the local people can take over their own city.
Today we stayed around the campground while Kit and Steve got there motorhome set up. They are lucky to have gotten a brand new motorhome as their rental so it is sparkling clean. They spent some time getting their bags unpacked and set up. We then joined them on their first shopping trip to a large Spanish grocery. 2 1/2 hours later we emerged they had two carts full of food and supplies for their trip. We had a couple bottles of wine and a six pack of beer. By the time we were finished and they had packed away their food and supplies it was time for dinner. Kit treated us to a nice Thai meal while Steve and I taste tested a couple of Spanish beers. Tomorrow we are off to Barcelona again.
After a leisurely morning sleeping late and having a nice breakfast we headed into Mataro. It was Easter Monday so all of the shops in town were closed. The cafes were open and doing a booming business as families were gathering on the day off. After walking thru the town we headed down to the beach which was thriving.
Ton called this the Jenga tower.
Mataro has a large breakwater protecting its harbor with a very nice walkway on top with views to Barcelona. The harbor was full of recreational boats including a couple of large yachts, and some very nice sailboats. The walkway was quite full with people enjoying the almost perfect weather.
Life jackets lined up in preparation for the beginning of tourist season.
We enjoyed our excursion into Mataro but needed to head back to the campground as our friends Kit and Stephen were due to arrive today. We went back to the campground which was buzzing with activity with many departures, but just as many arrivals. By the end of the day the 400 spaces in the campground were full.
A quiet section of beach in Mataro.
Kit and Stephen arrived and we spent the evening catching up and planning the next couple of days. We then had a nice dinner at the restaurant in the campground before settling in for the evening.
We spontaneously decided to take a day off today. Neither one of us really talked about it, it just happened. We slept in, and then lazed around the van for the morning. Usually we will have a conversation over breakfast about what to do, but it never came up. So instead we just enjoyed a beautiful day in the campground.
We last visited Barcelona in 2018 and really enjoyed the city. One of the reasons we like this campground is that it offers a shuttle into the center of the city. We signed up for the first bus of the day, and I was a little surprised when we got to the bus stop to find over 100 people waiting. It seems that everyone had the same thought to go into the city today. The campground had put on three busses for the 9:15 departure so everyone ended up with a comfortable seat.
Barcelona is famous for this walkway called Las Rambles. When we arrived it was pretty quiet, later in the day when we returned it was packed.
When we got to the city it was raining a bit, and it would continue to rain off and on until early in the afternoon. We arrived pretty early and while things were bustling it was a fun bustling. Barcelona is one of the top tourism destinations in Europe and has been in the news lately due to local protests against over tourism. As the day went on the crowds got to be quite heavy in nearly every part of the city we visited and uncomfortably dense in the big tourist areas. I can sympathize with the locals, but also understand the attraction of this beautiful city to visitors.
The La Boqueria Market near Las Rambles. One of Ton’s favorite markets in Europe.
Our first stop was the La Boqueria Market which is just off of Las Rambles. We have visited a lot of markets in Europe and this one is near the top of Ton’s favorites so she was excited to visit it again.
Spanish Tacos on sale in one of the food cases.
Ton was looking for a certain brand of Paprika so in addition to just enjoying the ambiance of the market we were checking out all of the stalls that sold spices. Ton really enjoys going from stall to stall looking at all of the displays. She could spend hours in these markets, but is kind to me.
Pre-mixed meals to be taken home and cooked.
We had thoughts of visiting one of the coffee shops in the market but it was packed so we passed. But after visiting several spice shops we found the brand Ton was looking for and bought three cans of paprika to take back to François. Once again La Boqueria did not disappoint us.
A meat stand complete with legs of ham hanging in the back.
Our next stop for the day was the Gothic Quarter. This is one of the oldest parts of Barcelona and is full of cool streets lined with small shops and restaurants.
One of the wider streets in the Gothic Quarter.
The Gothic Quarter also contains the Gothic Cathedral which is now the second most famous Cathedral in Barcelona. We came upon it from the back and wandered around the streets surrounding the Cathedral for a while before we arrived at the front.
Part of the back of the Cathedral.
The front was impressive, but it is no longer the Cathedral that attracts the most tourists. It has been eclipsed by Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia in another part of town. It is still a nice Cathedral and was getting a lot of visitors when we went by.
The Gothic Cathedral of Barcelona.
Having done a fair bit of walking already we jumped into a churro shop we came across. We shared a small portion which consisted of one very thick cup of hot chocolate and four 10 inch long churro’s. Another great fried dough.
Unfortunately it was closed or we would have had one of these instead of Churros.
Since Gaudi has just been proposed for saint hood in the Catholic Church we decided to head over to one of the famous buildings he designed. It was a pretty good walk from where we were, but Barcelona is one of the most walkable cities we have toured. Even with the big crowds it is pretty easy to get around and is full of charming things to see.
One of Gaudi’s most famous designs, he hated straight lines.
After visiting Gaudi it was time for lunch. Ton had picked out a Tapas place she wanted to try in the Gothic District. Today was one of more inefficient walking days as we double backed on ourselves several times to check out a place that caught our interest.
We came across this sculpture that we really liked in our back and forth in Barcelona. We ended up seeing it two more times as we criss crossed the city.
The Bodega Biarritz is a small place and we were worried about getting a table, but we arrived 15 minutes after they opened and they gave us a table four on the condition that we be prepared to move to a smaller table if they asked. Later in the meal they did ask so we got to enjoy two different views of this restaurant.
Our appetizer tray with the eight tapas we received as our main course.
The menu is interesting here. You get an appetizer plate of cheese and ham which is pretty standard, but the quality is high. But the chef picks the 8 tapas you receive. Each customer gets a slightly different set of Tapas. We received prawns, a dish of pork and mushrooms, a pigeon in rice, a beef and cheese dish, some chicken in a sauce, and a nice fish dish, a ham with potato and onion, and finally a vegetarian dish. They were all excellent and Ton loved the crispy prawns. We had a look at other trays that went by and they were indeed different than ours. It was one of the best Tapas places we have eaten in.
The Arch of Triumph. We are not sure what Triumph it is celebrating. Probably has something to do with beating the French.
We still had a couple of hours to kill so we crossed back across town to the Arch of Triumph. When we got there we found a nice bench to sit at and recharge our batteries, (both our personal ones, and the ones on our I-phones) while doing some people watching. We then crossed back one more time (with an 800 meter detour do to my poor google map skills) to pick up our bus back to the campsite for the night.
Our friends Stephen and Kit will be joining us on Monday for about a month. They are flying into Barcelona and renting a RV. We selected a campground outside of Barcelona because it is large and we had good memories of being here from 2018.
As I said yesterday we booked our spot here a couple of weeks ago as it is Easter weekend. In Spain it is a four day holiday so we wanted to make sure we had a spot to meet them on Monday. The campground we are staying at has about 400 places and they are all full tonight. It is a bustling place right now.
When we arrived we settled in to a spot that is a tight fit for François. Ton asked where the laundry facilities were, and we she saw the large commercial Maytag washers and dryers the afternoon was settled. We now have a fresh load of clean clothes.
We spent the day watching the other campers settle into our spots. This is always good entertainment. On our little block of sites there are three Spanish families, one Italian with three cute girls, one Bulgarian couple, and us. We’ve been watching a Spanish girl who is about the same age as the Italian girls try to get up the nerve to join them in play. Hopefully she will.
The campground is is located about 100 yards from the Mediterranean, but unfortunately there is a four lane highway and two railway tracks between us and the water. We walked over and found an underpass to the ocean but when we got under the road and the tracks there was only a narrow dirt trail along the water. So we headed back to François to settle in for the evening.
The oceanfront trail near the campground. Not very appealing.
We have been meaning to visit Girona for a while. It had a reputation as a real foody town with great restaurants which was our primary motivation. So this morning we shifted the 80 kilometers from Roses. On the way out of town we passed a car wash so we swung in and knocked some of the worst of the road dirt off François.
Girona is full of beautiful narrow streets like this. It is a town to be explored on foot which we love.
We found our aire near the center of town. It is a concrete parking lot surrounded by apartments, so not romantic, but very practical as it is only 1 kilometer from the center of the city.
Some really nice street art near our aire tonight.
The old town is built on a hill in the center of the city and has been a fortress town since the Romans. It was heavily fought over during the War of Spanish Succession in the early 1700’s when the French and Spanish fought over who was going to control Catalonia. The border was eventually settled with most of Catalonia being in Spain, and a small part around Perpignon in France. The Catalans have a slightly different feel for the story, but that is for another time.
A monument to the General who defended Girona from the French during the Napoleanic wars.
Girona is located in a very strategic spot as it controls one of the best exits from Spain into France. As a result it has suffered 25 sieges and been captured 7 times. During the period between about 715 and 980 it was basically on the front line in the war between the Christian kingdoms of France, and the Islamic rulers of Moorish Spain. During that time it changed hands multiple times.
This is the area around the Arab Baths, reflecting the Moorish influence on Girona. The church is Catholic from around 980.
Girona also had a thriving Jewish community during the middle ages that occupied an area in the center of the city. This community was forced to convert to Christianity or were expelled by the Spanish kings in 1492 (a year familiar to American educated people for a different reason).
The city is full of these pedestrian stair cases. There are many of them, some quite small that would make for a fun day of exploration if you have the legs for it.
The Cathedral in the city is located on the highest point of land in the city. The Cathedral was built on a site that the Moors had converted to a Mosque. It is Spanish Gothic. It has become famous recently as it was used in the Game of Thrones. The massive steps in front of the church are quite impressive, and fans of the show will remember them as the steps that Arya Stark fell down while being chased in Season 6.
The impressive steps leading to the hilltop Cathedral in Girona.
A lot of the walls of the city are still intact and you can walk large sections of them. We scrambled up onto them a couple of times and the views were spectacular.
This church also has some impressive steps, but it is unusual in Spain for having a spire. This is not common in Spanish Churches.
The river is crossed by multiple pedestrian bridges. The most famous is a bridge built by Gustave Eiffel who is of course famous for the Eiffel tower. Most of the bridges are stone or concrete, but Eiffel’s bridge is of course made of Iron.
The Eiffel bridge in Girona.
The architecture along the river was more modern, and reminded me of the Netherlands where buildings are built right to, or even overhanging the river. The river was pretty low right now, but must at times be much higher based on the design of the homes.
The riverfront reminded me of the Netherlands.
We also went down to the town market right before it closed. Once again we did some recreational shopping. Ton loves these old markets, and finds the regional foods to be fascinating. Even though it was close to closing time most of the vendors were still open and doing good business.
These are the red shrimp we enjoyed so much yesterday.Ton has enjoyed tomatoes since she was a child; so she was intrigued by this presentation.
After the walking and climbing (my Fitbit said we climbed the equivalent of 161 flight of stairs today) we had a long discussion about what to eat. Despite Girona’s reputation as a foody town (it is supposed to have the most Michelin stars per capita in the world) we opted for a very light lunch and two glasses of Vermouth. I think we were both still enjoying our meal from yesterday in Roses.
Figures from the Cathedral.
We did have enough room to try the local dessert called Xuixo de Crema. They are another great example of why fried dough makes the best desserts and nearly every culture has their version of it.
Our Xuixo’s (roughly pronounced Choo-chu).
Girona reminds me of why I like traveling without reservations or commitments. If not for our reservations tomorrow in Barcelona I think we would stay for another day here. Girona warrants another day of exploration, maybe more. But we were nervous about Easter weekend so we booked ourselves in the campground in Barcelona. So tomorrow we are off for Barcelona.
It was raining heavily when we woke up in the morning so we settled in and enjoyed our coffee. After we got going in the morning we checked the weather and the rain was supposed to stop around noon. We had been planning to go to Girona today, but decided to wait for tomorrow.
After the rain stopped at noon it turned into a beautiful day.
Around noon we decided to head out to the promenade and see what was happening today in Roses. On the walk down to the town it was still cold and gray, Ton took some pictures but was not happy with the result. She then told me that this region was famous for two different Prawns called Palamos and Carabinero, and handed me a list of three places we could find them.
Our restaurant where we had a great plate of shellfish and shrimp.
After checking out all three we decided on a fourth restaurant we remembered from our last stay here. We had to wait to get a table, which is always a good sign. After about 10 minutes we were seated, but had spent the time trying to decide what to order. We were still undecided when we got to the table so we used the walk to the table to look at all of the dishes. We finally decided on a plate of shellfish and shrimp.
Our mixed plate for two.
Ton was thrilled with the selection of different shell fish and shrimp including three different shrimp and a lobster, plus a nice mixture of clams, mussels, and razor clams. The meal was fantastic, Ton was very happy.
The remnants of our meal.
When we left the restaurant the sun had come out so Ton was very happy again. This time she was stopping every few yards to take photos as the sea, sky, and surrounding sites were perfect for photos.
The sky was beautiful, and the sea was crystal clear.
The walk back was a very enjoyable for Ton, and I enjoyed people watching and watching Ton have fun.
Ice plant on the beach.
I have talked about Roses in the past. It has an interesting role historically as a port during the Spanish empire and celebrates that. But mostly it is a great beach resort town with a nice vibe that really appeals to us.
Posing with a couple of conquistadors.
It was a late start to the day, but in the end it turned into a great day at a place we really like.
We have been corresponding with a RV shop in Roses Spain about getting our privacy screen fixed. Yesterday they said they had a replacement screen available, but their technician said he thought he could fix the existing one. So our next stop for the day was set.
It was a cold and drizzly day but the promenade at Roses was still busy in the evening.
The drive was a little further than we thought it was going to be. When we started out looking at the distance we were going to cover on the Autopista (freeway) Ton and I guessed it was going to be a €40 toll. We were both wrong today there was no tolls. We arrived at the RV repair place and the tech looked at the problem and thru his interpreter (his wife) said it wont be elegant but it will work. He underestimated the quality of his work and while he was with us I had him fix one more small item. The repair was quoted at €700 in the Netherlands so the €108 we paid today was a great bargain.
We’ve seen some interesting rigs in Europe.
We were at the campground by 3:30 just in time for it to rain. Ton cooked a nice dinner, and then declared her day over. I took a short evening walk and then came back to relax in François.
We really need tires for François and since Zaragoza is a good sized city we decided to take the day and see if we could find some here. A google search led me to a tire place with multiple branches in Zaragoza and one of them was near Costco so that is where we went to start the day. The store near Costco did not have any but the receptionist did a quick search and found that another branch did. She even said she would call ahead since she wasn’t sure anyone there spoke English. On arrival it was clear we were expected, and they got right to work. It was a busy place with a police car, two ambulances, a road safety truck, and a bunch of cars getting tires.
François in the middle of getting new rubber. Not NASCAR fast, but pretty efficient.
We spent time watching the cars come and go, watching a cooking show on the TV with one of the customers, and Ton tried to read the local papers. The two local papers had extensive coverage of yesterdays parade, its too bad we couldn’t read them.
The local papers had extensive coverage of the parade.
Since we had such good luck with the tires we decided to try a RV place to see if we could solve our problem with the privacy screen. A google search showed a place with good ratings that was supposed to be a dealer for our motorhome. It was only about 15 minutes away so we decided to try our luck again. Greta directed us into a BP station and said we had arrived. We looked around for a minute and saw a shop with a motorhome in front of it tucked into a corner of the lot with the BP. I went in and asked if they could look at the problem. The lady was very nice but then said no mechanic, vacation. She did come out and look at the problem, she asked where we were going next and when I told her Barcelona she actually called a repair place there and described our problem. Unfortunately, they told her they could not fix it.
Nothing from today, Ton liked this picture from yesterday so I included it today.
Figuring we still had done pretty well, and having solved our major problem we decided another trip to Costco would do us some good. After an hour of walking around Costco, and filling another cart with stuff we headed out to François to see a major thunderstorm heading towards us.
The land around Zaragoza reminds me of the mid-west which means you can see the storms coming. We beat feet for the campground, and I was just able to get set up on our site before the storm hit. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching the thunderstorms approach trying to guess if they were going to hit us. Two of them did, both pretty large with lots of lightning and rain.
Today is Palm Sunday which represents the official beginning of Holy Week. Zaragoza goes in big for Holy Week with 53 processions during the week by the 23 brotherhoods in the city.
Palms for sale for Palm Sunday celebration. They came in many sizes and shapes.
I had tried to check the schedule for the processions before we left for the center of the city, and as near as I could tell there was not one until 7:45 at night, which is too late for us. But as we turned the corner onto a main road we noticed a large crowd lining the road so we joined the crowd and found a good spot looking down the road at the main Cathedral.
The road to the Cathedral that the procession would come up.
While we were waiting I did a quick Wikipedia search of these processions and found that they were led by different Cofraternity of penitents, or to use their simple names brotherhoods. The brotherhoods exist in many countries, and were initially secret male only societies. Today they are not so secret and are not male only. They exist to allow the members to make penance through charitable works, and once a year to walk the streets doing a public penance. Each “brotherhood” takes a story from the life of Jesus to base their work on and adopts a unique dress and color to tell them apart from the other brotherhoods.
This large statue of Jesus was the center piece of the procession.
One of the principles of the brotherhood is that the penitents must do this work anonymously to the community at large. So they wear what is to an American a startling piece of head gear to maintain their anonymity. It is called a Capirote and is a tall pointed mask with a face covering that we associate with the KKK in the US.
This conjures up a very different image here in Spain than it does in the US!
Today the penitents parade thru town with many of the members banging on drums and a small ratchet like device. When they went by it was quite noisy.
There were several hundred drummers in the parade. Some did not wear the pointed hats but these white hats.
Each “brotherhood” has its own unique color combination, and today the group in the procession wore blue Capirotes. Near the end of the procession there were representatives of other brotherhoods marching in support of the blue group.
Representatives of other “brotherhoods” walking with their palms in support of the Blues.
After we got over being startled by the dress it was an interesting experience. There appeared to be a lot of symbology in the dress, the statues, and the drums that went over our heads. But we enjoyed watching it.
This women surrounded by Palm bearing walkers in plain robes was near the front of the procession. These were the only people in the parade without their heads covered by some kind of cover.
After the statue with a scene of Jesus’ life went by their was a collection of older ladies dressed in traditional Spanish widow dresses. Ton wondered what that was about but I could only guess.
The widows with a couple of priests and politicians behind them.
It was a beautiful day in Zaragoza and with the processions the city center was hoping. We headed down to the Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of Pillar to check out the sites in the center. The Cathedral is located on a very large square. On one end is a very modern fountain, on the other end are a series of sculptures dedicated to the artist Goya who was from here, and in between is the Cathedral, what is now the parliament building of Aragon that resides in an old Mosque as Zaragoza was ruled by Moslems for about 300 years.
Another large church, with a carousel in the forefront that was doing booming business.
It is said that there are three major architectural influences in Zaragoza. It started as a Roman city, then was conquered and ruled as a Moslem city, and finally the influence of Christianity. Each has left their mark on Zaragoza.
The interior of the Cathedral.
We were not able to tour the parliament building today, but it is supposed to have some of the best examples of western Islamic art in the world. When we got to the Roman theater it was closed but we were able to look at it thru a fence and it is quite extensive though it looks like it was buried for a while so is not functional like many we have seen in Europe.
The Roman amphitheater.
The center of Zaragoza was also full of good restaurants that were doing booming business on this beautiful Sunday. Zaragoza is the fifth largest city in Spain and seems to be a prosperous and comfortable city.
Statue fo Goya enjoying a cup of wine on the main square in Zaragossa.
After spending several hours watching processions and wandering thru the city we were getting tired so we returned to the campground and for the first time on the trip had to open up all of the windows in François to allow him to cool off. We were pretty happy about that too.
One of the old gates in the city walls. The walls appear to have been removed in the 1800’s to allow for development of the city.
This will be short. We were up early, said goodbye for our neighbors and were on the road about 9:30. Our destination for today was Zaragoza for two reasons. We had not visited it on our previous trips, and it had a brand new Costco to visit. We are still on the hunt for new tires for François and we were hoping this brand new Costco would have doors that he could fit in to change tires.
One thing we like about visiting Costco’s over here are the interesting products that we don’t have at home. These are chicken feet. Lots of chicken feet.
The drive over was smooth though a little more expensive than we hoped for. It looks like the Spanish are catching up to the French for the cost of toll roads. We found the brand new Costco on the edge of Zaragoza and headed straight for the fuel station. This was the cheapest fuel we have seen in years and was 40cents a liter less than we have paid anywhere in the last two years. That translated into €30 savings on a tank of fuel.
Ton kept me from making a disastrous mistake. In the US diesel fuel pumps have green handles and gas have black handles, these colors are reversed in Spain. I had the green handled filler for gas in the fill spout for François and was about to turn on the pump when Ton came flying over and intervened before I started, putting gas in a diesel engine would have caused a tow, and a lengthy stay in a garage to purge the system and change all of the filters. I am going to have to pay more attention going forward.
Unfortunately, it looks like none of the Costco’s in Europe are going to be able to take François but the guy at the tire center gave us a tip for a RV place that does tires so we will swing in there Monday and see if we have any luck. We spent the next hour happily perusing Costco and we now have a bunch of Spanish goodies in our cupboards.
We decided to have a laid back day today so we did not plan to leave Orio. We spent the morning doing some light chores around François before heading into town for lunch.
Part of the old town in Orio.
Our neighbor had recommended a restaurant to try, and about 1:45 we started into town to get lunch as it is served later in Spain than we are used to at home. We arrived and ordered a three course lunch with a starter, a main course, and a desert for €13. The waitress spoke limited English, and I can read limited Spanish, she left us her notebook with the options (there were 4 starters, and 4 main courses to pick from), between the three of us we eventually figured out the options and we were served an excellent lunch. After we placed our order the waitress asked us if we wanted water or wine, when we said wine she returned with a bottle of wine and put it in the center of the table. It was included in the €13.
If my Spanish is correct this is a ceramic factory across the river from the center of Orio.
After lunch we decided to take a stroll thru town to burn off some of the food. We also unsuccessfully cased another grocery store looking for Basque Vermouth. On our way back to the campground we saw 2 oxen yoked together with red masks covering their eyes being led from a barn. There happened to be a bench nearby so we sat down to see what was going to happen. Eventually, they hitched the two oxen to a sled and placed a couple of large rocks on it, then a grandfather and we presume his grandson got on the sled, and the boys father led the bulls down the field.
These two oxen were being trained for a Basque sport called Idi Probak.
The bulls were being trained for a Basque sport called Idi Probak. The contest consists of having two ox yoked together at the horns, (if you look carefully at the picture you can see their horns are interlocked.) then heavy rocks are put on a sled, and the ox have to drag the rocks, the sled, and a driver around an oval for 30 minutes to 2 hours. The problem is that the way the ox are yoked together makes it difficult for them to pull in a straight line unless they are well trained, so the driver and another person who walks in front have to work hard to keep the ox on track and moving. The winners are determined by who covers the most distance and carries the most weight in the time period allotted.
The ox off on their Idi Probak training session.
After we returned we took it easy for the rest of the day. I spent some time chatting with our Irish neighbor about life while Ton watched some movies on Netflix.
