Barcelona to Venice

Today was a big travel day. Metro to the main station, then train to the airport, then plane to Venice!

Venice was a beautiful surprise. Much cleaner than I remember, and a visual delight at every turn.

We enjoyed wandering the streets and found ourselves at San Marco square at sunset/moon rise. A long walk back to our hotel, (well positioned on the grand canal opposite the station) but we felt quite safe all the way even in the dark, empty alley ways.

Barcelona

Grand final day! Michael listened to the game through his phone on his computer, interspersed with commentary from Nicole via skype! What a great victory for Geelong. Michael was very pleased, although it all felt rather unreal.

Exploring Barcelona!

We walked down to the port area and got the seaside feel of Barcelona. A coffee on the floating sea platform watching the yachts and pedestrians, then into the old city of Barcelona for more wandering. Later we headed out to the Sangreda Familia - Gaudi's masterpiece of a Cathedral which is still being built 100 years later, and still has another 20 years to go. It was absolutely amazing. We walked around, then through, then up one of the towers in an elevator - which was just breathtaking to see it all from up there. He really was a genius.

In the evening we found an old, old restaurant ( approx 250 years continuous service!) where we enjoyed some traditional spanish dishes such as seafood casserole and sausages and beans. It was an interesting rabbit warren of a place, decorated with old wall paintings.

Then we watched the replay of the grand final in an Aussie bar - just to make sure it really happened.

The next day we wanted to see more Gaudi work, so we went to the Bartlo House (on Nicole's recommendation). It was amazing too - all curves and incredible attention to detail in the woodwork and beautiful ceramics. How the house worked for ventilation and light was fascinating too. We ran into my Feldenkrais friend Maxine there, with her partner Graham. Unfortunately we forgot the camera that mroning - so no photos. We then wandered back into the main part of town - through a square where celebrations were going on and at one stage had nudists promting their cause at a stand behind us (in the nude of course), young girls doing the can can on stage and an animated Catalonian separatist handing out pamphlets in front of us!

We had a great lunch at a little bar where the locals were having spritz, so we had one too, and a toasted sandwich.

Later on we caught the fenicular up Mont Juc (beautiful views at sunset), then the cable car up to the castle - where there were more festivities going on. We wandered around with all the locals taking the evening air and enjoying the views out to see and over the town. Then down to the area near our hotel for a good dinner of paella.

Carcassone to Barcelona

Well this was our last trip in the car with trusty "Madam" (our satnav) navigating. She steered us safely onto the autoroute and after a few hours speed driving we were in Perpignan. A few hassles to find a petrol station, after a coffee in the very pleasant part of town, and we dropped off the car at the Europecar at the station.

An hour to go until the train so we got a kebab for lunch - heaps of kabab shops here, then jumped on the train for the border.

Already the terrain was getting drier and rockier, but as we approached the border with Spain it got more so. We had a few tantalising glimpses of the mediterranean as we sped past, then we changed trains at Port Bou on the Spanish side of the border.

Not only the climate had changed. We felt we were in Spain - everything was a bit dirtier, a bit more laid back, but also a bit more aggro. People were drinking beer and sangria in the station waiting for the train - and no one was too clear on where the train was going to leave from.

The train made many stops on its way to Barcelona, and it was full and hot. We finally got into barcelona about 7.00pm and found our way to the hotel on the metro without problems. The hotel Hogar was very conveniently located, but we got a dreadful room - small and musty, with only a small window into a covered central airwell - which was dank and dark. Not even a fan to move the air.

Feeling a bit down in the dumps and overwhelmed by the crowds and bustle of barcelona, we walked up and down the Ramblas, had a very ordinary meal of tapas and paella on the tourist strip (we should have known better)

Sarlat to Carcassone

We set off from Sarlat to drive to Carcassone - about a 3 hour drive, which went fine.

Arriving in Carcassone we had lunch down at the base of the old city, then found our way to a car park (or series of car parks!) from which we could access the old city and fort. the old city is a smallish maze of streets that are only accessable by foot. It is almost totally a tourist town now - very few people live there. So it was a bit weird wandering around these streets all just catering to tourists. In the centre of the old town was the fort - which was certainly worth a visit. This was a fortress within a fortress - a bit like the white tower wthin the tower of London. This place was the first defence for France against the southern invaders over the years and had lots of interesting history.

We met the Verweys at 5.00pm and embarked once more in the car to find out hotel - with a stop at a pharmacy on the way to pick up a new epipen for Dick - but life is never that simple! To buy an epipen we needed a doctor's prescription - so we needed a visit to a doctor!! Luckily there was a surgery nearby who agreed to see us at 8.00pm. So we had a quick dinner at the hotel first. This was our most budget hotel (under 50 Euro) and the room was as budget as you would expect for the price - and suitably located in the Zone Industriale - but the dinner was delicious. Mary and I had chicken cooked in fruits of the season and Michael and Dick had sausages and beans. Then back to the doctor who was very nice and then to a pharmacy and we were all set. So we headed back up to Carcoassone for another walk around in the evening and a drink in one of the tourist cafes in a square.

Sarlat

Spent the morning wandering around the busy streets of medieval Sarlat. It was market day and the place was full of both tourists and locals. Sarlat was a town I remembered from 27 years ago for it's amazing medieval feeling (this was where the film "Chocolat" was filmed. Indeed it still is an amazing medieval town, but it's been cleaned up and restored and filled with tourist restaurants - so a lot of the atmosphere has been lost.

In the afternoon we headed out to a small neighbouring village called Beynac - to try to find some rural atmosphere along the Dordogne river, and found it! We had a lovely walk along the banks of the river with conoeists gliding past, chateaux against the skyline, old bridges - just beautiful.

Back to Sarlat to meet the Verweys in dinner in town - at a bistro in the square where we had steak, lamb and duck on sizzle rocks, then glaces - all going well until suddenly Dick has a major allergic reaction to something. Without going into all the details, he became very unwell and we think the epipen probably saved his life. It ended up an epic and emotional evening - but he came through fine.

Le Puy en Velay to Sarlat

This was a big day on the road. We left Le Puy just after nine am (after a tense and testing 15 minutes as Michael got the car out of the car park - where it was wedged between a big black mercedes and the wall!) and didn't arrive at our hotel until 7pm.

We knew it was going to be a day driving on winding roads through the mountains - but we weren't anticipating a detour due to road works - that sent us on 60 kilometres of winding roads, accompanied by trucks roaring along in the opposite direction when making our way through narrow village streets.

It was all very picturesque though, and it meant we made a visit to a lovely little village (Allanche) where we bought some apricot slice from a stall - big slabs of it for one euro/slice - she insisted on us tasting a great chunk each first - so we hardly needed to buy any anyway! We had a coffee in a beautiful restaurant - the cleanest, most decorated toilets you could imagine (dried flowers, pictures, statues all fighting for space!)

On again for hours driving through the most beautiful hills, pastures, woods - as well as the occasional startling bridge over a ravine or a tunnel though a mountain. We had our picnic lunch just outside some town - remarkable for having 2 donkeys in the yard of the house next to the picnic spot. Michael and I wandered over to look at them while we ate our rolls - they came over to us expecting to be fed, and stamped their hind legs in rage (in true donkey fashion) until I gave them some bread.

We stopped at the "Gouffre de Padirac" because I had a vague memory that this was a famous spot. We paid our 9 euros each, not knowing what was going to happen - and found ourselves descending into the bowels on the earth into the most amazing cave - with a river and a lake in it, soaring ceilings, 60 metre stalagmites etc. We were taken on boats through the underground caverns, then on a series of stairways through the amazing twisting caves. Incroyable!

It was after 7pm when we arrived at the hotel, so we had a quick rest, then set off for a meal of omelettes - everyone but me had then with the local "cepe" mushrooms. With the omelette was a bit of tired salad and some greasy potatoe dish - our first disappointing meal of the trip. A bit of a stroll through the ancient streets of Sarlat, then collapsed into bed.

Bourg en Bresse to Le Puy en Velay

We set off from Bourg-en-Bresse onto the motorway, so that we could bypass Lyons. We were glad that we did. Lyons is an enormous city, and even on the by pass it took nearly half an hour speeding along freeways, overpasses and underpasses to get through it. After that the pace slowed a bit and we got off the motorway and made our way to Le Puy en Velay - a mid sized town in the hills.

The main feature of the town is a large 'puy' - or volcanic chimney that erupts from the centre of the town, on which is placed an enormous statue of Mary. The town had been a centre for pilgrims for a thousand years - so there is a great old church and cloisters etc - all of the 'old city' climbs up steeply from the valley floor, and there are winding lane ways and steps and arches all over the place.

We spent the afternoon exploring the town - and climbing up the puy to statue of course - see the beautiful views. Michael found all the steps hard going at times .......

That evening we ate at the hotel - a good meal of the local lentils and pig cheeks - very tasty! after dinner, Dick and Michael tried out the local 'digestive' - a green fire-water called "Verwaine" - how appropriate a name (Verway/Waine!). Michael bought a small bottle as a souvenir.