Mixed feelings about leaving Europe

We had a really nice stay with Andrew these past three and a half days.  It was nice being with him, having dinner with him and relaxing in the evenings.

But the time has come for us to leave Europe.  Andrew took us to the airport early this morning and we said our sad goodbyes to him there.  Saying goodbye to him and watching him drive off was really like saying goodbye to the whole of Europe experience right there.  But, you just keep on going.

We checked in at the ticket counter and that took a LOT longer than we thought it would - probably because of the extra hassle of having to pay for our extra luggage.  So by the time we were finished there, and by the time we went through security, we didn't have much time to spend the last of our Euros and Swiss Francs.  We settled in at our gate and that gave me a whole 15 minutes to go to the bathroom and walk ALL the way back to the shops to see what I could buy.  The Basel airport is set up so strangely - all the shops are right by security and after that, it's just seating at the different gates and those are quite a distance away.  Well, as it turned out, 15 minutes wasn't enough to do all of that, so I walk back to see that our plane is boarding already.  Good thing I gave up the shopping!

Our flight to Heathrow was nice and we had a decent layover there so we could comfortably find our next gate and get a little something to eat.  Our flight to Dallas was also good because we were in the middle section where there are 5 seats in a row.  Guillermo and I were on one end and a lady was on the other end. The lady and I agreed we'd both take the one extra seat next to us to spread out on which ended up not mattering because when either she or I needed to stretch out our legs, neither of us minded that the other was maybe a little bit over their side.  So, that made that 9 hour flight so much more pleasant.  Being able to put up our legs and stretch them out, not to mention having extra space for jackets, blankets, headphones, etc, helps immensely.  So, it was a long, but good flight back home.  As the plane lifted off from Heathrow, we both looked out the window as best as we could from the center of the plane and said to each other, "Well, that is it for our Europe trip. It's been an amazing experience."  And we both wondered, "Where are we going from here?" (after Dallas and San Antonio, of course)

Back with Andrew in Basel

What a beautiful drive through the French countryside this morning.  We left the Ibis hotel fairly early because we needed to get to the French side of the Basel airport by 10:30am to return our car.  We drove small country roads to get to the airport and as we drove we entered into the Alsace area of France.  Wow, we were impressed with the buildings there!

We also stopped in Altkirch to fill up the rental car with gas and into the L'Eclerc store to pick up a little bit for breakfast - two almond croissants and some juice.  We also picked up two little fruit tarts.  From Altkirch it was a short drive to the Basel Airport.  We parked the car and handed the keys to the people at Atesa and then waited for Andrew to arrive to pick us up.

So, we are back at Andrew's place again.  We have come full circle.  Our trip now is really almost over.

For lunch we walked to a nearby cafe and had some good sandwiches but experience a little bit of sticker shock!!  A bottle of coke at this little cafe was close to $5!!  I looked at past receipts and we have a receipt from Madrid back in July where we bought a bottle of coke for 75 cents.  Such a huge difference!!

After lunch, we went to the grocery store and bought several items and the final bill was a lot more than I thought it'd be.  Yes, it IS a lot more expensive in Switzerland.

Spending tonight in Belfort, France

The weather sure has changed.  It is cloudy and cool.  I think the rain that this area is getting must be the remnants of Tropical Storm Gordon that crossed the Atlantic.  It has definitely changed the temperature up here in France anyway!

We left Beaune thinking we wouldn't take the toll roads but that turned out to be a mistake.  But it's something you only know after all is said and done.  We were doing fine going along the small country roads until we got to a town where there was a detour.  From that detour we had no idea where the GPS was taking us so we reprogrammed it to take us back to the toll road, which had us backtracking some but at least once we got on it we knew we were on our way.  

It rained pretty much our whole drive to Belfort.  We had wanted to visit the city of Besancon but it was starting to rain there, too, so we kept on going.  We got off the toll road a little further down the road so we could take the scenic route and it was very pretty.  Not many places to stop at along the way but I did manage to get in a few pictures!  These are taken along the Doubs River.

We later stopped in a town called L'isles sur le Doubs where it was raining, but we stopped anyway to get a little bite to eat.  We thought they didn't have any "food" so we just ordered tea, cookies and an apple croissant but when we went to pay, we noticed little pizzas and other things on a small shelf in the display case.  Too bad, because what we ate there was excellent and those little pizzas probably would have been delicious.

Once in Belfort and after the GPS unnecessarily took us off the expressway, put us back on then had us turn around, get on and get off again back where it originally made us get off, we finally found our hotel.  Crazy.  It's raining and quite cool here in Belfort, but this Ibis hotel is the nicest Ibis hotel we have ever stayed in and it's one of the CHEAPER Ibises we have ever stayed in, too.  Who would've guessed.  We have our laptops facing the big picture window in our room where we can look outside at the trees and grass and watch the rain falling.

Beaune, France

It's raining here - and lightning and thundering!  We are loving it.  Haven't seen that for quite a while!  Looks like summer is over here.

We loved the vineyards we passed on the way to Beaune.

Beaune was also a nice little town in France.  We stayed at a cute little bed and breakfast outside the walled part of the city so it was close enough for us to walk into the main part of the city.

Our hotel

The grounds of the B& B, which we didn't enjoy because it was too cool and wet from the rain.

That's Guillermo in our rental car waiting for me to finish taking pictures.

After settling into our room we walked into town, making sure we took our umbrellas since it looked like it was going to rain.  We walked around a little bit and then looked for a decent restaurant where we could have dinner.  It started raining while we were looking at the menus posted outside the restaurants.  We finally decided on a nice restaurant with a good covered patio, but ended up eating outside right by the wide open doors - just in case the storms got too wild.  It was so nice eating there on the edge of the patio.  It rained hard and it was lightning and thundering but we were safe and happy at our little table.  By the time we finished dinner, the storms had quit and we were able to walk back to the B & B without getting wet.

We are in Avignon, France

Now Avignon - we really really liked that city.  But first -

Today we drove from Perpignan to Carcassone so that we could visit that walled city.  We got off the highway to Avignon so that we could make the slight detour to Carcassone and once in Carcassone, we thought it was going to be so easy to find a parking spot on the outside of the walls because there were parking lots everywhere.  But we soon found out that they were all full!!!  We ended up parking at a very far parking lot which ordinarily would have been ok but the sun was beating down and it was a very hot day!  So, we start the long walk in full sun to the entrance to the wall city.

As we were reaching the entrance gate to the walled city, we had to move to the side to let an ambulance get in the gate.  Little did we know then, but that ambulance was probably going to get someone who had collapsed from the heat or something.

So, anyway, we stop at the visitor center and then start walking around the city.  There were so many people visiting this day that it was unbelievable.  The main thoroughfare through the city was so packed that you could hardly move.  We decided to take a route around the edge of the city and it was a little less crowded going that way.  It was so hot!  Guillermo left me in the shade at one point so he could take some pictures of a castle or something and while waiting in that shade, I observed people in lines on both sides of me.  They were waiting in line for tickets to go inside the castle.  And they were waiting in FULL SUN!!!  We had thought ourselves of visiting the inside of the castle but thought better of it when we saw that long line in full sun.  So while Guillermo took pictures I watched as some girl found a little piece of shade and she stood there then tried to lean against the wall and eventually tried to sit on the ground looking like she was about to collapse.  Then I heard a commotion in the other line and I saw some big guy running - his face all red- and I thought something was wrong with him but he was actually taking water to some OTHER guy who had actually collapsed to the ground and people were holding on to him and loosening his clothes and trying to put water on his face.  It was horrible.

This is what people were standing in line to see.

It was a rough day to be visiting Carcassone but I guess if it's your only chance, you just have to go with it.

 We got a little lunch and some cold drinks and then made the long walk back to our car and headed back to the highway to Avignon.

When we got to Avignon, we headed for the hotel we thought we would stay at but we missed the side street that we needed to turn on to get to it, so that sent us around the block.  We decided to park on that back street and then walk back to the hotel.  But after we parked, we noticed a little hotel on that back street so we thought, hey, let's check this place out and we liked it so we forgot about the other hotel and moved our stuff into that hotel.  Which we ended up liking a lot.  It was a typical little French hotel and we thought it was perfect for our stay in Avignon.

That night we walked into the walled section of Avignon looking for a place to eat.  It seemed a little scary because we were the only ones it seemed out on the streets but we eventually came to the area where all the tourists are.  We kept walking and walking and eventually found a great little restaurant at a hotel by the plaza.  We had a great meal there and then took it easy on our walk back to our little hotel.

The next day, it was just as hot in Avignon.  We walked along the walls on the outside of the walled city

We tried to stick to the shade as much as we could.  They put a lot of effort into making those walls decorative, don't you think?

Then we crossed the street to walk along the river, even though it was mostly out in the sun.  

And in the background you can see the Bridge of Avignon.  That bridge used to go all the way across but several floods kept destroying the bridge and finally it was never rebuilt. 

Ahhh, some shade!

This used to be a chapel on the bridge.

We took a free little passenger boat across the river to take this picture.  We found a nice tree to sit under while we waited for the boat trip back across.

When we get back across, we're going to climb the steps up that hill where hopefully there'll be good views!

The views were just beautiful from up there!

We walked back down into the walled city to get something cold to drink.  While at that cafe, I used their bathroom and it was so hot in that bathroom that by the time I got out, I was dripping with sweat.  Those cold drinks sure were welcome!

Then we walked through the city some more - had lunch on a tree-shaded terrace and then we walked back to our hotel to rest a little.  We made the mistake of walking along the wall inside where there was absolutely no breeze, so we got pretty hot again.

In the evening, we went back out to look for the water wheels.  We found that walk quite interesting and the area where the water wheels were was really nice.  Here is one of the wheels.

We walked some more through the city, making our way back to the plaza and that's where we had dinner.  We had no idea which restaurant to pick so we picked one of the many outside-terrace restaurants in the plaza.  We had pizza there and it was just ok.

Spain is no more for us

This morning we got up early with Fernando and walked with him over to the terminal at the Girona airport.  He checked in and everything and then we said goodbye to him before he had to go up to security.  It was sad to see him go after having spent the last month with him traveling around Spain.  We had a great time with him and will treasure those memories forever.

So, we went back to our hotel room and tried to rest some more but didn't go back to sleep or anything.  We got up at 8, packed up everything and then got in the car and drove it to the parking lot at the airport for rental cars.  Then we had to cart all our luggage over to where we were going to try to catch a bus to France.  Not that easy with all the luggage we have (and none of it is light).  So, we had about an hour to wait for the bus and we weren't feeling very confident that we were going to get on that bus because there were a LOT of people waiting and we were sure they all had tickets.  We had tried to buy tickets for the bus online the day before but didn't have any success so all we could do was hope we could buy them on the bus today.
I left to go to the bathroom when there was about 30 mins until the bus was going to leave and when I got back, all the people were gone and all that was left was Guillermo sitting on a bench with our luggage and two other girls.  I was shocked and thought that was it, that Guillermo hadn't been able to buy tickets or that since I had been gone, Guillermo hadn't been able to get all our luggage in place on the bus by himself so we lost out.  But no, it turned out that all those people were waiting for a different bus.  So, bottom line is, we were able to get on the bus.
As the bus drove north from Girona through Spain, we saw the devastation left behind from the fires we had heard about several weeks ago.  It was a MASSIVE area that burned.  The highways must have been totally shut down because even the vegetation in the median was burned black.
When we saw the sign that we were arriving in France, that signaled the end to the long and enjoyable stay we had had in Spain.  It was hard to believe and now we are feeling like the party is really coming to an end.

We were shocked when we got to Perpignan and the bus pulls up to a curb in the street, stops there and we all have to get off there in the street.  Usually buses pull up into a slot off of the street.  Not this time and I had to stand with some of our luggage on the sidewalk and helplessly watch while Guillermo struggled with the two big suitcases by himself in the middle of the street with cars passing by because of course the luggage compartment of the bus faced the street side.  It was crazy.  No taxis on the side of the street we were dropped off on either so we carted all our stuff across the street where the taxi drivers didn't seem to care if they got business or not.

So, we went in the taxi the short distance to our hotel and now we're in Perpignan, France and well, it's not much of a city from what we have seen.  Maybe we missed the better sections or something but we'll never know because tomorrow we move on.

We miss, ALREADY, the good choices for food in Spain.  At least in the area of Perpignan we are staying there isn't much of a choice.  It's either kebab places or very expensive restaurants.  So, for lunch, we tried a fast-food Indian restaurant which we wish we had passed up (although the food was good) and for dinner we just went to a nearby Subway.  (We can hear Fernando groaning from here...)   ;-)

Last day with Fernando

Today we drove to Girona and got a hotel by the Girona airport so that Fernando could catch his 5:30am flight tomorrow morning.  :-(

It was a long drive through beautiful countryside.  We stopped in a town to get some lunch and walked through several streets in the old town looking for a place that was open AND had decent food at decent prices.  We finally settled on a little place where we had sandwiches and calamari.  This town looks like it's set up well for tourism, but there were hardly any people there.

Once in our hotel by the Girona airport, we checked in and then decided to drive to a nearby town to get some dinner.  We drove around Vilobi d'Onyar and couldn't find any good restaurants that were open so we drove back to our hotel and ate their cafeteria style food there.  It wasn't bad.

We are in Andorra

We got here on Friday and had the hardest time finding the apartment we had reserved in Arans.  This time the GPS didn't work in our favor and sent us to the wrong area.

Saturday - we stayed mainly around the apartment but took a drive in the afternoon as far as we could go on the paved road towards France.  The road ended at a ski resort where we looked around for a little while before driving back down.

The day was very hazy and hot.  But the higher we went, the cooler it got and that felt so good!

This place must be a lot of fun in the winter!

Now several pictures of horses running wild along the road.  We enjoyed watching them.

On our drive back down, we stopped to admire this stone bridge.  It was not easy to walk on it.

We liked the apartment we stayed at in Arans, Andorra EXCEPT that we had to keep the blinds closed. There were two chicken pens by the apartment - one in back and one on the side and because of that there were so many flies and also somewhat of a smell.  When we first got to the apartment, and didn't know yet, we flung all the windows wide open to admire the view and breathe the fresh air.  We were dismayed a short while later at the number of flies that had gotten into the apartment and so we had no choice but to keep the blinds closed.  At least the blinds had small holes in them to let in air because there was also no air conditioning or any fans in the apartment.  And Europe at the time we were there, was going through of the hottest weather so even in northern Spain and in Andorra in the mountains, it was still hot.  So, anyway, the apartment would have been perfect if it hadn't been for all those chickens that attracted so many flies.

Drive to Bielsa

Nice day today and we saw such beautiful scenery on our drive to visit the town of Bielsa.

When we got to Bielsa, we just drove through it and on into the Pineta Valley as far as we could go on the road.  At the end of the road is the Parador de Bielsa - it looked nice and I guess if we had wanted to eat at their restaurant we could have gotten by the gate, but we weren't ready to eat so we just turned around and parked on the road and took a few pictures of the surrounding mountains.  

Then we drove back to Bielsa and walked around the town a little bit looking for a good place to have lunch.  We found a nice place with a wonderful view.

Drive to Jaca

We drove to the town of Jaca today - finding a good parking garage to park our car in that was pretty central to everything.  We walked along pedestrian streets looking for a place to have lunch and ended up at a hotel that Guillermo and I had looked at several months ago, thinking that would be a good place to eat.  So, we had lunch there and our food was good but we had to sit inside and it's always nice to sit outside when the weather is nice but they had no outside terrace.

From Jaca we drove to the San Juan de la Peña Monastery that had been built into the cliffs.  This monastery started with a hermitage church that was in a monastery that had been originally been built back in the 10th century.  A newer monastery was built further up the hill after a fire to the older one in the 17th century.  We did not visit the new one.
It was all very interesting.  Narrow winding roads on the way to this monastery, which pretty much seems to be the norm for roads in northern Spain on their way to interesting places.

The view from the monastery.  They were very isolated here!

For dinner, we walked from our hotel in Sarvise to Meliz again.  We had a nice dinner out on the terrace. 

August 15

We stayed in Sarvise pretty much the whole day today.  Guillermo and I went into Broto to pick up some things for lunch, which we ate at a little table under an umbrella in front of the hotel.  In the evening, we had dinner at the Hotel Pradas in Broto.