Today we head home. For most of us, it is two days' worth of travel. A few have the post-trip extension and a few more are spending more than a few days traveling around parts of Europe. For me, it is time to go home.
Most of us are traveling back to Barcelona today on the high-speed train. Once again, a bus is taking our luggage back to Barcelona after dropping us off at the train station.
The high-speed train is fun although it involves an additional step. Erwin brought his garmin on the train and turned it on and we topped out at 125mph. You would never know we were going that fast because it was still very smooth.
We spent the night in the same hotel as during the pre-trip (Hotel 1898). It was nice enough but it was the enormous breakfast buffet that we will remember.
Since we had seen most of the attractions in Barcelona during the pre-trip, we found it hard to get motivated to see the "lesser" attractions. The rain also made it less pressing. So after we finished getting settled, we went out looking for lunch. We spent the next seven hours alternately eating, walking to another restaurant, eating, walking, eating, and having a beer or two at each stop. It was a nice and relaxing way to spend the last day.
The travel day was uneventful. Our flight was in the early afternoon so our transfer left at mid-morning. Flying east to west is much easier and I was able to doze between multiple movies. There is more urgency to sleeping when flying the other direction which of course makes it harder to sleep.
We had a four-hour lay-over in JFK which sounds like a lot of time but between clearing customs, passport control, re-checking luggage, clearing TSA again, it ensured that we were not worried about getting through the long lines. We much prefer flying in and out of Detroit over JFK.
We have begun to talk about next year's trip.
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Sunday, May 8, 2016
pre-trip
Spain 2016 is the third supported bike trip I have taken.
In 2013, Mike, Vince, Marty and I went to Italy, Sicily to be exact on a trip by Vermont Bike Tours, VBT (http://www.vbt.com/tours/sicily-biking-the-southern-coastal-villages/). Details of that trip are in another blog (https://jeffreycchin.wordpress.com/category/cycling-in-sicily/). We had some adventures and a great time.
Last year, Mike, Walter and I went to France to ride in the Alps with the Tour de France with Duvine (https://www.duvine.com/tour/tdf-alps-to-paris-bike-tour-2/). I can't seem to get wordpress to show those entries right now. It was a trip of a lifetime.
This year, Mike, Jaime and I will be taking another trip organized by VBT to the Costa Brava of Spain (http://www.vbt.com/tours/spain-costa-brava-cycling-dalis-landscapes/).
We like VBT bike tours: they give us everything we look for in a bike trip and they are a very good value. As much as I think I would like to arrange one of these trips myself, I would be hard-pressed to do it less expensively and with it would be a lot more stress. I have become a big fan of supported trips, especially VBT trips.
The ramp-up to this trip was relatively uneventful. Unlike training to ride in the Alps, we will not be in the Pyrenees so we did not feel that it was necessary to train for this trip other than to stay in shape over the winter and be ready to ride when the weather made it possible to enjoy riding outside. Some of us did some computraining classes, some of us lifted, some of us cross-trained, some of us did not much of anything. I figured if I was ready to ride outside in Syracuse, I would be ready for Spain.
But things never go smoothly. Mike likes to call it the 80% rule. If things go right 80% of the time, that's a success. On our trip to Italy, three of the four of us had lost luggage (that's 75%). With our trip to France, Mike was recovering from pneumonia (67%). This year, Mike had a double hernia. But a double doctors' diagnosis gave him the green light two days before our departure. Then it was my cold. Three days before the trip I felt like death (33%).
But we pulled it together and on Friday, 4/29 we were on our way.
In 2013, Mike, Vince, Marty and I went to Italy, Sicily to be exact on a trip by Vermont Bike Tours, VBT (http://www.vbt.com/tours/sicily-biking-the-southern-coastal-villages/). Details of that trip are in another blog (https://jeffreycchin.wordpress.com/category/cycling-in-sicily/). We had some adventures and a great time.
Last year, Mike, Walter and I went to France to ride in the Alps with the Tour de France with Duvine (https://www.duvine.com/tour/tdf-alps-to-paris-bike-tour-2/). I can't seem to get wordpress to show those entries right now. It was a trip of a lifetime.
This year, Mike, Jaime and I will be taking another trip organized by VBT to the Costa Brava of Spain (http://www.vbt.com/tours/spain-costa-brava-cycling-dalis-landscapes/).
We like VBT bike tours: they give us everything we look for in a bike trip and they are a very good value. As much as I think I would like to arrange one of these trips myself, I would be hard-pressed to do it less expensively and with it would be a lot more stress. I have become a big fan of supported trips, especially VBT trips.
The ramp-up to this trip was relatively uneventful. Unlike training to ride in the Alps, we will not be in the Pyrenees so we did not feel that it was necessary to train for this trip other than to stay in shape over the winter and be ready to ride when the weather made it possible to enjoy riding outside. Some of us did some computraining classes, some of us lifted, some of us cross-trained, some of us did not much of anything. I figured if I was ready to ride outside in Syracuse, I would be ready for Spain.
But things never go smoothly. Mike likes to call it the 80% rule. If things go right 80% of the time, that's a success. On our trip to Italy, three of the four of us had lost luggage (that's 75%). With our trip to France, Mike was recovering from pneumonia (67%). This year, Mike had a double hernia. But a double doctors' diagnosis gave him the green light two days before our departure. Then it was my cold. Three days before the trip I felt like death (33%).
But we pulled it together and on Friday, 4/29 we were on our way.
day 8: 8-may-2016
Fellow VBTers: if you have pictures of YOU, send them along. I'd love to add them below.
Today was the last day on bikes. The forecast was for rain and our rule is that we will ride if it's not raining at the start of a ride but it's just too hard to get on a bike if you're already wet. While the weather has been great all week, it has not been warm, typically right around 15C (60F) so we've been starting with jackets but short-sleeved jerseys, regular gloves and no leggings, arm warmers or shoe covers and that was typically fine for the first 10 minutes and then we'd shed the jackets. But starting wet at that temperature would not be fun. All the bravado about getting in a short ride even if it started raining (we could always get in the van) dissipated when I opened the door and it felt like 40 mist.
Our morning activity was a cruise to the next port to see the shoreline. It was spectacular and it made you wonder why ancient mariners thought this might be a good place to try to go ashore. There are probably lots of boat pieces along this coastline.
The water was pretty rough with swells that were probably around 10 feet. Many of us were starting to turn green.
When we finally got to shore, the tour guides were waiting for us in the rain with our bike lined up and ready to go. About a half dozen of the group opted to ride, including Mike. Two chose to return to L'Escala on the boat. The rest of us piled into a cab and returned to the hotel. I tried to sleep off the seasickness.
When Mike got back, we walked into L'Escala for a bite to eat. I found that eating helped settle my stomach and the fresh air helped to clear my headache. But in Europe, people can smoke in open-air environments and at almost every meal, there were people nearby smoking. It was only after returning to the hotel for a nap that my head stopped hurting.
We had our farewell dinner that evening. It was nicely done in a private room overlooking the beach. Everyone typically cleans up and I was glad I had something set aside so I didn't have to wear smelly warm ups. We went over logistics for the travel day and since we would not be able to see the Dali museum because most museums are closed on Monday, our tour guides bought everyone copies of a very nice book on this and two other museums. Many of us asked them to "autograph" the books. Jaime and I stayed up a while to chat with them.
Here's a picture of us. They almost make us look good.
After a week, we had fun getting to know our fellow travelers.
Kelly and Jose were strong young riders from Virginia. Sadly, they had to leave a day early because of a death in the family. We enjoyed having company going to the beach on the day 5 extension.
Leslie, Paul, and Gerard were from Ottawa and they lead a group called the Slow Riders. We are thinking about a road trip to Ottawa this summer when Paul says they close some of the roads for cyclists.
Marylou and Jerry were from Chelmsford, Mass. Mike and I have probably ridden on roads near where they live (Concord, Bedford, Sudbury).
Lynne and Larry were from Oregon and we bonded over the boat ride that Larry wisely decided not to do. I wish I was as smart as he was.
Maddie and Irwin were from downstate and here's a picture of the lovebirds courtesy of Nick.
We have a deal with them (and I am putting it into writing!). When they get new road bikes this summer, we will make a road trip to christen them.
We might also visit Nick who is in the area since everyone knows downstate is where it's at.
Betsy and Matt were from Vermont and delightful to ride with. I seemed to always run into Matt at the food line and he was smiling. No surprises there!
Ellie came from South Africa. She traveled about 11 hours go Barcelona so she was wisely going to spend more time in Europe besides just the VBT trip. She had arranged a private lesson in mosaics in Barcelona after our trip was over and she was headed to Rome to watch some pro tennis.
Edie came from Houston. She reminded of my dad who claimed he could talk to anyone. I am betting that Edie would be comfortable with that. As a real estate agent, that might be a useful skill.
And of course there were our tour guides Itzy and Andrea. They were consummate professionals: efficient, hard-working and attentive. It was obvious they liked doing the work they do. It doesn't hurt that they are awesome individuals. We enjoyed our moments with them when we had a chance to chat with them and get to know them better as people.
Today was the last day on bikes. The forecast was for rain and our rule is that we will ride if it's not raining at the start of a ride but it's just too hard to get on a bike if you're already wet. While the weather has been great all week, it has not been warm, typically right around 15C (60F) so we've been starting with jackets but short-sleeved jerseys, regular gloves and no leggings, arm warmers or shoe covers and that was typically fine for the first 10 minutes and then we'd shed the jackets. But starting wet at that temperature would not be fun. All the bravado about getting in a short ride even if it started raining (we could always get in the van) dissipated when I opened the door and it felt like 40 mist.
Our morning activity was a cruise to the next port to see the shoreline. It was spectacular and it made you wonder why ancient mariners thought this might be a good place to try to go ashore. There are probably lots of boat pieces along this coastline.
The water was pretty rough with swells that were probably around 10 feet. Many of us were starting to turn green.
When we finally got to shore, the tour guides were waiting for us in the rain with our bike lined up and ready to go. About a half dozen of the group opted to ride, including Mike. Two chose to return to L'Escala on the boat. The rest of us piled into a cab and returned to the hotel. I tried to sleep off the seasickness.
When Mike got back, we walked into L'Escala for a bite to eat. I found that eating helped settle my stomach and the fresh air helped to clear my headache. But in Europe, people can smoke in open-air environments and at almost every meal, there were people nearby smoking. It was only after returning to the hotel for a nap that my head stopped hurting.
We had our farewell dinner that evening. It was nicely done in a private room overlooking the beach. Everyone typically cleans up and I was glad I had something set aside so I didn't have to wear smelly warm ups. We went over logistics for the travel day and since we would not be able to see the Dali museum because most museums are closed on Monday, our tour guides bought everyone copies of a very nice book on this and two other museums. Many of us asked them to "autograph" the books. Jaime and I stayed up a while to chat with them.
Here's a picture of us. They almost make us look good.
After a week, we had fun getting to know our fellow travelers.
Kelly and Jose were strong young riders from Virginia. Sadly, they had to leave a day early because of a death in the family. We enjoyed having company going to the beach on the day 5 extension.
Leslie, Paul, and Gerard were from Ottawa and they lead a group called the Slow Riders. We are thinking about a road trip to Ottawa this summer when Paul says they close some of the roads for cyclists.
Marylou and Jerry were from Chelmsford, Mass. Mike and I have probably ridden on roads near where they live (Concord, Bedford, Sudbury).
Lynne and Larry were from Oregon and we bonded over the boat ride that Larry wisely decided not to do. I wish I was as smart as he was.
Maddie and Irwin were from downstate and here's a picture of the lovebirds courtesy of Nick.
We have a deal with them (and I am putting it into writing!). When they get new road bikes this summer, we will make a road trip to christen them.
We might also visit Nick who is in the area since everyone knows downstate is where it's at.
Betsy and Matt were from Vermont and delightful to ride with. I seemed to always run into Matt at the food line and he was smiling. No surprises there!
Ellie came from South Africa. She traveled about 11 hours go Barcelona so she was wisely going to spend more time in Europe besides just the VBT trip. She had arranged a private lesson in mosaics in Barcelona after our trip was over and she was headed to Rome to watch some pro tennis.
Edie came from Houston. She reminded of my dad who claimed he could talk to anyone. I am betting that Edie would be comfortable with that. As a real estate agent, that might be a useful skill.
And of course there were our tour guides Itzy and Andrea. They were consummate professionals: efficient, hard-working and attentive. It was obvious they liked doing the work they do. It doesn't hurt that they are awesome individuals. We enjoyed our moments with them when we had a chance to chat with them and get to know them better as people.
day 4: 4-may-2016
We left Girona today and we decided that we liked Girona much more than Barcelona.
Our first stop was Pubol, home of Castell Dali Gala. It is the castle that Dali gave as a gift to his wife Gala. It was a glimpse into the life of an artistic genius who claimed that the only difference between him and a madman was that he was not mad. We had a dapper young man give us the tour.
Here's a picture from the first room of the tour.
Looks like a door, doesn't it? It's a picture of a door, painted to 1:1 scale. There actually is a door to the right that looks the same.
Here's another picture of a radiator. Unfortunately, the flash gives it away. The second picture is a side-view of the painting and behind it is the actual radiator. You can't really see it from this angle but the picture is a pretty close replication of the actual radiator.
We rode through the countryside until we reached the village of La Bisbal d'Emporda which marked the beginning of a short climb to the hotel that is a restored castle.
Here's some of Jamie's pictures from the ride.
Here's a view from the balcony of Jaime and my room.
Life is tough.
Our first stop was Pubol, home of Castell Dali Gala. It is the castle that Dali gave as a gift to his wife Gala. It was a glimpse into the life of an artistic genius who claimed that the only difference between him and a madman was that he was not mad. We had a dapper young man give us the tour.
Here's a picture from the first room of the tour.
Looks like a door, doesn't it? It's a picture of a door, painted to 1:1 scale. There actually is a door to the right that looks the same.
Here's another picture of a radiator. Unfortunately, the flash gives it away. The second picture is a side-view of the painting and behind it is the actual radiator. You can't really see it from this angle but the picture is a pretty close replication of the actual radiator.
We rode through the countryside until we reached the village of La Bisbal d'Emporda which marked the beginning of a short climb to the hotel that is a restored castle.
Here's some of Jamie's pictures from the ride.
Here's a view from the balcony of Jaime and my room.
Life is tough.
day 5: 5-may-2016
Today is cinco de mayo. Ooops, wrong spanish-speaking culture. In fact, Jaime says that cinco de mayo is to mexicans like st. patrick's day is to the irish: it's an american-concocted holiday designed mostly to promote the native culture and drink beer.
After breakfast and the route review, Itzy lead us in a five-minute yoga/pilates warm up. I haven't stretched after this week's rides so it was a welcome opportunity to loosen up before getting on the bike.
More villages and more spectacular scenery. It was yellow jersey day.
Itzy and Andrea gave us the option to add an additional 10K to our ride today. Kelly and Jose, two young doctors from Virginia joined us. Kelly was super detail-oriented so she was our ride leader on the extension.
Jaime rode ahead to get this picture of us. Mike and I wisely let them pull.
After breakfast and the route review, Itzy lead us in a five-minute yoga/pilates warm up. I haven't stretched after this week's rides so it was a welcome opportunity to loosen up before getting on the bike.
More villages and more spectacular scenery. It was yellow jersey day.
Itzy and Andrea gave us the option to add an additional 10K to our ride today. Kelly and Jose, two young doctors from Virginia joined us. Kelly was super detail-oriented so she was our ride leader on the extension.
Jaime rode ahead to get this picture of us. Mike and I wisely let them pull.
Here we are at the Mediterranean.
Saturday, May 7, 2016
day 2: 2-may-2016
Today was a travel day and really our first day with VBT.
In the morning we took a chance on getting into Parc Guell, a project of Gaudi that is so famous (and popular) that the park service requires tickets with timed entries. We were unable to get tickets for an english-speaking tour the night before so we went without tickets and hoping to get lucky. We did not.
The park was supposed to be a gated community. As originally envisioned, it was a flop. But as a park, it is pretty spectacular.
But while we were unable to get into the Monument part of the park with the more famous pieces of Gaudi's work, we were able to walk around this area and peer down to see what we were missing. Meanwhile, we saw some magnificent structures that Gaudi had planned and the house in which he lived. The structures provided some spots with outstanding acoustics and during one of our moments in a garden, I heard some beautiful solo acoustic guitar. I didn't get a picture of the guy but I did buy his CD. His name is Miquel Tarrida and the album is called Aranjuez.
Here's a youtube video of him playing a tune from his CD in the same spot where I saw him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JJ2JYQC1aI
Here's the archway where he was playing
There were lots of structures like this. This is looking up at an elevated walkway.
We walked to the top of the park and here's a view of the city. There was a guy with a Barcelona FC warm up doing a training run to the top. He looked very much like a pro soccer player. They had just played the night before so this was probably a "recovery" run.
Here's the famous ergonomic bench.
We did spring for tickets to Gaudi's house where he lived during most of the construction of the park. Here's the outside.
And a little trellis-walkway.
They boys got tired.
In the morning we took a chance on getting into Parc Guell, a project of Gaudi that is so famous (and popular) that the park service requires tickets with timed entries. We were unable to get tickets for an english-speaking tour the night before so we went without tickets and hoping to get lucky. We did not.
The park was supposed to be a gated community. As originally envisioned, it was a flop. But as a park, it is pretty spectacular.
But while we were unable to get into the Monument part of the park with the more famous pieces of Gaudi's work, we were able to walk around this area and peer down to see what we were missing. Meanwhile, we saw some magnificent structures that Gaudi had planned and the house in which he lived. The structures provided some spots with outstanding acoustics and during one of our moments in a garden, I heard some beautiful solo acoustic guitar. I didn't get a picture of the guy but I did buy his CD. His name is Miquel Tarrida and the album is called Aranjuez.
Here's a youtube video of him playing a tune from his CD in the same spot where I saw him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JJ2JYQC1aI
Here's the archway where he was playing
There were lots of structures like this. This is looking up at an elevated walkway.
We walked to the top of the park and here's a view of the city. There was a guy with a Barcelona FC warm up doing a training run to the top. He looked very much like a pro soccer player. They had just played the night before so this was probably a "recovery" run.
Here's a look down at the Monument, the ticketed area that we couldn't get into.
Here's the famous ergonomic bench.
We did spring for tickets to Gaudi's house where he lived during most of the construction of the park. Here's the outside.
And a little trellis-walkway.
They boys got tired.
That afternoon we met the same VBT person who met us at the airport who helped us on our transfer to Girona. We got on a bus for the train station. Oddly, while we got off to get on the high-speed train, our luggage stayed on the bus. We figured that VBT wanted to give us the experience of the train even though it added a layer of complexity to the day. The train was fun: clean, fast and something sorely lacking in the US. Great for a nap!
We arrived in Girona to find our luggage already in our rooms. Jaime and I had the penthouse suite. We unpacked and went out for a stroll. We had a welcome reception and dinner that evening as is typical with VBT tours. At that time we had a chance to meet all of the other members of our group.
day 3: 3-may-2016
Today was our first riding day but first we spent an hour and a half on a guided walking tour of the city. Girona has an association of tour guides and VBT hired a woman named Margarita to take us on a walking tour. While we walked past many areas that we had walked by the day before it was really interesting to have commentary about what we were seeing.
When we got back to the hotel, we met one of our VBT tour guides, Itziar Uriate. "Itzi" is from the Basque region of Spain but she has been living in France. She escorted us to a bus that would take us to Girona. The streets are so narrow in these old parts of the city that a standard tour bus would not fit. So the poor guy had to double park a block away.
We arrived at a small town, Centenys, where we met the other tour guide, Andrea Chlebova, a Slovakian professional climber in her previous life. They gave us an orientation, fit our bikes and we took off on our short "warm up" ride (12 km, 7 miles). Two women from the village provided snacks and prepared sandwiches for us to take with us on our bikes.
On this trip our bikes were matte black Fuji Sportive LEs with Koval wheels. They looked really sharp. They were equipped with shimano 105 components and they were pretty responsive. They were probably new bikes from this season.
The ride took us along back roads, some dirt, and finished at a church by a lake. We met Andrea there who was driving the van, ate lunch, and took another quick loop around the lake.
On the way we saw these guys, probably triathletes, on trainers on a dock out in the middle of the lake.
Here's Mike and Jaime on one of these defensive walls.
Girona is a destination for a lot of pros and pro cycling teams for training. Apparently an American rider had a little place in Girona before he was banned from cycling. So there were a lot of bike shops and coffee shops that cater to cyclists. The first bike shop, Bike Breaks was centrally located in the old city and although it was small, it was the most full service bike shop we had ever seen. They sold the usual: bikes, bike accessories, clothing, performed bike repairs and rented bikes. They provided people who rented bikes with suggestions on bike routes. If you needed a shower after a ride, their washroom contained a shower stall for five euros. The most unique part of the bike shop's business was selling gear previously owned by pro riders. They get a lot of stuff and they could give it to the shop to sell on commission. It was one of the coolest bike shops ever.
https://www.gironacyclecentre.com
The second bike shop we stumbled on was Bike Cat. It was the alternative shop in Girona.
When we got back to the hotel, we met one of our VBT tour guides, Itziar Uriate. "Itzi" is from the Basque region of Spain but she has been living in France. She escorted us to a bus that would take us to Girona. The streets are so narrow in these old parts of the city that a standard tour bus would not fit. So the poor guy had to double park a block away.
We arrived at a small town, Centenys, where we met the other tour guide, Andrea Chlebova, a Slovakian professional climber in her previous life. They gave us an orientation, fit our bikes and we took off on our short "warm up" ride (12 km, 7 miles). Two women from the village provided snacks and prepared sandwiches for us to take with us on our bikes.
On this trip our bikes were matte black Fuji Sportive LEs with Koval wheels. They looked really sharp. They were equipped with shimano 105 components and they were pretty responsive. They were probably new bikes from this season.
The ride took us along back roads, some dirt, and finished at a church by a lake. We met Andrea there who was driving the van, ate lunch, and took another quick loop around the lake.
On the way we saw these guys, probably triathletes, on trainers on a dock out in the middle of the lake.
After the ride, we had a few hours on our own in Girona before dinner. We hit two bike shops, a book store, took a walk up to the defensive wall that protected the old city. You really get a sense of the fear that must have driven these people because of the enormous effort they put into making these walls. The view from the top of the wall was pretty spectacular.
Here's Mike and Jaime on one of these defensive walls.
Girona is a destination for a lot of pros and pro cycling teams for training. Apparently an American rider had a little place in Girona before he was banned from cycling. So there were a lot of bike shops and coffee shops that cater to cyclists. The first bike shop, Bike Breaks was centrally located in the old city and although it was small, it was the most full service bike shop we had ever seen. They sold the usual: bikes, bike accessories, clothing, performed bike repairs and rented bikes. They provided people who rented bikes with suggestions on bike routes. If you needed a shower after a ride, their washroom contained a shower stall for five euros. The most unique part of the bike shop's business was selling gear previously owned by pro riders. They get a lot of stuff and they could give it to the shop to sell on commission. It was one of the coolest bike shops ever.
https://www.gironacyclecentre.com
The second bike shop we stumbled on was Bike Cat. It was the alternative shop in Girona.
http://www.bikecat.com
We never saw Lance.
day 7: 7-may-2016
Today was our longest ride of the trip. While it was listed as 51 kilometers (31 miles), I tacked on a couple extra miles at the end of the ride to explore the next town over, L'Escala where we were encouraged to have dinner. My final stats were 39.1 miles, 781' climbing and 16.7 mph average speed. I was pretty tired by the end of the day.
I now have video from most of the days that we rode but it is going to take some time once I am home to edit the video into something that makes sense.
For today's ride, we went out to the Aiguamolls Nature Reserve. The ride out included an additional loop that almost all the riders took. At the park, the guides prepared a picnic lunch.
Here is Andrea talking about something while Itzy mugs for the camera.
Here's a picture of a tree-top nest built by a couple of pelicans with some human assistance.
All during our trip, we learned about the relationship between the Catalans and the Spanish government. There is a strong regional pride that is expressed as a successionist movement. Everywhere we went, people displayed the Catalan flag that was banned during the time of the Franco dictatorship. Here's a trailer painted in the colors of the flag with a slogan added in case the message wasn't already clear.
Here's a few pictures Jaime took of the ride. So glad he was able to take pictures while riding and not crash.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the day was a tour of Empuries, an archaeological museum. An active archaeological site right next to our hotel, we took a walking tour with a recorded commentary about the history of the site. These pictures don't give a very good representation of the magnitude of the site nor the work of the archaeologists in reconstructing the ruins to make a presentation that was understandable to a layperson. It gave me a real appreciation of the work Honora used to do when she was at her field schools.
After the ride, Mike and I rode to L'Escala to look around. Here's a picture Mike took of me from the part of town that was cheap tourist rather than classy tourist.
Later we walked back into L'Escala for dinner and ate at a beachside restaurant that could just as easily been Ocean City.
I really like this picture. (Thanks Jaime!)
I now have video from most of the days that we rode but it is going to take some time once I am home to edit the video into something that makes sense.
For today's ride, we went out to the Aiguamolls Nature Reserve. The ride out included an additional loop that almost all the riders took. At the park, the guides prepared a picnic lunch.
Here is Andrea talking about something while Itzy mugs for the camera.
Here's a picture of a tree-top nest built by a couple of pelicans with some human assistance.
All during our trip, we learned about the relationship between the Catalans and the Spanish government. There is a strong regional pride that is expressed as a successionist movement. Everywhere we went, people displayed the Catalan flag that was banned during the time of the Franco dictatorship. Here's a trailer painted in the colors of the flag with a slogan added in case the message wasn't already clear.
Here's a few pictures Jaime took of the ride. So glad he was able to take pictures while riding and not crash.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the day was a tour of Empuries, an archaeological museum. An active archaeological site right next to our hotel, we took a walking tour with a recorded commentary about the history of the site. These pictures don't give a very good representation of the magnitude of the site nor the work of the archaeologists in reconstructing the ruins to make a presentation that was understandable to a layperson. It gave me a real appreciation of the work Honora used to do when she was at her field schools.
After the ride, Mike and I rode to L'Escala to look around. Here's a picture Mike took of me from the part of town that was cheap tourist rather than classy tourist.
Later we walked back into L'Escala for dinner and ate at a beachside restaurant that could just as easily been Ocean City.
I really like this picture. (Thanks Jaime!)
Friday, May 6, 2016
day 6: 6-may-2016
Today's ride started with another yoga/stretching session, this time lead by Andrea.
There were two routes today: a route that was 35 kilometers (21 miles) and one that was 44 km (26 miles). It was another transit day so we had to pack up all our stuff to be transported to the next hotel where it would magically appear in our rooms at the new hotel.
We started from our hotel Castell d'Emporia and rode to L'Escala, on the Costa Brava. It was not our first view of the Mediterranean, but our hotel was right on the beach.
Here's a view from our room.
We stopped at Verges for a tour of a museum unique to this village. On Holy Thursday, villagers would dress up in black with white skeletons and parade around the town at midnight to help people overcome their fear of death.
Here's Itzy and the museum guide giving an explanation. He spoke in Spanish and Itzy translated.
Here's Andrea giving more explanation while we're out in the square.
Unfortunately, this bike shop was not open while we were in town.
We had a Spanish-style lunch (translation: big!) at a restaurant called Mas Pi. The selection of this restaurant was entirely serendipitous: the tour guides happened to run into the owner some time ago and he was so welcoming that they decided to make this the lunch stop. It was a fabulous, multi-course meal and we didn't much feel like getting back on bikes when we were done.
Here's Andrea and Itzy with the owner.
One of the dishes was sardines and they were delicious, not the heavily salted and preserved variety you might expect in the states. Both Andrea and Itzy showed us how they were supposed to be eaten. I managed to get Itzy while she was demonstrating.
About half the group took the longer route from here to the new hotel. It was a scenic route with more hills than any of the previous routes but by far the most enjoyable yet. We had to strong-arm Jaime into doing it with us and we were really glad we were able to convince him because he is one strong engine on the flats.
The last 10km were along a busy road but we stayed in a line and it passed fairly quickly.
We walked to a nearby town after the ride. Mike wasn't feeling well after lunch and we are really glad he didn't get sick during the afternoon ride. We found a place to sit and Mike thought he'd have a beer while we were having dinner. Surprisingly, he felt much better after a beer so he had another. While Jaime and I had a pretty normal dinner and normal dinner time (remember that the Spanish usually eat starting around 9pm), Mike stuck to a liquid dinner and felt much better by the end of the evening.
A nice French family sat next to us for most of the evening. They thought Mike was a celebrity. We assured them he was a nobody. They were convinced they had seen him on TV.
We stayed so long, the manager brought us complimentary flutes of cava. I finished mine a got quite a buzz. Here is the evidence.
There were two routes today: a route that was 35 kilometers (21 miles) and one that was 44 km (26 miles). It was another transit day so we had to pack up all our stuff to be transported to the next hotel where it would magically appear in our rooms at the new hotel.
We started from our hotel Castell d'Emporia and rode to L'Escala, on the Costa Brava. It was not our first view of the Mediterranean, but our hotel was right on the beach.
Here's a view from our room.
We stopped at Verges for a tour of a museum unique to this village. On Holy Thursday, villagers would dress up in black with white skeletons and parade around the town at midnight to help people overcome their fear of death.
Here's Itzy and the museum guide giving an explanation. He spoke in Spanish and Itzy translated.
Here's Andrea giving more explanation while we're out in the square.
Unfortunately, this bike shop was not open while we were in town.
We had a Spanish-style lunch (translation: big!) at a restaurant called Mas Pi. The selection of this restaurant was entirely serendipitous: the tour guides happened to run into the owner some time ago and he was so welcoming that they decided to make this the lunch stop. It was a fabulous, multi-course meal and we didn't much feel like getting back on bikes when we were done.
Here's Andrea and Itzy with the owner.
One of the dishes was sardines and they were delicious, not the heavily salted and preserved variety you might expect in the states. Both Andrea and Itzy showed us how they were supposed to be eaten. I managed to get Itzy while she was demonstrating.
About half the group took the longer route from here to the new hotel. It was a scenic route with more hills than any of the previous routes but by far the most enjoyable yet. We had to strong-arm Jaime into doing it with us and we were really glad we were able to convince him because he is one strong engine on the flats.
The last 10km were along a busy road but we stayed in a line and it passed fairly quickly.
We walked to a nearby town after the ride. Mike wasn't feeling well after lunch and we are really glad he didn't get sick during the afternoon ride. We found a place to sit and Mike thought he'd have a beer while we were having dinner. Surprisingly, he felt much better after a beer so he had another. While Jaime and I had a pretty normal dinner and normal dinner time (remember that the Spanish usually eat starting around 9pm), Mike stuck to a liquid dinner and felt much better by the end of the evening.
A nice French family sat next to us for most of the evening. They thought Mike was a celebrity. We assured them he was a nobody. They were convinced they had seen him on TV.
We stayed so long, the manager brought us complimentary flutes of cava. I finished mine a got quite a buzz. Here is the evidence.
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
day 1: 1-may-2016
Today was our first full day in Barcelona. None of us had that really satisfying "sleep of the dead" but the boutique hotel ("1898") we were staying in had one of the most amazing breakfast spreads I have ever seen. I may have to revise my opinion of which country(s) have the best food. Everybody thinks it's France and I think the food in France was amazing. Or is it Italy? I think the food in Italy was amazing too.
We purchased a guided tour to visit Sagrada Familia. It is a Catholic church designed by Antoni Gaudi and there are a number of things that make this a must-see attraction. First, it is a terrific example of this architectural style, modernista, as you will see from the pictures. Conservative and staid it is not. In fact the descriptor "gaudy" comes from his name. It doesn't have a positive connotation in English.
Here's an example that we saw on the way to Sagrada Familia. This was also designed by Gaudi.
Second, Gaudi never intended to finish Sagrada Familia before his death. It is still under construction and has been for some time. The best estimates are that it will be done around 2026. It has already been visited by three popes.
Unlike yesterday, today was brilliant sun and while it still was not "vacation warm" (about 60F, 15C), the sun made sitting outside with a light jacket enjoyable. We did not think the people sitting on the top deck of those double-decker tour busses had made the best choice.
Our coach dropped us off about two blocks from the site and we walked the rest of the way. Our tour guide said it was largely because of traffic congestion. This was entirely understandable. It was Sunday. While there was little motor traffic, the site was mobbed with many tour groups and individual tourists. This may have been because it was a national holiday (Labor Day in Spain) although I'm not sure that the locals wouldn't have been doing something else on a Sunday morning. However, between being Sunday and a holiday, there weren't many other things open.
Here it is from the approach although this is not the official entrance.
The outside is covered with intricate designs. Here's the entrance up close. The tour guide explained how everything has meaning but there is too much to explain here and I don't remember much of it.
Photo-bombers!
For me, the most amazing part of this site is the way the structure appears on the inside. Gaudi was a master of light and he arranged windows to maximize light inside but more importantly, to highlight color from stained glass. So rather than stained glass high, the stained glass is low and the higher windows are clear glass. The latter maximizes the light inside and the former creates beautiful color. Here are some examples.
This next one is a picture of the ceiling right at the center.
A terrible place to work if you are afraid of heights.
The tour ended at the other end of the church what is eventually supposed to be the front.
Here there is an entrance to a museum in the basement and a free-standing school that Gaudi built so that the children of the workers would not have to miss school.
Here's the school with another tour guide holding court and another one of Jaime standing in front of it. It's also in a style consistent with the church.
We ended up in a plaza around lunch time and picked a cafe overlooking all the action. There was a demonstration for legalization of marijuana and maybe a political rally too.
Later, the plaza was back to normal. In front of the church where there had been demonstrators (above) was now occupied by street musicians. I really liked these guys who were playing New Orleans-style jazz. It was pretty impressive that they wheeled around a piano.
But my favorites were these three young women. They reminded me of the Connotations, Annie's foray into the world of a cappella.
Here's a video of them: https://youtu.be/zHNJzxQ13kE
Too bad the sound is so crappy. They really did sound great in person.
Later that afternoon we decided to take the metro to Montjuic, a hilltop overlooking the city. Here's what the metro stop looked like. Golden arches, ruining what would otherwise be a very artistic mural.
Outside the metro stop was a funicular that took us to a cable car that would take us to the top of the hill.
At the top was a fortress that we decided to skip.
On the way down, we ran into what was probably an event organized by a cruise. As it turned out, it was the only time we actually saw flamenco dancing. Serendipitous and free - the best.
We stopped at Martinez, a restaurant/bar that Lara had recommended. (Thanks Lara!) Here's evidence that we were there.
Once again, we were thrown by Spanish meal times. It was probably around 5:30 when we arrived and their first dinner reservation time slot was something like 8:30. So while we couldn't get in for dinner, we were able to get seated on the patio and drank beer. It was a very cool place with very cool people. We were surprised they let us in.
Here I am pretending to be cool.
They either felt sorry for us or they wanted to get the uncool tourists off the patio so they gave us a table inside as soon as they opened for dinner (7:00pm).
Jaime left us to meet someone he had been chatting with at an on-line language-exchange group so Mike and I had dinner and stumbled down the hill to the metro in the dark and back to the hotel.
We purchased a guided tour to visit Sagrada Familia. It is a Catholic church designed by Antoni Gaudi and there are a number of things that make this a must-see attraction. First, it is a terrific example of this architectural style, modernista, as you will see from the pictures. Conservative and staid it is not. In fact the descriptor "gaudy" comes from his name. It doesn't have a positive connotation in English.
Here's an example that we saw on the way to Sagrada Familia. This was also designed by Gaudi.
Second, Gaudi never intended to finish Sagrada Familia before his death. It is still under construction and has been for some time. The best estimates are that it will be done around 2026. It has already been visited by three popes.
Unlike yesterday, today was brilliant sun and while it still was not "vacation warm" (about 60F, 15C), the sun made sitting outside with a light jacket enjoyable. We did not think the people sitting on the top deck of those double-decker tour busses had made the best choice.
Our coach dropped us off about two blocks from the site and we walked the rest of the way. Our tour guide said it was largely because of traffic congestion. This was entirely understandable. It was Sunday. While there was little motor traffic, the site was mobbed with many tour groups and individual tourists. This may have been because it was a national holiday (Labor Day in Spain) although I'm not sure that the locals wouldn't have been doing something else on a Sunday morning. However, between being Sunday and a holiday, there weren't many other things open.
Here it is from the approach although this is not the official entrance.
The outside is covered with intricate designs. Here's the entrance up close. The tour guide explained how everything has meaning but there is too much to explain here and I don't remember much of it.
Photo-bombers!
For me, the most amazing part of this site is the way the structure appears on the inside. Gaudi was a master of light and he arranged windows to maximize light inside but more importantly, to highlight color from stained glass. So rather than stained glass high, the stained glass is low and the higher windows are clear glass. The latter maximizes the light inside and the former creates beautiful color. Here are some examples.
And of course there are the usual spectacular scenes.
This next one is a picture of the ceiling right at the center.
The tour ended at the other end of the church what is eventually supposed to be the front.
Here there is an entrance to a museum in the basement and a free-standing school that Gaudi built so that the children of the workers would not have to miss school.
Here's the school with another tour guide holding court and another one of Jaime standing in front of it. It's also in a style consistent with the church.
Later, the plaza was back to normal. In front of the church where there had been demonstrators (above) was now occupied by street musicians. I really liked these guys who were playing New Orleans-style jazz. It was pretty impressive that they wheeled around a piano.
But my favorites were these three young women. They reminded me of the Connotations, Annie's foray into the world of a cappella.
Here's a video of them: https://youtu.be/zHNJzxQ13kE
Too bad the sound is so crappy. They really did sound great in person.
Later that afternoon we decided to take the metro to Montjuic, a hilltop overlooking the city. Here's what the metro stop looked like. Golden arches, ruining what would otherwise be a very artistic mural.
Outside the metro stop was a funicular that took us to a cable car that would take us to the top of the hill.
At the top was a fortress that we decided to skip.
On the way down, we ran into what was probably an event organized by a cruise. As it turned out, it was the only time we actually saw flamenco dancing. Serendipitous and free - the best.
We stopped at Martinez, a restaurant/bar that Lara had recommended. (Thanks Lara!) Here's evidence that we were there.
Once again, we were thrown by Spanish meal times. It was probably around 5:30 when we arrived and their first dinner reservation time slot was something like 8:30. So while we couldn't get in for dinner, we were able to get seated on the patio and drank beer. It was a very cool place with very cool people. We were surprised they let us in.
Here I am pretending to be cool.
They either felt sorry for us or they wanted to get the uncool tourists off the patio so they gave us a table inside as soon as they opened for dinner (7:00pm).
Jaime left us to meet someone he had been chatting with at an on-line language-exchange group so Mike and I had dinner and stumbled down the hill to the metro in the dark and back to the hotel.
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