May 20, 2013 - Inspiración del viaje

Vale, todos, hoy es lunes, 20 de mayo y aquí estoy en San Sebastian, a la costa del mar Cantábrico. Just now getting a chance to sit down and write and try to figure out how this website works. But, first things first. Why is she doing this, you might have asked yourself. In my greeting above, I promised an explanation, so here goes. From the photos posted herewith, you can see that I have been to Santiago de Compostela before. In summer 1985, I studied at the university there with a bunch of other Aggie undergrads. Our group leader that...

May 20, 2013 - Llegada en España

(I tried to load photos, but no luck; will post ASAP). Llegué sin incidente a Bilbao el viernes, 17 de mayo, a las 4 de la tarde. My trip across the pond was uneventful but sleepless. A few hours waiting at Madrid airport for the bus to Bilbao, then a restful ride of 4.5 hours in the rain and cold to Bilbao. Metro to within blocks of pensión where I was staying, but the hood on my poncho wouldn´t stay on so I arrived a bit bedraggled. Settled in quickly and then off to get a phone and some supper. Enjoyed pintxos (that is Basque for tapas)...

May 20, 2013 - Barcelona, Spain

Sunday 19th May, 2013 Barcelona, Spain Today we walked down to the port after breakfast looking at shops and really being pretty lazy – we had ice creams and tasted some Catalan wines which were good. Then we walked back through the old city then to Barri Gotic, the Gothic area of Barcelona which is very historic and quite beautiful with narrow streets and very old buildings as well as the cathedral. It started to rain again so we headed back to our hotel and went out to dinner and final shopping. Back home to bed at about 10pm. It was...

May 19, 2013 - Travel day home

Seville to Portland Wake up call at 5:15...cab to airport at 6:15. Short 15 minute ride. Hurry up and wait kind of day. On time departure to Madrid. Good cup of coffee...finally! On time departure to Dallas...BUT...my $80 extra leg room seat is exactly like the one I had coming over...knees touching to start with and the guy in front of me all the way back instantly. I really want to cry...seriously! My seatmate and her husband had just spent a week in Spain. They are both doctors. We chatted and she asked her husband to switch with...

May 19, 2013 - After today, we are offical backpackers!!!

Today is boring, so if you want to skip over this entry I understand! We took a night train last night: it was kind of like a bad dream. We took a train from Vernazza to La Spezia at 11:45pm and then tried to buy our train tickets from there to Rome but for some unknown reason, we were unable to make the purchase. After an hour of stressing, the train arrived and we found the conductor. She let us buy the tickets on-board but the cabin seating was full, so we sat on a fold out seats in the aisle for 5 hours from 1:30-6:30am. At 6:30, we...

May 19, 2013 - Seville added to

Seville Woke up to rain and wind. Here we thought it was going to be hot! Breakfast. We are so far into the old city that the bus is about a 15 minute walk away...so we opted for a cab. Cobblestones and downhill didn't seem like a good idea in the rain. Cab drivers are totally amazing! Many sharp corners and narrow streets...we missed scraping by inches...really inches! He had to do an extra back up/go forward on one of the corners. Couple of hours on the bus including our potty stop. Then Seville...Spain's third largest city. Had a guided...

May 18, 2013 - Barcelona, Spain

Saturday 18th May, 2013 Barcelona, Spain Cool again this morning, we got ready and went out for breakfast and saw the same American/Canadian couple as yesterday. Chatted to them and after breakfast we set off again on our open topped tourist bus on a different route today. We didn’t have to wait quite so long this morning to get on a bus and set off about 10:30am. We followed the route almost fully round (whole drive takes 2 hours) but eventually got off at the Parc du Montjuic, from where we caught the cable car up to the Castle...

May 18, 2013 - San Sebastian-Donostia

It began raining in the night and continued for most of the day-enough that we all bought umbrellas. A very cold, rainy day caused us to seek shelter inside. We visited the San Telmo Museum of Basque culture and society. It was very interesting. Most shops here close between noon at 2 PM (or even later). This was the case in the areas of France we visited as well. Once you get used to the idea, it seems very civilized. After we finished touring the museum it was after 2 PM, so we headed back to our Pension for an afternoon nap. This evening...

May 17, 2013 - Barcelona, Spain

Friday 17th May, 2013 Barcelona, Spain Today is fine and we went to breakfast about 10:15am in a restaurant just around the corner. At breakfast we met a couple from Australia who were starting on a cruise round the Mediterranean today and an American/Canadian couple who had just finished a cruise. After breakfast we walked up and bought our two day tickets for the open topped tourist bus as we had decided to see the sights from the bus and get off when we wanted to. We stood on a queue that stretched for about 200-300 metres and took some...

May 17, 2013 - Seville

Seville Woke up to rain and wind. Here we thought it was going to be hot! Breakfast. We are so far into the old city that the bus is about a 15 minute walk away...so we opted for a cab. Cobblestones and downhill didn't seem like a good idea in the rain. Cab drivers are totally amazing! Many sharp corners and narrow streets...we missed scraping by inches...really inches! He had to do an extra back up/go forward on one of the corners. Couple of hours on the bus including our potty stop. Then Seville...Spain's third largest city. Had a guided...

May 17, 2013 - San Sebastian-Donostia

After a too short visit, we said goodbye to Bordeaux and drove to Biarritz, where we had arranged for a van to take us to San Sebastian. I was glad we did this, rather than shlep the suitcases on two trains for the journey, as it was pouring rain. We arrived in San Sebastian (Donostia to the Basques) shortly after 3 and found our way to our pension. The owner, Ibon, met us and showed us around the rooms. He was very helpful in providing information on places to eat and things to do. Many of the pintxos (Basque for tapas) bars are closed in...

May 17, 2013 - Zaragoza

Comme un je suis un vrai verseau, alors c’est normal que j’aime autant les grandes que les petites villes. J’en ai fait BEAUCOUP en Espagne. Alors là j’ajoute Zaragoza, capitale de l’Aragon, cinquième ville d’Espagne avec une population d’environ 750 000 habitants. Elle est surnommée « ville des quatre cultures » pour avoir été occupée successivement par les Ibères, les Romains, les Musulmans et les Chrétiens. Zaragoza a été l’hôte de l’expo universelle en 2008. Le peintre Goya est né en 1746 à Fuendetodos, tout près de Zaragoza. Un arrêt...