My name is Marion Vermazen. I am a traveler, hiker, reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, YouTuber, Spanish and French language student, knitter, weaver and genealogist.
Our plan today was to pick up our rental car about 2pm.
Then we packed, checked out and stored our luggage. We went for a walk in Retiro Park.
We stopped near the lake to have a snack.
At 2 we got the car and headed out of Madrid, northwest over the mountains to La Granja.
We had dinner at the parador.
When we were in La Granja on February 28 of 2016 it snowed.
First thing this morning Duke and I took the Metro to Madrid airport where we met our friends Rick and Elaine who were arriving from Denver via Chicago. We got to the arrivals area a very short time before they walked through the arrivals door.
We took a cab to our hotel and then went out for a walk to show them a bit of Madrid.
We walked back to our hotel and rested a bit this afternoon and then had snacks on the balcony of our room.
For dinner we had fun walking around the neighborhood near our hotel. We had dinner at a couple of tapas places.
Roger and Gayle ordered a taxi for 7:30am this morning to take them to the Barcelona airport. We had a wonderful time traveling with them and we’re sorry to see them go.
We ordered a taxi for 8:30 to take us to the train station for our 10am train to Madrid. When we got into the taxi the driver said getting to Sants train station could be very difficult because today was the Barcelona marathon. We made it to less than a mile from the station but then there was no way to get to the station. We told the driver we would walk, got out and walked the last .7 of a mile. Along the way the marathon leaders ran by us.
When we got to the station I wasn’t sure how we would get across the course and the runners. But an old guy suggested we use the metro station and it worked!
We caught our high speed train to Madrid with no problem. And then walked to our Madrid hotel.
For dinner we went out for tapas.
Today we drove to Barcelona and turned in our rental car. After breakfast, but before we left the Parador of Aiguablava, Duke and I recorded his car review video. Aiguablava was so nice that we all agreed we would be very happy to go there again.
Getting to Barcelona was relatively easy but finding the car return place was a bit of a challenge because it had been moved since we were last in Barcelona. We had to drive around Sants train station a couple of times but eventually we completed the challenge.
We took a taxi to our hotel and then went for a walk along Las Ramblas and through the Gothic Quarter.
For dinner we went to Loura restaurant. We had a fabulous meal at Loura last time we were in Barcelona and our meal tonight was equally as good.
This morning we had breakfast at our hotel and then drove to Salvatore Dali’s house and museum on the coast in Port Lligat.
Next we toured the inside of the house. Originally it was a tiny fishing cottage but eventually Dali expanded it extensively.
From Port Lligat we drove to Aiguablava where we are staying.
We have never stayed at this parador. It was closed for several years while they completely renovated it. It just reopened. we had a great dinner at the parador.
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