Author: marionvermazen

We got a fairly early start this morning on our drive to Barcelona. We wanted to return our car by 12:30 to avoid paying for another day. It rained all the way from Andorra to Barcelona. Then we spent an hour driving in circles in heavy city traffic trying to find the rental car place. Finally we parked and walked a long way on foot in the rain and finally found it. I was soaked but we did get the car back in time. 

Our hotel is in the Gothic Quarter. We had a fun time exploring this afternoon. 

For dinner we ate pasta and empanadas at a lovely little restaurant with only five tables. 

Then we went for a stroll down La Rambla. We have seen and heard a lot more English speakers here than anywhere else we have been. We also notice a lot more young people than anywhere else, and noticeably more smokers. 

For the first time since Madrid we are spending two nights in the same place. It is a lovely rest. This morning we went up the valley to a little Spanish town, Os de Civís, that is only accessible by going through Andorra.  We walked up to the church at the top of the village and had coffee in the cafe. This seems to be a very big hiking center in summer. 

Next we drove into the Andorra la Vella, the capital of Andorra. We parked and walked around. It is an enormous shopping center. The whole town is like one big duty free store. 

They have some wonderful street art. This is La Noblesse du Temps by Dali. 

And this is a work called The Seven Poets by Jayne Pleasanton. You can only see three of them here. 

This mural on the right and the church on the left don’t even look real. 

We ate dinner at our Inn again.  We had a nice conversation with the owner and enjoyed a great meal. 

My iPhone has been acting up. Several times a day it acts like it has been hacked or is in a endless resources loop competition. I get a quivering bar across the top of the phone and need to restart the phone to use it at all. Sometimes I have to do a forced restart. I originally thought it might be some new applications I was using but I’ve deleted everything new. I also thought it might be related to having mobile data turned off since we are in Europe but it happens all the time on wifi and off. I’m beginning to think it is a hardware problem. Yuck!! So far it is just an annoyance. Let’s hope it stays that way!

We are in Andorra! A new country for both of us. 

This morning when we left Vielha we went up over a high mountain pass and past a very large ski resort, Baqueira-Beret. According to Wikipedia it is the largest and most visited ski resort in Spain. 

We crossed into Andorra. Andorra is small country 568 square kilometers. We are staying at a wonderful little Inn,  Hotel Parador de Canòlich. Although it has Parador in its name it is not part of the Spanish Parador chain. Parador means hostel in Spanish. The Inn is up a switch back road out in the country. We are the only ones staying here.   We will be here two nights. 

After napping we went for a walk up the road 

We are dinner here at the inn. They  started our meal with toast. They explained that we should rub garlic on the toasted bread, then rub tomatoes on the toast. Finally we should drizzle on olive oil and add salt. It was yummy as was the whole meal. 

Tonight will be our last night to stay in a Parador in Spain on this trip. This morning we walked around the Bielsa Parador area a bit and then headed back down the mountain. 

We stopped for coffee in the village of Bielsa which is 12 kilometers from the Parador. A plaque near where we parked told an interesting story. At the end of the Spanish Civil War in the Spring of 1938 the Republicans defending the High Aragon faced ultimate defeat. The shepards of this area knew a way over the mountains. First they guided thousands of women and children and then the retreating army through the snow over a high mountain pass across the mountains to the refugee camps in France. 

During World War II this same route was used both to move fighters and goods into France and to permit the escape of those fleeing Nazi persecution. 

On our last trip I read Kristin Hannah’s book The Nightingale. In the book the Nightingale is the code name for a woman who helps downed British airmen escape to Spain by hiking over the Pyrenees. In the book they cross the border in a totally different place but I still thought of that book when I was looking at those mountains today. 

Bielsa is a beautiful little town. We had coffee in a little bar/restaurant.  The owner led us into s little side kitchen to show us the paella they were starting   

A little farther down the road we stopped at a farmers market. They had some beautiful vegetables!

Bielsa where we are staying tonight is a ski town. Although it is a Spanish town it used to be only accessible from France. Then in 1950s they built a tunnel through the mountains. The tunnel is more than 5 kilometers long!

We explored Vielha a bit. 

Then we had one last great Parador dinner. 

Today was a long day of driving for us, about 300 miles. It rained a lot of the way but it was a beautiful drive. We drove north to the coast and then east along the coast. Tonight we are in the northern mountains of Spain, the Picos de Europa. The first part of the drive was through rolling green hills that reminded me of England. The last hour or so was up a deep canyon beside a rushing river. 

About half way through the drive we got off the freeway and happened upon a wonderful country restaurant/bar. First we just ordered coffee and used the restrooms but then the friendly owner suggested seafood soup. We ordered some and a plate of clams. They were both wonderful. 

The Parador at Fuente Dé is surrounded by mountains. It seems likely that it will snow here overnight but tomorrow is supposed to be clear. We had a good dinner. This my warm salad of artichokes, brocalli, ham and garlic. 

And this is my veal.