Author: marionvermazen

I am a traveler, hiker, avid reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, Spanish and French language student, knitter and genealogist. I am retired after working for almost 30 years in the Computer Industry. I live in Reno, Nevada with my husband Duke.

Lyon day 2

We were in Lyon for two days almost exactly six years ago. We saw all the sites and had a marvelous time. That meant that on this trip we could just enjoy the experience of being in a beautiful French city on a perfect spring morning. So we went for a long walk. We started out with croissants and coffee. I absolutely love French croissants.

Breakfast

Then we walked all over town and crossed the Saône River four times.

Strolling among the art stalls along the river
The Saône River

Of course we had a coffee break mid morning.

Coffee and croissants

Eventually we headed back to the hotel for a rest.

Vendors on our walk back to the hotel

This evening we thought we might have dinner at a Lyon Jazz club. It was about a mile away. When we got there there were no seats so we decided to find someplace else to eat.

La Clef de Voûte Jazz Club

Walking back to the hotel we found a restaurant that looked inviting. It was only when we were seated that we realized that it was a Chinese restaurant. We had a very good and enjoyable meal.

Dinner
Dinner at Nouyeah

We had originally thought we might have dinner at the restaurant we ate at last time we were here, La Maison Marie. In my blog post I described it as one of the best meals of our trip. Unfortunately it is permanently closed. So we couldn’t eat there again. It was only towards the end of our meal at Nouyeah that I noticed the restaurant name on the evacuation plan over the door, what a coincidence!

Apparently Nouyeah where we ate tonight is in the La Maison Marie location!

Parador de Aiguablava, Spain to Lyon, France

Today was a travel day. This morning we left the Parador of Aiguablava at 7 A.M. for the one hour drive to Girona, where we returned our rental car and caught a 9:00 high speed train to Lyon, France.

Our room at the Parador included breakfast, but the breakfast buffet didn’t open until 8:00. So yesterday I ask if they would give us some breakfast to take with us. They said yes, they would give us a picnic.

These are the picnic bags they gave us – water, juice, ham sandwich, cheese sandwich, cake, muffin, tangerine, grapes. Wow!

There was very little traffic and we had no problem returning the car and catching the train.

On the train to Lyon

The high speed train ride was 4 hours and 20 minutes. In Lyon we walked the mile or so to our hotel.

Our hotel was just on the other side of the river

After a bit of a rest we went out exploring and later had a great pizza dinner.

Walking in Lyon
Our pizza dinner

Parador de Aiguablava day 2

Today was a lovely day of rest and relaxation. After a leisurely breakfast we went for a hike along the coast. There were a lot of people out exploring since today is Good Friday and a holiday.

This is the view we woke up to this morning
We hiked along the coast to the other side of the bay.
There was lots of up and down
A rest near our turn around point
The Parador

For dinner we ate in the Parador restaurant

Dukes’s seafood salad
My tuna roll
My ice cream desert

Tarragona to Parador de Aiguablava

The sunrise over the Mediterranean from our hotel room I’m Tarragona was lovely!

Sunrise in Τarragona

We went out for a walk and had coffee and pastries on Rambla Nova.

Breakfast
On Balcó de Mediterrani

We packed up and checked out but before we left Tarragona we went to the Roman Aqueduct in a park about a ten minutes drive from our hotel. The aqueduct is in a great hiking park, a short walk from the parking lot. I don’t think I have ever walked across a Roman Aqueduct before today.

The Ferreres Aqueduct. It was built by the Romans in the first century!

The path across the aqueduct

I’m the dot in the middle on top

There was a lot of stop and go traffic on our drive today. As a result I think today was our longest drive in Spain.

The town of Begur and the Parador of Aiguablava are on the coast north of Barcelona. This will probably be the last Parador we visit this year. We will be here two nights and then on Sunday we go to Lyon, France.

The Parador is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful hotels we have ever stayed at. Our room is on the top floor with glass walls overlooking the Mediterranean. I think I’d be happy here even if I never left the room.

The view from our deck.

We ate dinner in the parador restaurant.

Starter of sardines and prawn croquettes
My sea bream with pepper jam with seafood fideuá
Duke’s Catalan Crema desert

El Saler to Tarragona

Before we left El Saler this morning we went for a walk on the beach. It was beautiful and we found several pieces of what looked like pottery.

On the beach at El Saler
The first piece of pottery I found

Then we drove for about three hours north along the Mediterranean to Tarragona. The parents of some good friends of my daughter’s family live in Tarragona. We met up with them and they showed us around Tarragona.

On Las Ramblas in Tarragona

We saw so much with them and learned so much about Tarragona. It was wonderful. And then, to make it even better, today as a part of the Semana Santa (Holy Week) celebrations there was a big procession through the street from the Church of Saint John the Baptist. We had a perfect place to watch near the beginning.

One of the Misterios (floats). This one was pushed but the rest were each carried by at least 20 people.
The beginning of the parade. There at least 3 groups of Roman soldiers with very authentic costumes.
There were hundreds and hundreds of participants

Then we had wonderful tapas for dinner at a restaurant right next to the Cathedral.

Dinner at Casa Balcells

One other really interesting thing we learned is that Tarragona is well known for its human towers (Castellas).

This is a picture from a poster on a building. The towers can be 8 or nine levels high!

We had such a good time in Tarragona. It makes me want to come back again.

The view from the window of the hotel where we are staying (the H10). There are a lot of Roman ruins in Tarragona (walls, an amphitheater, a circus and other stuff too)