Tag: Spain

Today was our last day together in Spain. Tomorrow Brian and Jo Ann fly home and Duke and I fly to Greece. So today we drove from Tortosa to Barcelona. We couldn’t check into our room until 3 and it’s only a 2 hour drive so I found a hike on AllTrails for us to do on the way.

The trail starts at Ermita Mare de Déu de la Roca. A hermitage on top of a mountain. I didn’t realize that the hermitage was there when I picked the hike so that was a very happy surprise!!

The trail went straight down on cobblestones before essentially leveling out. We planned to go about a mile and then turn around and retrace our steps.

When we got to the turn around point there was a sign that suggested we could actually do a loop so we decided to give it a try. We scrambled up for about a quarter of a mile but as the trail got steeper and less clear we decided the prudent thing to do was to turn around.

When we got back to the trailhead we climbed up to the hermitage and church on top of the rock.

After our hike we drove to our Barcelona hotel. One of the biggest conventions in the world, Mobil Congress, is going on in Barcelona right now and rooms are exorbitantly expensive if not nonexistent. Duke managed to book us a hotel, on the beach in Gava just south of Barcelona El Prat airport. We walked to a nearby restaurant, Torreón for dinner and then walked back along the beach to our hotel as the moon came up.

Today we explored Tortosa. We started out on the castle walls around the Parador. It was supposed to rain but it only drizzled a bit. The rest of the day turned out to be very pleasant.

Then we walked down the hill and visited Els Jardins del Príncep (the Princes Garden). It was originally a spa.

Next we went to the Museum of Tortosa.

After the museum we wanted to go to a museum in an anti aircraft shelter from the civil war. Unfortunately it was closed. On the way there we walked along the river and saw the monument to those who died in the battle of the Ebre River during the Spanish Civil War.

Next we visited an exhibit about the Renaissance Fair that happens in Tortosa in July. The exhibit is in the buildings of the Royal Colleges of Tortosa. It looks like a really fun festival. Some of the videos remind me of the fantastic Carnival celebration we enjoyed so much in Cadiz a few years ago.

We also went into the sixteenth century school

Later in the day after playing card and taking a rest we climbed all over the fortress across from the Castle where the Parador is.

When the restaurant opened at 8 we had another great dinner.

Today we picked up our rental car at the train station in Almería. We walked from our hotel to the rental car office at the train station.

Once we had the car we drove to Albacete. Along the way we saw lots and lots of Almond trees in bloom. We also stopped at a marble quarry where we just happed to see some very cool deer.

When we got to Albacete we stopped at a grocery store to pick up food for a picnic dinner.