Berb
Steve Berberich Joined: February 27th 2007
Logged in: October 18th 2011
Logged in: October 18th 2011
Travel Blog Posts
Heading home
Collbato conveniently had a entrance right to the expressway leading to the airport. Unlike our trip to the airport with L&M, there was sufficient signage to get us confidently there. it also helped that we knew where to take the rental car from our trip on Monday. Everything went off without a hitch, except that they would not let me carry on my backpack. Seems like size is even more limited in Spain even tho it was also a Delta flight. I looked through the airplane safety manual and noticed the exit door closest to us did not get flotation devises in a water "landing" which I thought was a little strange. Flight was eventless, which is what you want, even got in a little early. Got home in good time and ready for our Margarita ... read more
Photo 5
Can't believe this is our last day in Spain, even two weeks is not enough...guess we'll have to get Lynn to write another book needing research of more areas of Spain. The parador ended up being more reasonable than I expected...the included breakfast was fantastic. That should hold us over for the whole day. Just simply driving is enjoyable. Villages on many hilltops. Almost got stopped by police again for crossing a solid white line. I quickly pulled out the camera and took pictures of them, so that they would see it was another tourist. I couldn't resist the pictures of the villages and castles on the mountain and hill tops. We drove up to what looked like a castle and found it was a parador in Cardona. I was feeling like I made a mistake ... read more
Pyrenees
It's rainy and overcast, but hey, we're in Spain and the Pyrenees at that!!! The drive was beautiful, often in the clouds. We took a side trip to Livia. Interesting that even then the lawyers were working with the small print. A 1659 Treaty with France made 33 Spanish villages French, but since Livia was a "town" it remained Spanish. It's 13 sq km is totally located within France. This tiny medieval town includes the oldest pharmacy in Europe, founded in 1415. It seemed early enough so we drove thru La Sue and went up to Andorra. it is a tiny country between Spain and France known primarily for shopping and skiing. Doesn't sound like the berbs..huh? Well it is primarily one traffic jam, especially when it's raining, but some of the areas outside of town ... read more
Teatre Museu Dali
We left Cadaques by way of the Parc Natural. The entire area is a coastal plain, with some 100 different species of birds having been spotted at one time or another. it turned out to be a very nice drive with no traffic at all. Our next destination was Figueres described as humdrum by Lonely Planet, except for the Teatre Museu Dali...which they say is worth every minute...good enough for us. Now I've heaard of and even seen some of Dali's work, but not prepared for this venue...it is wonderful! Salvadore Dali was born here in 1904 and although he had traveled quite extensively, went back to his roots to convert an old burned out municipal theater into his museum. It truly is a stage for his incredibly imaginative work, which is extensive...I don't know when ... read more
Eastern coast north of Barcelona
Dropped off Lynn and Mike at 8:00 for their 10:00 flight to US. It was a good dry run for us. Now we would know where to go for our flight on Friday. We headed off for several days exploring Catalonia. You see "Catalonia is NOT Spain" spray painted all over, signs are in two languages and people speak differently. Our plan was to follow the expressway along the coast and bypass Barcelona, but somehow we ended up going right thru the middle, but to our surprise it wasn't as bad as one would expect...(for me at least, I think Ruth heard a few choice words). Ruth claims I behave differently when we don't have other passengers. The coast is as you might expect; a series of industrial and resort communities..until we reached Tossa de Mar, ... read more
mountainside wildflower
This is the last day in Spain for Lynn and Mike, so we are going to drive hard in order to get to the beach in good time. Lynn claims she has no "dog in this fight" so there are no expectations or sites we need to stop at...let's just take the shortest route. OMG is this beautiful...started by traveling along the Rio Cinca through a tight mountain pass. Will flowers were blooming on the rock faces. Small villages on each mountaintop. Then came the turquoise lakes again...Embalse de Mediano and then Embalse de Grado. Mile after mile of amazing hillsides of red formations from the erosion and the color of the wayer can never be conveyed in pictures. This was an unexpect delight... Got looking at the travel guides again and Lynn noticed a write ... read more
Sos del Rey Catolico
We had a pretty ambitious drive planned for the day, so we decided to take a little more of the A & N roads which would save some time when we need it in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Pamplona is a large city so we used the by-pass. Mike & I would have run with the bulls if it had been the right time of the year; but it was not. Lynn had mentioned Sos del Rey Catolico early in the trip planning, but we debated if time would permit, as it was off the main road and require a back-track. This trip was for research of her next book and Sos was the 1452 birthplace of Fernando II of Aragon, surely a place worthy of a visit. If you travel in this area, make ... read more
Drive from Lekeitio to France along coast
Our goal for today was to drive into France via Hondarribia. We started the day with a nice breakfast in our hotel, which was pleasant and an efficient use of time. We were surprised how crowded it was, and recognized the voices of several of the older guest from the late night/early morning singing we heard from the adjacent pub...must have been some kind of reunion. The drive we plotted out would maximize the use of the coastal roads along the Bay of Biscay (Coles de Basques), trying to bypass San Sebastian, to Hondarribia and then into France. The drive was gorgeous and involved numerous stops to take in the rocky coastline. At one of the pull offs there were multiple etchings of a woman who had lost her seafaring husband...I think? There were signs for ... read more
Photo 4
After packing and a great breakfast in the hotel, Mike took a deep breath and headed down into the garage to retrieve the car. After what seemed like a period of time more than sufficient to get the car, I went down to check out what was keeping Mike. I went down to the first level where Mike should have come up the ramp from the second level...90 degree turn on a ramp that must have been a 20% slope. All I heard was squealing tires and smoke/smell of clutch and brakes. All of a sudden a car came flying out of the ramp with an old man with his sweater over his shoulder push a car...it wasn't Mike! Next thing I know Mike comes flying up the ramp in one maneuver!!...very impressive; no dents or ... read more
Plaza in front of cathedral
First and foremost Burgos will be known for the amazing job Mike did on getting our rental car out of the parking garage; but I am getting ahead of myself We got up and tried to minimize our travel time and get to Burgos in good time. Got what we thought was close to the hotel, and Lynn jumps out of the car disappeared into the maze of streets. This could be a fiasco in the making, so I found a parking space and tried to follow her. Fortunately, I saw her as she entered the hotel. They gave us a code for the gate permitting us to get to the hotel. (Mike likes to point out we could have arrived sooner if we had taken a little roadway labeled for pedestrians he pointed out from ... read more
