pnpetf

Sunday was our last day on the Costa Brava. After another delicious breakfast and a warm send-off from the owner, we headed back to Girona with a few stop offs at some beaches. After all, they're right there, and it's COLD back in Minnesota! While I was in BCN I found out there was a chimpanzee sanctuary in Girona and we managed to get a time on Sunday! Sanctuaries aren't zoos. Only a few people can visit each day and you take an educational tour to learn about the lives before and now, of these animals. They rescue chimps from bad living conditions - in this case, it includes some chimps used in a commercial for I think MCDONALDS who were chained in dark cages in a truck when not filming. I support several rescue operations ... read more

Saturday was more medieval towns and a stunning beach. I'm sorry to say I don't even remember the names of each town. But we took a picture of one town map so we know that one. Our main destinations were the Gala castle, where Dali's love of his life lived, and then on to Figueres to the Fundacion Dali. (this museum/theater is the largest surrealist object in the world!) And for beaches, we went to one with a big rock in the distance that we kept seeing from Begur. So for today, the pictures can speak for themselves! And this is just a tiny fraction of the pictures we took - as usual, there was a feast for the eyes every minute!... read more

We walked to the AutoEurope office on Corts Catalanes. It was an ok walk, we had our luggage to pull behind us. It was also easy to head straight out of town on this main drag and easy to find Girona. Parking was a bit trickier but we eventually gave up and went into an underground parking not far from the center of town. One thing we have found on our travels, mainly in France, is you can never follow signs to the tourist information office. The signs are misleading. Girona was no exception, but we finally found it. It's a lovely little town with a cathedral, Jewish quarter, Arab baths and a river. We enjoyed wandering around. We ate lunch on their Ramblas even though that's not usually the best place, and it was fun ... read more

Monday we headed to Placa Catalunya and Las Ramblas. I don't get this street. It is all tourists so why are they selling animals and birds? Well, the flowers were pretty. Although we had read the numerous warnings about pickpockets here, we felt as safe as anywhere else we have travelled. As you can tell by our photos, there is nothing about us that suggests money. Our main goal was to eat lunch at the Boqueria, and that was fun. We ate at Pinoxo's, good food and service, and I helped out fellow clients who did not speak Spanish. It was also fun to wander the market - like a giant farmer's market. There is a cool dragon sculpture along the way and the Miro tiles. We hit a few little placas and headed up to ... read more

SAturday morning we walked up to Sagrada Familia but just took pictures of the outside. The lines were already long to enter and since it was just a few blocks from our apartment we figured we'd get back another day. It's really impressive even on the outside! Next we walked all the way to another Gaudi masterpiece, La Pedrera. It was nice and sunny while we walked around on the roof. Pat was very interested in all the use of natural light. We just walked by the other Gaudi house that costs more to enter, and then back to our apartment to pack a lunch. We weren't sure where we could catch a bus to Parc Guell so we walked back to the Gaudi houses where we had seen bus stops for bus 24. It drops ... read more