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Published: December 1st 2007
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Where did that come from?
Rob surprised to find a sausage in his roll? So having breezed through a delightful Portugal we exited back into Espania. Our plan was to head east to Barcelona and what ever we discovered enroute then good luck.
Our first stop was Salamanca and as it was raining we only stopped one night. The next morning another English couple, now living in France, were stuck in the mud so Rob assisted them to get out. As they were stuck good n proper we eventually towed them out. Good deed done for the day we headed off.
Next stop worth mentioning was Logrono and although it was a quaint town with some good wine shops we bought some rolls for lunch from a bakery and they were Euro 1.40 each, which is very expensive for a roll, although they did feel very heavy. Good thing we only bought 4. When we stopped for lunch and took these luxurious rolls out of the bag they rattled? Confused? We certainly were. On cutting one of them open we then realised what all the fuss was about, they had the local spicy Chorizo sausage inside (see pic of Rob). Maybe the Spanish version of sausage rolls?
We decided to give Madrid
Tree Lane of La Rambla!
cutting through the concrete jungle in Barcelona a miss, I suppose we have to leave somewhere to come back to, and headed straight to Barcelona.
Well what can one say about Barcelona, another of the great cities on the continent and it had a nice (sorry Mrs Jones I could not resist) feel about it. The medieval palaces, modernised architecture, to the 1992 Olympic stadium and the infamous FC Barcelona football ground, Nou Camp. We had to spend at least a few days here to give her any justice.
Our first port of call was one of Spain’s most famous streets. La Rambla. It’s a pedestrian boulevard aligned with trees and exploding with life. It is lined with street artists, buskers (from Ronaldinho, skeletons on bikes to a man sitting on the bog, see pic), restaurants, news kiosks, and vendors selling everything from live chickens to blue roses. An interesting place and must be seen to be appreciated. La Rambla ends at the water front at the foot of the Mirador de Colom, a large statue of Colombus pointing to America. Inside we took a lift to the top although from first glance it does not appear to be possible for great views of this
King on his Throne
one of the very busy looking street buskers, La Rambla. bustling city below.
With so much to see and do we decided to do one of the touristy bus tours. The one you can hop on and off so we could get to all sorts of places. One of the more interesting characters of Barcelona was Antoni Gaudi(1852-1926). The eccentric architect certainly left his mark on the city with his creations and his most famous masterpiece is the Neo - Gothic looking church, La Sagrada Familia. Europe’s most unconventional church is only half built. He worked on it for 16 years and at the time of his death only one of the towers was completed, however to date several more have been finished to his original plans and work continues today although at a slow rate. It’s anyone’s guess when it will be completed, maybe 2027?
Well with so many sights to see we are not going to rattle on about them all, however one of the world’s most famous football stadiums deserves a mention. Yes a visit to Barcelona is not complete without seeing the infamous Barcelona FC, Camp Nou. A place where players like: Kubala, Cruyff, Maradona and Ronaldinho have made history. So of course we
Two great discoverers!
Columbus - navigator, astrologer, and mathematician. Young Wendy route finder, bollocks talker and arithmeticer of red wine! did a stadium tour including the dressing rooms, the director’s box, the pitch and the trophy cabinet. Sadly we lost some of these photos, well read on and find out how. Also the next day the Barcelona team were playing at home so we stood in a long queue for tickets. Unfortunately, or possibly fortunately, by the time we got near the front they were sold out. Well could this have saved us from serious trouble? Especially with the temperamental football fans although the next day we got in a small spot of bother on our own, again?
Well as we could not do the football the following day Rob and Wendy decided to head back into the city to watch South Africa play Fuji in the rugby world cup quarter final. And yes we went to an Irish Pub again! Remember the last time we watched rugby at an Irish Pub we were seconds away from getting our bikes stolen. We should have known better. During the match we met some Welsh supporters and they were supporting the underdog Fuji. They were supposed to be in France watching this game however Fuji knocked them out of the tournament
Gothic Church - Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia
the weird looking church still under construction, over 100 years on, Barcelona. so they came to Barcelona instead. We had a great time with them and at the end of the game we were finishing off the last few cold ones when Wendy had her bag in front of her on the table. We literally turned around for a few seconds and it was gone! Someone had stolen it and done a runner. So driver’s licence, cash, bank card, memory stick, mobile phone, camera - with the Barcelona pics from the last few days and a few other odds and ends GONE! We of course did cancel the bank card thing and reported it to the police. We were more upset with ourselves for being so careless. Anyway it could have been worse - we could have also lost the rugby match! Well at the time of writing this we have already received the money from the insurance company so not all bad.
With all the excitement of Barcelona behind us we headed north again this time to Catalonia’s holiest place, Monestir de Montseratt - the sacred mountain. The Benedictine Monastery is in an incredible setting as it sits high on the side of a 1236m high mountain of weird bulbous
Another weird creature
Rob prancing around in Park Guell, another Gaudi masterpiece, of sorts! peaks. The earliest record of the monastery is from the 9th century, enlarged in the 11th century and in 1409 became independent of Rome. In 1811 the monastery was attacked and destroyed by the French when they invaded Catalonia and all the monks were killed. It was again rebuilt in 1844 and today the Benedictine monks reside there. It is accessible by a cable car journey to the top. We walked around and went into the Basilica which was beautiful, and although in a stunning setting it was rather touristy and we never saw any monks.
It was time for a change so we headed for Andorra La Vella (the capital of Andorra). Well the big country of Andorra is only 464 sq km (that’s 2, 1/2 times smaller than Paris), has a ski resort feel to it and is mostly known for skiing and shopping. Hey dad check the hanging baskets! As we were not there in ski season we of course had to shop. So this was a good time to replace some of our stolen stuff like a new camera, memory stick and hand bag, for Wendy of course. More importantly we hit the ski shops
Football Heaven at Camp Nou
Wendy at Barcelona’s infamous football ground and eventually bought new skis and snowboard for the slopes later on in the year.
Next stop France, do not collect 200, just straight there!
Thanks Spain, Portugal and Andorra been great to be associated with Ya!
Ade'u (goodbye - do you know what language?)
Robert and Wendy
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Heidi & Wayne
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Happy Birthday, Wendy!!!
Best wishes Wendels, Hope you have a great day where ever you are! Will be sipping a bubbly for you over here. All the best and lots of love