Blogs from Aragon, Spain, Europe - page 4

Mit ein paar Pillen mehr im Gepäck erreichen wir Benasque, der Weg ist mit der durch eine beeindruckende enge Schlucht führenden Straße und einigen Geiersichtungen aus kurzer Distanz schon abwechslungsreich. Benasque selbst ist trotz des erst mal arg touristischen Eindrucks ein netter Ort mit alten kleinen Gässchen im Kern, aber auch dem bestsortierten Bergsportladen, den wir bisher je gesehen haben. In der Skisaison und wohl auch zur Sommerhochsaison muß hier mächtig was los sein, doch jetzt kann man statt mit dem Shuttlebus selbst bis in den hintersten Winkel des Tals fahren, um die Ausgangspunkte für allerlei Wanderungen zu erreichen. Wir beschränken uns erst mal auf kleinere Touren auf der Nordseite des Benasque-Tals, die dafür aber tolle Aussichten vor allem auf das Maladeta-Massiv mit dem höchsten Pyrenäenberg, dem Aneto, bieten. Aber auch einen Blick auf die französische ... read more

This morning we headed for Castillo de Loarre, a castle that as we approached it appeared to me to be a pop-up from a picture books. It is the best preserved Romanesque castle in Europe and was fabulous to walk through with an audio guide to get a real sense of how it functioned. The castle was the fortification on the border of Catholic Aragon and Al-Andulus (Muslim Spain). It's interesting to think what would have happened if the Catholics had not won at that point and begun the Reconquista: Europe today might be Muslim - and European history would almost certainly have been kinder to the Jews. We are now in another pretty medieval town: Sos del Reys Catolicos, a very quiet place with winding alleys but without the views or pretty cafés of Alquezar. ... read more

Geo: 41.6563, -0.876606 GÜN 29 GÜNLERDEN PERŞEMBE: Geç uyandık ve elbette telaşlandık. Barcelona'yı ağır trafik altında boylu boyunca kat etmek felakettir. Allahtan şehre girmek isteyenlerin adedi çıkmak isteyenlerden daha çoktu . Bu nedenle gidiş yolu nispeten daha uygundu.. Şehir dışına çıkınca, otoban çok rahatladı . Bir ara, sadece biz mi kullanıyoruz ? gibi bir endişeye kapıldım . Yol da giderken, nedense bizi bir hayli takip eden Greenwich zaman meridyenine takıldım .. Ne önemi varsa ? İspanyollar bu işi ciddiye almışlar anlaşılan ... Saat 13:00 gibi Zaragoza ya vardık . Esas hedefimiz:San Sebastian, fakat kısa yoldan İber yarımadasını kat etmek istiyoruz . Bu nedenle San Sebastian yolu üzerinde nefeslenecek bir yere ihtiyaç var . Daha önce İber yarımadasında tam b... read more

How plans change. When we woke up the sun was shining. Why move? We would kick ourselves if we missed Zaragoza now being so close. We may not come this way again. So it’s a day in Zaragoza then and France moved back another day. We had managed to miss Africa and Gibraltar so the plan was that this one wasnt going to get away. Sunday morning in Zaragoza. We are into the third week of our trip . We have covered somewhere in the region of 2600 miles so far and still have some way to go in the next week before we return to Britain. Yet again another fairly early wake up call. We did the usual chores , Suzy is dusty and needed a good clean. Where does all that dust come from ... read more

I have to say that Peniscola ended up quite a joy in the end. We spent our last evening doing a passiagiata along the seafront waiting for the sun to set on the castle and the sea and the lights of Peniscola to come on. The Spanish and the French though just don’t cut the mustard when it comes to passiagiatas. The Italians have that one sewn up They seem to manage it with some panache. We sat for a while watching the world go by. Young and old men sat on the beach with their fishing rods talking and whiling away the evening. It felt like the Spanish equivalent of the man shed where they met every evening to discuss the matters of the day. We spent a peaceful night with little or no noise ... read more