Found The Castle But Where's My Prince?

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I found this castle hotel by complete accident on the internet the other day, so for kicks I emailed to see if they had any openings and sure enough they had two nights at a rate LESS than my not so fab hotel in downtown Barcelona. I booked it and off I went. My first road trip in Spain. Wyatt recommended “pepecars.com” for the best rates on rental cars. All the guide books talk about rental cars being broken into in Spain, particularly Barcelona, and how tourists are major targets. Specifically they say when you are in a rental car to be as inconspicuous as possible so your car does not look like a rental to reduce the chance of getting broken into. As you can see from the photo, Pepe must not be concerned about this. I may as well have a neon sign that says “tourist renting car, come and get me”. This reminds me of my last month in the states borrowing my mom’s car with “C FOLEY” on the license plate (her name is Chris). But just like my mom’s car (free to borrow), Pepe is way cheaper than the other companies, the car works and maybe the thieves will think I’m a local because I know about Pepe!

I can’t decide which is more of a bummer, staying in a crappy hotel that feels like a jail cell or staying by myself in an amazing hotel without someone special (insert boyfriend, sister, best friend, whatever) to share it with. You know me, I’ll still take the fanciness over roughing it any day, even if I am the only solo person in the entire hotel and EVERYONE else is on their romantic weekend getaway. So I’ll share it through pictures. The town is La Bisbal, outside of Girona. There’s not much out here except country and little villages (I said romantic, right?). It’s very beautiful and similar to Provence in France - even lots of sunflower fields.

Irish History in Spain - And just when I thought I’d be having my fancy dinner alone, I met Angela and Peter, a Irish couple from outside of Dublin. We had a great time at dinner and I learned everything I ever wanted to know about the history of Ireland and England (my knowledge was limited to Harrison Ford/Brad Pitt movies) and all about Fox Hunting (it’s not about killing the fox). Now I want to go to Ireland (well, I wanted to go before, but now I just know more about it!).

After two relaxing days in the country, Pepe and I are off to the coast for seven days in Cadaques, a small fishing village near the home of Salvador Dali.

AFRICA UPDATE - All I can say is you, my friends, ROCK! In less than five day all of my Africa fund has been raised. In all the fundraising I’ve done before, I’ve never seen it happen that fast! Thank you SO MUCH for all your support, kind words and encouragement. Having you all participate really gives me much more motivation to go and really get involved in the community because I feel like I’m giving on behalf of all of you. Very Excited! Thanks again for all your support! xoxo

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