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Published: October 24th 2023
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Dusseldorf
A dry martini in our room in our hotel in Dusseldorf, a toast to what's to come No, I’m not a fugitive. But I have been running. Running through Spain, and Gibraltar, and a very short stint in Paris. Actually it’s been more like fast paced walking. But running sounds better. And it’s shorter to write. Why the rush, you might wonder? And rightly so. Well, I’m on my way somewhere, and I’m not flying. My destination is beyond Spain, and even Gibraltar. But since my road passed through the one, and near the other, I decided to at least see something along the way. Just passing through, taking one train and then the next, and the next, only ever seeing what passed by my window, isn’t for me. However, Europe is expensive, so lingering too long, comes with its drawbacks too. So a fast paced trot it was.
My first stop was Jenni, a great way to start any journey. She brought me to Düsseldorf, where we spend the night, because my train was early, and the German Railways are not what they used to be. Coming from Hagen, though theoretically only 40 minutes away, could go horribly wrong. I didn’t want to chance it. After saying goodbye, with Jenni waving me off, I was on
Paris
Between one station and the next my way… to Paris. But only to change trains. And stations. I arrived in Gare du Nord, and left in Gare de Lyon, I walked between the two. Training for the upcoming days. My train took me to Barcelona. I have never been to Barcelona. I’ve been close. But never made it. I had two nights in Barcelona, or in other words, one full day. One day, isn’t enough for a city, certainly not for Barcelona. But one day, is what I had. Here is where my running started.
However, before I started my sprint, I had to decide what was important. In Barcelona, Gaudi is important. I got tickets for two of his works, the most famous, Sagrada Familia, and Parc Guell. They were on time slots. Both in the afternoon for me. The morning I spent running through alleys, and parks, and plaza’s. Gaudi was never far away. He designed more buildings. I didn’t have time to visit those, but I could take in their exterior. And through all this huffing and a puffing, I got to know the city a little. Because I never took a bus or the metro. I walked. Probably between 30 or
Paris
Notre Dame rising like a phoenix out of her ashes 40 km’s in all. From 8 in the morning, until 8 in the evening. With two short rests in between. I will be back. And spend much more time there when I do.
As for Parc Guell and Sagrada Familia. Both interesting, and very, very, very full of tourists.
Next up was Granada. The Alahambra is to Granada what the Sagrada is to Barcelona. Unfortunately, this time I wasn’t so lucky with my tickets. I thought I would be in Granada off season, and that I could get a ticket a week before. But I had forgotten about the autumn vacation. Oops. There wasn’t a ticket to be had. The next available tickets were somewhere in November. I wasn’t sticking around for that. It will have to be for another day. The good thing is, I got to see the other Granada. The one outside the walls of the Alahambra. There’s a whole city out there! Who knew? It’s a beautiful town, opposite the Alahambra is the old Moorish quarter on a hill, and further away, the lesser knows cave dwellings. Yep, people lived in caves in Granada, the gypsies in fact. And they still do. It’s of
Barcelona
Guell Palace, by Gaudi course, not a cave as you would think of one. From the outside you can’t see it’s a cave, but behind the white walls, the houses are built into the mountain.
As always, I explored and explored and explored, running up and down hills, along narrow roads, from viewpoints to old hammam’s and everything in between. Except of course the Alahambra. But I saw it from afar, in various different guises, depending on the light.
The final destination in Europe was Gibraltar. I stayed on the Spanish side though, it is cheaper. One day for Gibraltar, because if I could do Barcelona in one day, I sure should be able to do Gibraltar in one day! Being British, the weather took a turn, and it rained and blew. But the sun came out too. I went from getting soaked, to getting burned, to getting soaked again. But I wouldn’t be Dutch if I let a little drizzle stop me. I ran up that rock, and ran along it’s spine, until the Mediterranean stopped me in my tracks, and I had to turn and run back to where I came from. The rock, is all about its military history.
Barcelona
La Rambla in the early morning Miles of tunnels were dug, for cannons and troops. Against, the Spanish and the French, and against the Germans. Now they are for the tourists. As an aside, the Dutch have played a role here too. It was Dutch and British marines that captured Gibraltar from the Spanish. I feel, that really, we ought to have half of it for our effort.
And so my running came to an end. I crossed the pillars of Hercules, thought I didn’t leave Europe right away. Now there is a riddle for those to solve who wish to.
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