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Published: September 23rd 2017
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Early Dinner
Kathy and I decided to have dinner at the festival. We ate at Ramon's in the old town. It was very good. Kathy and I spent our last day in Barcelona walking and busing around town. We visited the northern portion of the city around the business and high income areas as well as scoping out our logistics for getting to the Sants Barcelona (Barcelona train station) for our trip to Logrono. We also enjoyed (tongue in cheek) a ride on the Barcelona subway. Getting around in a city where you don't read or write the language is very difficult, both on you and them (them being those on the receiving end of our endless questions). It goes something like this.. Me: "How do I buy a ticket?" Them: "Habla Espanol?" Me: No! Habla Ingles?" Them: No! Then you stare at each other for a while wondering how do you talk to someone that doesn't have a clue about how to talk to you. Since necessity is the mother of invention, Kathy and I began inventing ways to communicate mostly through the use of puppets and hand gestures. Its amazing how that frightens people on the receiving end. Anyway, we finally bought some tickets but then couldn't find the train. Once we found the train, we had no idea where to get off.
Hikers on the Camino de Santiago
The statues commemorate hikers on the Camino de Santiago. Once we figured that out, we had to figure out how to get out of the terminal to street level. Needless to say, once we found our way home, we vowed never to go out again. That works until you get hungry! We would order pizza delivery, but what would you say. Here we go again...
Friday morning finally arrived and we walked to the Sants Barcelona (notice we did not take the subway). After a four hour train ride we found ourselves in Logrono. This is a small city on the Ebro River about 450 km west of Barcelona and lies in a low scrub desert area with little to nothing outside of town. Population is almost 200,000. It is mostly industrial and agricultural, and lucky for us, agricultural includes wineries. It just so happens that there is a grape harvest festival this weekend so the city is full. In addition, the Camino de Santiago (the hiking trail made popular by the movie, "The Way") goes through the center of town. Kathy and I, after celebrating our small success of finding our AirB&B and getting checked in by folks that could not speak a word of english (see
Old Town
This is the scene of old town during the siesta in the afternoon. What a difference a nap makes. para #1) decided to walk around to enjoy the local food and scenery. As we were walking down by the Ebro River, we noticed that an unusual number of people who looked like they had just come out of the desert and were in bad need of a beer. So I asked and was informed that they were hiking the Camino de Santiago. Some had been on the path for 400 miles...I told Kathy that's why they looked like they needed a beer. Sometimes she looks at me like I'm an idiot and then sometimes she calls me an idiot directly to my face. As far as I know, she has never said that behind my back but then "How would I know?" Anyway, we started noticing several hostels in town and people drying stinky clothes which is a sure sign that hikers abound. Those that hike know what I'm talking about.
Our AirB&B is fabulous. It is a 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment and we have it to ourselves. It overlooks a side street that, during the day, both men and women are laughing while drinking coffee and playing a board game of sorts. They appear to be
Old Town Logrono...Later
What a crowd!!! After the parade, Kathy and I went to old town to enjoy the music and some ice cream. gambling...ummm! Across the street is a market with fruits and veggies. Very nice neighborhood.
After a snack in our apartment, we strolled to the old section of town to enjoy the parade, music, and the people.
On Saturday morning we strolled along the river walk, visited a museum, had coffee and pastries at a coffee shop and moseyed into old town to look for dinner. We had a wonderful dinner at Ramon's. Since it was siesta time, we headed home for a nap. Later in the evening we tried to attend the 'running of the bulls' but had no success buying tickets. We were disappointed...so we had ice cream instead. It was a close second in my opinion. So early to bed and get an early start tomorrow.
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