Dunkirk is our last night on this leg of our Europe trip. Tomorrow morning we are on the Eurotunnel back to England. After Chartres we spent a night in Paris with a friend of J's which was excellent. We had plenty of time so took a leisurely drive in to Paris and lunched on the way at Fontainebleau chateau. We devised a plan to park the car out of Paris near a station to avoid the Paris low emission zone. Like London the zone is large and the rules quite complicated so we decided to stay safe and park by an over-ground station near-ish to CDG airport. Our plan worked well as we found a space only 200m from a RER station from which it was only 5 stops to Gare du Nord where we changed ... read more

We are in Tours in the Loire valley, another area I've never visited. Since we skipped the Bordeaux wine touring because of the wild fires we thought the Loire would be a good alternative. After a little bit of research we settled on staying in Tours rather than elsewhere as there is more accommodation here and some other interesting things to do in the town, but I'm not exactly sure what we'll do for wine tasting options are until I speak to someone at the tourist office. On the Friday we check out the town, stock up with maps from the tourist office and find a bike hire. The cathedral here is impressive as is the old town. At the Gouin hotel (now a free museum) there is an interesting free art exhibition by the artist ... read more

We’ve come to Bilbao, like most people, primarily to visit the Guggenheim Museum. I don’t know much about it, apart from the distinctive exterior so am unsure what to expect, but the start is good. I didn’t know about “Puppy” the giant flower sculpture outside the entrance, but it is different and I like it. Inside the museum it is a welcome relief from the heat which we see reach 44C today. We have tickets in the afternoon that avoids the worst of it. but it is still hot walking around. The Guggenheim like many art museums has many exhibits are not to my taste overall I come away liking the museum as it has very good vibe and doesn’t seem to need famous old works of art to make it work. I like the steel ... read more

After spending the last few weeks in the mountains, it is time to head to the beach. We had initially thought of finding a place somewhere in the north of Portugal, but nowhere stood out so we opted for somewhere in northwest Spain instead. The holiday season has begun so availability is limited and cheap places in the popular beach resorts which generally are in the area close to San Sebastian are hard to find. So we opt for the road less travelled and take a chance on a small place right on the NW tip of Spain – a small town called O Barqueiro. Here we are in Galicia an autonomous region of Spain that has its own language. As the capital of the region is Santiago de Compostela it has a strong Christian history. ... read more

Leon is perhaps not one of the best-known Spanish cities but it deserves to be better known and not just because of the Texas rock band named after the Medieval Kings that hailed from here. Historically it is an important place as it can be considered one of the earliest democratic societies as it established a proper independent judicial system back in Medieval era. It has history back to Roman times, but seems to have hit its peak in the 15th Century. Today it attracts visitors not just due to its history but also because it is a key junction on the Camino de Santiago. On our drive here from Haro we follow one of the popular pilgrim paths and we see many people on the path, despite this not being the best season to walk. ... read more