As we headed out of Torrevieja, our next stop was Girona, Spain. Our plan was to drive about 6 hours, make a stop, do a little sightseeing and get up the next day and head out again. Our stops were to be Griona, Spain, then Bourges, France and then on into Calais (the departing port of the Chunnel). We arrived into Girona in the early afternoon. After settling into the hotel, we took a walk into town to see the wall around the city. These pictures were taken along the way and some from the top of the wall. It was a very nice afternoon. We were extremely tired when we arrived in Bourges. When we arrived, we needed to go into town to get ice and gas for the next day. That was quite an ... read more

Well, not exactly a swim, but definitely a float! OMG. Once you get in the water and lay down, you immediately float!! The entire floor of the lake is, naturally, salt crystals. The "beach" is dried salt. There is salt EVERYWHERE!! It's difficult to see (& appreciate) the color of the water. If you go online, you can see other peoples' pictures of the lake. Some of theirs are able to capture the color better than mine do. The color of the lake is caused by the archaeas (a micro-organism) and dunalielas (micro-seaweeds) which synthesize the components of the salty water in order to survive. The existence of these two forms of life are what provides the pink hue of the water. There are typically pink flamingos around and in the lake, however, I saw only ... read more

We were going to take it easy today because the forecast indicated rain and, having walked 4 miles for the past SEVERAL (lost count) days, we were going to give our bodies a rest. As the morning continued to brighten and the temperature was fairly cool, we decided going to Cartagena might be a nice idea. We figured it might be a nice slow walk and we had wanted to go see the Roman ruins. We finally headed out about 9:30 or so and arrived around 10:15. We weren't exactly sure where we were headed and decided to let Google maps direct us. Naturally, as we've had happen in the past, Google maps lead us on a wild goose chase. Later we learned it was taking us there, but to a place where we were unable ... read more

Nothing too exciting to post today. After walking around Carrefour (grocery store), however, several days and viewing the VERY expensive Spanish hams and doing some research, we decided to do our very own taste test. I had shown an earlier picture of one of the hams that was being sold for 205€ a kilo. That one was a little too rich for our blood, so we bought a little bit of one that was 89€/kilo (about $45/lb) and one that was 49€/kilo (about $25/lb). The more expensive package had 8 slices and the other about 12 (much shorter) slices. Each slice is cut paper thin. Iberico ham comes from a black Iberico pig and, typically is dry, open-air aged about 3 years. We will test these hams with a nice rustic baguette and a $1.50 bottle ... read more

The Rock of Gibraltar Friday morning, we were off for the "tour" of the Rock of Gibraltar. What AMAZING views! We found it was easier to park the car at a marina in Spain and walk across the border. The entire country is only 3.85 square miles, so it wasn't really a long walk. The border sets at the edge of the Gibraltar airport runway. A few of the pictures don't seem like much until you understand we are walking across the runway! We arrived early in order to avoid the crowd up the mountain. As we approached the border, I noticed a huge cloud hanging over the island. This cloud is apparently a characteristic of Gibraltar's weather and is called a Levanter Cloud. Moisture-laden Mediterranean air is pushed by the wind against the Rock. The ... read more