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Published: October 23rd 2009
Ingrid and Nadine
High school friends in Sherbrooke...have not seen each oither in over 20 years.It is great to escape the City and get into the country to see the more natural side of Spain. I do find it very unique and wonderful and throw in the Mediterranean and it is very special indeed.
Language…a mile a minute I would like to retract any complaint I have ever made about the French speaking too fast…the Spanish put them to shame! It is almost comical to listen to news casts or conversations and trhe spead with whcih they seem to converse. It truly is amazing! However, it is discouraging when trying to understand a new language to not hear any familiar words…when listening to the Spanish speak (Catalan or Spanish) it is disheartening to even try to learn the language when you hear the speed with which they speak! That is a difficult part, for me anyway, as I like to connect with people and ask them questions about what we are seeing…and without the internet to fill the void…we are left with more questions than answers. In Northern Spain more French is understood…and when we move to Tunisia and Burkina Faso in Africa, we will be back in the land of French…which as you know
is my specialty 😊
We have been staying in Ingrid’s family weekend house in a town just south of Figueres called Avinyonet de Puigventos (I can’t pronounce it)..let’s call it AP. It is a fantastic town…I don’t know how many people live here but it can’t be more than a few K. A good portion of the residents are weekenders like Ingrid and her family that escape their Barcelona apartments and city life for the country and rural life. Within 10 minutes of AP is a golf and tennis resort, which is where we go nightly to access their WIFI. The kids and I visited for an afternoon and played tennis and swam in the pool. And as a birthday gift from my family...I was given a round of golf at the resort golf course...which is very nice.
Figueres is a mid-sized city that has all the amenities needed and it is five minutes away. Within 30 minutes is the Mediterranean, the Pyranees, a wide assortment of beaches, plenty of interesting sites to visit, hikes to take, and small towns to explore…each of them with their own personality.
AP is centered around an old church 10th to
Youseff and Dana
Outside Youseff's front door in AP 13th century (I think it was a castle before a church). Ingrid’s place is at the end of an old block and is very nice inside. When you first come into AP from the North, you see a large ruin where some old portion of a block crumbled. The very end unit of that block is apparently very nice and inhabited…and for sale for 500K Euros. Many of these small towns have very old parts and it is a treat to visit the centre of these towns and experience the vibrancy. Like elsewhere in Spain, things close down between 1-4 PM…you cannot find a restaurant, convenience store, or retail anything open in the small towns at this time. But the stores start opening at 4:00 and the number of people walking in the streets begin to grow and they are bustling by 6:00.
When you walk down the street in awe of the age of these buildings, it is sometimes difficult to tell which ones are inhabited and which ones are abandoned. There can be a few in a row in the middle of a block abandoned but the ends inhabited and renovated very nicely…but the renovations are on
the inside. You never know what is behind front doors or the barn/garage doors that you walk by. In the era when many of these types of homes were constructed the ground level was for the animals and the people lived upstairs...so many of these old places have what look like barn doors the size of garage doors. When renovated...they become garage doors.
Things that grow here include an assortment of nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, chestnuts, and almonds to name a few. I am in search of an almond tree…I want to see what they look like. I know I have been close because I have seen almonds on the ground but with none in the surrounding trees it is difficult to know which is which. There are vineyards everywhere. And olive orchards that are centuries old. We visited a local winery/olivery(?) and took a tour of both production processes. This particular winery didn’t seem to deal in varietals at all as the wines they sold were generic (blanc, rose, negre). During the production process I got the sense that they use the same grapes to make the white as they do the red (they separate the meat of the
grape from the skin to make the white wine). I did not find the blanc wine to have anywhere near the flavour of the whites in Canada…but that may be perhaps this particular winery does not deal with varietals. I have seen some chardonays so I know some varietal grapes are grown.
They also grow olives. A typical grocery store has almost an entire row dedicated to the variety of olives and different ways to serve them. The start of the olive harvest season is now and it will be followed in November by the grape harvesting season. Of course extra virgin olive oil is a necessity. We found out that the extra virgin, refers to the production process...something to do with the amount of heat used to extract the oil from the olive. A cold pressed oil is extra virgin.
We have seen orange trees, lemon trees, grapefruit trees, pear trees, apple trees, and I am certain there are many more that I am not aware of...like the fruit that grows on the Palm trees…I believe they are dates. I saw a pommegranite tree the other day!
They have familiar crops of corn, wheat, and garden
vegetables as well. Most of all I find the fruit trees/vines and the large variety of them fascinating. In addition to the fruit trees…they also have a large variety of pine, cedar, and deciduous trees as well. If I had easier access to the internet, I would be able to provide more details.
We obtained a rent-a-car in Barcelona, which is nowhere near as intimidating as Paris to drive in…it’s actually quite civilized here. The highways are good and the frustrations of a two lane highway are the same as in Canada. I found Spain to be a bit sign happy…which is good for us neophyte drivers…and certainly when compared to Southern France where more signs would help. We drove to Southern France one day and were driving back through the Pyranees on a tight, windy mountain highway and I commented that I would not want to do this drive at night as there are no curve ahead signs at all.
Speaking of tight roads…it is amazing how tight a space you can drive your car through! Several times I thought no way…but when you have no other choice you go. Consequently…if you are interested in opening up
Ingrid's Aunt's
the bottom floor...was reserved for animals when the house was built., a sideview mirror repair/replacement business…this would be as great place to start. It is a regular sighting to see damaged sideview mirrors and it is very easy to see why! Once you fit through a tight space or three you start to think you can fit anywhere…the damaged mirrors are a reminder that you cannot. However, if you can fit…any road seems to be fair game for automobiles. But one must remember it is fair game both directions. You may find your self having to back-up down a tight street if you meet a larger oncoming vehicle.
The traffic circle is more common here than intersections with lights...certainly on the highway at least. As a former traffic circle hater, I am starting to get used to them and even appreciate them. Because the signs are in Catalan or Spanish and because we are trying to find our way on the fly, the traffic circles are a handy way to suspend time whiole you eitrher fuigure out what the sign says or which way to go. You can enter the traffic circle and stay there until you make a decision. The kids get a fun ride you didn't have to
pay for and you do not head of in just any direction. The problem is that we hear the "I am feeling sick" thing a bit more often.
The Pyranees…a very impressive mountain range. Where we are staying is essentially next to the foothills of the mountains but you can see the mountain range in the distance and the large mountains are only a 20 minute drive away. They are very attractive and are mostly covered with trees. They are not quite as young or high and rugged as the rockies, but are certainly higher than the Laurentians in Quebec. We have taken some very beautiful drives across and through these mountains. We went to Southeren France the other day to do a hike, but we were rained out as it was only 9 degrees, windy and rainy in the mountains. The next day I awoke to see that the high elevations received some snow (so...my Canadian friends...you are not alone)...however the 25 degrees in our elevation took our minds off the snow's proximity pretty quick.
Time Together...Before we started this trip I was concerned about how we would do with spending everyday, all day together…but so far
everyone is still talking to each other. We are still enjoying each other’s company and I can sense a gelling.
Exercise…I am responsible for the physical education aspect of the kids education and daily activity. We have been doing pretty good and have made good use of the bikes that Ingrid’s family has at their place, have played tennis a couple of times, soccer, hikes and walking is pretty well daily, and we have gone swimming a few times with laps being required. I have noticed that their swimming pools are pretty stuffy here. What I mean is that the pools are divided into lanes and that is it…people are here to do laps. No areas to play around for the kids…just laps (btw…Spain did not banish us and our cool boarding shorts from its municipal pools…like Paris did…but the swim caps are mandatory).
Things to do
Wineries - the wineries are getting ready for their harvest and were not open to public tours and tasting yet…but there are many wineries. I read a history of this wine region…and grapes grew everywhere at one point. When we hiked the backcountry we saw what we thought was some stepped
Ancient Castle
they constructr these things on top of mountains erosion and figured it must be due to wind. We thought it was erosion because it was everywhere and did not think humans were patient or hard working enough to create this…but apparently they are. These steps were actually covered with grape vines…small rock walls were built to create these ridges where grapes were grown until 1800 when an insect wiped out all of the grapes in the region and it was started from scratch. A similar thing happened to the olive trees.
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Beach - some great beaches in the Costa Brava area. With the recent wind, the surf was way up so we had to try body surfing in these waves…So while Nadine was bundled up and shivering on the beach…the rest of us hit the water! Incredibly clear water for snorkeling…but the surf was too big to get too close to the larger rocks for investigation. This was a large popular beach in season and when the weather is nice…but on this day and with this weather we had the beach all to ourselves. A bit disappointed in the amount of trash on the beach and in the water.
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Volcanoes - there is a volcanic region
Lunch at a roadside restaurant
We are early...it is only 1:00 PM here…we climbed up one of the inactive volcanoes where they have erected a church and where the crater is now grassed over…but there is volcanic rock all over.
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Ruins - you will get neck cramps trying to catch all the old ruins you come across on your drives through this country. Every town has some and evidence of life long ago is scattered in many different places.
Things we have seen
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Ladies of the day? - during our driving around rural Spain, we constantly saw females in lawn chairs and umbrellas on the side of the road where small roads came off the highway. We had no idea what their role was but it seemed they were controlling or directing traffic for those small roads. Boy were we ever wrong! When we asked what those females were doing…we were informed that they were prostitutes! We were speechless and had no idea.
Dry river beds- there are plenty of streams and rivers that we are crossing all the time. They have names for all of them…the only problem is very few of them have any water! We saw a couple with water…however, since there has not been
any rain since early summer, the rivers have run dry. Soon the rains will come and fill the rivers again. I’m not sure we will see them with water in our short time here. I can't imagine the fishing is very good either.
That's it for Northern Spain...in a couoplke of day we will be heading for Southern Spain...the Alicante area where we will spend a week at a resort there. If you have any questions or comments do not hesitate to send them through to us.
Take care for now!
Xploring Coopers
Dana, NAdine, Alex, Gabriel, & Nicolas
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Jacques Charron
non-member comment
grand merci !
Vraiment votre journal est très intéressant à lire ! J'ai bien hâte de lire ce que vous allez écrire sur votre passage au Burkina Faso ! Mais l'important est de vivre le moment présent. Profitez au maximum de l'Espagne...quel pays et quelles cultures ! bien amicalement et j'ai bien hâte de faire votre connaissance. Jacques.