16 November ’05, Wednesday.
First, a little bit about yesterday. Yes, there were clouds, but there was the sun as well. Yes, we have laundry that is wet. No, we didn’t put it on a line outside…we put it on a line inside the tent (the tent that we normally attach to “Bumble Bee”). Then, we head off for town (Venaros) to use the internet and do some shopping at the “supermacado”. Fortunately after we found a parking place in town, Louise said “we had better take our umbrella”. What good advise that was, because just as we were stepping out of the internet café, the rain just let go… it was a total down pour. In a minute, the streets were totally flooded, lightning strikes close by, and we were about 3 blocks away from “Bumble Bee”. This was only the first of many down pours throughout the day. The laundry was safe from getting wetter than it was already, but it wasn’t getting any drier either. By the time we got back home, we decided to just stay put…pick up a book and get a little more informed. This morning we awoke to a bright and sunny day. A couple of wispy clouds, but we were in for a good sunny day. We got the clothes dry, wiped all the wet and mud from the tent and tarps, and stored everything away. About 3, we had everything done and settled into a chair in the sun before the sunset. The night we arrived in this campground, we went out to dinner at the campground restaurant. We saw a number of plates of lamb chop being served, and decided right then we would be back…tonight was the night. Normally you will find 2 or 3 lamb chops on your plate, but here I had 7 very nice chops… I ate very well. You know another thing that we like about this camping and traveling, the people you have a chance to meet. Tonight we met another wonderful couple (Kris and Peter from GB). The opportunity to meet, exchange travel stories, offer places to see and explore, hold a book exchange, or just have a good ole conversation together makes this whole trip worthwhile. It would be very nice to have a day like today tomorrow. Only the next 9 hours will tell. Our plans are for a trip to Peñíscola, so hold your fingers crossed for us…

14 November ’05, Monday.
Yuck, it’s still raining and it just doesn’t seem to want to give it up. Yesterday was the same as it was today…thunder, lightning, rain, and more rain. Heck, I checked the weather report over and over again prior to this weekend, and it showed that we had some good sunny days coming….WHEN ??? I am really getting discouraged, because I was looking forward to Spain being all we had heard and read…a great winter vacation area…not hot, but sunny and warm. Sunday mornings, the campground restaurant has a breakfast special that just about everyone goes to. We were told about it by one of our neighbors, “it is a really good British breakfast, and it is cheap”. I wasn’t sure what a “British breakfast” was, so I ask…juice, 4 strips of good British bacon, 2 eggs, a chunk of blue cheese, bread, and coffee for $3.50. Well, it sounded like it was just what we were looking for. When we walked through the door, there were 3 different plates of food set up to show what our choices were. We both chose the bacon and egg dish. Our coffee turned out to be a coffee latte, and the juice was fresh squeezed. There was even refills on both… What a great start. Then the main dish arrived. It looked exactly like the dish we saw at the front door, but as we didn’t study it too closely, we didn’t notice that the eggs were not quite done and the bacon was thick, but 99% fat. We could hardly eat any of it, but the juice and coffee were sure good… The Brits and most of the others found the bacon just to their liking…lots of fat protein I guess. After sitting in the van most of the day with the weather doing it’s thing, we had one of the other campers come by and invite us over to their “canopy” for a stew dinner…”just bring your own chairs, glasses for drinks, and if you want, you can bring that brandy too…” (we had just fixed a small glass before he arrived). We accepted their invitation, and of course brought our brandy. We had a great dinner and wonderful conversation with them and another couple that they had invited as well. We have 2 more days here in this campground, so lets hope that one of them will be a dry one, we would like to put the tent away dry more than anything else.

12 November ’05, Saturday.
We woke this morning to the sound of rain hitting the top of “Bumble Bee”, but by the time I was out the door for my shower, it had stopped. From that point throughout the rest of the day, it was slightly overcast, but overall a nice day. One of our fellow campers had been telling Louise about this hill top village about 65 km away that they had found to be very interesting. Well, with nothing else planned, we put “Bumble Bee” in gear and headed out. 35-38 miles doesn’t sound so far, but when it is in new territory, it gets longer. Besides, we had to go over a 3600’ pass that wasn’t exactly straight. While climbing, we noticed the tall red and black poles alongside the road. These are used by those that have the job of removing the snow from the roads. Funny thing, when we were just about to the top, I noticed across the valley something that looked like snow to me. Louise said no, it was some low white buildings…it was snow. Our first snow sighting this year. A little further past the pass, as we came around a corner, we saw our hill top village destination. Morella. The hill is like an upside down funnel, and at the very top on a solid rock formation, is The Castle of Morella. The village sits below and is completely surrounded by the castle walls. The castle is of Muslim origin, and for centuries has been a strong strategical location for many Spanish battles. As we drove up the gates of the walled village, we were met by a young lady that sent us off to another area for parking. There are no vehicles allowed inside the walls (except those that live there, and most of them don’t have a car). As we walked through the gates of the village it was like stepping back to the 13th and 14tgh centuries. The little shoppes were all set up and looking sooo inviting. The specialties of the village were some of the finest wool sweaters, scarves, ponchos, and blankets of all descriptions (fact is, I bought myself one of those sweaters). Also it was easy to find the local wines, cheese, and meats (I bought some of that toooo). Making our choice of a restaurant turned out to be our toughest job of the day. After making that decision, we then had to make our decision on what grand items we wanted to choose for our lunch. We have found that ordering the “Daily Menu” has been the way to go. We get 4 or 5 separate servings and a bottle of wine, desert, and coffee for about $10 each. Today for our main entry, Louise had pork filet, and I had a Tuna steak (we have also adopted the European way of eating…larger meal in the afternoon and a small snack for the evening). Now, charged with food, we head out to see the town, shoppes, cathedral, convent and castle. We needed that energy boost, as everything we wanted to see was straight up hill, and most of that was using steps. At the top of the town we found the The Royal Convent and the Cathedral of Sanata Maria la Major…both were very nice and special, although it has been a long time since the convent has seen any sisters living or teaching there. Then about another 200 feet of shear rock above them was the castle. The castle was in fair condition, and what we saw was worth the walk to the top. We walked through every doorway, tunnel, crawl space, gate, nook and cranny and had a blast. We saw more of the castle than most of the invaders ever saw, because it was so well fortified. Again the short days have caught us taking too long, so off we go. As I sit here now, I can hear that we have some more rain coming down. Let’s hope it will only last a short time…we need sun…SUN…

11 November ’05, Friday.
It turns out that we have had our first snow come into Spain. It didn’t hit here, but further up into the Pyrenees. With that, we received lots of cold wind and rain. It did rain most of yesterday and through the night. This morning about 11, it showed signs of the sun coming out. It is interesting, as the sun came out, and looked like it might stay, so did all the campers. The sun wasn’t out 15 minutes and there were campers out in their shorts and tank-tops, all kicked back in their deck chairs soaking up the rays. We stuck pretty close to the van staying warm. Our solo venture out was to the internet and the farmers market, and that was it…we both had books we wanted to finish. The weather report looks pretty good for the next 4 or 5 days, so maybe we can get our shorts and tank-tops on too…

10 November ’05, Thursday.
A rainy day and a good book… I’d rather have the sun, but seeing as how it’s raining and COLD, I’ll settle in with “Brunelleschi’s Dome” and see what all the commotion is all about.
This is a book that both of us wished we had read before our visit to Florence and Rome. It is about Filippo Brunelleschi, his struggles with the politics, laborers, friends, and competitors, in his building the largest dome (up to modern times) onto the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral in Florence, Italy. This took place in the early 1400’s. If you get a chance, pick up a copy, it does make for good reading and a want to go back and see it again. Wow, it has turned cold. We have pulled out our heater but unfortunately, we keep blowing our circuit breaker at the electrical panel outside. We are supposed to have a 6 amp circuit, but it keeps blowing it every time the heater goes on. Finally about 5ish we pulled up stakes and went to find another heater that would take less amperage to use. The one we have is a 1000-2000 watt, that is fan forced, and the new one is 800 watt radiant. So far so good. It wasn’t a huge purchase ($18 Euro), so let’s hope it works.

9 November ’05, Wednesday.
Just a day of checking things out. We picked up a loaf of bread at the campground store this morning before having a quick breakfast of toast, peanut butter, and jelly. The sun is out, but it is a little cool. I would guess about 65 degrees. We found 3 grocery stores just up the road a little bit, but we also heard of another one down by the beach. Not needing anything from the store, we headed off to see the beach. Right here, there isn’t much of a “beach”, but a bank that is showing signs of falling into the sea with rough surf. We walked for over an hour, before heading back. I feel like I maybe coming down with a cold and I needed to take something to help my stuffy nose. Louise had just finished reading “Brunelleschi’s Dome”, and had suggested that I might enjoy it too. So finding this to be a perfect day to just sit back with a good book….

8 November ’05, Tuesday.
Not a good way to start out a day…Louise missed a step and fell. Fortunately besides a scraped arm and a little soreness from falling, she is doing great. It’s times like that that make you aware of how quick things could possibly change. We finished with our stay in Barcelona, and unfortunately we probably won’t be getting back. We really enjoyed our stay and for those of you who haven’t been here, if you come, you won’t be displeased. We are continuing south and following the coast. Our destination is a campground in Vinaros, which is just about halfway between Barcelona and Valencia. We had read about this campground in one of our camping guides, and thought this might be one we would stay at for a week or more. This is a very small town with a lot of villages all around. It is also situated right on the coast, although the campground is inland about ½ miles. We can walk to at least 4 grocery stores, one of the villages, and the beach. Most of the campers here are staying from 8 days up to 4 or 5 months. There is a restaurant that we ate at last night, here on the campground, and not only did we enjoy a good meal, it was really quite affordable. When we found our new pitch, it just happened to be right next door to another 1985 yellow VW van from the Netherlands. They are staying here until March before heading back. Our stay in the Barcelona was in an older, fairly clean and convenient campground, and it cost us $27.50 Euro per night. Our stay here is in a much nicer campground. The pitch is very large, with tall hedge on 3 sides, the washrooms are excellent, and this is costing us $8.50 Euro per night…go figure…

7 November ’05, Monday.
It was cold as heck last night, but as we awoke this morning, the sun was shining again and warming everything up. When we started our train ride into Barcelona this morning it was 16 degrees, but in the next 30 minutes as we approached the city we were already at 20. We decided earlier this morning that we were going to skip breakfast at home with “Bumble Bee”, and have our breakfast at “STARBUCKS” !!! I think I had the best latte I have ever had…but again, maybe it was because it was the first in a couple of months at least. Anyway, following breakfast, we headed over to the Catalan Concert Hall (Palau de la Musica Catalana). On our trip we haven’t seen many concert halls, but in the realm of concert halls we have see in a life time, this rates by far the best !!! It wasn’t the biggest, and it wasn’t the smallest, but as we walked into it, it was like just knowing you were seeing something special. It was built in 1908, and the construction only took 3 years, which was remarkable. You would just have to see it to believe it. As you took a seat in theatre, you felt like it was only one of maybe 3 or 4 hundred. Well, the fact is, it will hold over 2,000. We were treated to a short pipe organ concert, and the acoustics were outstanding. The performances that are preformed here are from just about every end of the music spectrum. And the tickets for a performance are priced so that all could come and enjoy good music. The décor of the interior was really different, but it also really fit. The highlight was the glorious stained glass done that sits high above the seats. The hall was designed so that it could be lit with natural exterior light, and it does a good job of that. The skylight is one of the most beautifully designed and functional pieces of stained glass I have ever seen. All the unique pillars of broken pieces of ceramics, busts of the great composers, the “angelic choristers”, and the stunning “Muses of the Palau” (a group of 18 stylized instrument playing maidens). This magnificent hall was designed and built by Lluis Domenech I Montaner. I only tell you that because I think that his work should be recognized. It was great. Seeing as we had purchased the Hop on bus tickets yesterday for 2 days, we jumped aboard again to head across town for our next stop. The Sagrada Familia Church. I’ve got to you, this was a day of awe…
And the Sagrada Familia was to top it off. I mentioned a little of the Sagrada Familia last night. Now we have the time to really explore it. When we purchased our entry tickets, we also picked up the audio tour. That was worth the ticket price on its own. This is described as “Europe’s Most Unconventional Church”, and it lives that description… The structure is crammed with symbolism that comes from nature. Just about everything you look at, has a design that was taken from nature. The huge columns throughout the building come from California’s Redwood forests. You have to really see the column and have known prior that that was the case, because he used his unique portrayal of all the nature pieces used in the building. I mentioned yesterday that he was killed by being hit by a tram, but at that same time, he was living in a small room at the construction site. He had been living there for 16 years directing the work. Today there are 8 of the final 12 spires, one for each of the apostle, have been built. Each is topped by Venetian Mosaics. We were able to walk through all the construction areas, with the workers going on with their jobs, working to complete this project sometime in the future. We saw full sized pieces raised and put into place, and we also saw the crew who do all the miniature work. These people make every piece in miniature before it is made in full size. They also work in plaster and rubber molds. I wish you could hear what we heard on the audio tour, because there is just too much for me to put here. We did take a short elevator ride up to a platform on one of the spires, and then we had to walk up another 300 steps to the top. The views over the city were fantastic, but the views down onto the construction were even better. THIS GUY WAS A GENIOUS !!! Well after getting to the top and seeing all the views, we had to go all the way down without the elevator. Single file in a very narrow staircase, going around and around and around and….for well over 400 steps…
All we can say is “What a day”…it was one of those we will never forget. Barcelona has a lot of those days if you want to take the time.

6 November ’05, Sunday.
The plan for the day was to catch one of the “hop on – hop off” buses. For Barcelona, we felt it was really needed to get a feel for what was available. The censes figures are hard to pinpoint, but it seems to be somewhere around 4 million population. There are hardly any single family homes, but apartments and condominiums abound everywhere throughout the city. The “tourist sites”, are inter-mixed through it all, and that is why we decided to take the “hop” bus. There are two routes that take about 2 hours each to cover all. After a full day of bus rides, a Mexican lunch, and a hardy walk for another hour, we were ready to head back to the barn. Tonight we will go over all the material, maps, and the remembrances of the day to decide just what we want to re-visit over the next day or two. Unfortunately a couple more days just won’t do Barcelona justice. Without going into a lot of detail about anyone of the sites we saw today, I’ll just give a small sample. We really enjoyed seeing the Eizample neighborhood with all the “Modernisme” (Catalan Art Nouveau) buildings by Antoni Gaudi and others from the mid 1800’s to 1926. These buildings are very unusual in exterior design, but yet fit so well with everything that was built, and it still being built side by side of each other. We also saw most of the 1992 Summer Olympics grounds and buildings, including the stadium and the Olympic city where every athlete lived and shopped. It was spread all over the city. There were so many parks and boulevards that it was easy to lose track of them. And the beaches…Barcelona has some wonderful beaches that spread from one end of the city to the other…all with wonderful sand and clear blue waters. The National Palace…Wow !!! Then the one site we have put on the “must see” list. The Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) Church. Gaudi’s most famous and persistent work, and yet still unfinished. The work on the Sagrada was started in 1883, and unfortunately before it was finished, Gaudi stepped in front of a tram in 1926 and was killed. There is no doubt, the work stopped on the church for a number of years. Then others picked up Gaudi’s dream and continued building this magnificent church. Like I said, it still isn’t finished, but the word on the street says it will be finished in 20 years. We have met people that were here 4 years ago and told us that they have seen a great deal of change. One of the reasons that it is taking so long now, is that it is being funded by private donations and entry fees. I’ll save the additional information until after we have a chance to visit tomorrow.

5 November ’05, Saturday.
Now this is a big city that I could really get into. This first day in Barcelona was more than I had expected by a long way. It’s not that we did so much as it was that it just fit. I’m sure the weather had something to do with it, and the fact that it was Saturday, and the city had as many locals as tourists walking their way through the streets. Yep, it was crowded but yet comfortable. We saw all the mimes doing what mimes do, we thoroughly enjoyed all the street markets and the larger “farmers” markets, and we taste tested all the goodies that they offered us. After stepping off the train at Placa de Catalunya, we started our first walk down the Ramblas. The Ramblas is the main boulevard that runs from Placa de Catalunya for a mile to the waterfront and the Monument of Columbus. The Ramblas is a wide tree lined boulevard that has hundreds of sidewalk cafes, millions of mimes, musicians, a few beggers, and everyone that is anyone walking and enjoying a great day in Barcelona. After walking the full length of the boulevard, we turned around and started back. After reaching the halfway point, we ducked into the “la Boqueria Market. This was like walking into the Pike Street Market on a bright and sunny Sunday…people everywhere. Yes it was a crowd, but it was run. There are the stalls that sell poultry, stalls that sell produce, meat, and fish. An explosion of chicken legs, bags of live snails, stiff fish, delicious oranges, and samples after more samples. Also some of the most popular are the stalls that sell food from the counters. We were there at 11:30am and weren’t ready for lunch yet, but the seats were already taken and people waiting two deep. That is “THE” place to eat. As you know, I am into olives, so I had to find the stall that was known to have over 30 different types of olives available. After doing my “taste testing”, I made my decisions and left a happy man carrying his booty of the finest. Finally having the “Ramblas” under control, we went in pursuit of Barcelona’s Basilican Cathedral. Unfortunately for us, the exterior was completely covered with scaffolding, so we couldn’t see the magnificent façade. For us, we could only enjoy the beauty of it through pictures. The cathedral took over 600 years to complete after starting in 1298. The very spacious interior is very plain, but most of the 28 side chapels made up for being plain. They were sponsored by the wealth local guilds. We even saw the baptismal where Columbus’s captured North Americans were baptized. In the cloister they still maintain 13 geese. These geese were used as an alarm system during the early years of the church, but now they are just a reminder of those times. Leaving the cathedral, we went in search of a “local” restaurant. Finding one, we both enjoyed some local fare at local prices…a good value and a good meal. A little more sightseeing and we were ready to head home. At 5:36pm we caught a train…thinking it was the right one…here we go again…WRONG !!! It didn’t take long to realize we had made a mistake, so at the next stop we jumped off and ran to catch the next train back to where we had come from. Ok, we had that out of the way. Now to catch the right one and get home…which we did… Tomorrow..day 2 in Barcelona