Barcelona to Lloret de Mar to America!

Before heading to the coast, we visited Parc Gaul, Gaudi's famous (and thus crowded) park with fabulous views over cloudy Barcelona.

Then we walked like forever down to his other architectural structures, Las Ramblas and back to our hotel.

After a really confusing train venture (we jumped on not even knowing if it was the right one), we arrived to the Spring Break-esque party town of Lloret de Mar which was highly recommended by our buddy Gabe. We arrived in time to hit up the German pub across the street for shnitzel, beer and the Bayern Munchen vs Chelsea game. Sadly B-M lost but I was happy knowing my brother was rocking their jersey which I found in Portugal and sent back in time.

Our first beach day was also Lazy Day and it was Awesome!!! A nap on the beach, Indian food in the rain (and hail) then more vegging.

I finally got some sun on Monday, my last day, as we lounged by the pool. Then back to Barcelona for one last hostel stay before my incredibly early flight tomorrow! This trip has been AMAZING (summary post to follow) but I'm ready for some comforts of home too!

Montserrat to Barcelona

While Erika recuperated in the car (she survived SE Asia only to get the Spanish bug!), we took the train up to the hilltop monastary called Montserrat.

Noreen Schmidting!

The views were breath-taking! There are many walks around the hills to various churches and a famous boys choir performs here. We snapped a few pics then returned to the road for the last stretch in to Barcelona. I dropped the girls and luggage off at the hotel then braved Barcelona roads to return the rental. I couldn't turn over the keys fast enough! Road tripping was the best way to do this trip but I still hate driving. Then I met everyone at the Sagrada de Familia. Although Adele, Theresa and I toured this three years ago, it's an active construction project (supposed to be finished in 2026, over 130 years after construction began) so there were changes.

Postcard photo:

For our last night all together (Noreen sadly returns to DC on Sat), we hit up another flamenco show (the best yet!). In fact, Mi Sou got called up on stage to dance and rocked it!

It was sooo wonderful to travel with these awesome ladies! Can't wait for the October DC reunion!

Valencia to Cava Country

Recovering from a late night in Valencia, we drove to the coast for Oceanside paella which was one of the best yet though still doesn't compare to Thai or Indian.

Then it was three more hours of driving up to our winery B&B called Ca Solyerik. Helena, the owner, is a native Swede who lived in LA for 25 years where she became passionate about wine.
View from our B&B:

She now works to promote this little known wine region called Penedes. The local specialty is cava which is sparkling wine (basically champagne but the stupid Frenchies own the title). We had a lovely patio dinner before watching movies in her lounge room. 'Taken' is a good movie to watch at the end of travels, not before!

On our wine day, we started off the rainy day with a local market trip for olives and cherries.

Then we explored the Penedes wine region. Though cava is their main production, they also make reds and at the first stop, Castellroig, we ended up buying a bottle and sitting in their tasting room even though they were closed for siesta.

We then joined our tour at Freixenet, a cava brand that Mi Sou recalls seeing in the states. It was fascinating as this ginormous winery houses over 140 million bottles of cava in its seven underground levels.

Noreen returned from her day in Barcelona in time to meet us for a food-poisoning-inducing meal (for Erika only unfortunately) at a good Italian place. No bueno :(

Javea to Valencia

I awoke, ran along the coast and enjoyed the view from our hotel.

For breakfast, we joined the dozens of seniors eating. Later, one decided to practically sit ON Erika, completely disregarding the rest of the open couch. Old people crack me up.

The drive to Valencia started off on the back roads, past thousands of orange trees so we snuck a few for our own enjoyment. Sadly they were pretty bitter but fun! Kinda Thelma and Loiuse-like.

The drive was pretty easy and we packed in to our triple room (trying to save money) before heading downtown. We first stopped by Radio City to make sure we could see their flamenco show that night and the owner asked us if, since we were native English speakers, we would like to join them for their English night. Free dinner and drinks! We said yes and walked around town for a bit. I fondly remember this exact fountain from my last trip here to Valencia with Theresa and Adele back in 2009.

Then it was back to Radio City to join the Spanish who showed up to practice their English. I spent the next two hours talking with Jorge, an unemployed teacher, Darde, an unemployed economist and Jas, also unemployed. They filled me in on all the economy troubles of Spain, a country where almost half the population is unemployed. It was pretty depressing but a great experience! And since I'm also unemployed, it was nice to 'work' for our drinks, tapas and flamenco show that we enjoyed, all for free, afterwards.

Alicante to Javea

Today was a very athletic day! Everyone was up to get a great run in along the beachside boardwalk (with some nice lifeguard practice eye candy) before resting on the beach. It was a typical Spanish beach (aka topless) so it was liberating to go local!

It wasn't as hot as Thailand (thank goodness) but very relaxing. When we hit the road, we drove through rolling hills per our scenic road book and found the beautiful town of Guadalest with its castle and belfry perched on top of a mountain.
Stau:

I'm sensing a theme, Spaniards love mountain tops. We rolled in to another beach town, Javea, and found a hotel which seemed to also be hosting a ginormous senior tour group as we were the only people under 60 in the whole place. We also found Thai! Sadly didn't compare to the real thing but was a nice change from ham-centric Spanish food.

The Joy of Olive Oil

Today we toured a local village, Nigueles, which has been making olive oil since then 1600's. We first walked through an olive grove where we sampled the raw but bitter olives and learned about the many different varieties.

We stopped by the local fountain dubbed the Fountain of Youth as it supposedly keeps the elderly from aging. We all filled up our bottles and fizzled some just in case.

We also saw fig, pomegranate and almond trees. Then it was back to the old mill to see where donkeys were put to use to grind the olives and the old fashioned press system squeezed out the oil and bitter tasting vegetable juice.

The last part was the best: the tasting! Beatrice, our guide, led us through tasting five different local varieties. The differences were subtle but all were very good! We ended up buying our favorite varieties and rolling out pretty happy! As we didn't have any real destination in mind, we typed in Alicante and hit the road. This coastal town had a nice cheap hotel that we found before enjoying paella on the beach.

Ronda and the Mediterranean Coast

From Seville, Elaine sent us off with a great breakfast and we meandered to Ronda, an old city perched high of a cliff! Beautiful!

Then we road tipped via the coast which was beautiful! Road tripping offers us flexibility on where we go and when but it's also not as fun checking out sights from the car sometimes and it's definitely an adventure!

Not to explore Grenada!