Barcelona

Yesterday we went to Garaf to have dinner with Monica and Jaume on his boat. They prepared an incredible paella and we had a wonderful time there. I almost miss being on a sailboat. But, what a great location to be in. The harbor is right on the ocean so it only takes a few minutes to be out there. After dinner we went to th beach and watched the sunset.

Raquel and I rushed back to Barcelona to see a play. The trains are still not running the way they are supposed to be, but we ended up at a station in the plaza de espanya where we could take the metro close to our apartment. We got to the play about 5 minutes after it was supposed to start, but as things always start here later than planned we were just in time. It was a chilean play about office workers and boy, and after seeing it, it would be really hard to go back to work in an office.

On Saturday we went to see a flamenco show at a little club. In Canada it would have been able to seet 20, but here they can get 10 times that in the space they have. We ended up sitting on stairs next to the stage. In fact I was resting my feet on the stage. The show was really good and being so close to it was even better. Here people smoke everywhere so, besides being a warm and intimate venue, it was smoke filled too. For about ten dollars you get one drink and the show. It was well worth it.

We also went to the Museu de Arte de Catalunya. This museum is located in a building built for a worlds fair in the 1920's. It is a huge structure and the museum was excellent. Part of it is dedicated to church murals that were removed from old churches and re-installed in the museum. I don't know how they get them off the walls without destroying them. They also have art from all periods and mainly by catalunyan painters.

Barcelona

Today it has been one week since I got back to Barcelona. My bike has been sitting down on the passeig de colon and hasn't been used except when I went to the airport to see Alejandro Facchi. The temperature here has dropped down a lot, at night it is down around 3-4 degrees. So I don't feel much of an urge to go out.

Toño came to present his new book, and we spent time together with him over the weekend. He is making the rounds of Spain and so only spent a few days here in Barcelona before moving on.

We also went to see a concert in the palau de la Musica which was fantastic, both the palau and the music. The palau was built in the early 1900's and is an incredible example of what I think is called rococo architecture. And the concert was Chic Correa and Bela Fleck, playing banjo and piano, which seemed like an unusual combination of instruments. Both the quality of the music and the personality of the musicians made for a very moving evening.

I have one more week to go and then back to Vancouver. What looked like a really long vacation has gone by surprisingly fast. It's hard to believe that I once looked forward to a two week vacation.

For Audrey and Niko

Hola Audrey and Niko,

Your Nona asked me to send you these photos of her with the pajarito that you sent. She said to tell you that it sings very beautifully and she likes it very much.

Cartagena to Benicasim

I decided to call it quits and head back to Barcelona. There are no campgrounds open at this time of year and the weather has not been so great. So, I packed up in the morning and headed out to drive back on the freeway. Well, it got sunny and was a great day. There were all kinds of bikes out since it was Sunday. It´s strange to see groups of Harleys driving along with all the people dressed up in their American style harley gear. Today I read in the paper that there was a big demonstration of motorcyclists in Barcelona to protest against the number of motorcycle accidents. After seeing the way they drive I can understand the reason for the accidents, but they seemed to be blaming them on the government. One thing they were complaining about was the type of paint they use on the roads. It is a very thick and slippery paint. When I cross a line in a curve, both wheels slip and it is a rather disconcerting experience. On rainy days it is even worse.

I was going to spend the night in Castelló, but it wasn't too nice there so I kept going to Benicasim. This is a resort type town, that even though it has huge apartment blocks, is rather nice. It reminds me of Viña del Mar. There were a lot of people out walking and it has a quieter atmosphere than some of the other tourist towns. Of course, there are not many tourists here now, so it may be quite different in the summer.

Altea to Cartagena

I didn't ride too far today. The weather was not that great, cloudy and a little rain, so I decided to stop in Cartagena. This is a city with an incredibly long history so I was expecting to see some of it, but when I went out for a walk in the old part of the city it seemed like most of it was in ruins and pretty desolate. Maybe it was just the area that I was in, but I didn't find much in the way of tourist information. The drive from Altea to Cartagena was different from the coast to the east of Barcelona. Here it was all huge apartment blocks. Some of them really huge. They must all be tourist accomodations.

In the evening I went to a restaurant that was one of the most entertaining that I've been to. I got there at 8:00 pm, but it was too early for dinner. At exactly 9:00 everyone came in, and within 15 minutes the restaurant was full. It has been owned by the same family since the early 1900´s. The waiter and bartender were both drinking behind the bar, so they were a pretty happy lot.

Delta de l'ebre to Altea

Today I got off to an early start. The weather has changed it is now overcast and cold. Well, below 20 degrees. I took the freeway cause I wanted to get past Valencia as fast as I could. It was cool and overcast, not a good ride. And, besides that I started to run out of gas. I came to a sign which said there was a gas station within 28 kilometres. I could just make it. I drove for quite awhile and there was another sign saying there was a gas station within 28 kilometres. By this time I was on reserve. So, I turned off the freeway and took the local roads until I found a gas station. From there I stayed on the local roads as I headed to the south.

In one of the towns that I was going through another bike started to follow me. It turned out he was a german who was living here in Spain, We stopped for awhile to talk and he told me I should plan on staying in Altea. That it was really nice and there were campgrounds. From there on the drive was great, over windy roads along the coast. I made it to Altea, but the campgrounds are all closed, so I´m staying in a hotel that has balconies over the beach. Beautiful!!

Barcelona to Delta de L'Ebre

Finally, I got moving again. It´s hard to believe that we´ve spent almost a week in Barcelona. During this time we saw Monica and Jaume quite a bit, and Kevin Murphy came from Berlin for a visit. We went out to eat with him at a fantastic restuarant that Monica suggested. It´s like a fish market where you go in and pick out your fish and they cook it up for you.

So, finally I packed up my bike again and headed west towards southern Spain. My first stop was the delta de l'ebre which is just south of Tarragona. I thought I was going to camp, but when I got out there the campgrounds were closed for the year. So, I started moving back from the coast through the small towns looking for a hotel, but everything was closed. Finally I came to a road that ended at a ferry. I asked someone in line if they new of any hotels and he told me to cross with him on the ferry and he would show me one. BC Ferries take note, the crossing cost .50€. But, it was just a little river crossing. The hotel was out in the boonies, but it was really great.

Barcelona Again

We stayed at a little hotel in Barcelona for the night. In the morning Raquel went to her class and I took the car back to Sitges to turn it in and to pick up my motorcycle. I had left it on the street in front of the apartment we had rented, and it was still there. I drove back to Barcelona and went to Monica's for lunch.

In the evening I met up with the person who is turning over the apartment to us, got the keys and now we have an apartment all to ourselves right in the heart of the Barri Gotic in Barcelona. It's great to have so much space and to be actually able to listen to music once more.

Ripoll to Barcelona

After breakfast we went to see the monastery in Ripoll. This is a structure that dates back to 800 AD. Inside are tombs of some of the famous catalan kings, like Wilfred the Hairy. The inside feels old and the atmosphere and acoustics give an impression of what it must have been like to be here in over 1,000 years ago.

We dropped Monica off at the train station, and then continued on along back roads to see some of the local towns. It's now fall here, so all the leaves are turning. At the elevation we are at it is a little cool, but the sun is shining and the sites are stupendous. We went to a little town called Gombren and then up to an old monastery high in the mountains, called Montgrony. Here it was cold!

After finding our way back we took the main road to Barcelona. Overall, this little trip has been one of the best. During tourist season I'm sure there are a lot of people, but at this time of year there are few people travelling so it is a lot more relaxed.

Besalu to Ripoll

Our first stop was Olot. This town is in an area surrounded by volcanoes. After getting there we found the town has four volcanoes around the center of town. These are old dormant volcanoes that are not too high. We walked up to the top of one for a view out over the town.

We continued on to Santa Pau de Seguries. Now, this is a medieval town with no tourists that really makes you feel like you are back in the middle ages. There is a huge central fort, which unfortunately was closed. The photo is of Santa Pau. The flag over the tower is the catalan flag.

For the night we stopped in Ripoll. Here there is a well know monastery which we would see in the morning.

Port de la Selva to Besalu

In the morning we drove up to a monastery overlooking Port de la Selva. I got lost getting there and ended up driving through a town where the streets were so narrow our little car hardly fit. When the road turned into a hiking trail I decided to turn back. We went to Cadaques for awhile and tried to see Dali's house, but the wait was too long so we continued on to meet up with Monica in Beuda. From there we went to Besalu and found a fantastic hotel in the main plaza.

Besalu is a medieval town that still looks like one. There were far fewer tourists, like us, and in the morning we walked all through the town. It was pretty awsome.

Audrey this is for you

Monica asked me to send you these photos.

Girona to Port de La Selva

Today we drove from Girona to Carcassone in France. This is an old walled city, which was once a huge fort dating back to the VI century. It wasonce owned by a single family, but was taken over by one of the kings of France. This is a major tourist attraction, and so has been restored. Driving around in this area there are many ruins on top of hills that were obviously fortified positions and which have not been restored in any way.

After seeing Carcassone we decided to go back into Spain, to Port de la Selva to spend the night. This is a place where I had camped out a few weeks ago. Tomorrow we'll see Cadaques and then meet up with Monica in Besalu.

Sitges to Girona

On Friday we loaded up our little rental car and headed for Girona. We got in when it was just getting dark and starting to rain. After walking around and looking at the available hotels we decided to stay in a more high end place in the center of town. The first hotels we looked at were pretty bad. After checking in we walked around the old part of town and had dinner. They are just starting a festival called the "fires de Girona" so there were little parades with people walking on stilts and huge mannequins being carried around. Girona seemed like a very nice place, with much less tourist activity when compared to Barcelona, and more of a real working Spanish city.

Santes Creus

Here's my bike in Santes Creus. Most bikes around here are sport bikes, but there are few cruisers, including some Harleys. I haven' seen any being used like mine, for travelling, but mine works out really well. This photo doesn't show it all loaded up with tent and sleeping bag, but even with this gear on it works great.

Sitges

We are getting ready to leave Sitges and make a short trip to Figueres and Cadaques. Over the past few days I´ve made a couple of little trips. One was to the Parque Nacional del Garraf, which is right behind Sitges. The road winds up into the mountains with fantastic views of the coast all the way to Barcelona. I stopped at the park office to see if the road was paved all the way. They gave me a map and said that it was, so off I went. Well, I made a wrong turn somewhere and ended up on a dirt road which eventually led me back to Sitges. Along the way I passed an old abandoned town that if falling into ruins. The church is still standing but in pretty bad shape. This is fairly common in spain since so may people have mirgrate to the city.

Yesterday I made a trip to Santes Creus. This is a huge montastery built in the 11th century (the photo above is from inside the cloister). It´s still pretty complete, although some sections have collapsed. It was very beautiful and it was strange to see something that had once been a powerful center for the church almost in ruins. Statues of priests on the inside had been beheaded during peasant uprisings against the church and there was no furnishings left at all. But, the size of the buildings was very impressive.

Plaça de la Vergonya

Today Raquel and I went in to Barcelona to help (in our way) with a rally in support of people who were trying to do the same as Monica's group had done in the plaza and to help prevent people from being evicted from their homes because of new developments that a sprouting up all over the city. For those who don't know the plaza was going to be converted into an underground parking garage, but through a concerted effort with the people who live in the area they managed to keep the plaza with a more human character and hopefully to maintain the neighbourhood for the people who are living there.

I also helped (?) prepare the biggest paella that I have ever seen. Actually all I did was help to clean the pan for cooking the paella.

Tarragona

On Friday I drove to Tarragona to see the Roman ruins there. In order to see more of the country I drove along the coastal road. This was the old roman road connecting all the cities along the coast. I've been reading a history of Catalaña and have found that it is a much more important place in the history of Spain than I had thought. Tarragona was a major roman city and much of the ruins still remain, but most of the city is now built on top of what used to be the roman city. I went to the archeological museum which was excellent and had some amazing mosaics that had been removed from villas around and in the city.

Sitges

We have a beautiful little apartment looking out over the water. At night we can sit out and have dinner listening to the waves.

Raquel´s Dessert

OK, everyone knows how Raquel loves to cook, well she is taking a class on desserts,and here's the proof.She really did it herself.

Oh, and today she´s taking a flamenco class.

Barcelona to Sitges

Our stay in Barcelona was great. We saw a lot of Monica, did a great barbecue and just had a good time. Right now I can't seem to add photos again, but as soon as I can I will add them.

Yesterday we moved to Sitges. We are in a little apartment right on the edge of the water. The trip here was interesting! Raquel came by train, carrying a huge suitcase. I came by motorcycle with all my camping gear loaded on again. I took the road right along the coast which was made for motorcycles. It was a great ride. Last night we had dinner on our little terrace looking over the beach. Is it really October?

Barcelona

I´ve spent the last few days visiting with Monica and seeing Barcelona. Today Raquel is off taking a class and I'm going to meet up with Monica for lunch near her workshop. Barcelona is great and I recommend it to anyone who wants to see a place that is really special. There's something for everyone here. We're in an old apartment just off La Rambla. It's the tourist centre of Barcelona so there is a lot of activity. By the time we leave here I think we'll have seen all of the museums. Yesterday I went to the Picasso Museum, which was really great because it had all of his work going back to when he was first studying art. It's in a building that is made up of five old "palaces" that have been joined together, so the museum is as interesting as the artwork.

The picture here is when we did a BBQ on the roof of Monica´s house with Jaume,Monica and me.

Monica for Grandpa

Hello grandpa, to see the photo full size do a double click over the image. Here I am having dinner with my parents in Barceloneta. Happy Thanksgiving. Monica

Port de La Selva to Barcelona

I made it to Barcelona!! I got up early and packed up my bike and left El Port de la Selva around 9:00 AM. It was a fairly short drive to Barcelona and I had my directions all planned out for getting to Monica´s. But, when I called her she said she was at the apartment we had rented and gave me the street name. It is just off la Rambla and is called Puertofrerrissa. I understood Puerto Cereza, so when I got lost in Barcelona I was asking all the motorizados for the wrong street. One of them finally straightened me out and continuing, but now asking for the right street, I went from motorizado to motorizado asking directions. This included two police on motorcycles. I ended up driving up La Rambla with the escort of two police and a "Jack Sparrow" on his chopped Harley Davidson. All of them helping me get to the right street.

St. Tropez to El Port de la Selva

When I left St. Tropez I thought I would just drive a little and spend another night in France. But, as I drove (thought the rain again), getting to spain sounded a lot better. I would actually be able to talk to people. Since that would be a rather long drive, I took the freeway. Crossing into Spain sure felt good. It was almost like getting home.

At Figueres I turned off and when I stopped to pay the toll I asked them which was the road to P. de la Selva. I could actually talk to them, and understand what they said. He told me the way and asked me how many horsepower my motorcycle had. The first time anyone had actually talked to me at a toll plaza.

From there I took some backroads, through the rain, to P. de la selva. The campgounds here are closing for the winter, but there was one that was still open right on the water. I set up camp and went into town for dinner. This is a little fishing town, so for dinner I had a fantastic grilled fish. It was great. The rain had stopped so I went back and sat on the beach smoking a cigar. In spite of the rain the weather is good. The temperature is around 25 degrees so it is pretty comfortable.

Cervo to St. Tropez

Cervo was great. I still can't post any photos. It is a little town overlooking the mediterranean with a church high on the hill overlooking the city. To get to it you have to follow these winding paths through the town. There is no way to drive. The hotel in Cervo was great. It was an old style place, where the dinner was a fixed menu and the people who operated the hotel ate dinner along with everyone else. But, althoug it sounds like a simple sort of place, it was quite "fancy" with the waiters hustling around in uniforms and coffee in the bar after dinner.

In the morning I almost felt like staying on, but I decided to make it to Nice and camp out there. I drove along the coast road and it was a beautiful drive all the way. Once in Nice I figured I'd camp in St. Tropez. It turned out to be a lot farther away than I thought. When I got there the campground was partially closed for the season. I ended up in a site right beside the road. There were trucks and motorcycles roaring by all night. Nobody drives here, they all race. There were a couple of guys from New Zealand next to me. In the morning we got up and looked at each other and decided to leave ASAP.

Venice to Cervo

The night before leaving Venice we did a really nice BBQ with the neighbors from Germany. I was going to post photos, but this computer doesn't seem to allow it.

I left Venice with fairly good weather, but as I headed West it kept getting worse and worse. I missed the turnoff to Cremona, so ended up going all the way to Milan. From there I headed south again towards Genova. The low clouds started to rain a little, so I had enough and turned off in the little town of Tortona. There was a sign there for a "Motel 2". I envisioned a sort of cheap "Motel 6". When I got there (and after checking in) I found out it's name was "Motel Duo". Each room had its own private garage that closed automatically when you entered, so it was set up for discreet encounters. Room service was through a little door so the waiter never actually entered the room.

In the morning it was foggy and cold. I put off leaving as long as possible, but finally hit the road with all of my winter gear on, including long underwear. The road to Genova seemed like it was mostly tunnels. As I got nearer the weather cleared up and the sun came out. I wanted to head towards Savona so I turned off the autostrade following the signs. To make a long story short I got hopelessly lost. I asked the police and a number of motorizados for directions and after driving for what seemed like hours got out on the autostrade again. The problem was the name of the town I wanted to go to stopped appearing on the signs.

Ar Savona I left the autostrade and began driving on the road that follows the mediterranean shore. The drive is beautiul, but very slow, but a lot of fun on my bike. I wanted to make it to Impreglia, but I came to a wonderful medieval looking town called Cervo and hear I am staying the night.

Flooded Venice

All of the plaza san marco is flooded during high tide. I don't know if this photo shows it too well, since the thumbnails are hard to see. But they have little boardwalks so people can walk around, and police standing in the water to keep everyone moving. The storm here was unbelievable. I don't think I've heard thunder or lightning like this before.

Venice

Okay, I haven't posted anything for awhile. There has been no internet connection available. After spending a few days in Pula I moved on two Venice. The day I came here it was nice and sunny, but the weather turned bad and has been raining ever since.

The attached image is of the coliseum in Pula, which is incredibly well preserved. Croacia was great, the people were very freindly and it's amazing how well everyone speaks English. The campsite I was in overlooked the Istrian Sea and the Brijuni Islands. I could sit on the rocks and watch the sunsets.

Today is Friday, September 28. If the weather is not too bad here I will head on towards Barcelona tomorrow. If it's bad I'll wait it out since I don't feel much like driving in the rain. I've met a really nice couple from Germany who are camped right beside me. We've spent the rainy periods sitting in a tv room they have at the campground. speaking of which the campgrounds here are really impressive. I'm staying at Punta Sabioni which is right in front of Venice. The ferries are a ten minute walk away, and it takes about 40 minutes to get to San Marco Plaza.

Bled to Pula

It was really cold overnight in Bled. In the morning the first thing I did was look for sun. It turned out the lake was sunny so I went for a walk. Coming back to camp, it was still in the shade and cold, but I packed up anyway. From Bled I headed to Ljubjana and then West towards Triest. It was still cold, but the road was leaving the mountains so it slowly warmed up. There were two long tunnels, after the first one the temp. had gone up about 5 deg. by the second one it was another 5 deg. So, by then I was getting too hot. I turned South before Triest and crossed the border into Croacia. There was a big change in the condition of the road so it was obvious Croacia is a poorer country. But, the road was still good. The driving in Slovenia and in Croacia is pretty fast. I was doing 85 mph, but cars went by me like I was standing still. A Porsche went by and it must have been redlined, it sounded like a jet. I even got passed by a Ford Fiesta!!

In Pula, which is in the South of the Istian Peninsula I had a bit of a hard time finding the campground I was looking for, but eventually I did and it is beautiful. My site overlooks the water, it's warm and sunny and cheap. It is more like a resort than a simple campground. I went to the restaurant for dinner and had an Istian specialty (Pasta) watching the sun go down over the mediterranean.

Salzburg to Bled

Today I made the trip from Salzburg to Bled, Slovenia. The route took me South through the Alps. The views of the mountains was fantastic, but a lot of the road was through tunnels so you did not see much of mountain passes. The weather has turned definitely fall like. The trees are all turning and the ride yesterday was quite cold.

Bled is beautiful. It seems to be a major tourist area, with a lot of fancy hotels. The lake has an island, the only island in Slovenia, with a beautiful old church on it. You can rent swan boats and paddle around the lake. Above the lake, on a high cliff is an old castle. After arriving here I just drove around the local roads seeing the sites.

I am staying in a campground, which is pretty luxurious. I have never seen anything like it in Canada, although I dont stay much at resorts.

Munich to Salzburg

This post is to replace the one that I accidentally deleted!! It´s for Tuesday´s trip from Munich to Salzburg.

It rained all night in Munich, and in the morning I thought I was not going to leave. It stopped raining so I decided to make the drive. I took back roads down to Rosenheim to catch the autobahn. It started to rain and just kept getting worse and worse. I was totally soaked and finally pulled over at a rest stop to take a break. The restaurant was motorcycle themed. Harley Davidson that is. The bathroom stalls had names on them like "Road King", "Fat Boy", etc. It was kind of strange. Leaving there I had only 30k to do to Salzburg so it wasn´t to bad. Once in Salzburg (I had given up on camping) I looked around for a hotel and just happened to find one close to the old section which is old style European and very agreeable.

Salzburg Castle

I´ll try adding some more photos here. It seems to have worked. The one on the left is the castle over Salzburg and the one on the right is a vew from the castle.

The weather has improved here, tomorrow I cross the Alps and will stay somewhere around Bled. This may be the first time I actuallz camp.

Salzburg

Okay, it looks like I may have deleted one of my posts by mistake. I´m trying to read German here and did something. Anyhow, today I spent the day walking around Salzburg. I took the teleferico up to the Hohensalzburg, which is the big fort over the city and walked around there for a couple of hours. Then walked around all the old areas. Let´s see if I can add photos.

Okay, Lucille are you happy now?

Munich

Today I went to the Deusches Museum in the morning. The tour book said it was good, but I was still amazed by it. Niko would have been in heaven. Boats, planes and trains. And a lot of interactive displays for kids and adults.

In the evening I met up with Christian and his father who took me to a proper Bavarian restaurant where we drank excellent beer and had Sweinebraten mit knodel, which was recommended by Olaf when we met him at Porteu Cove. Christain´s father has invited me over for breakfast in the morning before I head out to Salzburg.

Munich

Today was museum day. I went to the Altes Pinakotech and the archeological museum. From Erding I took the S-bahn in and then walked around the old town area stopping at the two museums. I never realized that paintings by Ruben, Durer, etc were so commonplace. The Vancouver museum has a long way to go. Also, I walked through the Englischer Garten which reminded me of Golden Gate Park, except there was one section devoted to nude sunbathers and another that was a huge beer garden. On the way back to Marienplatz I came across a street festival. It was called Streetwise for some reason. I was sort of a multicultural, environmental celebration with lots of beer and shows. That´s something else you see hear is people drinking beer on the street, on the trains, as well as the beer gardens. I have one more day here before leaving for Salzburg. If I had another week I still would not see everything.

In Munich

Well, after an unending flight I arrived in Munich and took a taxi to the hotel. Unfortunately the taxi driver had just arrived from Afghanistan and had no idea where Erding was. It took awhile to get here.

Today (9-15) I took a taxi back out to the airport and he knew where the airport was. At the Swissport cargo terminal I paid the paperwork fee and a truck driver gave me a ride to customs where after a few stamp s stamps on the paperwork my bike was free to come into Germany. It took all of 10 minutes. Back at the cargo terminal they had my bike uncrated. All I had to do was reconnect the battery and I was ready to go.

I rode back to the hotel, almost getting lost, and after parking my bike packed some things up and took the S2 line into Munich. There I spent the afternoon walking around Marienplatz. There´s a lot to see here so I´ve decided to stay on until Tuesday.

Preparing to Leave

Final week...my car is at Dad's under cover until we return and today I took my bike to the Swissport cargo office and loaded it into a container for shipment to Munich. It's going with all my camping gear, clothes, etc. I hope everything arrives okay. Next time I see it will be in Munich. My flight leaves on Thursday, so by Saturday I should have my bike back and be ready to hit the road.

Preparations

Okay, this is the first time that I've used this so here goes.

It's three weeks until I leave for Spain with my motorcycle. The plane tickets are purchased, the transportation of the bike is all organized and the itinerary is...well still not decided. But, in general it's to fly into Munich. Spend a few days there and then head down through Switzerland, Italy and France to Spain where I will meet up with Monica in Barcelona. We will stay in and around Barcelona until November and then I will ride up to London/Gatwick to ship my bike back to Vancouver. Wow!