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.