We pick up our trip again crossing over the border to Spain, travelling down the east coast. Our first night was in Girona, but not before a lunchtime visit to the Dali Museum at nearby Figueres. This was a really interesting exhibition, giving great insight into this artist’s innovative and wide-ranging work. I knew very little of Dali’s art other than the infamous melting clocks motif, but I was amazed at how varied it was and across many different mediums; I especially liked the jewellery display…with everything from the wonderful to the downright weird…
We then carried on to Barcelona; this was my second time visiting here and but it is a city I could very easily come back to again and again. We enjoyed lunch at Park Guell and had a good look around Casa Vicens, one of the many stunning Gaudi houses in the city. For dinner, we went for a pintxos crawl- trying out various pinxtos (tasty concoctions on sticks, see below) along the Carrer De Blai (aka Pinxtos street!) We were staying at a pretty nice central hostel, however, that night we had the downside of hostel life- as various people in our dorm left the room from 4am onwards = a pretty rubbish nights sleep.
Our next drive was north to Zaragoza, a pretty city with the vast Basilica in the centre, surrounded by cobbled streets. Rather exhausted from the previous night/drive, we decided to have a chilled evening in and an early night – watching a few episodes of Line of Duty (which if you haven’t seen already, is amazing!!) Unfortunately, it turns out our Airbnb was above a club, which got going at around midnight and was pretty much constant loud music until 6am… probably should have just gone down and joined in!
A little blurry eyed, we continued up the north coast of Spain to Santander, with a lunchtime stop in the Rioja wine region. This was one of the best detours we have done and we had a great time trying out various Riojas – our favourite vineyard being Muga Bodegas. On reaching Santander, we checked into a lovely apartment, thankfully on a quiet street (no sign of any clubs here!) We then had a nice wander along the seafront, before picking up some fresh clams from the local seafood market and making a rather tasty Spaghetti Vongole.
Our next drive was a short one- east, to nearby Bilbao, a lovely city with a great mix of old and new architecture. We visited the iconic Guggenheim Museum, which was interesting, though I have to say, modern art just isn’t my thing… There was a whole exhibition from a guy whose speciality was making a slash through different coloured pieces of canvas, who knows what this was trying to portray… For dinner, we had another great pinxtos fuelled evening at the main food market and Puetta Nueva square, before being caught in a bit of a crazy tropical thunderstorm on the way home!! However, given this was the first rain we had in the whole trip, we couldn’t really complain!…
From Bilbao we continued along the northern coast of Spain to our last stop, the city of San Sebastain. On arriving, we took the funicular rail at Monte Iguledo, where we had a panoramic lunchtime view overlooking the city and it’s incredible shell shaped bay and beach. In the evening we grabbed some drinks from a bar on the waterfront and took them out on to the pier to enjoy the sunset. For dinner, we went to a fab little resturant called Galancia, sampling some delicious dishes – seared Tuna, roast duck and Iberica Pork, San Sebastian definitely lived up to its foody reputation!
The next leg of the trip took us back into France and to the pretty seaside city of La Rochelle (with a mandatory stop off en route, at an Irish bar to watch England win their first game of the Rugby World Cup- Come on England!!) In La Rochelle we had a nice wander around the harbour front and fitted in a cheeky game of crazy golf – I won, but of course it’s the taking part that counts :p
From La Rochelle we travelled up to the Loire Valley region, famed for its grand chateaus and vineyards. We stayed in a very nice apartment in Amboise, a typical picturesque town, situated on the banks of the Loire river. We arranged a visit to the nearby sparkling wine vineyard of Bouvet Laudabay, for a tour of their cellars and a very generous wine tasting session, with six different sparkling wines! Another day trip we did was to the stunning Chateau de Chenonceau or ‘the ladies castle,’ where we explored the extensive grounds and learnt about how many powerful historical female figures had held the castle in the past.
Our final port of call before crossing back over to England, was in the cute fishing town of Honfleur in Normandy. Here we had a lovely last meal at La Fleur Du Sel- the highlight being the rack of lamb main .
We have just taken the Eurotunnel home, and are briefly back in the UK for our friends Maddy & Sam’s wedding in York. Then the flights begin, starting with a jump across the Atlantic to Vancouver, Canada.
See you next on the other side of the pond! Over and Out.
Chris
thereandbackagainaslumdogtale 