Posts Tagged With: barcelona to rome

Day 12: Nice! (The location, not the adjective) 

Posted on October 24, 2015 by Mel

After an included breakfast at the hotel (where I ate my body weight in baguettes again…French bread is tasty) we headed off for a day of train riding. From Arles to Marseille was about an hour, then we had a lunch stopover at the train station followed by another 2 hours on the train to Nice. 

After arriving, we walked to our hotel and had an hour of downtime before going on an orientation tour of Nice. The sunset views from the lookout point and the old castle were pretty amazing, an iPhone doesn’t do them justice.
   
    
   
Then it was off to dinner at Taca d’oli which was absolutely amazing. B calls it as equal to the delicious casserole we had the other night in terms of taste and when you add in the spotless service…we might have a winner so far on the trip!

 

Bs entree of octopus salad. and my stuffed. veggies

  

my main of amazingly tender roast beef and gnocchi, B had two types of fish on a skewer

 
Tomorrow: exploring the village of Eze and then relaxing on the “beach” here in Nice, assuming my head cold (thanks sick people on our tour) eases up 

Mel

Note: wifi is crap at our hotel here so will check in again in a few days when we reach Cinque Terre!

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Day 11: Exploring the Provence Region 

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Mel

Today started very boringly – coffee and a chocolate croissant while we spent anhour and a bit doing our washing at the local laundromat in Arles. Percy found the dryer riveting. We were up before most of the locals and the streets were very quiet. 
   
 We then were meant to catch the train for around 20 mins to Avignon, where our tour leader had arranged for us and the Canadian couple to go on a local tour of the Provence region. Unfortunately, the train timetables were incorrect (it being almost off season now) so we had to catch a taxi. Note to self: double check train timetables with the transit officers next time. 

First, we stopped at Gordes, one of the most beautiful villages in France, famous for the architecture with dry stones and the astounding views over the countryside. 

   
 
Then it was off to Les Baux de Provence, a village located upon a rock with much of its buildings actually carved straight out of the rock! I got some gorgeous jewellery here and presents for lucky people. The view was pretty spectacular as well. 

   

 Finally, we visited the famous site of the Pont du Gard, dated from the first century and now world heritage listed.  This was an amazing and well preserved part of the Roman acqueduct which supplied water to Nîmes.

   
   
We then headed back to Arle and with our tour leader went for dinner at Chez Felix. The owner was very friendly and the food was brilliant…but most importantly, the view was unbeatable 🙂 

  

  
Mel 

P.S. Percy had a little too much red wine tonight…

  

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An extra post because the food was just THAT GOOD. 

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Mel

So, we went out for dinner at this tiny little restaurant in Arle tonight called Cador. At first, we were all a little worried as there was some misunderstanding with the menu and prices seemed to be a little high…hmmmm…

However, the food was well and truly worth any confusion. Simply divine.
 

mushroom and chicken in a creamy sauce

  

a banana split with gelato

  

some limoncello to finish off

  
  

he sang us original songs!

 

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Day 10: Arles, France 

Posted on October 21, 2015 by Mel

Later start today with a 10:20am train, big hooray after all that red wine last night. This was a fairly long train trip of 2.5 hrs and we had reserved seats…which were pretty comfy. Little bit of motion sickness but I’m taking the travacalm now and it really does help. Worth the zombie side effects. 
We checked in to Hotel Regence on arrival in Arles, France and then went looking for some lunch.  
 
After lunch it was exploration time! We went and checked out the Roman baths and then walked up through the city to the main square. We also saw the hospital where Vincent Van Gogh went after trying to chop his ear off, one of his paintings is of this exact spot.

 

roman baths

  

the main square

 

the gardens at the hospital where Van Gogh was treated

 
 From here the group split up to explore the open theatre, the amphitheater and the crypts underneath the main square. 
 

exploring the open theatre

 
   

view of the city and river from the amphitheatre

  

the tunnels under the main square

 
On the way back we sussed out where the local laundry is and our free morning tomorrow will be spent washing and drying some clothes. Then it’s off to Provence in the afternoon to explore the area, see an aqueduct and perhaps buy some souvenirs.

Mel 

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Day 9: Adios Spain, Bon Jour France

Posted on October 21, 2015 by Mel

Today was an early breakfast at 7:45am as we head away from the Pyrenees and towards France. Our 6th tour member has joined us and she seems lovely, another Australian travelling solo around our age. This is her 3rd intrepid tour in a row! She has spent 2 months in Europe.
5€ breakfast at the hotel was delicious again, although I’m starting to grow weary of all this bread. So much bread. Then it was off to the train station with all our bags. There was a kerfuffle at the station where they didn’t open the ticket booth and it was all a mad rush but in the end we were able to sort it out on the train…hooray for having a tour leader! After an hour train trip, we had crossed the border and arrived in a tiny little French town. From there we had a private van to take us to Carcassonne. A quick rest and we were off to explore the castle and ancient city.

   
   
  
Our hotel here is very big and super cute. I’m very impressed with Hotel de la Bastide so far. 

  
After exploring there was much red wine and some delicious dinner at a tiny little French restaurant called Restaurant Le Trivalou.

 

B had traditional cassoulet

  
  

creme catalana again, this one different to the first time in the mountains, we couldnt ‘t agree on a shared preference

 
Then we went on to drink in a very strange gothic bar. There was also street singing and dancing 🙂 

   
 
Steps: 18559

Kilometres: 15.3

Tomorrow (well, actually today…how confusing!): moving on to Arles in France. I’m looking forward to the day after when we will be exploring the Provence region and an aqueduct. 

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Day 8: Hiking in Nuria Valley (the Pyrenees) 

Posted on October 20, 2015 by Mel

After a terrible nights sleep (nice hotel but the bed and pillows are pretty crappy) we woke up to a delicious local breakfast provided by the hotel for 5€ each. Bread, cheese, ham, sweet bread, muffins, toast and lots of OJ or coffee. We needed sustenance because today was mountain climbing day! 
At 8:45am we all walked a few mins up the road to board the Nuria valley cog wheel railway, also called a rack railway. It’s the only way to access Nuria Valley from this side of the mountain. We went up (50min trip), explored a little and then met for lunch. B and some others hiked to a peak and then came back down to share lunch with us. On my little exploration I saw ponies, horses and a baby donkey! Not to mention some amazing views. 

 

We caught a cable car partway up one of the peaks

  

baby donkey!

  

Nuria Valley

  

Nuria Valley from waaaaay higher up

  

beautiful!

 
Afterwards, two of us caught the rack railway back down while the others hiked 3hrs and 9.1kms down to the second railway stop, then caught the last train back. I elected not to walk down for lots of reasons but mostly because once you committed, you had to keep going and it was pretty steep in parts…my poor knee! Also, one of our tour members wasn’t feeling too flash so I kept her company on the train. 

Here are some of B’s photos from that walk though, amazing.

 

this is my favourite!

  
   
  

While waiting for him to return from mountain climbing, I explored the local town of Ribes de Freser a little more.

the town is proud of its catalan heritage and this huge flag on the mountain shows it

  

  

just a random pretty picture

 

After everyone got back from being mountain goats, we have rest time for a few hours and then are off for a late dinner of the national dish – Paella. We had to opt for meat or fish (easy for me – no seafood!) and I have high hopes for impending deliciousness.

Mel

Tomorrow: onwards to Carcossonne in France! Goodby Spain.

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Day 7: Final farewell to Barcelona and an intro to Ribes de Freser in the Pyrenees 

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Mel

As a group, we checked out of our Barcelona hotel at 10am and headed into the city centre for a little guided tour. We started with some Gaudi architecture and went past Caso Battlo – Gaudis house and then another Gaudi building with less colour but where the stone and flowing lines clearly show the distinct architectural style.
 

Gaudi’s house in Barcelona

  
 We then moved on to walk through La Catedral, a church built for the poorer members of the community in the middle of the gothic quarter. When we went in it had a service on so could only see a small part. The best part was the geese! They just hang out and live in the cloisters. 

   
  

SERIOUSLY! GEESE IN A CHURCH!

  

GEESE!!!

 From here we wandered back up Las Ramblas and then back to the hotel where luggage was collected and it was onwards to the regional train station. Then a 2hr train trip to Ribes de Freser in the Pyrenees. Percy was feeling motion sick so needed a cuddle on the train. Okay maybe that was me…

 

i love you percy

 
I tried a three prong approach to battle the motion sickness this time since I’m determined not to take travacalm and turn into a drooling zombie.

1. Sit near a window and watch the horizon the whole time 

2. Eat candy (something to suck on) as it was what I used to do when I was little and it really helped 

3. No reading ANYTHING on the train, including signs or maps

Overall success? It all worked well until I ran out of candy. Candy seems to be the key! Definitely not feeling as bad this time around though. 

On arrival in Ribes de Freser we walked 10 mins down the road to the Hotel Catalanya, which is a very small hotel run by two ladies (mother and daughter, I think). The room is small but lovely and finally – we have a double bed! Haha no more jumping from one bed to the other like small children…damn. There was some mild worry when in the conversation about our room we picked up “matrimono?” with an affirmative from our tour leader but it turns out that word is part of the phrase for double bed. 

  
We had an hour of relaxation time (I really needed a shower…stiiiiinky) and then it was off for our first group dinner in this tiny little town. 

 

yep, its a mountain village….and thats not even the mountain!

 
 

the local river…also where they wash their clothes

 
Dinner was at a local bar and was AMAZING. I had chicken broqette and B had the traditional local Catalan sausage. 

   

catalana sausage (pork)

 
For dessert we both had the Creme Catalana which the area is also known for. Delicious! The total for two mains, tapas (not pictured) of potatos, 2 desserts and 4 drinks was 32€. Not bad after coping with Barcelona prices for the last week. 

 

creme catalana…so much deliciousness

 
That plus 2 beers for B and 2 wines for me has been enough to ensure a good nights rest with a full belly tonight 🙂

Steps today: 20914
Kilometres today: 14.6kms 

Tomorrow: MOUNTAIN GOAT MEL! We shall see if I actually give in to peer pressure and climb up the damn mountain peak….

Mel 

P.S. Every single person in our tour group has an osprey brand backpack or wheeled bag. I was very reassured by the older couple who told me that although they had what we had (a wheeled bag with straps to convert to a backpack) they hadn’t used the backpack straps once in 5 years. Excellent. B has also been very excited to talk to the same couple about their multiple South America trips as that is next on his list. 

P.P.S. We have wifi here (which surprised me) but it is very slow. Argh 25 mins to upload this post! First world problems 🙂

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Fun fact: Barcelona tap water 

Posted on October 18, 2015 by Mel

Barcelona tap water is completely safe to drink according to every travel guide and the Spanish water authority – so i have no doubt that’s true.

However if you are someone like me who has a lot of contact sensitivities and allergies….it may not be the best thing for your stomach. Ow. No more tap water for Mel! Just sangria 🙂 

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Day 6: Last day in Barcelona and meeting our intrepid travel group for the Barcelona to Rome Intrepid Adventure (15 days)

Posted on October 18, 2015 by Mel

Despite our best effort, sleeping in was a bust. We were down at breakfast by 8am and then the process to sort out our booking transition was much easier than the trip advisor reviews led us to believe – we handed over the old room cards, settled the room bill and they reissued new ones. No problems! We had to do this because we are now officially on day 1 of our intrepid tour…weeeee. Day 1 is mostly people arriving at the hotel from their home country though so it’s still an exploring day for us.

Little exploring was done though. After breakfast we did some hand washing then…had a siesta. Post-siesta we went back to Les Ramblas for people watching and delicious sangria, cerveza (beer) and pizza. Mmmmm. Plus churros and chocolate sauce. More mmmm. Sine we then had until 7pm until our meet and greet, we siesta-d some more. Basically, it was an extremely lazy day. 

  
We met our very small intrepid group at 7pm. It consists of us, a couple from Canada around our parents age (at a guess) and another young lady from Australia on her first overseas trip. We have a fifth person joining us in a few days as well. Our tour guide is Andrea and he’s from Italy, he seems very well travelled and has been working for intrepid for 3 years. After our brief run through it was back to bed/dinner/exploring for the group before a 10am checkout tomorrow. We took the bed option….a very, very lazy day! 

Steps taken: 6905

Kilometres walked: 4.8km

Tomorrow: As a group, we are off to Ribes de Freser to explore the Nuria Valley

Mel 

P.S. No wifi for the next few days so will upload more posts and what I’m guessing will be some pretty photos once we return to civilisation 🙂 

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Day 5: Touristing around Barcelona and then boobies (not mine…obviously…)

Posted on October 17, 2015 by Mel

Day 5 started very early after the siesta fail and an epic 12 hour sleep. We had finished breakfast by 7:30am and were on our way to be tourists. First stop was the Arc de Triomf where the view was obscured by some car show that was setting up. 
  
Then we walked up to the Parc de la Ciutadella and explored. As it was so early we had to play dodge the homeless person, but we got to see the Cascada monument which was quite impressive…and a giant mammoth. The parks themselves were very pretty as well. 

 

cascada monument with the sun rising slowly behind it

 
 

mel and the mammoth

  

B and the mammoth

 

We then walked through the gothic quarter to check out where Picasso used to live and down to the waterfront where the aquarium is. 

 

gothic quarter

 
 

the aquarium is apprently the largest in europe…but nothing compared to sea world etc. So heads up that you may be disappointed with your 20€ spend

 

After the aquarium it was back up to the gothic quarter to find Euskal Etxe which is a tapas bar where you pay by the toothpick omnomnom. 

  

A short metro trip brought us back to the hotel where I had a rest for awhile as I seem to have hurt my back from walking all the hills yesterday. Yay for arthritis in my spine making itself known at inopportune moments. Grrr. 

After our rest it was off to the cabaret show at El Molino! We were prepared with what we had worked out from the Internet: it was naughty but interesting, it was all spoken in Spanish, they were likely to include us once they realised we didn’t know Spanish and it was in the middle of the party district of L’Eixample. 
We got there early and found dinner in a local restaurant…first time trying paella and it was tasty. The half a litre of cava sangria certainly topped it off haha.
   
 
After dinner at Bar Stage we walked 2 mins up the road to the show. It’s well worth being early as it determines your seat! While lining up for the show we had the brief intro performance (yes, that is ladies dancing under the windmill) and then we were able to go in. Showing our sms ticket which we bought 2 days ago for 50€ (that got us 2 entry tickets + a bottle of cava) was enough to get in where we were targeted straight away as non spanish speaking and sat in the very front row. The show was fabulous and even though the MC spoke in Spanish, she included us. I had a half naked guy on my lap for a kiss and B had a lady in lingerie use him as a seat so we were both happy at the end! The agreed highlight was the aerial performance with silks. That lady was amazing. 

   

El Molino as we left at 8pm

 

Steps today: 24102

Kilometres: 16.9km

Tomorrow: I have no idea, I drank 1/2 a litre of sangria and then shared a bottle of cava (sort of a mix between champagne and passion pop). Sooooo tomorrow is for sleeping as far as I am concerned right now! 

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