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.
Mel's Travel Blog 