| SPAIN Advised by the locals not to try with the 'traction a derriere' of the VW we decided to retrace our route and enter Spain on the coastal autoroute, turn left and head toward Pamplona. We stayed in Sunbila camping ground surrounded by snow capped hills. One of the lessons learnt from touring Europe before, confirmed by hiring cars in North America, was to always have good street maps BEFORE entering a city. I made the mistake of thinking we could find our way around Zaragoza using the Lonely Planet map. After hours of fruitless, frustrating driving in circles I finally admitted defeat and drove out of the city got a map at a service station and ended up free camping on the banks of the Rio Ebro. The weather had improved substantially so we really enjoyed walking around a very interesting city. The highlights were the Roman ruins, the cathedral and a procession of locals celebrating an Easter festival. We drove slowly through the Huesca region that encompassed the kingdom of Aragon, the gateway to the Iberian Peninsula. Hence the plethora of castles and fortified villages, including Castille de Loarre and Alquezar, magnificent ! One night we stopped at ..... intending to stay at the Parador , a magic castle high up on the top of a hill. I think the receptionist thought I wasn't 'the right type' which translated meant 'too poor' to stay there. He said we would have to book at least one month in advance. It was the first time I had been made to feel less than equal to all the seniors travelling around in the big busses. Oh well, we'll just have to organise a Parador next time. Cruised on through the lovely weather, magic food and facinating scenery to Barcelona. We stayed in a campground on the outskirts of the city in the flightpath of the international airport. Pretty awful, compounded by the fact that we mistook the bus stop on the way back at night and had to walk along the freeway in the dark. Not a nice experience. Our visit to the Maritime Museum was a highlight, especially the galley with the holoscope of the slaves rowing. We were later to see a painting of the admiral (John of Austria ) that commanded the galley in the famous battle of Lepanto on the wall of a castle in the Czech Republic. Made our way north via the Costa Brava (couldn't see what the fuss was about) and through the beautiful countryside south and east of Toulouse. We found Camping Le Rupe on a canal north of the city, explained to the manager about leaving the van until we reurned to participate in the Golden Oldies festival (it's called 'garage mort') and purchased train tickets to Rome. The train schedule included sufficent time in Nice for us to have a leisurely meal, unfortunately the train was late and we only had time to snatch a snack and by the time the train arrived in Rome we were ravenous. So we began our TRAFALGAR Tour. |
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