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Bike tour September 1994 Last time we had 14 and 15 gears respetively, but we noticed that this constellations were not enough, so we decide to upgrade into 21 on each bicycle. We also bought new bags for our bikes because the old ones were bad quality and were already useless. Unluckily, we've had as good as no training up to this day. We had to start training because Mónica has to reach the 60 Km per day mark. Next day, near midday, we had established our tent on the premises of "Camping La Brasa" at Playa Pobla del Farnals. It took us quite a long time to get here because we had no maps of the region which I had planned to buy upon arrival. As it was, this citymap was not so easily found. We searched quite a long time before we got a plan at a petrol station. Somehow we finally did arrive and we had a very good steak with french fries and a couple of beers at the camping's own restaurant. We left the bikes here and took the bus to Valencia, which was not far away. The first thing we saw, as we descended at the bus stop, was the Church of Santa Mónica. I lost no time an had Mónica posing just in front of it. Made quite a nice foto, but later in Berlin realized the name of the church was not on the picture. Pity... There was quite a lot to see and visit here in Valencia. The old Serrano bridge crossing over what once was the river Turia, today totally dry. Ther we saw the Serranos Tower, then the Generalitat, Virgin Square, the cathedral, the church "Nuestra Señora de los desamparados, the old market place known as "La Lonja" and right beside it the more modern Market, from there we went to see "los Patios de Colegio" y and the Quart Towers. After this last bit of turistic sightseeing we searched for a supermarket, grocery store or anything like that so as to buy something to eat for tonight. Later in the evening,back at the camping, we had a good dinner with plenty of beer and before we went for a shower and to bed we played some cards. Next day we left quite early... an did only 26 kms. Better so, then as I took all the luggage off my bicycle I noticed that the back wheel had a broken spoke. So the very first thing to do were some repairs. These were done quite fast because the camping owner had a very well suited mechanic bench and with my know-how, my tools and this wonderful mechanics bench the job was done real fast. Afterwards I joined Mónica taking a rest and a bath at the beach. But the beach wasn't that nice so we retreated into the camping's own swimmingpool. All in all a very relaxed day, but at this pace we will not travel far. On the 7th we went on a 10 kms tour to visit the fortress of Sagunto. After the one hour and a half bike tour we had to sit for while in a bar to drink something cool and to rest a bit in the shadow. It seemed we were not really good trained, but at least we were both better trained as the year before in Peloponese.This short trip was not pleasant. Not at all! Mónica kept having problems with her gears, and my back wheel would not run smoothly, not even centered! We had to stop many times to do some repairs, knowing they would'nt last long. I would have to do mechanics again after returning to the camping. We saw from outside the "Roman Theater" which has been built new, far to modern for that what it once was...did'nt like it. I could'nt but think they should have left it as a ruin instead of modernizing it. We wanted to visit the "Hermita de la Sangre" but it was closed because it is being restaurated. We went for lunch and at about four o'clock in the afternoon we went to visit the the Roman Theater, earlier it was not open, and afterwards we went to visit the fortress. Got quite impressed, it's enormous. On the way back to the camping place we stopped at the supermarkt to buy all we needed for dinner. And as we arrived back to the camping we went straight to the swimmingpool for a bath. Then we prepared our dinner, ate, and afterwards we went for a shower. 8th and 9th 17:00 Siesta time at Camping "Oasis" in Oropesa del Mar. We had a fine lunch, Paella Valenciana! This lunch and the following siesta are our reward for doing the 74 Kms between Canet d'en Berenger and Oropesa in six and a half hours. Four and a half hours strampling and two resting on the way. Between Benicassim and Oropesa we had some very strapacious slopes. Very short, but very steep. I realized that upgrading our gears up to 21 was a very good idea, I could do all the slopes mounted, Mónica had to walk a bit because it was to much for her. We stayed in this camping for two days. Went to visit the King's Tower (Torre del Rey) and spent a lot of time at the beach. But we went also shopping! We bought two air matressess. We had a very sound sleep that night. Great the matressess, until mine bursted...I suppose I weight too much for the matress... We had a great lunch in the Campings restaurant, with wine! As I went to sleep my siesta I was quite drunk But I had already bought a new air matress, quite expensive but great. On the tenth at about one o'clock in the afternoon we had settled our tent in Camping "Cactus", about 3,5 kms from Peñíscola. On this day we were awake at about five o'clock in the morning and we were leaving camping Oasis at about half past seven. We needed almost four hours for the 52 kms between Oropesa and Peñíscola, not bad but it could be better. Mónica found this road to have too much heavy traffic. Her bike trembled each time a lorry passed her. She found also it had too many slopes, I on the other hand found it to be a very pleasant ride with only two slopes which were long, but not so steep...different way to see and feel the road. After we had settled our tent we went shopping and went to the beach. The beach was great, nice waves, green coloured water...but no sand, we had cobbles under our feet! We had to enter with shoes on! We then went to see the castle. We could not visit the gardens; because of being on this day the festivity of the patron of the city it was closed. We learned quite a lot. The city is antique, first of all it was a settlement of the iberos, later came the celts, the fenicians, the greek, the cartagines, then the arabs. Then it was a feudal state of the Templary Order and between 1412 and 1422 the "counterpope", Pope Luna (Benedict XIII) was settled here. We really had a great time visiting this place. At half ten in the evening we went to a restaurant named "El Pollo" and had a great dinner which consisted of Paella for two, and half a liter beer for me, Mónica had water. 11th Again we woke up at five, but were not on the way until half past eight. It seems we can't make it any faster. Short after Sant Carles de la Rápita, in the province of Tarragona, my back wheel bursted. I had to change tyre and chamber. While mounting everything together I realized one of the nuts holding the axle is broken. I had to walk all the way back to Sant Carles de la Rápita and into the Camping Los Alfaques in Playa Alcanar, that was a 6 km walk pushing the full loaded bike. As we arrived and I had asked about a bicycle repair shop, I was told "today is all closed, you will have to wait until tomorrow". I got quite mad, and went to sleep until my anger left me. On the twelfth we went for a walk down town. We were looking for the necessary spare parts. Quite an odyssee, but eventually we did find a place where I could buy what I needed, and for very little money! The rest of the morning I was busy with my mechanics, afterwards we went to the beach, but it was quite dirty and we left soon. To sleep a siesta was imposible because of the heat. The day ended with a dinner in the restaurant and afterwards a game of cards. We then fell both asleep. This day was really thursday 13!....We had been awakend at about three in the morning through thunder, wind and heavy rain. There was a terrific storm going on. We tried to sleep again after getting our clothes, which were hanging on the line, in....it was almost imposible so loud were the thunders. But ebentually we somehow managed to fall asleep again. Our alarmclock ringed at five and at a quarter to eight we were on our way. But we made 66 km in five and a half hours with a lot of flat tyres, I had just finished repairing and were no more than a couple of minutes on our way and, pffffttt again a flat tyre!! At the end my the tube of my back wheel hed no more places for parchments. I would have to by a new tube. And somewhere short of L'Hospitalet de l'Infant one of the spokes of the back wheel broke, not just any, it had to be one on the side of the gears. And it didn't just break, o no, it got all tangled up and produced a full stop. I almost landed on my nose! And to topple it all, as we were in the camping, tent allready put up, bikes freed of the luggage, there was a loud blast and the back wheel needed not only a new tube, but a new tyre as well. And then we found out the market in the camping was allready closed, it was five thirty by the time we had everything ready and we started thinking about dinner, half an hour too late! And as if that all were not enough, I found out that we could not pay in advance, we had to pay at the time of departure, and one could not pay before eight in the morning!! Late this night there was a more terrifical storm as the night before. It made the whole tent tremble, kept me awake trying to hammer down the pegs, and tore a piece of our tent. Really this had been a Thursday 13th! 14th. And I kept having problems with my back wheel. All the way to Tarragona I had a flat tyre after the other, a couple os spokes broke on the worst side of that damned wheel and the camping to the city of Tarragona is 2 kms away. I took two decisions which would endanger our cash reserves, we would be staying in a small hotel and I would leave my bike in a bike shop hoping that if it is repaired by experts my problems with that goddamned back wheel will be forever solved. On the next day I went to pick up the bike. A new tube, a new tyre, five new spokes and the wheel perfectly centered and we are a couple of pesetas poorer. I remember I wondered for how long would now the repairs last, if it had been the couple pesetas worth...We then settled in for a 10 hours walk. We visited the old part of Tarragona: the cathedral and its museum, the Plaza Pallol, the Portal de Rosser, the Paseo Arqueológico, the jewish neighbourhood, the Forum, the Castellarnan House, a couple of museums, the Circus, and the Anphitheatre. We then went to the train station to find out what it would cost to take the train from Sitges to Malgrat de Mar. We had to shorten our tour somehow then otherwise we would not be in Mallorca on time to take our plane back. 16th. I found on the outskirts of Tarragona a place where I can get the tent repaired! So of we go with our bikes in search of this place. We left the tent and have to pick it up at about 8 in the evening. From here we went to see the Roman Aqueduct. Those romans were real masters in the construction of this things. We then returned to Tarragona and went to visit the Serrallo (that is the fishermens' nighbourhood). And had lunch in a restaurant. O boy, was that lunch great. Fish soup, Zarzuela de pescado, dessert, coffee and a very good white wine. Afterwards, we found a shop where we bought some books on sailing and paid for them to be shipped to Berlin. 17th. We made today 53 kms and reached Sitges. Today we've done our 430th km on this trip! And we are taking the train to Malgrat de Mar. We woke up quite early and went with full loaded bikes to visit museums. We left our bikes at a surveyed Parking and started visiting "Cau Ferrat" a museum dedicated to Santiago Rusiñol. The "Miracel" museum was closed and somehow, although we had been waiting and had shecked in for the guided visit, we were left out at the "Romantic Museum". Afterwards we took the train to Barcelona Sants and from there the next train to Malgrat de Mar. From Malgrat on we were again on aour bikes for about 23 kms. All the way up! We stayed at "Camping Cala Levadó". Really a very nice camping. And we had no sooner finished putting up our tent, it started raining. As we were unloading our bikes I realized I would have to do some mechanics on the next day. 19th I was the whole of the morning busy with mechanics. I had quite a lot to do; a change of light bulb, a change of tubes and some fumbling around with the gears on my bike; a little fumbling around with the gears, adjusting of steering and seat on Móni's bike. Afterwards we washed and dried our clothes (it is really a first class camping!). We decided to finish our cycle tour here because it is very nice. We also decided to rent a car for a day on the 22nd and go visiting Empuries and the Dalí museum in Figueres. 20th The weather was definitively not on our side. The skies were a menacing grey. The night before we had dinner at the camping's Grill restaurant. I had a whole chicken with french fries and a beer. I really don't know what of it all it was, or if it was the combination, fact is on this day I had a terrible headache. We then went to Tossa de Mar those were the fastest three km we have ever made...it was all the way downhill. We visited "Villa Vella" and then, while we waited for the opening of the diferent museums (they were all closed untill five) we went for a great lunch in a very elegant restaurant. I didn't even want to know what kind of a hole we were doing on our budget. We had really a very fine kunch; fish soup, pealla for two, icecream, cokes for both and at the end of it all a coffee for each. After lunch we went shopping and later to visit the museums. 21st My birthday! Turned 33! Woke up all wet. It ahd bee raining like hell the whole night. Everything in the tent is wet! I went to pay for our parcel and rented a caravan for the next two days. At half past nine in the evening we went with the bus to Tossa. We had dinner at another fine restaurant and then went on to a place where they had live music and flamenco dancers. Really nice. All of this as Birthday party, not bad! 22nd We woke up early. Someone brought the car we had rented and we settled in for a nice car trip. We had a very nice time visiting Empuries although the weather was still not good. Took a lot of fotos, but both cameras didn't work correctly so that I would not know till Berlin how many of these fotos would really turn out to be good. From here we went to Figueres to see Dali's museum. Impressive, but I did not find any of the paintings I knew. Guess they hang in other museums. 23rd We tried to get everything into the car, was imposible so I decided to call the car rental office and ask for a van. No chance. We had to give the car back and then take a Taxi. As it was somehow cheaper as the train, we decided to take the taxi all the way to Barcelona. We gave the address of a good friend of mine which I knew from my childhood, she comes also from Uruguay, and settled in for a car ride. Rosina's face as she saw all our luggage was worth a foto. Anyways we were grandly welcome at her place. I finally met her husband and daughter. It was really very nice to meet this old friend once more after so many years. Had quite a lot to tell. 24th till 30th We got a key of the apartment and went downtown. We visited a couple of museums and saw a procession going on along the Ramblas. Once again the mad photographer took a lot of pictures. And once again had lunch in a fine restaurant. We moved in the morning of the next day to the apartment of a friend of Rosina. Then on this day were Rosinas' parents to arrive and they needed the place we were using. So we were to stay the rest of the days at Monika's place. After moving we went downtown once more. We went to see a procession called "Correfoc" (running the fire) and then saw the fireworks at Montjüic. It was great, and tiring. As soon as we arrived a Monika's place we fell asleep. The next days we went to visit the cathedral "Santa Familia", "Parque Güell", the "Gaudí museum", the "Miró Foundation", the "Poble Espanyol", "La Pedrera", the "Maritime Museum". On one day I stayed home to see a Corrida, a bullfight, on TV, while Mónica went with Monika to do some shopping. On the 30th we took the ferry back to Palma de Mallorca. 01.10.99 We had a very nice sleep in our cabin. And were at about half past eight in the morning on the first bulk of passengers to disembark. One hour later we were settled in the Hostal Valencia. In Palma we visited a couple of churches, the cathedral and the arabian baths. On the next day we took our plane to Berlin at about seven in the evening. We left Spain having done 491,5 kms on our Bikes plus some more on car and train. And then, once in Berlin, we made still 14 km more from the airport to our home. We completed 505 kms!
For us more important, we would be 3 in nine months!!!
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