To the pyranees

Up at 7. Last night I slept quite well with ear plugs and a sleep mask that I took from airfrance. Eden said it took her several hours to go to sleep but she went to sleep a lot later than me, when the first wave of partiers were returning. Ate first bfast at the hostel - pretty good, lots of pastries but they gave us a roll too, then made our way to the explore catalyuna office. We almost made it on time but were going around in circles trying to find our street by 8:25, when our tour was supposed to leave, so paid a taxi driver 2.30 euro to take us around the block. He seemed a little baffled by our request. 

Good news! We made it to our tour in time. Our guide Victoria was very nice and only drove a little crazy (I think the other drivers were crazier). We are going up to the Pyrenees with 5 other people - a brother and sister from just outside Seattle, a woman from Toronto, and two friends from Alabama. The Seattle siblings have done France, Ireland and Belgium so far and Barcelona is their last stop before returning home. The friends from Alabama (who are in nursing school together) are going around Spain - next to Seville and I can't remember where else, I think Madrid. Then one of them is staying in Spain for a six week study abroad program. The woman from Toronto is only in Spain for 2 and a half weeks before returning to work. She did the Monticello tour already and said it was beautiful, that she wished they had skipped the wine tasting tour part and just stayed in Monticello. 

Now we have left the city limits and Barcelona is even more beautiful, if possible, from a distance. It probably helps that the sun is just now hitting all the red-orange rooftops and the gently sloping hills. I can't take a good picture of it but as we are climbing into the mountains I see an orange hot air balloon with one broad white stripe around the middle up in the clear blue sky. It is resting above an anvil-shaped hill jutting out above the plain below.

 Vic was our first stop. We parked the van in a parking deck and walked around the outer wall (from the 12th cent.) where Victoria (appropriately-named : ) showed us the metal containers they used to put fires in to light the way.

Here is what I caught of the history of Vic:

- Romans established it, marked it in their books and didn't do much with it after that

- They all went back to protect the empire in 10th cent. (?)

- after the 10th cent an Episcopalian  school was established 

- French, Muslims and just a out everyone else settled there because of the fertile valley and the school

- modern history: everyone speaks Catalan. 10 years ago influx of Muslims and Africans - city becomes cultural hub . Pork is the main industry today. You can smell it.

We stopped in at the main cathedral on our tour (date?). The paintings on the walls were done by Dali's friend, Joseph Maria Sert. They were painted 2x because they were taken down by the communists and he repainted them later. What impressed me were the huge ceilings and the square columns. To further enhance the ambiance of prayer and sanctuary there were speakers at the base of the pillars that played monks singing and the whole place smelt strongly of old books. 

Also on our tour before Victoria set us loose in the city (only for an hour) we saw a roman temple that was partially destroyed in the civil war but left that way to honor the dead. We also stopped by a humongous farmer's market that Eden said was actually more of a flea market. They sold everything from underwear to chickens.

Something I need to remember to tell Emily when I get back is the history behind the Catalonian independence flag: it is a mix of the Cuban and Spanish flag because Cuba was the last Spanish country to loose it's independence to Spain. It is very popular in Vic. and further north. 

Went up to the hotel in the Vall de Nuria. Hiked around the lake and up to a vista then went in cable car up mnt. The only sound was the squeaking of the wires. We left the lake far behind and climbed up to where the firs were sparse and cows (vacas), goats (caballos), elk and these cute little marmot/groundhog things all sat lazing about in the dappled sun. The fog covered our view almost as soon as we got to the top. We walked to a site where the crucifixion and Jesus grave were then walked around the side so that we could see the other side of the mountain.


I walked ahead of Eden a bit and was able to take in the view privately. I wish we could have spent several days hiking all the trails. They had camp sites around the hotel. Alas, we raced back to catch our group.

Finished our evening with a late dinner (8:45) at the travel bar. We were going to use our vouchers from the hostel but I really wasn't feeling pasta since I'd had it for lunch so we opted for some items off the menu. Eden had a Cajun chicken salad with roasted veggies and balsamic vinegar. I got chicken and roasted vegetables but that wasn't enough to fill me so got a tapa of chorizo and cheese to supplement. Our waiter was really friendly an we found he is break dancer from Miami who is in between jobs. He had the puma logo tattooed on his neck but said they have since stopped funding him, thus his job at travel bar. Such is the life of an artist.