We weren't looking forward to what we thought would be a long drive south on fairly flat terrAine. After leaving the Picos de Europa our thoughts were turning to the return trip home to Canada. In order to make it special we decided to book Paradors for the next four nights. Little did I know that the next few days would bring many pleasant surprises.The first day we drove along the coast before turning south to Lerma & our first experience in a Parador.Le...

What a walk! So different from storm watching by the ocean..it took a couple of days to drive to the Picos deal Europa. Spent one night in Langre which is a confusing power plant town in a good location for a stop. Ate a very delicious dinner in the very fancy Langrehotel restaurant. It was good to treat ourselves because the next three days were going to be basic lodging, basic food and plenty of exercise.The closer we got to the Park the more rain seemed to...

The drive along the North west coast of Spain, known as the Costa del Morte (or coast of death because of all the ship wrecks here) was a photographer's fantasy! The road alternately takes you through sleepy fishing villages, past white sandy beaches and around impossibly craggy rock outcrops. Not a busy tourist area we were surprised to find many restaurants still shut for the season...at least that's what we hoped was the case as many businesses are c...

Before I tell you about our 5 days in the Catalan capital of Barcelona I have to mention the very squeaky streets (if I've mentioned them before just disregard this bit....I never reread my blogs!). It started in Granada. Our shoes were making so much noise on the cobblestones and so were everyone else's including the wild screeches as the cars turned corners. We couldn't figure it out and it was driving me crazy so I just had to ask at Tourist Info...

I was going to title this entry "Bus Blunder With Busting Bladder" but that is only part of the story.we left Barcelona on the 8am bus headed for Madrid Airport to pick up another car. The poor driver battled morning rush hour trying to maneuver the huge bus on to a single lane (3 lanes merge in to 1) access road to the highway. So nice to sit back & watch it all without driving in it! Rolling farm land with snow capped peaks of the Pyranese in the distance. ...