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| Crossing the Meridian! |
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| Toledo - it's really pretty! |
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| Bridge into Toledo |
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| Zaragoza by night |
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| Islamic-style arches in Aljafería |
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| Canada? |
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Holy Toledo!
So, when Marcio and I moved out of Delft we sent. Bunch of our stuff (anything we didn't want on the bikes) with Isa, who lives in Toledo, had a car in Delft, and had to leave it at home before flying off for the summer. Thus most of our stuff was still sitting in her folks' house in Toledo. It was a pretty quick plan, but we decided to rent a car for 3 days and go see Toledo, collect our things, and stop by Zaragoza on the way back.
The drive was kind of long, but we made it without any major hiccups. Isa's parents were REALLY nice, and the city was beautiful. What was really challenging was trying to function in a social setting in Spanish. This truly stretched my brain and left me very tired, even though I didn't say much. We went to the far side of the river and looked at the city from one of the surrounding hills - it's really a beautiful city. We had a marvelous home-cooked Spanish meal, courtesy of Isa's mom, too. :)
The following day we wandered around the city of Toledo, including the really impressive cathedral and the Jewish Quarter, then we hit the road and drove to Zaragoza. Once again, no real trouble along the way, though I think we were all glad to be driving only half way.
In Zaragoza we went to the Aljafería, a former Islamic palace converted to a christian palace then a military fort (with moat!) and now the parlimentary seat for Aragòn. It was a remarkable combination of cultures and architecture. We also went to Nosotra Señora de la Pilar, a HUGE basilica in the center of town. It was impressive for its size, but it couldn't match the cathedral in Toledo for impression.
After that we drove our way back into Barcelona, where Marcio and I unpacked, turning our shell-like rooms into home at last!
EBT Epilogue - Barcelona
On 25 August 2012 we arrived in Barcelona! We got there in the afternoon and hung out in the park near the Sagrada Familia until the time came to meet Aline and our landlady so we could get keys for our new flat. The flat is HUGE, and the location is great! We settled a bit then slept like the dead.
The next day Marcio and I went up to Montjuïc to see the arrival of the Vuelta de España, completing our cycling vacation.
It's pretty crazy to be settled... Though we still don't have all our stuff - there's some in the mail, and we need to pick up the rest from a friend in Toledo; however, we've got a plan to go there quite soon!
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| Arrival at the Sagrada Familia |
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| My room! It's HUGE! |
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| Arrival of La Vuelta |
EBT Chapter 4 - The South Coast
Toulon to La Ciotat
From Toulon we rode west to La Ciotat, taking us up over the cliffs. The views were great, but the climb was a bit intense in the heat. We went to the biggest Carrefour I've ever seen to get dinner food - seriously, it was bigger than a Costco. Unfortunately, we were both still feeling a little sick from our bout of heat exhaustion, so we had to keep to simple food.
La Ciotat to Cassis
We had a serious climb into the hills to get back to the cliffs on the way to Cassis. The view was great, though the climb was HOT. At this point we decided to change our travel timing so we could stop cycling at 10am (when the temperature got up over 30), thus we started waking pretty early and planning routes carefully.
Cassis to Port-du-Bouc
From Cassis we decided to take a train to Marseilles and cycle from there. Marseilles was a bit industrial for us (the route out we took, that is), and it didn't take long for our route to take us off the coast en route to Martigues. The ride was actually really gross, since it's a series of industrial precessing plants, each accompanied by its own terrible scent. When we got to Martigues, they tried to send us south 15 km for camping, but we decided to try out luck west, since that's where we were going. We ended up camping in Port-du-Bouc.
I'm not proud, but There we actually stopped at a McDonalds for internet (and ice cream) and planned the rest of the trip. You see, when it's hot and you've been feeling sick, cycling isn't really as much fun. We worked out a one week end game.
Port-du-Bouc to Arles
We rode on a National Route in the morning heading for Arles, but it was pretty busy (truck pressure waves suck, btw), so we switched to some back roads. We found a campground about 10km outside Arles and decided to stop. Arles is next to the Camargue, a huge wetland park, which means the whole area is thick enough with mosquitos that you can choke on them if you take too deep a breath. It was also obscenely hot. We spent all day sitting inside the tent reading then jumping in the pool for a few minutes and repeating. Btw, paying for camping with pool that day was one of the better investments along this trip. We got an email from a CS host near Beziérs, too, which set us up nicely for the rest of the trip plan.
Arles to Vandres Plage
We rode into Arles pretty early, but there were mosquitos before dawn... After our stay there I looked like I had a nasty pox... We took the train from Arles to Beziérs then cycled south to the coast and met our CS host, who was to be a Salsa Party Organizer by trade and informed us that there happened to be a salsa party that night! We spent the day hanging out on the beach then went to a salsa party on the beach in the evening. This meant we didn't sleep until around 2am, in spite of being exhausted, and we needed to manage our morning time pretty carefully to catch a train in Narbonne.
Vendres Plage to Carcassonne
So of course we overslept. We rushed out and cycled like mad, but we made it with 30 min to spare! We caught a train from Narbonne to Carcassonne, which is really a neat city. It's a fortified old city (it used to be an important one on the Spain-France border), and it still looks like a castle out of a movie. We spent the day wandering the city and its fortifications and concluded by eating some delicious cassoulet (white beans, duck, and sausage all cooked together).
Carcassonne to Cerbére
From Carcassonne we rode to Narbonne again then caught a train south to Cerbére, the last town before crossing into Spain. We camped there and hit the hay pretty early since we needed to get up around 4:30 to cross the Pyrenees before it got too hot.
Cerbére to Barcelona
We woke, packed, and set out so early that we had to use our bike lights. However, this meant I got to see my first sunrise over the Sea - while cycling over the Pyrenees. No words. The crossing wasn't easy, per se, but we'd basically been training for 4 weeks, so it wasn't nearly as hard as I expected. We crossed the mountains near the sea (beautiful) then cut inland to Figueres, home of Salvador Dalí. From there we decided to take a train into Barcelona instead of looking for camping. Also, much of North Barcelona is industrial, and we really didn't want to ride through that.
From Toulon we rode west to La Ciotat, taking us up over the cliffs. The views were great, but the climb was a bit intense in the heat. We went to the biggest Carrefour I've ever seen to get dinner food - seriously, it was bigger than a Costco. Unfortunately, we were both still feeling a little sick from our bout of heat exhaustion, so we had to keep to simple food.
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| Cliffs! |
We had a serious climb into the hills to get back to the cliffs on the way to Cassis. The view was great, though the climb was HOT. At this point we decided to change our travel timing so we could stop cycling at 10am (when the temperature got up over 30), thus we started waking pretty early and planning routes carefully.
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| Cliffs! |
From Cassis we decided to take a train to Marseilles and cycle from there. Marseilles was a bit industrial for us (the route out we took, that is), and it didn't take long for our route to take us off the coast en route to Martigues. The ride was actually really gross, since it's a series of industrial precessing plants, each accompanied by its own terrible scent. When we got to Martigues, they tried to send us south 15 km for camping, but we decided to try out luck west, since that's where we were going. We ended up camping in Port-du-Bouc.
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| Leaving Marseilles |
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| Look at that table. Who brings that camping? |
We rode on a National Route in the morning heading for Arles, but it was pretty busy (truck pressure waves suck, btw), so we switched to some back roads. We found a campground about 10km outside Arles and decided to stop. Arles is next to the Camargue, a huge wetland park, which means the whole area is thick enough with mosquitos that you can choke on them if you take too deep a breath. It was also obscenely hot. We spent all day sitting inside the tent reading then jumping in the pool for a few minutes and repeating. Btw, paying for camping with pool that day was one of the better investments along this trip. We got an email from a CS host near Beziérs, too, which set us up nicely for the rest of the trip plan.
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| The Wastes |
We rode into Arles pretty early, but there were mosquitos before dawn... After our stay there I looked like I had a nasty pox... We took the train from Arles to Beziérs then cycled south to the coast and met our CS host, who was to be a Salsa Party Organizer by trade and informed us that there happened to be a salsa party that night! We spent the day hanging out on the beach then went to a salsa party on the beach in the evening. This meant we didn't sleep until around 2am, in spite of being exhausted, and we needed to manage our morning time pretty carefully to catch a train in Narbonne.
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| Beach city! With our CS host. |
So of course we overslept. We rushed out and cycled like mad, but we made it with 30 min to spare! We caught a train from Narbonne to Carcassonne, which is really a neat city. It's a fortified old city (it used to be an important one on the Spain-France border), and it still looks like a castle out of a movie. We spent the day wandering the city and its fortifications and concluded by eating some delicious cassoulet (white beans, duck, and sausage all cooked together).
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| Carcassonne :) |
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| Storm the Castle, Marcio! |
From Carcassonne we rode to Narbonne again then caught a train south to Cerbére, the last town before crossing into Spain. We camped there and hit the hay pretty early since we needed to get up around 4:30 to cross the Pyrenees before it got too hot.
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| Last campground! |
We woke, packed, and set out so early that we had to use our bike lights. However, this meant I got to see my first sunrise over the Sea - while cycling over the Pyrenees. No words. The crossing wasn't easy, per se, but we'd basically been training for 4 weeks, so it wasn't nearly as hard as I expected. We crossed the mountains near the sea (beautiful) then cut inland to Figueres, home of Salvador Dalí. From there we decided to take a train into Barcelona instead of looking for camping. Also, much of North Barcelona is industrial, and we really didn't want to ride through that.
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| Crossing the border at last! |
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| Sunrise over the Mediterranean while cycling over the Pyrenees - Priceless. |
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| Dalí museum in Figueres |
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| The final train |
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