Costa Brava

Barcelona!

September 26, 2013 by Julie Shipman

Barcelona is a VIBRANT city! So much to see and do. We were there during the La Mercé Festival which reminded me of the crazy festivals in September in San Miguel de Allende. The Spaniards/Catalans love their fireworks and live music! La Mercé Festival has been celebrated in Barcelona since 1871 to observe the Catholic Feast Day of Our Lady of Mercy. It is a time to say good bye to summer with the largest street party of the year…

Barcelona is bustling everywhere… from walking down Portal de L’Angel:

…to visiting the UNBELIEVABLE market on La Rambla called La Boqueria. This marketplace dates back to 1217 but has been in its current structure since 1835.

Fresh fruits and veggies…

Lots of great fungi!

All the seafood you can imagine, and then more after that…

YUMMY! this fish head looks DeLish.

…and Meat galore ~most of it beyond recognition for the average Whole Foods or Albertsons shopper (leads me to think our food is not quite as “whole” perhaps as it could be?) YEP, that is a WHOLE head, and a tongue, and organs, and so on…

The peppers, garlic and onions were beautiful!

Just about anything you can imagine eating you can find here… didn’t see any cotton candy, but it may have been there.

Just walking around one spots many interesting things. Think my dog Charlie might want a ride like this one?

I was wondering where I could get a hat like that and join their group??

More great graffiti!

It’s always better to fake it till you make it…

An Erotic Museum 69? And, conveniently located just below the youth hostel!

In case you were looking for an LSD store, there’s one right here!! Check out those Dream Catchers!

Anyone know the temperature outside?

And, finally, legend has it that if you drink out of this fountain, you will return to Barcelona! I filled my water bottle!

check in tomorrow, I’ll take you to Gaudi’s famous cathedral, the Sagrada Familia!

Girona, the City.

September 25, 2013 by Julie Shipman

Girona, a city in Catalonia, Spain. A wee bit of history so bear with me. Originally, Gerunda, a city of Iberians, it has been home to the Romans, Visigoths and the Moors. Charlemagne conquered Girona in 785 and built the great city wall. In fact, today, the longest remaining section of Carolingian Wall in all of Europe is the eastern city wall in Girona. The rest of the wall was removed in the late 1800’s so the city could expand. Tourists can walk this wall for a great city view and a feel of the Middle Ages! It is known as the Passeig de la Muralla.

Either a Royal Pooper, or a Sneaky Way to Pour Burning Oil on your Enemies as they Attack the Wall!! What do you think??

Incredible view of Girona from the Wall…

One of the Old City Gates entering Girona.

In the 12th century, Girona became an important city for the Jews and had one of the best Jewish schools in Europe. The Rabbi of Girona was known as the Great Rabbi of Catalonia. However, like many other cities throughout Europe, the Jews were expelled in 1492 by the Catholic Kings. Today, the Jewish Quarter (ghetto) is one of the best preserved in Spain.

Girona endured 25 sieges and was captured 7 times. It took 35,000 Napoleonic troops over 7 months to capture the city ~ only after famine and disease forced them to surrender.

Today, Girona is a vibrant city with great art, food, culture and shopping. So, nice to walk down the ancient cobblestoned streets and visit the local merchants… oh, wait!

But seriously, there are many quaint local vendors!

Yum, yes please!

I want one of those corkscrews! Oh, and beautiful music…

Closing with a few random pics of interest… Below is scaffolding to hold up the two buildings on either side of the one removed, as they build a new one! Cool!

And, love the graffiti all over Spain. Some is obnoxious, some is interesting. Is it art or vandalism? Two images below.

I believe this translates into Dare to Change the World but don’t hold me to it. My Spanish is as good as my Korean.

And, a few more images of Girona on the River…

Goodnight.

Back to Girona…

September 20, 2013 by Julie Shipman

The end of the journey. Last day on the bikes and back inland to Girona. Lots of miles in the saddle today although I was able to skip a few by excusing myself to “take photos.” Another truly spectacular day and one of the highlights was the young Atlas Jemison who accompanied me as my assistant. Please note that a few of today’s pics are hers, and I caught her in action shooting today as well.

Here is the start of the day as we leave Calella.

Outstanding ride through the countryside to more medieval villages… riding over cobblestones and doing the local “round-a-bout” through town…

Cats are everywhere in Spain… figured we couldn’t have a social media post without a cat!

Lunch time!

Below: photo credit Atlas Jemison, age 12, capturing the riders coming through the grove of trees. Atlas has a great sense of composition already!

See Atlas below, left bottom corner. A very quick learner with a great eye!

Thanks for a GREAT trip Marty!

Back in Girona… photo credit Atlas Jemison.

The 12 year old artist, Atlas J.

The much older artist below, Julie, photo credit Atlas. Love the way she captured me shooting the riders as we passed them.

THANKS FOR JOINING US! WE HAD SO MUCH FUN. JEMISON TOURS AND COSTA BRAVA ROCKS!

Calella 2!

September 20, 2013 by Julie Shipman

Two nights in one place gave us the opportunity to rest a bit… a few options: a long ride with Marty, a short scenic ride with Jill or a rest day. Since I went on the Jill ride (duh!), I only have photos from that. But, wow. Such an incredibly beautiful place.

The girls (except CONNIE!) went to the botanic gardens, Jardí Botanic de Cap Roig. They are spectacular. The grounds are enormous. The home and gardens were built by a Russian aristocrat for his love, over 100 years ago. Since their affair was somewhat taboo at the time (they each divorced to be together), they escaped to this reclusive estate by the sea. But, they did entertain and throw lavish parties now and then. While the villa looks Spanish in style, his Russian heritage (he was an architect/builder) is evident in several features throughout the property. Upon their death, they left their estate to the city of Calella where they enjoyed so many years together. The money derived from the gardens goes back into tending them for future generations, education for local school children and several music festivals for locals and tourists to enjoy at a great amphitheater overlooking the sea. What a legacy!

This is actually an iron window (with glass) built into the wall for a view!

Local artists are represented among the grounds. Highly unique (mostly modern) sculptures — of all varieties — are scattered throughout. Jill helped us to translate this piece.

Ended our little excursion with lunch by the sea. Grilled vegetables, goat cheese salad and the local favorite, Mojitos!

Back to the beach for an afternoon siesta/fiesta!

Does this local gentleman perhaps think we are a bit of the “obnoxious American”?

Gorgeous night with full moon reflecting on the sea. Off to dinner and then goodnight. Last ride is tomorrow.

Calella

September 19, 2013 by Julie Shipman

Today we rode North along the coast to Calella. (“We” may be a bit of a stretch as my rear end was mostly sitting on a large comfy Renault van seat… when it wasn’t in that seat, I was leaning my entire body out of the car window with the seat belt wrapped around my feet. It felt something like being strapped onto a sailboat that was up on its edge to balance against the wind — hiking. FUN!)

Keith..

Marty, with a smile!

Katherine and boys…

Cliff

Penny and Stanna leading the men up the hill!

The scenery was PERFECTION. Costa Brava was listed as one of National Geographic’s top ten places to visit in 2012. No doubt!

Riding along the boardwalk and stopping for coffee. Don’t think it gets much better.

Brigitte…

Bo and Katherine

Cliff and Marty

AAHHHHH, puppy alert. SSOO cute. Stylin’ collar. And, he even spoke Spanish! His owner said, “Aqui!” and he went running. How cool is that???

Connie and Marty posing for a travel ad. I think it’s going on the cover of Outside Magazine.

Scott being Scott and Marty worrying if he took out enough insurance for this group…

A really cute guy flirted with me on the boardwalk!! XO

Back on the bike to an ancient medieval castle built in the 12th Century. It is now adorned with a few places to stay, eat and shop. Extremely interesting and well-preserved. I am immensely impressed by the beautiful masonry. The roman heritage is evident in many of the flooring designs.

If you need a basket for your bike, you can get one here! Handmade no less… 69 Euros.

Here comes the crew! Marty followed by Keith, Pav and Bo.

Below you can see the ruts in the road made by carriage wheels over the centuries.

Connie (a fitness instructor and nutritionist) took this opportunity to get a healthy “refueling” for the last part of the ride. Yum!

Our tireless leaders/staff express their pure joy at being given the chance to take care of us on our journey! Below is Jill J. with assistant Kelly.

…and, JP!

We arrive at our Hotel in Calella… time for a nap, swim, and drink!

Rick enjoys the view and the wildlife!

Heading out for dinner. Connie is READY! After Fanta and Doritos, I think the Orange Dye went to her head a bit…

Yes, it’s me. After this crew, I decided I needed a double.

Our handsome men at sunset. Bo, Cliff, Scott, Keith, Pav, Paul, and JP.

The dinner crew! I was actually IN the ocean to take this shot!

Goodnight Callela!

Costa Brava!

September 17, 2013 by Julie Shipman

Time to move on!

Loaded our luggage on the van this morning and got on our bikes.

Through lots of sunflower fields (now they are sunflower SEED fields…) and corn… and orchards, especially pear. We also saw many cattle and sheep farms (ranches?).

We stopped for a morning café con leche in Llagostera.

After our coffee break, we climbed 9 km to the crest of the hills to gaze down upon the Mediterranean Sea. Happy to say I made it up the entire climb although the SAG wagon was supposed to come get me so I could shoot photos. Apparently Marty thought it was necessary for Julie to finish a climb by herself. I came in DEAD last; in fact I am sure I was at least 10 minutes behind the group in front of me and maybe 30 behind the leaders. I let them have a nice break at the top! I actually thought they had all gone on and so I stopped several times to take photos. Whoops!

Ok, now for the downhill. I LOVE downhill. SO much fun. AMAZING. The highlight of the riding so far for me. Going so fast I got bugs in my teeth!! 🙂

We reached the bottom of the hill at the Costa Brava… now we head south to Tossa de Mar.

We see the end of the ride! Tossa de Mar on the Costa Brava is a beautiful costal town with a sandy beach.

Our Hotel! Gran Hotel Reymar… and a gorgeous room!

BEACH time! The leader boys above are enjoying several beers……. I LOVED my mojito!

And, then nighttime. Beautiful full moon. This town is an ancient fortified city built originally by the Iberians, then the Moors inhabited it and in the 1400s built a protective wall against the Saracens who were invading as pirates, kidnapping fishermen and looking for ransoms. There are also old Roman villas where the lucky few wealthy soldiers could retire with acreage and build a homestead…

Well, we just walked along the beachfront and had a midnight pizza. Time to rest for tomorrow’s ride, north along the Costa Brava…