Travel Adventures 1

It's been a while since I've written, so I'll try to fill you in as best as possible. After my weekend with Anna, I had a fairly productive week: I worked on my paper for my culture class, I went climbing, I got my climbing shoes repaired, and organized summer travel plans with Anna and Sarah. Besides that, I went to class, ate, slept, and finished The Three Musketeers (which I highly recommend).
Friday morning I picked my parents up at the airport, and only panicked a little as they were the last ones off the plane. It was great to see them though, and I was excited for a couple of weeks of traveling and relaxing and seeing more of Spain! I settled them in their hostel, and we spent the afternoon getting lunch and then walking around Valencia. I had dinner with my dad later, then went to bed.
Saturday we visited the market, La Lonja, the park, and saw the Torres de Serrano. I made Paella with my host mom for my parents and we all ate together at my host family's place, and I was busy translating and explaining things. That afternoon we visited the Ceramic Museum/Palace and the Roman ruins museum, then went to a local wine tasting in the park before walking home.
Sunday we climbed the Torres de Quart, went to the Archeological museum, had a picnic lunch by the Cathedral, then went to the beach for a nap. We walked through the port, saw a little exposition on the America's Cup (at the end of which we still didn't know who won), then got lost walking back by the CAC. We made it back eventually, and went out for tapas later.
Monday, our last day in Valencia, we went to pick up our rental car at the airport, got lunch, visited the Cathedral, and perhaps did some shopping and packing. Tuesday it rained, which was fine since we spent a lot of time driving. We drove up to Tarragona, which is about two and a half hours away, and stopped at Peñiscola on the way. There we visited a big castle/fortress right on the sea, which was pretty cool, although the rain was a little depressing. In Tarragona (a town on the Mediterranean about 2/3 of the way from Valencia to Barcelona) we hung around the hotel since it was cold and getting late.
Wednesday we visited the old Roman Forum, or what remains of it, as well as the amphitheater, the Archeological museum, and Palace of Tarragona. We had a picnic lunch by the aqueduct, then drove to Poblet, a monastery about 30 km away. The monastery was pretty fantastic, an amazing and huge building that is actually still a monastery. We bought some wine made by the monks after the tour, then on our way back to Tarragona for the night, stopped in Montblanc. That town also had a fortress wall so we walked along that and the little cobblestone roads.
Thursday we left Tarragona, only to find the engine light on in the car, and worried, drove back and asked about it. Luckily it was only a reminder to service the car, which pops up automatically every so many miles, so we set off again, heading inland north west parallel to the Pyrenees. We stopped in a small town called Alcázar, which was fantastic. It was sunny and hot again, and the countryside we drove through was gorgeous. Alcázar stood on a hill and had a fantastic fortress/church thing on the top, which was beautiful. Far below a river ran through a deep gorge, really a canyon, which we walked down to visit a medieval bridge and have a late picnic. The town itself was adorable and there were so many pretty cliffs and rocks I wanted to climb them all. We drove on to Huesca, where we walked around and finally found a hotel. After settling in we went to visit the town's cathedral and have dinner. The town was pretty nice, and there were lots of people around getting ready for Good Friday and Easter celebrations. Huesca used to be the capital of Aragon, the region of Spain we'd been driving through since leaving Catalunya (home to Tarragona and Barcelona).
Friday we had breakfast in the hotel, and it was pouring rain again, which was fine since we had to drive all the way to France, which really isn't all that far. On the way we stopped at the Castillo de Loarre, which was awesome, perhaps my favorite place so far. It was foggy and windy and eerie, and the castle stood on this huge cliff, and was very large. It's actually the best preserved Romanesque castle in Europe, and was built as a fortress in the 11th century as the Christians came down into "Spain" to kick out the Moors. We lost our umbrella there, but I got lots of postcards and sweet views of gorgeous green rolling hills before us and mountains, the beginning foothills of the Pyrenees, behind us.
We continued on our way, and I slept in the car and finished a box of cookies as we made our way up windy roads into the mountains to see the monastery of San Juan de la Peña. The monastery is deep in green forests on a mountainside, carved out underneath a huge alcove. It's not very huge, and very remote, but for some reason all the kings of Aragon wanted to be buried here, so there are some tombs, and some sweet carvings of the life of Jesus, and more great views. We were high enough up that we could see our breath, and the clouds drifted below us like a river in the valleys below. Aragon might be my favorite province of Spain, although I haven't seen very many of them. It's green and mountainous and not too populated, has some fantastic castles, and lots of camping and climbing.
After visiting the monastery we drove some more, and I slept some more, and after driving around Pamplona and San Sebastian we made it to the border and crossed into France for a mere 1.50 euros. Less than 20 km farther we found Saint Jean de Luz, the town near our "campsite" and after getting a little lost in the town, found our place. The reception place had closed an hour earlier, so we stood outside our car in confusion for several minutes, until my aunt and uncle conveniently pulled up. They had a camper nearby and had gotten the key to our place and were on their way to make up our beds and whatnot. We joined them and settled in our little cabin that will be home for the next week, then went back to theirs for dinner, since they had cooked for us.
Saturday, today, we got up and went for a good long walk along the coast (the Atlantic Coast, since we are currently right close to the border of France and Spain on the north westerly side). It wasn't raining, though it was cloudy and chilly for the most part. The seaside is gorgeous though, and the mountains are clearly visible behind. The beaches are sandy and rocky and lie at the bottom of green hills covered in bushes and flowers. We walked to Saint Jean de Luz and looked around for a while, then got lunch. I was surprised to understand everyone around me, since they speak French here, now we're in France, although half the tourists here are from Spain, so I heard a lot of Spanish as well. It's fantastic speaking languages.
After lunch we meandered back, and decided to take a siesta. My parents went out for groceries, I wrote a zillion postcards, and it's now almost six and I should probably work on my paper since I finally have time, but instead I will probably read. It doesn't get dark until 8:30 or 9 at least here, so perhaps I will brave the wind and go explore the beach, although really it's pretty obvious. Since there is no internet here (obviously) I will keep writing each day I guess and then post this back in Valencia, or at the end of the week.

Sunday, Easter, we decided it would be a good idea to go visit a nice hike over a sweet gorge with some swinging bridges, so adventures ensued. It was cold and rainy, so we decided to visit a town nearby first, so we did. We got some hot chocolate and walked around a little, then it stopped raining and we decided to at least do part of the hike. We made it quite a ways into the Pyrenees before the windy roads on the side of the cliff got to my mom's nerves and the snow became deep enough to worry us about getting stuck. We had a mini snowball fight on the mountaintop where we stopped to turn around and check the map, which mostly consisted of my uncle throwing snow at the rest of us.
So we turned around and went back to the village we'd come from, and Easter mass over, managed to see the church, as well as the Citadel, which we'd missed on the way in since none of us knew what a citadel was (apparently, it's kind of like a fortress/castle, but I don't know why it isn't just called a fortress...). We took a walk along a river and had a picnic lunch, then made friends with some horses in a field. We fed them apples and they let us pet them and followed us along the fence.
On the way back towards our campsite place, we stopped in another town, which is supposedly one of the prettiest towns in France. It was pretty cute, and had another nice church, which had two rows of balconies like a theater, which I've never seen in a church before. I got some postcards, and my mom got some duck sausage, and we were on our way. That night back at the cabin I made a paella for everyone, which was a fairly large success, though I'd never tried it with fish, and it needed a little salt. We had easter chocolate for dessert.
Today, Monday, it was gorgeous and sunny out, so my aunt and uncle headed out for a bike ride in the Pyrenees in preparation for this summer (they are biking for one week from one side of the Pyrenees to the other with five or six others). My parents did some laundry and I read on the beach. Around noon we headed up to a hike we'd heard was nice, and climbed a giant mountain. It was gorgeous, but it was also 730 meters of elevation change in a mere two hours, so very steep. The views were amazing, and the mountains were thickly populated with wild horses, most with adorable fuzzy foals and none of which were scared of people in the slightest. The views from the top were stunning, and we realized upon arrival that we must have crossed the French/Spanish border, and were back in Spain, since all the signs were in Spanish. We decided to take the train down since it was getting a little late and our legs were tired, but it felt like cheating.
Tonight we ate at my aunt and uncle's little cabin place, then went out to the beach with a bottle of wine to catch the sunset. It was beautiful, and the sounds of the waves was a perfect soundtrack. Right now I am back in our cabin on my bed with my feet up, and an empty bowl that had hot chocolate in it some minutes ago beside me, and a pile of postcards on the other empty bed to fill in. Bed time in an hour or so... Good night!
Tuesday was the day in Biarritz. My aunt Anne had scheduled a trip to the hairdresser for herself, my mom, and me, so we headed out around 10 or so just after breakfast. Though we had nothing but the address (no map) we found it fairly quickly and were treated like royalty. My mom and I finished before my aunt so we walked around and shopped a little. My dad and uncle joined us for lunch, and we got sandwiches and sat on a bench overlooking the beach and watched the surfers. The waves were much bigger than in St. Jean de Luz, the town by our campsite, which is a little bizarre since it's only 15 km down the coast.
After lunch we walked some more, checking out the beach and the little port and eventually stopped for tea in a nice tea house. My mom decided her next business venture would be to open a tea house back home, since there's bound to be a market and little competition in the States (survey: how many of you would like to see a tea house in DC, and if so, would you go?). My mom got me some sandals, which I badly needed, and we split up, my aunt and uncle to go find biking gear and me to find an internet cafe. I did, and my parents gave me a whole hour before we were to head back to get my tickets and do my mail. I didn't get a chance to post the blog, so sorry guys, that's why it's going to be so long.
We came back, my parents cooked, I read, we all ate way too much, drank a few bottles of wine, shared stories, and now it's just about time for bed. Looking forward to another vacation day tomorrow. Au revoir mes amis!