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With Best of Intentions
  • Phil Merrell

With Best of Intentions

Phil's journey on the Camino de Santiago... and life - 2021 Read more
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  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler

    Carrión de los Condes

    July 23, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    On the road at 6 after a hot night with poor sleep in Frómista. Easy day today, 10 miles. We were done by noon. Overcast and windy most of the walk, but it has since cleared up.

    We had two routes possible this morning. One mostly along a secondary highway and the other, a little longer, through the fields. Easy choice, except the nature walk we took has no coffee or food! So we walked most of the way until the paths rejoined where we found only coffee and pastry. Sugar buzz was profound.

    It was there at the coffee place that I found the money I should have put in the envelope tied to my pack for the forwarding company, was still in my pocket. Fortunately, a young woman we had seen at different stops spoke both Spanish and English fluently and helped straighten things out with a couple of phone calls. Pack was delivered, and all is well.

    My ankle continues to hold up and improve. I guess it’s true, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

    The countryside we are walking through now is distinctly unremarkable. Imagine walking through the rolling wheat fields of eastern Washington, except it’s flat. There are a few more days of this to get through until we get to Galacia province.

    The singing nuns were silent due to covid, but we saw an art exhibit at the cloister. On to Terradillos de los Templarios.    Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler

    Terradillos de los Templarios

    July 24, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Today was the longest walk we have done, 15.5 miles. We’re really getting in shape. It was also special in that there were no towns for 10 miles starting out. We bought some food to take along the night before, but NO COFFEE!! It was brutal.

    The countryside remains pretty uninspiring. Wheat fields, with harvest going strong, and occasional fields of sunflowers. What has been interesting until recently are the numerous towns and villages we walk through. But for the last couple of days, the villages have been sparse and the countryside blah. We’re getting back into more frequent villages now, and the countryside will get more interesting after Leon.

    Speaking of which, we should be arriving in Leon in a couple of days. We’re planning to have a layover day there to see the city and rest up.

    Tonight we’re staying at a combo albergue/hotel just outside of the town . It’s modern and nice, but not much character. Weather has been fantastic for walking. It’s been upper 70’s to lower 80’s for the last few days and is forecast that way for the next week.

    Tomorrow, another big walk day to El Burgo Ranero. Hopefully I’ll have some more interesting photos to post.    Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler

    El Burgo Ranero

    July 25, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    Walking at 6:30 this morning. I’m really getting used to watching it slowly get lighter and then seeing the sunrise. These are not normal activities for me. In fact, any activity at that time is unusual for me. Two miles got us to Moratinos, and coffee. We saw a strange sight coming into this small village. What looked like a huge pile of dirt with doors and windows. Turns out it is (or was) for wine storage. Since there are no mountains in this part of the country, they make do with dirt. We noticed that once we got into wheat country, the buildings started to be made from bricks with mud daubing. For really important buildings like bigger churches they imported stone, but most buildings are brick.

    Had breakfast of omelette sandwiches another couple of miles on in San Nicolás del Real Camino. Sandwiches are a breakfast thing here.

    Saw a cool old bridge as we passed through Sahagún. And then we walked out the day to El Burgo Ranero with a new record 18.5 miles. We didn’t really want to set a record, it just worked out with the town spacing that was our best option. We will have two relatively easy days coming up that will get us to the city of Leon and a layover.    Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler

    Mansilla de las Mulas

    July 26, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Easy day walking today, about 12 miles. Not much in the way of scenery until we got to the town we’re staying in. Except I included a picture of one of the giant picnic tables common at rest areas/town picnic areas along this part of the Camino. They look big enough for food for everyone with room for dancing in the middle!

    Today was the last day I walked with the ankle taping I got in Burgos. Picture just before I removed it, and a significant amount of leg hair.

    The name of the town we’re in translates to “Mansilla of the mules”. It has some interesting wall remains from olden days. The walls must be 8 ft thick.

    I’ve mentioned that the last week or so, we have been walking through flat, dry, wheat country. I recently found out this area of Spain is historically called the “Cereal Plains”. It’s also called the Meseta.

    Went out to get dinner tonight and had a real tough time. Each restaurant we went to said no, they didn’t have food for dinner. But we could come back at 8 or 9 and the cook would be there then to cook dinners. We have seen this before, it’s the Spanish way to have siesta mid-day and dinner later at 9 or 11 in the evening. It’s tough for us pilgrims getting up at 5:30 in the morning to start walking. I know, First World problems.

    Tomorrow we have a medium day’s walk into Leon where we will take an extra day to rest up, do laundry, and see the city. They have a cathedral and several large churches we would like to see. Trying to find a tour we could take, but like in Madrid, the tours seem to have become victims of covid.    Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler

    Leon

    July 27, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    We are in Leon, after a pretty easy day of walking. Got to our pension around 1:30, cleaned up, and found a desperately needed laundromat.

    We’re taking a layover day here, looking forward to sleeping in! Should be one more day of flat country walking when we leave Leon, then we should be back to rolling hills/mountains and towns made of stone instead of brick.

    Our pension is close to the cathedral, which is convenient. The cathedral is pretty impressive. Tomorrow we’ll go inside to see the stained glass windows it is famous for, and see some of the other sights Leon has to offer.

    The old part of town is called the Barrio Húmedo, or “Humid Neighborhood” because of all of the liquids consumed there. It’s got narrow streets and alleys and lots of bars/restaurants with tables jammed in out front. We’re going there for dinner tonight.    Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler

    Leon Day 2

    July 27, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Slept in and had relaxed coffees this morning. Went to see the cathedral and was blown away. These photos don’t come close to the experience. Amazing they could do this with the technology available then. Amazing they would put so much effort into building it. The population of Leon was 5,000 at the time it was built.

    Yesterday met a Dutch man who is on his 8th Camino and is 84 years old! We saw him on the trail a couple of weeks ago and he left us in the dust.

    Going to go see the Basilica of San Isidro after siesta this afternoon. It is supposed to be equally interesting.

    Then it’s back on the Camino tomorrow morning. We think we’re a couple of weeks until we finish in Santiago de Compostela!    Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler
    Unknown building on the way out of Leon
    MesetaMore MesetaNice flowers on this houseReady for highway dept lunch

    Villavante

    July 29, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    We made it out of Leon early today. The main Camino route for today followed next to the freeway most of the way, but an alternative route through the countryside was also available. We gladly accepted the extra mile and a half penalty for a more tranquil days walk.

    We will have one more day of walking through flat country to Astorgia tomorrow, and then we start up into the hills. We will bid the Meseta goodbye with relief and look forward to seeing more interesting countryside and less wheat.

    We stopped do a break around noon. The restaurant had a long table all set up for a group, with wine bottles already opened and everything. Before we left, a group of maintenance workers from I think the highway department came in and sat down there for lunch. Another example of how they do things differently here, and it’s fine.

    We made it the 17 miles to Villavante in mid afternoon, but unfortunately, our backpacks didn’t. The pension we stayed at in Leon didn’t call the backpack forwarding company. The people at the place we’re staying at tonight are really nice and offered to drive back to Leon to get them, but the pension reception desk is already closed for the day. The forwarding company says we should have our backpacks by 9:30 in the morning, so a later start than usual and sweaty clothes tonight. Very minor bummers that will have no overall significance in life.
    UPDATE: The owner of the pension, Mercedes, who is a wonderful person and a force of nature that will not be denied, did indeed, without telling us, drive in to Leon with her husband and somehow (no questions) got access to our previous pension and recovered our belongings!

    We’re looking forward to Astorgia tomorrow. It’s considered the chocolate capital of Spain. We’ll see what that turns out to be.    Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler

    Astorga

    July 30, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Mercedes cooked us up a big breakfast to send us off. They are a such a nice family. Their house/pension is an old farmhouse they gutted and rebuilt beautifully. It’s filled with old tools and things from Mercede’s childhood. A wooden sledge with stones cut into the bottom that she rode on, pulled by animals, to crush grain, and lots of other cool old stuff. The house is built over a canal that always runs water.

    We walked through more and more hilly countryside and eventually, at the top of a long series of climbs, we came across a rest stop operated by volunteers. This rest stop was there when Dale walked the Camino in 2016, and one of the volunteers was the same. It was such a nice experience. They had a table full of fruits and juices, water, and snacks there for passing pilgrims.

    Later, we came to a cross on the crest of the hill overlooking the city of Astorga. It was a long steep down grade, but I’m getting pretty good at protecting my knee going down hills.

    Astorga has an impressive cathedral, but it was closed when we went through.    Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler

    Foncebadón

    July 31, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Dale took the day off walking to heal his feet, so I did the day’s walk by myself. It was a lot different experience. Early in this blog, I talked about the spiritual side of the Camino. I had a chance to think about the relationships I have developed on the walk. In particular, the deep, rich, and rewarding relationship I have developed with anti-inflamatories.

    The day was all about going uphill. The grades were mostly reasonable, not the “Spanish Switchbacks” we experienced on the Camino Norte route. We met up at Foncebadón, almost at the top of the pass we’re going over. Stayed at a nice new albergue/hotel.

    A note about weather: it’s been excellent! We had a few days in the 90’s when we first started walking, but for the last two weeks it has been upper 70’s to lower 80’s tops all the way across the Meseta. Dale says when he walked it back in 2016 it was over 90 every day (and uphill?). We have been very fortunate indeed, to get across the Meseta so comfortably. Now we’re in hill country and the climate is much milder. I know you have been having record temps back in the PNW, which seems opposite of the way it seems it should be.    Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler

    Molinaseca

    August 1, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    When we started out from Foncebadón it was cold enough to need pants and a jacket for the first time on the Camino. We continued our uphill climb to the top of the pass. A short walk across the top and then we started down. We continued going down steep hills on trails full of loose shale rock for the remaining 85% of the day. We walked until noon before we found food for breakfast.

    Our destination was Molinaseca, a very pretty small town with a nice waterfront on a stream that flows through it.

    We are getting within the planning window for finishing our walk at Santiago de Compostela. We think we will walk the last day on the 12th or 13th if all works out. We both got our flight reservations for returning home on the 18th. So a day or so in Compostela to get our certificates, then a few days to relax or see more of Spain. We have to get covid tests 3 days before our flights home. Dale is flying out of Barcelona and I’m leaving from Frankfort Germany. I’m thinking about taking a train through France to get there.

    About covid: Everyone in Spain that we have seen takes it very seriously. EVERYONE wears a mask when around other people. Walking through small villages in the middle of nowhere and the people are wearing masks. In the cities, everyone on the street is wearing a mask. There have been nightclub problems in cities we have heard about in the news, but mask compliance on the streets is much better than the US and just about 100%. A lot fewer vaccine doses have been available here and everyone is waiting. Dale and I quit staying in dorm style albergues a while back and are getting our own private rooms now. The dorm alburgues are all limited to 50% capacity btw.

    Tomorrow we walk to Cacabelos. We will pass through the city of Ponferrada, which has a well preserved medieval castle built by the Knights Templar. Cacabelos has the distinction of a church with an altarpiece statue of
    baby Jesus playing cards with Saint Anthony of Padua. Fingers crossed it’s open.    Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler

    Cacabelos

    August 3, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    The castle in Ponferrada is unfortunately closed on Mondays. Really an impressively well preserved structure that you can explore throughout… except on Mondays.

    We have come down from the hills into a big wine growing valley called the Bierzo Valley. The main grapes grown here are Mencia, an offshoot of Cabernet, for reds and Godello for whites. Most of these wines are released “joven” or young. Meaning it’s from the current vintage and is released within a year to 18 mos. from creation. Some surprisingly good table wines for being so young.

    Another disappointment today, we didn’t get to see the rumored alter statue of baby Jesus playing cards with St. Antony of Padua. After the day’s walk, we were just too tired to walk to the church.

    Tomorrow we walk to Ambasmestas. And the following day, the dreaded pass going up into Galacia through O Cebreiro pass. It’s 2,300 ft. of vertical in the course of the day’s walk.    Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler
    We meet the 85 year old guy again at the top of a mountain

    Triacasteleo

    August 3, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    We finished the climb up to the top of the pass early this morning. Ran into the 85 year old pilgrim again, on top of the mountain at the border of the province of Galatia. He is pacing and passing us regularly. The rest of the day was spent burning off the altitude we had gained the previous couple of days. Knee is still holding up, but I’m being careful. Beautiful green countryside. Not Puget Sound wet, but greener than the other side of the mountain.Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler
    Rain!
    Switchback!Old man working on hillside pasture access

    Laguna de Castilla

    August 4, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Into each life some rain must fall. This morning it fell on is as we left Ambasmesas. Not a lot, but enough to warrant rain gear. We went a few miles for coffee, and a few more miles to breakfast. By the time we finished breakfast the rain had mostly stopped. This was the first inclement day on the trip.

    When we got to the steeper part of the climb we encountered the strangest things, actual switchbacks! The path didn’t go 9,000 ft. straight up the mountain like every other climb we have done in Spain.

    We ended our day early at la Laguna de Castillo at a hostel/ pension just short of the summit. Tomorrow we have a longish day walking to Triacasteleo.    Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler

    Sarria

    August 6, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Going downhill most of the day. This should be the last big day of steep grades. As we walked we Had some confusion but then figured out the route we had planned our days walk on had been improved, shortening it by 3 miles. When we got to the place we were staying, the owner kept saying “pulpa! market! pulpa!”, and pointing up the street. Pulpa means octopus, and sure enough, it was an octopus street fair. Long tents with picnic tables and probably 10 different companies cooking up octopus. Clothing and hardware booths also. It was pulpapalooza! Great amounts of octopus, bread, and many bottles of wine were being consumed by a pretty happy crowd. We did our duty and represented the pacific NW well!Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler
    1

    Portomarín

    August 8, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    As we headed out of Sarria, we joined a crowd of people just starting out on their Caminos. In order to qualify as a Camino and get a Compostela certificate, you have to walk at least the last 100 kilometers. Sarria is a good sized small city that is just over 100 km. limit. So LOTS of people from all over Spain join the Camino there. It’s a week or less hike that is encouraged and supported in Spain. Which is a good and even admirable thing. But to us, after wandering across the vast lonely stretches of the Meseta, it’s suddenly like trying to get out of Seattle on the Friday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend.

    We did cross an actual milestone today. We passed the 100.000 km. milepost from Santiago de Compostela (Europeans use commas instead of decimal points , and mileposts are measured to 3 decimal places). It’s so surprising that within a week we will be done walking across Spain.

    So we got to Portomarín, which is a pretty town on a hillside but along a river. Did laundry, got our dinner, started to wind up the day, and all of a sudden some really loud blues music starts up. Turns out it’s Saturday evening and the local arts commission”music in the square” program is on! Left a short video clip below. I went up and listened for a while and they weren’t bad at all. It was a really nice setting on the square next to the church.    Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler

    Melide

    August 8, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    We have been having problems finding rooms for the last week. I think it’s partly the result of more people wanting private rooms because of covid. It’s also that there are just plain more people walking as we get closer to Santiago de Compostela. Several different Camino routes merge into the route we are on in this last part. The Camino guides and apps break the entire walk into “stages” which are roughly a day’s walk, ending at Compostela. Most stages are between 11 and 15 miles long, and end at a town big enough to handle the demand. The couple of guides we have been using use roughly the same stages, which tends to concentrate people in the same towns. This becomes an issue when suddenly there are more people using the same stages. We were not enjoying and have not been comfortable wearing masks while walking with so many people. So we decided to get off the normal stages, and to start and finish the rest of our walks in the middle of the commonly recognized stages. I know, I know, I never go against the grain. But we took a taxi 7 miles past the hordes of people walking out of Portomarin this morning, and started our 14 mile walk in relative solitude. And it was great, and we got rooms in the off-stage towns for the rest of the Camino, and everything is great!

    Started seeing some strange small structures as we walked into Galacia. See the picture below. Could not figure out what they were about. Turns out that they are used for drying corn.

    Hard to believe we’re in the last week of our walk across Spain.    Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler

    Salceda

    August 9, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    Our plan of getting off the published stages has worked great! We started walking today with a few other people and soon the pack was nicely spread out. Until a couple of hours along when a bus of German people pulled past us and unloaded 40 people who started walking as we got to them. I think the bus picks them up at the end of each day, takes them to a hotel for the night, and brings them back to the Camino the next day. We let them go ahead of us at first, and later passed them when they stopped for a rest. A little forced marching got us ahead enough that we could relax and enjoy the rest of the walk.

    We have been seeing more eucalyptus trees for the last couple of days. They are getting to be the predominant species. When we first encountered them, we thought a farmer had sprayed chemicals recently. Gradually, we recognized that it was a Vick’s vaporub smell like used in a vaporizer.

    The countryside we are passing through is mostly forest. It’s been tree tunnels providing shade most of the time. Really pleasant! The weather continues to be fantastic. We wear our jackets in the morning, and it hasn’t gotten above 80 for weeks. It’s really unusual, and we’re not complaining.

    Tomorrow we have a walk of about 11 miles. That will put us about 6 miles outside of Santiago de Compostela, and the end of our walk across Spain! So we will cross the finish line this Wednesday! It seems startling, like it snuck up on us or something.    Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler

    Lavacolla

    August 10, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    We coffee’d up at the place we slept in last night, and were walking by 7:15. Another chilly, beautiful morning. Still not seeing the crowd on the trail since we shifted off stage. We continued walking through mostly forest of pine and eucalyptus trees with farms and villages scattered along the way. We ended up walking past all of the places that had kitchens open for breakfast, so we made do with some fruit and more coffee.

    This is our last full day of walking, a relatively short eleven miles . We will have six miles to go tomorrow morning that will get us to Santiago de Compostela, and the end of our journey. It’s been a fantastic experience, but it’s time for this boy to go home. We will stay in Santiago for a couple of days to see the cathedral, go to the pilgrim’s mass, and get our certificates. Hopefully we will run into some of the friends we have made along the trail. Friday we will take the train to Barcelona, get our covid tests, and fly home on Monday. Looking forward to hugging Deb and sleeping in my own bed!

    I have some thoughts about this trip that I will try to write up in the next day or so.

    Phil    Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler
    Looks like Mary is about to straighten things out.1

    Santiago de Compostela!

    August 11, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    We’re here! It’s rather stunning. Got up early as usual, just to have the last day be the same as we have been doing for the last five weeks. Foggy morning, then the sun started breaking through the trees. The last 6 miles into Santiago just flew by, and then we were there! A huge square in front of a cathedral. It’s full of people who have walked there from all over Spain and Europe. Ever person there is HAPPY! People are seeing people that they met on the trail weeks ago. It’s like meeting old friends you haven’t seen in ages. I got very choked up and emotional. Ran out of words, which is unusual for me.

    We started the process to get our Compostela certificates, but covid has made a mess of that too. We have a number, like in a store, for an interview with a church representative. Got our number soon after we got in, this morning, but at the end of the day we still had a ways to go. We’re hopeful we will get our certificates tomorrow, because we leave early Friday morning for Barcelona.

    Tomorrow I plan on going to early Pilgrims Mass at the cathedral. I’m not Catholic, but it’s open to pilgrims and supposed to be special. There are some cathedral tours we can take and we need to go to the train station for our tickets to Barcelona. Other than that, we plan on relaxing and relaxing, with maybe some relaxing mixed in.    Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler
    Early Morning Cathedral in the Mist
    The Crypt of Saint James2Compostela!

    Santiago de Compostela - Day 2

    August 12, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    I got up early and went to the 7:30 Pilgrims Mass at the cathedral. My brother stayed in his bed in spite of my urging to avoid the sin of slothfulness. It was an impressive ceremony, even though they did not do the incensor swing. I did go through the crypt holding the remains of Saint James, see photo.

    We went back to try to get our Compostela certificates, only to find out the numbers didn’t continue from the day before and we had to get new numbers and start over. That was a disappointment. Dale decided the certificate from his first Camino was enough for him, but I went ahead and started the process again.

    While waiting for my number to come up at the Compostela office, we went to a museum at the cathedral. It had a lot of exhibits ic the history of the cathedral and on Maestro Mateo, the main man who made it happen. We got to go up a ways in the cathedral and look out over the square.

    I went back to the Compostela office in the afternoon to wait and make sure I got my certificate. I kept running into people we have met on the trail, which was nice. Eventually it was my turn, and after a brief interview I walked out with my Compostela in hand.

    We have been staying at an old monastery right across from the cathedral. It’s huge and has been converted into an upscale hotel. They kept a bunch of rooms for pilgrims at reduced price however, which is cool. The pilgrim rooms are very basic monks quarters, but the price is right and the location can’t be beat. We turned in early, we are taking a 6:30 AM train to Barcelona tomorrow morning.    Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler

    Barcelona

    August 13, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We got up early and made our way to the train station. Pulled out of Santiago de Compostela in the dark. It was a 4.5 hour ride to Madrid at speeds getting up to 150 mph. We changed trains (and stations) at Madrid. Then on to Barcelona at speeds of up to 180 mph. I really like the train system they have. Got to our hotel without problems, go dinner, and after a call with Debbie, got to sleep. I haven’t slept well the last few nights and needed a good night. Maybe it’s due to not walking all day anymore.Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler
    Statue of Christopher Columbus

    Barcelona - Day 2

    August 14, 2021 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Slept in and got rested up. Went to the Mercata de la Boqueria, a huge, semi outdoor market for fruits and produce. Then we walked across town and up a hill (of course), to Park Güell, the architectural masterpiece by Antoni Gaudi. It was intended to be a housing development, but it became a gigantic art piece instead. It’s several miles of complex paths and streets through some incredible architecture, all overlooking the city of Barcelona. We finished the day people watching with a bottle of wine on the tiny hotel balcony overlooking Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas is a divided boulevard with open air cafes and booths in the courtyard style median. It’s the happening place to be in Barcelona.Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler

    Barcelona - Day 3

    August 14, 2021 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    We started the day walking a couple of miles up to a clinic to get the covid tests required to get back into the US. I am happy to announce that we have been certified virus-free, and so will be on our way back home tomorrow!

    After a celebratory breakfast we walked a short distance to the Sagrada Familia. It’s a cathedral designed by Antoni Gaudi that has been under construction for 130 years. It is a spectacular, organic, awe inspiring structure. Dale had seen it on a previous trip to Barcelona, so he left me to tour the interior and museum. Unfortunately, they don’t have a ticket office. Only online sales. My credit card refused to work on their site, so the Sagrada Familia tour will be saved until Debbie and I return to Barcelona.

    I spent the afternoon wandering the narrow streets of the old town and taking a tour of a house Gaudi designed for his main patron and good friend, Güell. We ate our last dinner in Spain, and went to bed early. We have an early flight out, first to London and then on to Seattle.    Read more

  • Phil MerrellWith Best of IntentionsTraveler

    Layover in London

    August 16, 2021 in England ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Got up at 4:15 for our flight. The Barcelona airport was JAMMED when we got there at 5:15. After wrestling with an unfriendly and low functioning but required British covid tracker software program, we FINALLY got our boarding passes and headed through security, passport control, and another one that I’m not really sure what it was. We cleared everything by 6:30 and just had to get to the gate for our 7:10 departure. My brother was near to committing fratricide when I stopped at a Starbucks and grab a quick coffee. It was “quick” by Starbucks of Spain standards, and the gate turned out to be a LONG ways away. But we made it with LOTS of time (by my standards anyway).

    Our 6 hour layover in London is almost over. A picture of my brother guarding our packs is below. Next stop is Seattle. I’ll sleep in my own bed tonight!    Read more

  • Trip end
    August 17, 2021
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