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Europe 101
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Europe 101

A 60-day adventure by out and about Read more
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  • Trip start
    April 25, 2016
    out and aboutEurope 101Traveler

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    April 25, 2016 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    Prepping for our trip! so excited
    Just had our Barcelona AirBNB Cancelled so a quick find of a hotel instead, hope this doesn't happen again.

  • out and aboutEurope 101Traveler

    Monte Martre

    May 3, 2016 in France ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    A bad start as recovering from food poisoning- dont think iI'll have onion soup or tough beef bourguignon.after many metro changes we got to Pigalle to meet Annie. We took buses & when we saw M M we took fernicular up to it. Lunched at a cafe- parisien sandwich= baguette with ham ,swiss style cheese& gherkins.-Afterwards we bussed to eiiffel tower for a boat ride on the Seinne which was very nice , passing under 22 bridges. Said goodbye to Annie.Read more

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    Giverny

    May 4, 2016 in Belgium ⋅ 🌙 12 °C
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    The Louvre

    May 6, 2016 in France ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Treasures large and small. It's not easy getting around in this museum that was once a palace. So much to see. We spent all day here andI'm sure we will be back!

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    Sunday trip out of Barcelona

    May 8, 2016, Iberian Sea ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Girona and Figueres. Today we went on a long bus trip to see Dali's hometown and then the museums . Girona was having a flower festival so there were unusually large crowds present and it was raining steadily. The old town was built within Roman walls and there had been attacks by the Arabs and French(Napoleon). Game of Thrones next series was filmed here. Figueres was visited formDali's museums. Some of Dali's works I really enjoyed. He was very creative and had a different way of presenting his ideas. His jewellery designs were incredible.Read more

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    Barcelona surrounds

    May 10, 2016 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 14 °C
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    Setcases

    May 11, 2016 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    We have arrived at the start of our walking trip-Mountains to the Sea. It's raining and 10degC .The hostess is very nice & speaks only Spanish !!
    Walked around this ski resort town and it was lovely. Tourism is what keeps this place alive . Renovations of the old stone buildings with copper guttering and downpipes.Read more

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    Setcases to Mollo

    May 12, 2016 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 9 °C

    A beautiful start to the day with 4deg c and sunshine after the rain and hail yesterday afternoon.Not long after a partial ascent we spotted some deer. Saw amazing views of snow capped mountains to our west. We are going east to France. Lovely cup of tea viewing this part of the Pyrenees. As we approached Mollo we could see valleys and hills but no longer any snow. Mollo has views of rolling hills surrounding it and a few farms with cows wearing bells!! The hotel Calitxo is biggish 2 separate eating areas. Not at all a "family feely" place and much newer than Setcases. Tomorrow a longer walk with lots of possible route finding issues.Read more

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    Mollo to Prats Mollo France

    May 13, 2016 in France ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    Friday we set off after taking some of the breakfast salami for lunch. Directions leaving Mollo were confusing. Lovely views and lunch on the border of Spain and France in light hail and rain maybe 4 deg C . Missed going to the tower and walked to Peats de Mollo--- unclear directions. Arrived to the sounds of singing in the square where I sat and dad went off wandering and taking some snaps of the old fortifications. Accomodation 2 star not that good-- curtains didn't keep out the 2 street s lights and no internet.Read more

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    Prats Mollo to Amelie les bains

    May 15, 2016 in France ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Had no internet last night so I'll talk about the day(sat) now and then Ceret which is what this map shows we're at now . We were in a small hotel at the end of a good day's walking. The hotel Ausseil was ancient sleep was difficult because of the streetlights and the flimsy cream curtains! After a small breakfast we were driven to the top of Le noell to start the day- beautiful mountain peak views with snow .Read more

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    Amélie-les-Bains to Ceret

    May 15, 2016 in France ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    After a buffet breakfast we set off over the bridge towards Reynès and then Ceret . Dad saw a small brown snake on our ascent . It was a lovely day quite hot , but cool in the shade. Very pleasant really .There were still views of snow on highpeaks even being at a lower altitude.Reynes was a mall rural town with just a church. We ate cherries from an overhanging branch on our pathway.Arrived at hotel d'Arcades earlier than any other day and showered, washed socks etc and Ste a picnic in our room. Then we went to Ceret museum of modern art. Saw nice works and some pottery and paintings by Picasso . Dinner is at a Pizza style restaurant nominated by this hotel and breakfast will be here.Read more

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    Ceret to Banyuls-sur-Mer

    May 16, 2016 in France ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Ok so after a good night's sleep and a French breakfast of croissant, bread and jams & mandarin with apple juice and coffee we set off in a VW van for the top point to start the walk : about45 mins drive back into Spain. Lovely forest a bit cool so put on our beanies . we took a wrong turn at the beginning of the GR10 so we followed the marks the wrong way. At lunch S got out our GPS . We couldn't place ourselves on the map and about 205 mins later we were having trouble deciding which was the route when 2 French women - a mother and adult daughter were walking towards us. We learnt from them that we were near Le Perthus, back past our starting point . We'd travelled 360deg now going west into more of the Pyrenees . Oh dear it wasn't possible at 230 to retrace our steps to start again. S phoned the help person. She called back after making a call to say we couldn't go back but must walk to nearest town which was lePerthus. She would try to arrange transport from there to Banyuls-Sur-Mer. How disappointing and yet she got us transport ( the young guy who had driven us) to BSM. S gave him 50 euros, even though the agency were not charging us , so a tip for him!! The hotel here has a gorgeous view of the sea but is high up on the hill and tomorrow we must get to the train station to go to Carcassone.Read more

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    Banyuls-Sur-Mer to Carcassone

    May 17, 2016 in France ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    After a full buffet breakfast we caught a TAXI to the railway station-4-5km. 11euro worth it.! Station not open before9:30 ie to alter tickets- a nice Indian Frenchman & I talked about the train strike happening today-- fortunately after our scheduled trip. Anyway we were able to leave earlier to avoid a 5 min connection change & also to skip one train change completely. First train SNCFwas comfy and enough room for feet. The TGV was harder to get on- station platform attendant sent us to wrong car& we had to quickly backtrack. It was hard to carry big bags up a spiral staircase to move through an electrically operated door to find a woman in one of our seats. She moved. What was really interesting was while waiting on Narbonneplatform for our TGV we were almost blown off the platform by the goods train! Arrived just after 1 pm in Carcassone and walked to hotel Bastide. An older place , clean 3rd floor- thank goodness for elevator- mind you it wouldn't fit all luggage & ourselves in one go. Visited the medieval town - really nice imagining how the people lived and managed against foreign invaders. Spent an hour at the laundromat too! Dinner yummy made up rolls with Gorgonzola , prosciutto , tomato , lettuce and peeled carrot. Yum and red wine- bed time now. .... Tomorrow we may do a canal boat ride before training on to Nimes for a few days .Read more

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    Carcassone to Nimes

    May 19, 2016 in France ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    We had a canal ride on Canal du Midi which was really nice, peacefully travelling along for 1 1/2 hours, through 2 locks. They are extremely good. You feel a bit weird as your boat sinks down below the sides of the canal walls or floats upwards. We then bought a few bits and had a picnic lunch at the park next to the canal. With a couple of hours only before our train we walked to St Vincent's Church- a beautiful place and we paid we thought a donation for its restoration which is ongoing. However it was for going up the tower about a 100steps to an amazing place- well worth it the 360 views were far reaching and the sky was clear apart from the odd cloud. We collected our baggage from the hotel and tramped to the station. Then disaster--- French rail strike all this week from midday to 5. If we'd not done the canna ride but checked the train times we could have got an early train..... Anyway instead of 4:30 we had a train at 6:30. Phoned Nimes apartments with news of possible late arrival . We were fortunate that we had a lovely English speaking Frenchwoman with us both waiting and sitting on the TGV. She directed us to the correct exit at Nimes and we were'nt late. Went for groceries & back, then went for dinner after 9pm. Nothing within an hours walking so back in apartment had bread and jam. Then No water !!!!! A drip & no way to call anyone about it.Also could not get wifi to work . This morning at reception the girl fixed wifi for me and we told her about lack of water and no towels(1 only). Today Rae's son is picking us up and taking us to Pont duGard and lunch back at his house.Read more

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    Nimes surrounds inc Uzes

    May 20, 2016 in France ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Thursday morning Matt Dreelin picked us up and took us to see the Pont du Gard .We then drove past a small medieval town on the way to his house in Uzes. We met Laura and Felix who is 4 and waited to see us before going back to school.We had a lovely lunch prepared by Laura & ice cream made by Pampalona & coconut mountains.Matt took us through the back streets near him to a neighbour's property which had sandstone rock formations like in Australia where bouldering and abseiling occurred.Some of the rocks were named because of their appearance- lion, rhinoceros, elephant , lovers kissing.We then drove into Uzes proper, a beautiful little town and wandered around to the Duke's castle .Next we walked to the school and Matt collected his daughter seven year old Pampolona and we went for coffee.Matt drove us back to our apartment and on the way Pampolona and I practised our spoken languages. Stephen and I went across town just beside the railway to a bar & ate a very nice pizza- goats cheese,smoked duck and honey with a delicious Italian salad which had artichoke,bocconcini,prosciutto and all the rest. Struggled back at home to book replacement bus ticket across Germany with poor internet.Read more

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    Arles

    May 21, 2016 in France ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Train trip here. A bit lost finding direction at first until a young French guy showed us the way. Left packs at hotel and toured the town. Visited Fondation Vincent Van Gogh - great!! Also interesting artist from Britain Glenn Brown. Found the arena / amphitheatre they still have bullfights there.(21000 people) in time of Julius Caesar 46BC. Saw the Roman theatre(10000 people) still used today for outdoor theatre productions, near by the East park where we souped & watched a dog swim in the fountain. Bought some Nic nacs.came back to hotel- it has a king size bed in a tiny room!! But it has a little outdoor terrace with chairs and table to sit at later today.Read more

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    Aix-en-Provence

    May 22, 2016 in France ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Travelled by regional train this morning through Marseille- with train change there . Aix is a small town in comparison to Arles and much cleaner. Arles had giant water street sprayers sending the rubbish all over the place & then men came with blowers after . The wet rubbish didn't go far & the place stank. With almost no parks the dogs poop and pee everywhere & only some French pick upafter their pets. Here in Aix , not so many pets. Market day in the Main Street which had plane trees forming an avenue, fountains in the middle where cars stop& get honked to move on. Lots of cafes and restaurants.Nice fountains and little streets. A bit of rain. Back in hotel watched Sandra a Bullock & Hugh Grant dubbed of course!!! Dinner in: rocquerfort tomatoes dates bread wine$ strawberries& Greek yoghurt. Off to Marseille for Monday.Read more

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    ... in Marseille

    May 23, 2016 in France ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Travelled from Aix today. It's very cool and windy. Bags stored at the hotel and off we went to see the old harbour. Open top bus trip was really windy but good. English audio commentary- & we went nearly twice around. It's a winding trip up narrow streets to the famous Notre Dame de la Garde. Cars are forced to back up for the buses to get around corners! Beautiful vistas of the harbour old and new, the old stone buildings. We then walked around to the MuCEM but didn't go in to Picasso exhibition.Read more

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