I had a pretty horrible May which started with a cold and ended up worse and worse until I was forced to go to the doctor and get some cortisone to try to quell the lung inflammation. But a few things were happening-
May, 2019
The end of April. 4/23-30/19
After we got home from our long trip across the ocean and back, we had a couple of occasions in April. We celebrated Passover twice, once with Sarah’s friends and once with Jonathan and Leigh. Our second celebration was disappointing since Ryan, Alex and Sam were sick.
On Easter we had dinner at Rose and John Henderson’s Where Alex and Sam got to search for candy and other surprises. Rose made a delicious ham for our luncheon.
And then I got sick with bronchitis which continued for most of May.
Huesca and home. 4/16-17/19
I have been raving about the dinners at Finca Prats Resort in Lleida but they also have excellent breakfasts. We like that they have English/American breakfasts and not just pastries and cold cuts. As a non-sweet eater the breakfast pickings are pretty slim sometimes.
Today our sightseeing is focused on Huesca in the northeast of Spain. Huesca pre-dates The Roman era. It was conquered by the Moors and repatriated to Christian Spain in the 12th century. It is the burial place of at least two Kings of Aragon. Huesca saw heavy fighting in the Spanish Civil War. Now it is a quiet town of about 52,000 people.
John and I have a really hard time finding a parking spot. We drive around and around getting caught in some old sections of town where the streets are barely wider than the car. We are about to give up when we find an underground garage at their transit center. There are quite a few unused spaces. Huescans must not like to pay for parking.
The patron Saint of Huesca is St. Lawrence who was born here. He was martyred by being burnt on a grill. In our wandering s we come across a church which is dedicated to St. Lawrence so we stop in for a look.
The interior of the basilica is done in a classical style having been built in 17th and 18th century. That puts it out of my strike zone. There’s a painting of St. Lawrence being burnt on the grill over the altar which is badly in need of cleaning. The inlaid grill on the floor is a nice touch, though.
From here we make our way over to the Abbey of Saint Peter the Old (San Pedro Viejo). This is a very old church founded by Benedictine monks in the 12th century. We go in and ask the church minder if they have pamphlets about the church in English. Sorry, no. So we figure we will stumble about trying to find things of interest. The church minder has, in the meantime, been ruffling through his files and comes up with a commentary on the church in English. He and we sort of talk about the church. He turns on lights for us and tells us to be sure to see the cloister.
The real deal is outside in the cloister. The capitals on the columns are resplendent with early carvings of the Old and New Testaments and the struggle of man against evil. They are done in a very early style which is to me reminiscent of the Longobards in Italy. The figures are primitive. Some of the capitals have been restored.
We have spent a long and productive morning in Huesca and it is time for lunch. I say to John that I cannot face another lunch where it takes forever and we have too much to eat. So we set out to try to find a simple sandwich in a cafe where you can sit down to eat it.
Down by the city hall we find a place that has a large seating area and a sign saying that they have a selection of sandwiches. John has me sit at a table while he goes to order some lunch. He orders two ham and cheese sandwiches (because he knows the Spanish for this) and two beers. Ah, what pleasure to have a sandwich for lunch with no one hovering over us.
After this we head back to Lleida to pack because we are leaving in the morning for Barcelona airport. Later, I am ashamed to say, we eat dinner at a normal time at a nearby McDonald’s. It’s pretty poor even for McDonald’s but with enough ketchup it tastes pretty okay.
The next morning we head for Barcelona and our flights back to SFO. We are, of course, screened thoroughly once at the security check and once again at an enhanced security check where we have to take our shoes and such off and get wanded over and wiped with tissues for traces of who knows what. This happened to me on our last trip as well. I must look shifty. It does seem to me that their efforts might be better spent with someone who is not a 70 year old grandmother.
From Barcelona we fly to Philadelphia where we have to go through the whole security routine again. Then on to SFO on a very turbulent flight. At the end is our sweet Sarah who has come to pick us up. I had a mostly good time on this vacation but I am glad to be home.
Zaragoza. 4/15/19
Today we head out in our very comfortable rental car for a day in Zaragoza. It is about one and a half hours from Lleida. Along the way we cross the Prime Meridian which has an arch indicating its position. The landscape seems to be drier and drier as we head north.
Our first visit is to the Moorish castle, Aljaferia. It was built during the second half of the 11th century. After the reconquest by the Christians in 1118 the castle underwent many renovations over the ensuing centuries and received major damage during the Napoleonic invasions. It was restored during the 20th century.
The castle has typical Islamic decoration with geometric patterns and Islamic script with no human forms which are prohibited in Islam.
It seems a shame to give up our good parking space but we want to take a look at the Zaragoza cathedral. It is located close to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar. When we come up out of the parking garage we are not sure which is which. I am not interested in the Lady of the Pillar church since it was mostly built in the 17th to the 19th century and is a pilgrimage site. Apparently the Apostle James saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary and she asked him to build a church dedicated to her on the site. I am not interested in seeing this church because it is out of my interest zone of medieval and early Renaissance art. But we go take a look just in case there is anything good inside. (There is not.)
The Le Seo de Zaragoza or Zaragoza Cathedral is at the end of the immense plaza. It is another gargantuan church. It is built on the site of the Roman Forum and was formerly a mosque. It has undergone a great deal of renovation.
Since I have not recovered from my fall yet, I am hurting by the time we have done all the walking to and inside the churches. I am feeling grumpy and want to stop for lunch so I can sit down. We walk most of the way back down the plaza pass the the Goya Museum and the scary looking sculpture outside the city hall when we finally find an arcade with a restaurant, El Ciclon.
The waitstaff are very nice and explain the menu to us. For 14.90E you get a first course, a main course, a dessert and a glass of wine. Eating seems like such a production here. I am beginning to long for fast food. Although the lunch got off to a good start, my main course, bacalao, comes out stone cold with congealed sauce. I really don’t care because I do not want to eat it anyway.
So now it is around 3PM and we have an hour and a half ride back. I am trying hard not to fall asleep during the ride. When we got back I take a nap and shower before heading off to the dinner extravaganza.
We have a dinner reservation at 8:30 PM and show up promptly. I am not sure that any of the staff is actually expecting anyone before at least 9 PM. I do not understand why Spaniards eat so late! The dinner is lovely but I am fooded out. It all seems to take so long. Seriously if they had just given us a basket of bread with that exquisite olive oil and a glass of wine I would have been happy.
Last day of sightseeing tomorrow. Time for bed!
To Lleida, Spain by way of Vic. 4/14/19
We have several hours to drive to get to our next stop in Lleida, Spain so why not find something interesting along the way? We settled on seeing the town of Vic, Spain which has a medieval art museum.
The drive is pleasant. We stop for fuel and a cup of espresso along the way. We notice that a play yard next to the gas station/eatery has a Roomba type machine running in the area. I see another one in someone’s yard as we enter Vic. From what I can glean from the internet, it is a robotic lawn mower. Wish I had taken a picture. Here’s a picture I did take.
When we arrive in Vic there is some sort of festival going on and the streets are blocked off which makes the GPS very unhappy. We duck into an underground parking garage and emerge in the middle of the festival. We know we are getting close to the medieval museum when we pass the Roman temple from the 1st century.
Finally we find the museum and it is chock-a-block full of the stuff we love. Plus they have an app you can download to your phone which tells you about the art using the WiFi in the museum. This is great. Now I have a bunch of pictures of the things we saw which I am putting in a gallery in case no one wants to look at the pictures but us. Click on one for enlarging.
After a very enjoyable visit to the museum we head out in search of lunch. Up the street not too far from the museum is a place called El Bixto Italiana. We like Spanish Italian food so in we go.
Then we are off for the final leg to Lleida. We are staying at the Finca Prats resort. We chose this because it is kind of equidistant from Zaragoza, Huesca, and Barcelona where we must catch the plane on Wednesday. When we check in we are told that we are being upgraded to a suite. The suite is nice and large and it has its own little outdoor area with a personal hot tub which we will probably not use.
The restaurant at the hotel does not open until 8:30PM which is typical for Spain. We had a big lunch so we ask if we can just get something small. They say sure. It turns out that the restaurant is very gourmet full of wonderful things to eat. The olive oil is superb. It turns out that Lleida is the premium center for arbequina olive oil production. We could make a whole meal of this wonderful olive oil.
Lleida and beyond
I am leaving the rest of our travelogue until after we get home on 4/17.
Beyond Beziers. 4/13/19
I am turning lurid shades of purple today. I am thinking, no short sleeves today!
Thoroughly covered up we make our way out of Beziers with a stop to see the “Vieux Pont” or old bridge. The bridge was first built in the 12th century and improved in the 1500’s. It is still in use today.
After this we spend quite a bit of time trying to find Les 9 ecluses du Fonserannes on the Canal du Midi. The ecluses are nine elliptical locks on the Aub River. They were an important section of the Canal du Midi which was crucial in linking the Atlantic Ocean at Bordeaux to the Mediterranean Sea near Beziers. It was engineered by Pierre Paul Richet of Beziers who had no formal training but came up with an idea which he got his bishop to present to the king of France. It was begun in 1667 and completed in 1681. Unfortunately Richet died before its completion. The canal meant that France could ship and receive goods without the time, expense or risk of going around the Iberian peninsula.
This UNESCO World Heritage site right outside of Beziers is beautifully maintained with a boardwalk through the marshy area and lovely flowers along the walk to the canal.
On the way to Beziers I see a sign which reads “Oppidum D’enserune.” Oppidum had a distinctive Latin ring to it. (And by Latin, I mean dead language Latin.) So I google up oppidum and find that it refers to an encampment or town of Celtic origin occupied between 6 B.C. and 1 A.D. Wow, and there is one of these just a few mikes from a Beziers? We must go take a look!
It seems that there many of these oppida in Europe. Ultimately they became Romanized as trade increased. They had in their towns a sewer system, wine manufacture, and iron works. I love walking in the footsteps of ancient peoples!
There is also a museum with many artifacts from the oppidum site including amphora, large vases, and personal items.
Next we hop in the car for the hour or so trip to Carcassonne. We are not here to revisit the castle complex. We are here to find an excellent restaurant that we had lunch in during our trip to this area in 2010.
As can be seen on their awning now they are an Italian pizza place. Although they still have cassoulet as a side line, the whole lunch is a disaster and we end up feeling bad that we have come all this way for an expensive crummy lunch.
On the way back with stop at a grocery store and pick up a bottle of wine, a hunk of cheese, and some bread. We know we won’t be hungry enough for a proper dinner. At the store I see a Trader Joe’s product. Joe certainly gets around!
Touring Beziers. 4/12/19
Since I am very sore today we are planning on taking it somewhat easy and spend the day looking around Beziers. These are pictures from our day.
Going out again in the afternoon is a mistake as I am really tired and very sore. Oh, and also very grumpy so we head back to the room so I can take a nap and adjust my attitude. For dinner we decide we just want a hamburger which turns out to be harder to find than expected. After attempts at closed restaurants, fully-booked place, awful kebab place, we settle on a sports bar with sub-optimal burgers and greasy, horrible fries. We are done for today.
Ill-fated day in Perpignan 4/11/19
We get up early because it is time to disembark. It is a much more leisurely proposition when you have your own plans rather than Viking’s. So we have room service breakfast and depart around 8 AM for the airport to pick up our rental car.
Everything goes smoothly at the car rental and we get some sort of Peugeot SUV. It is only about two hours to our planned stop in Perpignan, France.
What starts out as a lovely morning in Spain turns into a really chilly and windy day in France. The wind is so strong it is hard to open the car doors when we have a pit stop just over the French border. It must be the cold Mistral wind that we have experienced in southern France before. Brrr.
We reach Perpignan and find a parking space and make our way into the old city to try to find the cathedral. We end up finding the Church of St. James instead but, hey, it is a church so we go in to take a look.
We look around. The church-minder is nice enough to turn the lights on for us. The church is pretty gloomy and macabre looking even with the lights on. There is an interesting wood-carved and painted altarpiece and a statue of St. James, the traveler, with his scallop shell hat.
We depart the church and make our way to the cathedral through a very sketchy part of town. The buildings and the people are in sad shape and the litter is blowing around in the strong wind. I feel quite uncomfortable walking down the mostly deserted streets.
Of course I am just being paranoid and we reach the cathedral square without incident. The cathedral is also a mishmash of styles with different elements from various centuries. The cathedral was begun in 1326 in the Catalan Gothic style, because this area was part of the Kingdom of Majorca. The cathedral’s western façade was never finished and was restored in the 19th and 20th centuries and it has a portico and bell tower from the 18th century.
And now why this is an ill-fated day. In my haste to get an overall shot of the nave I neglect to step over a wooden spanner that connects the chair-like pews to the kneeler in front of them. Now even though I have been so thrilled by my miracle left knee which has performed beautifully over the course of the vacation, it is no match when I start to fall. So I trip with my right foot, my left knee crumples with the force of my falling and I end up on the floor between the pew and the kneeler. On the way down, which in my mind has taken on a slow motion quality, I smash my left hip and hand against the pew (all the time trying to keep my iPhone out of harm’s way) then ricochet off the pew with my right upper arm hitting the kneeler while the bulk of me is landing on the floor. I actually thought, ow, I think my right shoulder is dislocated. This causes quite a commotion in the echo-y Church. John and two British couples come running over. I am face down on the floor between the pews with my legs sticking out in the aisle. Please everyone go away and just let me lie here for a bit while I do a mental check of what has been damaged! But of course I say, don’t worry. I am fine. But the Brits want to help me up. So they start pulling at my shoulders which is really painful and I am trying to get on my knees which are banged up. After a few false starts I tell them to just let me do this on my own. This is tricky though because I cannot use my right arm to push up with because I have injured my shoulder. Finally I am upright still telling everyone that I am fine and they should continue on with their sightseeing. John has wisely not tried to get me up since he knows that what I really want to do is continue lying on the floor.
So ultimately my damage is a sore left knee and a giant bruise on my hip and a right arm that cannot reach out or up but I can use it from my elbow as long as my shoulder is not involved. I am pretty sturdy and have not broken anything.
We finish up at the cathedral with John taking pictures since I cannot hold the camera up and make our way into the square in search of some lunch.
I can eat with my right hand by keeping my upper arm pinned to my chest and leaning forward from the waist but I cannot reach for my wine glass. Horrors! I have to drink left-handed. Tricky but doable.
We return to the car and finish our trip to Beziers where we will spend three nights looking at Beziers and surrounding towns and taking a day trip up to Carcassonne. After only two passes we find our hotel which is on a pretty plaza or “place” in French. I just want to take some ibuprofen and lie down.
We go out for dinner at a nearby brasserie, Le Crystal. It is kind of like a French diner. We order something that has calamari in it. It turns out that it is all fried but okay we have to adjust to only knowing some of the French menu item words. The salad is good. Then it is back to the hotel to see if there is any comfortable way to sleep.
Valencia. 4/10/19
I found Valencia to be a beautiful and astoundingly clean city. In my pictures there is not a single piece of trash. It’s architecture is a blend of Art Deco and modern. These photos were taken from a bus and walking tour of Valencia.
Later we have our last dinner on the boat at Chef’s Table. It is new to their menu and needs some work. The lamb chops, however, are delicious.
