Spain 2024

On our way home

May 18, 2024 (On the way to Calgary)

Woke up, fell out of bed, dragged a comb across my head, found my way downstairs and drank a cup, and looking up, I noticed I was late… OK I had a shower too, and there was no way we were going to be late.

It was raining so we got a bit wet on the way to the bus to the airport. We had to go to Terminal 1 to get the Tax documents scanned (they have 21% VAT here, if you prove you live outside the EU, you get some back), then take the free shuttle to Terminal 2. We are at the airport with plenty of time to spare. 2 hours to wait until boarding.

Here are the stats you have all been waiting for:

248 Km biked,

180 Km walked,

1257 Km driven,

246,475 of Neil’s Steps,

308,094 of Colleen’s Steps,

312 Flights of stairs,

10 Hotel rooms,

10 Metro rides,

2 Bus rides,

1 Cab rides,

6 Train rides,

9 Tours,

16,094 Km Flown,

Too many to count Castles Visited,

Towers to climbed – all of them,

38 Items stolen,

10 times Packing up and moving to the next hotel,

24 Blog posts,

7 New friends Including the lady with the dog last night.

Colleen and Neil had an amazing and fun trip to a place we’ve always wanted to go and Neil got to practice his Spanish with people who did not give up and switch to English when he stumbled finding the word.

We did it again with the best travel buddies we could ever ask for!

Walking around Barcelona

May 17, 2024 (Barcelona)

Toured the Paulo Concert Hall today and then finished the Rick Steve’s tour with the tour of the Cathedral.

We then walked all around Barcelona down La Rambla from The Plaza Catalonya to the Christopher Columbus monument – twice because just as we were getting to the ocean, the clouds threatened and we went back to get our rain coats and umbrella – at which point the clouds cleared and we didn’t get rained on. We have noticed that if we take our rain stuff it never rains and when we don’t it always rains. We finally got to walk along the boardwalk at the marina where Christopher Columbus moored when he returned from the New World.

Barcelona is Breathtaking

May 16, 2024 (Barcelona)

Yesterday we got up and got breakfast and walked around the big park called El Retiro which included a huge rose garden. Then we went back to check out and head for the train – 3.5 hours to Barcelona. Much easier than a 7 hour car ride. I tied the bags together through a shelf support so we could relax rather than worrying about another bag vacationing without us.

When we got to our AirBnB we were met by Hoi, the host. He showed us the apartment and then gave us a tour of the area around the area. It was awesome to get our bearings. The apartment is much larger than what we have been getting through Bookings.com, with a full kitchen and even a washer. The one thing we didn’t know was that the loft is not full height. I can sit up in bed but not stand up in the room. You know it is a small room when Colleen has to duck.

We were telling Hoi about our wandering bag, I showed him on the Find My app and he said it is in a really dangerous area. We won’t go back there. I think I’ll start doing annoying random beeps of the AirTag soon.

We went for an early dinner at 8pm and then called it a night.

This morning we were up at 7am and ready to get to La Sagrada Familia. It is a 30 min walk or a 19 minute Metro Ride. We walked and got there with just enough time to eat breakfast and then get over to the church for our 9 am tour time.

The Sangrata Familia is impossible to describe. I understand why it is the most visited place in Spain. I was not so sure what to expect to see it as I have seen lots of big old churches – what could be different regular large Cathedral. It is indescribable so I wont try. Come and see it.

Gaudí, the archetect died after working most of his life on the building. He was run over by a tram. I heard the tram was out of control and there was a fork in the track and the tram driver had to decide whether to run over Gaudí or four other famous architects on the other track. He chose to run over Gaudi. He died 4 days later and is buried in the crypt under the church.

We came out of the church to rain. We did a Rick Steves tour of the part of Barcelona where the urban planners were able to really control how the neighbourhoods were going to function. It is a perfect example of how people can live when there is a plan. It looks like a great place to live. Every block is walking distance to all kids of shops, schools and work. We bought cherries in the local market and there were no tourists like the other markets.

We had a siesta and then went back out to see some more. We ended up going to a Flamenco guitar show – three guitars, a percussionist and a Flamenco dancer. Great entertainment.

Made it to Madrid

May 13, 2024 (Madrid)

We got going pretty early to get some photos in Lora’s footprints. It was great walking around the old town before anyonee else was up. We then packed up and got in the car for the drive to Madrid. The drive was busy with lots of cars and big trucks, but it took only 1.5 hrs to get there. Once we were there it was really challenging to navigate the traffic circles and tunnels. Interesting fact (we learned from Rick Steves). As the number of cars increased and the pollution and congestion increased Madrid city center became much less habitable. Instead of blocking the traffic and making things worse, they went down. From 2004 to 2007 they built 56 km of tunnels and 99km of connecting roads under the center of the city. They closed off most of the surface roads and created parks and bike lanes and low cost housing. Madrid is totally walkable and it is noticeable how many pedestrian malls and parks there are.

The tunnel system wasn’t so good for finding a car rental place in the middle of town. Actually we found the office pretty easily, but we could not find where to park the car. We spent the next 1.5 hours looking for a parking spot. By the end of today we were really ready to get rid of the car.

We found a place to stay and then went for the Rick Steve’s walking tour of Madrid. He takes us to lots of out of the main areas. We went to a bar for bull fighting and a great shop that sells Chiros and thick hot chocolate for dipping. Amazing.

Off to bed for an early start tomorrow then off to Barcelona.

Nun Cookies!

Another Risk Steves Treasure

In one of the oldest parts of Madrid there is a little convent. The nuns are not allowed to see other people. The building does not have any signs or markings – it looks lie every other little old building in the area. Rick Steves guided us there. At the corner of the building, there is a very old small door (duck to get through) with an intercom. You press the button and say “Dulce” and they buzz you in. You wind your way through the small hallways until you reach a little window with a turntable in it. You can’t see who is on the other side. There is a menu on the side with all the types of cookies. You tell them what you want, put cash on the turntable and they spin it around and voila! There is a box of cookies. I think they were sold out of all but the shortbread with icing sugar on top. Delicious!

Following Lora’s Footprints Around Segovia

May 14, 2024 (Segovia)

Lora sent us a bunch of her photos. We tried to recreate as many as we could.

About the photos

Just a note on the photos. If you happen to see the new blog right after I post it, then the photos may change over the next few days. It usually takes me a couple of days to find the right ones. Colleen has lots on her camera and sends them to me every couple days. Check back to later to see the up to date photos.Just a note on the photos.

Un Gran Dia en Segovia

May 13, 2024 (Segovia)

This place is awesome and spending time with Blanca and Juan Carlos makes it even better. Colleen and I spent most of the day touring inside the walls – the Ca-te-dral (you have to really roll the rrrs) and the Alcázar and the aqueducto – wandering the streets of the walled town up on the hill. Our hotel is inside the walls on the Main Street (no cars allowed on this street but all the tour groups pass here. Bus load after bus load.)

In the evening Blanca and Juan Carlos gave us a tour of many of the castle villages around Segovia. They took us to all the places where Lora had been 12 years ago. It was another awesome evening of touring, learning about Lora’s Spanish family, butchering Spanish and learning about the area around Segovia. There are some towns that have places for sale. Hmmm!! We got back to Segovia around 11 and it was raining,

I have a mental block about the words for rain, snow, ice and the little thing that hangs at the back of your throat.

La lluvia caía del cielo y con el frío se convertía en hielo y la lluvia se convertía en nieve. Abrió la boca y se metió en la úvula.

Nuevos Viejos Amigos

May 12, 2024 (Segovia)

We got going earlier and drove from Alicante to Segovia. It is Sunday so there are very few trucks and the traffic is not so crazy. A much better drive but it still took us longer than the GPS suggested. We got to our hotel around 3 and dumped our stuff, parked the car in a very skinny underground parking lot near the aqueduct and then met Blanca (the mom). We met up with Juan Carlos and they gave us a guided tour of their house, and all the best look out views of Segovia, including the base of the wall under the castle. A couple of observations: 1) Blanca knows everyone in Segovia. 2) Blanca loves to hug and kiss everyone she meets.

We spent the evening touring, chatting and eating. We were even able to FaceTime with Lora, Ellie and Blanca! Dinner was at 9 and we got home by 11:30. Because we don’t have siesta, the late dinners and late nights are hard on us.

I don’t know if my Spanish was even close or if the conversations I was having were the same ones that Blanca and Juan Carlos were having but I had a great time trying to communicate in Spanish after 2 years of Duolingo seemed to be producing nothing.

A day in the Life of a Tourist

May 11, 2024 (Alicante)

Today was a pretty good holiday day. After a great hotel breakfast, we walked over to the nearby laundry. It was way cheeper than the hotel laundry €40 vs €69. The laundry would have been have been great except it would not have been ready until the next Tuesday. We found another self serve one and did our own for €11.

We decided to stay an extra night at the hotel in Alicante so we had to change rooms because they didn’t have ours available. The room they gave us was also not good (two beds) so we asked to change again. Once we had found a good room we decided to stay there.

We left the car behind and took the Tram to Alicante. A girl taught us how to use the tram ticket machine – it had English – it just didn’t make sense.

Alicante surprised us. We came out of the tram underground tunnel onto a big boulevard. It was busy with people and cars. On our way to the beach area we looked in a few stores. The buildings were all quite tall and it was hard to get a feeling for what the city was like. When we got to an opening in the buildings by the marina we could finally see the Center of the city is dominated by a huge mountain with a castle on the hill.

Lora sent us some photos from her time there that we were going to try to recreate. We only managed to get one. We asked more than one person if they had seen the balcony. It turns out it was the back of a replica of a Spanish war ship – Santísima Trinidad. The real ship was in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and sunk then after being captured. This replica has a bit of a history as it was celebrated by British tourists, but not a great story from the Spanish side. It sounds like it was eventually allowed to just fall apart, became an eyesore and eventually was disassembled and taken away.

We decided to climb 25 minutes to the top of the castle for the free castle tour only to find out when we got to the top that it was closed on Saturdays. We decided we would return on Sunday only to find out it was closed all week for a movie being filmed there. We would have volunteered to be extras but Neil’s clothes from medieval times were stolen so they couldn’t take us. !

We walked the beach with its mass of humanity. Some of the girls must have had their suitcases stolen as they were missing parts of their bathing suits.

We then found a bench along the boardwalk and had an ice coffee, read and watched people.

We still needed to get more replacement clothes so we stopped in a department store. (Washing every few days was getting old.)

Neil had lots of help in the underwear department from middle aged women. By the end he had 6 salesclerks helping him. He was confused that they kept bringing him underwear to try on 😂. OK maybe that’s not exactly true but they all wanted to hear about the stolen suite case. He got more clothes so he might have to buy a suitcase.

We headed back down closer to the old town around 9:00pm for dinner. The outdoor restaurants were packed. The volume of the people in the streets was incredible – both in the space they took up and the crowd noise. It was like exiting a Flames game or a concert.

Speaking of crowds, the Tram ride home was wild. At each stop more and more teenagers crammed on to the train. Lora may be able to explain this. It was Saturday night at 11:30pm and the girls were all dressed up and the guys were tidy so we went sure if they were coming or going to a Disco?

Off to Segovia tomorrow.

Maps of our adventure

Check out this page of maps of our adventure

Maps of Spain 2024 Trip

Driving us crazy …

May 10, 2024 (Alicante)

Today we drove, and drove and drove and drove….

We left the cute little beach town of Sitges at around 11am aiming for Alicante. We thought we would stop for the night on the way. There were two highways one fast one with all the big trucks and 120 kph speed limit and then a smaller one with 100kph and less craziness. We did the first hour on the fast highway and then decided to stop in Taragona to see the walled old city. We spent an hour trying to figure out how to pay for parking and then were only able to pay for an hour. We wandered the town inside the walls but it was much bigger and more developed than the cool walled towns we had been biking through. We decided to move on. We also switched to the slower high way. We thought we would stop about 1/2 way but the driving took much longer than we thought. After 3 hours it felt like we had barely made a dent in the drive. We pushed through and finally made it to Alicante at 8:30PM – exhausted and cranky. We had not yet chosen a hotel but this city is much bigger and more developed than we anticipated so we are re evaluating our next moves.

We shall see what Tomorrow brings.

On the road again!

May 9, 2024 (Sitges)

Today was pretty much a travel day. I got up to watch the sunrise and read and then at 7:30 went down to get coffee. Now I remember a rule – don’t send the guy with Parkinson’s down to carry cups of coffee up two flights of stairs before the meds kick in.

We drank our 1/2 cups of coffee on the deck over looking the beach and then went down to have breakfast with the rest of the crew at 8:30. We left at 10:15 by taxi for 6 people, and then got on the fast train from Figuries to Barcelona, We had finally decided to rent a car in Barcelona and drive south toward Alicante. The rental place was across the street and picking up the car was easy. We got a Fiat 500.

We decided to drive over to where the AirTag has been living in the hopes that it would be somewhere we could find it. The GPS didn’t work in the 4 stories down rental car parkade, but I thought it would kick in as we pulled out of the garage. It didn’t. I pulled out of the garage into the busiest traffic (around 1 pm at the main train station). It was crazy. There was no where to pull over. There were 6 lane traffic circles with busses and motor cycles not following any particular rules. At the biggest circle I just kept going around the circle until I could figure out how to change lanes to the outside and exit the circle. I just headed north or east until I found a street I could pull over and get the GPS coordinates from the AirTag into the GPS on car play on the car.

You know the scene in every Amazing Race episode where something goes wrong (usually while driving) and one of the people in the couple is very animated and loud and the other just keeps driving because they don’t know what else to do. We always yell at the TV to just pull over and figure out where you are going. Well it may not be the easiest thing to do.

Once we got there, it was obvious the AirTag and suitcase were not on the street. I had a quick look in a couple of dumpsters but was not prepared to go wandering around low income housing by myself. Afterward I thought I should pay a teenager to go into the building and find the AirTag. Maybe when we come back next week.

We gave up and headed south. We put Sitges in the GPS as a place about an hour south of Barcelona. Turns out it is a pretty cool little sea side vacation town. Our hotel is an Art museum. The sculptures are all by a guy named Josep Maria Subirachs who also did the Passion Facade at La Sagrata Familia. Apparently he was friends with the hotel owner.

After we settled in we decided to walk the boardwalk of the town. It is 4 km of beachfront with restaurants and beach venders (selling really good brand name apparel like NIKe shoes, Michael Cors purses, and Reel Madrid football jerseys for really good prices.)

There was also a photo shoot with a famous model – at least we assume she is famous – there were about a hundred people involved in the shoot from hair and makeup to a nurse (she had a T-shirt that said so) to guys with walkie talkies who were controlling the crowd (us). We eventually stopped for dinner on the boardwalk and made it back in time for bed.

Sunrise at d’Empuries

May 9, 2024 (d’Empuries)

With the wind in our face!

May 8, 2024 (d’Empuries)

Whew. I lost two days of the blog but have now figured out how to recover it.

On Tuesday (May 7) we went from Llafranc to d’Empuries , through another medieval village on a hill – Pals. It is really well preserved and people still live inside the walls. Living in a castle would be kind of cool. The hospital – now just an empty building, was outside the walls so the sick people didn’t make the other people sick. The graves were nearby because that is where you went after the hospital.

The last part of the ride down to the sea at Llafranc was through modern big houses with front drive garages and lawns. Lots of little hills. Kind of like Calgary’s Mt. Royal area.

On Wednesday we did a big square about 12.5 km on a side. The wind was blowing like crazy!

In one leg it was in our face, then blowing us to the right, then behind us and then on our left. This was the most beautiful green valley to ride in, with lots of cattle farms.

There are tons of campgrounds in this area. We haven’t seen them in other areas. They are more like trailer parks. Park side by side, few trees – just a place to park the small motor home.

I had some troubles with my bike yesterday. For the last couple days the chain kept falling off. I was able to adjust the derailleur and it was better. Then, while I was taking some photos, the bike blew over in the wind and knocked the rear wheel out of alignment . We had several stops as 6 of us all gathered around and suggested and tried different ways to get it all lined up and stop the noise. It turns out that if I just ride, the howling wind noise made it so I couldn’t hear the bike noise – problem solved.

Dinner the last couple nights has been at the same restaurant in d’Empuries. It turns out the piaella all contains squid or octopus. I have had to pass. I had some great tapas – Beef stew on a bun, Goat’s cheese, Grandmas cod balls and Salmon and guacamole rolls. Colleen has been having lots of gluten free salads.

Our friends cannot understand how we are traveling without a plan. Tomorrow is the first day after our bike tour, we have plans to take a 6 passenger van from d’Empuries to Figueres, then the high speed train back to Barcelona, and then … who knows. We are considering flying to Mallorca or flying to Alicante, or to Madrid. We will have to decide tonight…

More about our Friends

May 7, 2024 (LlaFranc)

There are not very many activities these days that I’m involved in where we are the youngest. This trip is one of them! Neil is the baby of the group (Actually there is a couple on our Self guided tour,Rachael and Ed, who have not been hanging with us. We heard Ed is 60 and Rachel is 67).

The group we are doing things with are:

Kim and Cille, from Idaho. Both are a week apart in birthdays and are turning 70 soon. Kim is retired from his job in big rig truck manufacturing with Kenworth. They have lived all over – Charlotte NC, Seattle and finally chose to live in Boise. Kim is relieved to be able to talk politics to someone who is not a crazy person. I think they are embarrassed that the USA is such a laughing stock. Kim skis a lot mostly at Sun Valley.

Don and Peter are both 70. They are from Seattle. Don is a psychotherapist and Peter is a coach (life or career) working with Microsoft employees. Don is also a skier. He is really interested in my CARV app.

Today was a ride through more Medieval villages including Pals. Lots of houses have flowers and trees growing on them.

The group was about to ride past it but Neil went straight up the back door ramp. Neil likes the medieval villages and feels like he is in the book Timeline. Just about time for some jousting!!

Riding with the group

May 6, 2024 (Sa Punta)

Today we ended up riding the whole day with the group. We all left at about the same time and had fun chatting as we went. We took turns being the leader and setting the pace. One would lead until they missed a turn and then others would take over. Neil likes to explore a little off the route (ride up into the near by castle rather than stick on the route. It looks like the others have not been as loose with the route guides.

One of the points of interest today was the Supermarket. I went inside and took some timelapse video.

Today was initially riding along in a treed area then up another steep climb and back down the other side. We had varying degrees of bravery/ recklessness and therefore the ride down was more fun for some than others. Colleen said her role would be to pick up the pieces and dial 112 if there was a crash.

There was a lot more riding on busy roads today. Not quite as relaxing as the small, barely larger that a bike path, roads we have been following.

Our place today is called llafranc and it is right on the sea. We are in a kind of eco retreat place.

We had an optional 20k bike ride with huge elevation changes (465M) or a walk along the small path on the cliffs over the ocean. We all decided to do the walk. There was spectacular scenery along the coast.

Now a little rest and then off to dinner.

May 5, 2024

The real Costa Brava Bike Ride

May 5, 2024 (Sa Punta)

Today was a real bike ride with real bikers. We went up out of Girona and up up up – 15 km and 776 M on a road the size of a big bike path. The road was pretty newly paved and was awesome for bike riding. The views were beautiful like riding through the forest.

We left around 10 ( neither of us slept well the night before) so we slept well from 5 to 8:10 am (the bags needed to be downstairs by 9 am). We then went for breakfast and then we were off.

On the way up we kept getting passed by teams of cyclists

It was Sunday so all the cyclists were out. Apparently this pass over the mountains is a very famous cycle ride. Up was a challenge, even with the e-bikes.

Down the other side was so much fun. A steep, winding, well paved road where your speed is only limited by your fear!

The real bikers on their Carbon fiber racing machines passed us like we were spectators. They were going so fast you couldn’t even hear them coming – just a swish as they flew by with inches between us and them , between exhilaration and devastation, between bugs in your teeth or teeth in the gravel, between road warrior and road rash … you get the idea.

Once we were down we meandered from one 12 to 15th century medieval Village to the next. We made sure to go to the top of the hill in each one, and if there was a castle keep that we could climb up, we did.

The last part of the ride was 8 km along the flat, past pig farms and wheat fields and an adventure park with an elephant (at least on the sign).

We arrived at our hotel and had a rest, shower and then dinner with the group.

A case of mistaken identity at lunch time

A funny thing happened at lunch time today. Our self directed ride doesn’t include a lot of meals, where the guided one usually does. They stop at fancy restraurants and have wine tasting and lunch. We most often have to find our own food. Tengo que acordarme de alimentar a La Niña”

Today we were in a little village with a castle and decided to stop at a little cafe for a drink and a snack. I went to ask if we could just sit and the very busy waiter said “esperar” (wait). He finally took us over to an empty section of the restaurant and sat us down. He then came over and put on a nice white table cloth and white napkins at our table (the rest of the place was bare tables) and cutlery and brought us very special menus (not tapas as we have been used to getting. ) It was all really weird.

We were really uncomfortable that this was going to be a big expensive lunch so we decided to bolt! We raced up the street with our bikes and hid around the corner. Then we noticed the large VBT guided group (about 20 of them) come into the village and to the restaurant. It turns out that was where they were having lunch. The waiter assumed we were with the big group but had arrived early. We almost had a big free lunch! As we were trying to sneak out of town, we kept missing the exit (think of a small walled village with only one little arched gate/ exit). We had to keep going past the cafe and the confused waiter a bunch of times before we found the exit.

The VBT Self directed tour group are really nice. We appear to be the youngest – I know one guy just turned 70. We are all very similar – like to travel and be active.

Gonna See Girona

May the Forth Be With You (Girona)

Now that’s more like it.

So Yesterday was a bit of a pain. Running around trying to do a whole bunch of stuff we didn’t want to do. I had to shop… There is a reason I’m wearing the same clothes for 10 years.

Today I got up and headed to the police station by 8:30. It was only a 15 minute walk. It took about an hour to get the police report done (for insurance). No one appears to interested in going to Barcelona to get the bad guy or retrieve the bag. We’ll have to go look when we get there. I looks like it might be in a bush next to an apartment building. Maybe it’s in a dumpster.

Colleen met me for breakfast at bakery close to our hotel and then we headed back to our hotel to move our stuff to our official VBT hotel and start our biking adventure.

Our hotel was ready early at 11 so we dropped off our stuff and headed into the old town to do some shopping. I need a rain jacket and a belt. (If I get the jacket it will be sure not to rain. If I don’t get one it will rain for sure). I found a jacket quite quickly and not quite the right belt so we’ll keep looking. We had a quick lunch and then back to the hotel to meet the VBT team and get our bikes.

A note about food. You will remember that I will always forget to eat. I have to remind myself to “Feed the Girl”. That usually means breakfast, lunch and supper if we eat small, or big breakfast and early supper. Since Colleen has been gluten free that has become a challenge as there is almost nothing she can eat. Add to that the fact that the country shuts down from noon to 4pm for siesta and this means that Neil eats and Colleen will have one of her gluten free sawdust ball muffins that she brought with her. This will remain a growth area for us!

Day 1 bike ride was a nice time to check out the bikes, the app, the traffic and how to negotiate traffic circles on a bike with all the cars. They have a law here that cars have to give 1.5 m leeway to bikes. It’s very civil. We rode up in the hills around Girona and then back into town again. I was trying to follow the map without the sound on and missed a couple of turns but the app was great at getting us back on track. That was perfect until the battery on my phone died and I realized I brought the wrong cord for the power pack. Colleen‘s phone was fine so we made it back without trouble. Great day, one bike ride!

After our ride we wanted to explore the old Girona town. It has a 3 km wall that we walked around. It took us a couple hours to walk around on top of the whole wall but with lots of stops to climb to the top of every guard tower.

Lots of Game of Thrones was filmed here.

We came back through the main part of the old town. There was a 3D printing museum so we stopped and learned how 3D printers worked.

We went for supper at 8:30 pm (the normal time for Spain) right in the middle of the crowded part of Independence square. It was a great location for people watching.

At about 9pm, a parade started and then it got louder and louder as it approached the square. In Spanish Premier League Football (La Liga) today, Girona FC beat rival FC Barcelona 4-2 in an exiting come from behind win.

After the game, the party marched to Independence Square and took over the square with singing the Girona chants.

There were flames and fireworks and explosions as the fireworks got away and shot into the umbrellas around the square.

Great end to our first official day our Spain adventure!!

Me Roberon la Maleta en el Tren

May 3, 2024, (Girona)

Later that day…

Me Roberon la maleta en el tren

OK, It’s been a bit of a whirlwind the last couple days. I’m writing this on May 4th at 8pm. (Happy Star Wars Day!).

As I was writing the last blog while sitting on the train, someone was stealing my suitcase from the overhead shelf above me. As we were pulling out of the station at Sant Celoni (about 1/2 way from Barcelona to Girona). He reached up behind us when we were not looking and grabbed the bag and stepped off the train. I got a notification on my phone that my bag was no longer with me. Huh! I looked up and sure enough the bag was not with me. I’ve read to not put stuff up there as it is so easy to grab and get off the train leaving the owners on the train. I looked on my FindMy app and sure enough the bag was just outside the train station.

Maaan! I feel so stupid! We got off the train at the next station which was 30 minutes later. We talked to the lady at the train station and the next train wasn’t for another 30 minutes. She called a taxi for us but he was even longer. The bag wasn’t moving so we decided to go back for it. It was only 2 pm so we had lots of time.

By the time we got back to Sant Celoni the bag had started moving again – this time down to Barcelona. We have been able to watch it take a different adventure from us over the last day. For the last 24 hours it has pretty much stayed put (last seen 6 minutes ago!).

The bag really only had clothes in it. All my valuables (electronics, chargers, meds, toiletries were with me in my backpack).

Remember how colleen and I always laugh that the last 10 years, all of our travel photos have us wearing the same clothes… well – problem solved.

We spent yesterday from 4-9pm finding the mall and various stores so I could buy clothes to cycle in and some underwear and socks to wear.

I look good now!

In addition to finding clothes we visited a couple police stations (they have local and regional police and each time we talked to them we needed the other one). We finally talked to a nice police officer who was getting coffee at our hotel and she gave us great directions for tomorrow morning. In my journal from our trip to the south of France in 1985, about 100 km from here, I noted that the police were only good at giving directions then too. (We had our car broken into and our bags stolen then too!)

I guess the lesson learned is don’t bring clothes, you are going to have to buy them when you get there anyway. While Colleen, was very smug about not putting her bag on the overhead shelf on the train, we note that she is still wearing the same clothes from 1985…

Tomorrow – Cycling…

We made it!

May 3, 2024 – (Barcelona)

So we made it to Barcelona and got the phones hooked up to the internet via eSims. We did two different companies to see which was better. Neil Holafly 19€ for unlimited data and 5 days. Colleen got Airalo $11USD for 30days and 5 GB. We will see what we use most.

Setting them up was a little fiddly but I got it done in the customs line up.

We are now on the train to Girona with all the teenagers going home from school. we had to change trains in Barcelona but it was fun!