Road Trip across Northern Spain

 Fall break vacation! Ashley had a week off from school so we had our first European frolic. Even better, we met up with friends who were traveling too.

Europe is very easy to travel by train or plane, but since we only recently arrived with Koki, we do not really have a lot of options to leave her behind. And while she’s allowed on local/regional trains, she’s not allowed on the Eurostar trains and apparently not on any trains in Spain (WTF, Spain?). So we rented a car. I will probably need to write a whole post on just driving in Europe, but I am actually getting pretty good at it (spoiler: avoid cities). The best part about a car is of course the freedom to go wherever whenever you want. 

Barcelona was our first stop to meet up with Michael and Natalie. Spain is only 4 and a half hours from Nice and Barcelona only a couple hours beyond that. Since we had limited time that overlapped with them, we shot straight there and skipped over all those beautiful French cities by the sea. Saving them for later. The drive itself was pretty beautiful as the whole southern coast of France seems to be mountains and cliffs right next to the sea. 

We loved Barcelona. The city was so alive and full of people. The Gothic Quarter is the old part of town where you find yourself wandering through alleys and turning corners to look upon giant churches or cozy squares with restaurants brimming customers dining outside. The setting throws you back in time, but they have maintained it and updated it with modern shops. This was clearly the tourist mecca of the town for good reason. We stayed a short walk north of all that in a neighborhood called Eixample. Built later, its design contrasts from curvy alleys to regular square blocks and it felt much more lived in with locals going about their day. Everyone was still eating at tables on the sidewalks. 

Selfie time in one of the many squares; can you believe our AirBnb came with the hat?!

We did a fair bit of exploring and checked out all Barcelona’s Gaudi architecture in Guell park and the La Sagrada Familia (a completely singular church; there is no other like it). We ate paella, bombas, croquettas, and other delicious bites at open markets and restaurants as well as drank LOTS of cava (a local sparkling wine) and vermouth (which they love and serve on tap!). The vermouth habit has actually followed us all home in an attempt to keep the vacation going.

My number one, must do in Barcelona? La Xampanyeria. We had the most local experience there showing up at 10am to a small bar full of locals drinking their homemade cava and eating the wide variety of meats that they grill up. It was all tasty and they make you feel right at home. 

La Sagrada Familia: look at the details on this thing and it is not even finished

We only really planned out Barcelona in advance not being sure if we would get to do all the things on our list while our friends were there or if we’d need some extra time. This turned out to be a blessing. Originally we thought we might drive down further south, but when we were in Barcelona we discovered a few other things were close, so we set off West. 

Only an hour outside of Barcelona is a mountain called Montserrat that has a monastery built on top. We stayed in a small village nearby and went up to see the monastery. It is a bit touristy now, but incredibly beautiful. The drive up was fun zig-zagging through the mountains and seeing Spain’s rolling hills bellow. Arriving and seeing this beautiful monastery that looks carved out of the mountain was quite the finale. I thought just building this huge structure was impressive, but was awestruck when I got into the courtyard of the actual church. It is crazy to think how they built it in such a remote place so long ago. 

Montserrat up in the mountains

The view from Montserrat

And the beautiful church hidden up there

Barcelona is on the sea, Montserrat is in the mountains, what was next but to drive out into a dessert? I did not even know that Spain had a desert! Bardenas Reales was surreal… neither photos nor words seem to do it justice. It took us an hour to drive up and around and through these beautiful, wind-blow rock structures (our rental really needed a wash after too…). I imagined myself as a cowboy in the west trekking and camping under that open sky. I really want to go back to do some of the hikes or the ATV tours! 

We drove through that, don’t tell the rental company…

Rounding off our adventures, we visited La Rioja where some of Ashley’s favorite wines are grown. We did not realize this before going, but were super lucky to arrive for the changes in color. 

How bout them colors, Maine? Can you turn your trees into delicious wine? Pfft.

We stayed in a small walled village called Laguardia that sits on a hill in the middle of those endless vineyards. On one side is a mountain range and some way off in the other direction is a river. Idyllic is probably the only proper adjective for the place. We spent a couple days trying out some very fine wines and going on tours. I may have even learned something about the whole process in between glasses. I definitely gathered that they’ve improved over the years; apparently when the church started making wine there, they threw all the grapes they taxed from every farmer, vine and all, together into huge stone pits and let them just sit there. Yum. 

Sadly, we are not destined to endlessly travel Europe. Ashley needed to get back to Nice for class. Which I keep telling myself is important for our future or whatever. And now we have to wait until winter break for another proper trip. I suppose that leaves me time for thinking. Maybe even planning. Lots of places left to go in this world…