So here is the next installment!
No sooner had we arrived back in El Masnou from our sailing trip to San Feliu as posted on August 29th, Barb had us planning and preparing the next leg of our adventure – a trip to the Pyrenees Mountains. We were in Port Masnou just long enough to get our bearings, our wash done, some grocery shopping done, a few Tinto Veranos (actually wine coolers or Sangrias), and then off for the train station. We rode the Metro north to Girona in Northeastern Spain where we rented a car. Barb and Doug had bought a Garmin Neva GPS prior to leaving the states with Europe already loaded into the software.
So off we drove in a new Peugeot with a 5 speed transmission with our lives in Doug’s hands.
Our first overnight was at a hotel in La Vall de Boi. The Pyrenees Mountains are spectacular. These are 5000’ above sea level in the northeast of Spain, and rival anything the Rockies in the U.S. have for dramatic landscape! I can tell you, the movies you see of the hairpins in Europe are nothing to actually riding in a car through them.
The drop-off here, three feet from the roadway, was about 300 feet down the mountain side. I was not sure why there were not many guard rails for the roads, but this is not a place you would want to have been drinking much, and really not someplace you would want to have to pass a large truck.
This next one however, was even MORE of a drop off than the other one!!
This was a small community on our way to Vall du Boi – You can see several different construction periods in the walls of this building. Interestingly, this was just one building, but if I remember correctly, it housed several families.
The date on this building placed it at 1783. Property in this area of Spain is tightly regulated. In an effort to preserve the history of this country, new buildings cannot be built on property that already has a historic building on it or ruin without incorporating the ruin into the new structure.
As we were her in August/September, most of the gardens, farms, and flowers were in full bloom!
Grape harvest was not far off – Renne’ saw this bunch and couldn’t resist taking a picture!
Here is Renne’ admiring the photographer!!
By late afternoon, we reached Erill la Vall. The roadway Doug drove up to get us there was NERVE WRACKING!! But we arrived and the community of probably 250 individuals was beautiful.
The church below can also be seen in the photo above, just in the center of the picture.
And as you can see in the photo of the community sign the church is also the scenic center also.
The church was even more stunning in the evening light!
As the sun set, the temp also began to fall, and it was the first time Renne’ and I had been forced to put on a jacket since leaving Houston! But what an adventure!
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