Trip Summary
Now that we are in the last month of our trip, here's a timeline summary for the linear thinkers in the audience. Note that I am using the German keyboard and the Z and Y may be transposed. Please bear with me.
April 10-14 Lisbon Portugal Beautiful, walkable, manageable city that was a mellow place to recover from jet lag. Highlights were taking the Number 15 tram with about 10,000 of our closest (in the literal sense of the word) friends out to Belem to enjoy the maritime museum and walking along the river.
April 14-19 Cascais, Portugal This beach resort turned out to be a suburb of Lisbon out at the end of the train line which meant that everyone in Lisbon came out to the beach for Easter weekend. No matter, there was room for all and we never felt crowded since there were lots of beaches, restaurants and public areas. We made side trips to the towns of Sintra (old buildings) and Peniche (seaside town) as well as to the westernmost point of Portugal. Loved the new highways but the traffic mix was scary because some of these folks don't understand that they are not on that country lane anymore.
April 19-22 Évora, Portugal A delightful walled city near the Spanish border. We also enjoyed exploring the countryside which was a riot of spring-blooming wildflowers--large fields of brilliant purples highlighted with splashes of red, yellow and white.
April 22-24 Faro, Portugal. We had intended to go north to Porto, but the weather gods dictated a southern move so we just had to see if the Algarve was as bad as the guidebooks said. From Faro west the coast is lovely and the development not nearly as dreadful as in Spain but yes, there are way too many people. All of us decided to go to the southwesternmost point in the country on the same day, including all of the motorcycles in the country, who regard it as their right to pass in the most impossible conditions.
April 24-28 Matalascanas, Spain, on the far SW coast. We were there to visit the Donana National Park with its flocks of lesser flamingos, spoonbills and other waterbirds. We made a side trip to visit the town where Columbus heard mass before leaving on that first voyage and climbed around on tull-scale replicas of his three ships. How did they all live in those close quarters for so long?
April 28-May 1 Zalamea, Spain, near Minos de Riotinto where the oldest copper mines in the world were still worked until last year. Great mining museum with a replica of the Roman mining tunnels and a so-so tourist railroad on the old ore-carrying line. Stayed at a delightful B&B in a building restored by a German-born artist and her Spanish husband. Made drives into the surrounding hills to the wonderful old villages.
May 1-May 9 Conil, Spain, on the south coast between Cadiz and Gibralter. A laid back beach resort built around a living ancient walled town so there is something for everyone. Visited a sherry bodega at Jerez, lunched on the windsurfing beach in Tarifa and saw Gibralter and Tangier from a distance. Cheap room, great tapas, great beach--why would anyone want to leave? Starting to get hot, that´s why.
May 9 Drove the route of the white villages so beloved by the guidebooks. Don´t bother. The onle redeeming feature of the day was the non-guidebook drive through spectacular small-mountain national park west of Ronda.
May 10-13 Trujillo, Spain, in the west-central part of the country. Visited Montafrague national park with its wonderful large birds. Thanks to the kindness of fellow birders, I saw much more than I would have expected although the great bustard remained elusive. Trujillo is a great town with a medieval section and a wonderful main plaza where there is action every night. Now it's getting really hot.
May 13 Transit day about which the less said the better.
May 14-May 19 Ribadesella, Spain, on the north coast west of Bilbao. Cheap hotel room with a balcony above the beachfront promenade. Visited the Picos de Europe and the prehistoric paintings at Altamira but just did a drive-by of the Gehry museum in Bilbao.
May 19 - Arcachon, on the French coast west of Bordeaux. Later in the trip we met another American who advised us to give this town a miss and he was right. Terrible weather, unattractive town and the oysters, which are the only reason to visit, were non-edible becausse of a toxin.
May 20-22 Chabanais, France, SW of Limoges. One of the many French villages that never make it into the guidebooks but which are delightful. Lovely countryside full of flowers and beautiful homes and farms. Visited the memorial at Oradour-dur-Glane and found an English-language book sale while here.
May 22 Noirmoutier, France, off the southeast coast of Brittany. Neat little island but the wind and rain swept us off after one night.
May 23-29 Malestroit, France, in the heart of Brittany along the canal to Brest. Revisited a B&B from three years ago and through the owner met several local people whose restored homes we were able to visit.
May 29-June 3 La Hisse, near Dinan, France on the east edge of Brittany. Dinan is a walled city on the Rance River with a great old town and a separate great old port. Our B&B was high above the river with a wonderful view. Visited lLe Mont-St. Michel again as well as the seaside town of Dinard and walked along the cliffs at Cap Frejus.
June 3 -June 17 Greye-sur-Mer, France, at the Juno Beach invasion site. The week of D-Day was full of commemorative activities including a mass parachute drop of US forces over the bridge at St. Mere-Eglise. Made a day trip to Monet's garden at Giverny but mostly just enjoyed life in this seaside town. For this period we had an apartment which made life easier in many ergards.
June 17- transit day
June 18-26 Near Millau in south-central France to visit the famous Viaduc du Millau which is a work of art in addition to an engineering marvel. The area is also near the confluence of rivers that have carved scenic gorges between limestone plateaus. We also visited the chees-ripening caves at Roquefort. Yummm.
June 26 - transit day into northern Provence
June 27 - Drove the road at the top of the Gorges du Tarn, the deepest gorge in Europe. Not the Grand Canyon but pretty impressive. White limestone cliffs plunging into the green river far below.
June 28 - Entered northern Italy via Briancon, France. Slogged through Torino and Milano on an under-construction highway for which the tolls were still diligently collected. Ended up on the western short of Lago Garda in -- wonder of wonders-- an air-conditioned room. The host directed us down the narrow lane to a lakeside plaza with a small marina and an outdoor pizzaria. Things were looking up.
June 29 -- Arco, Italy. We moved north a few km to this medieval town with its ecclesiastical buildings looming on the steep hill immediately above the walled old town. The guidebook disparages the lake but it is in fact quite scenic with steep hills plunging into the water and the attractive villages hanging precariously just above the waterline. Too many people of course but that is Europe. We would have preferred to go south, but the heat is pushing us into the mountains.
June 30 - July 1 Cortina, Italy Fantastic drive through the Dolomite Alps to get here and the balcony of our room has a killer view. The town is a dud since it's geared to the high rollers of the ski season and not the summer cheapskate hikers. Since I can't do any hiking, we move on.
July 2 Near Brunico, Italy. Our lovely pension has only three other guests for dinner and we have the obligatory great view from the balcony. The map says we are still in Italy but the first language is German as is the deliciouis food.
July 3 - July 5 Grainau, Germany at the foot of the Zugspitze, Baviaria's highest Alp which dominates the view from our balcony. We took the tram car up to the top and the cog railway back down, which was a bit of a disappointment since the train goes through a tunnel for the upper half of the trip.
July 5 - Rothen o. d. Tauber, Germany We took the guidebook's advice and traveled the Romantische Strasse here to this heavily touristed town. The route was a major disappointment and the town a moderate one. All of the tourists must come in on busses and eat at their own hotels because there are few restaurants and the tour busses start loading at 4 am outside our window. You can give this one a miss.
July 6 - Transit day along the Neckar River. Enjoyed watching the freight boats on the river.
July 7 - Wiesloch, Germany, south of Heidelberg. In the middle of the day, we visited Heidelberg along with half the other tourists in Germany. Too modern for our tastes -- early 1700s? The downpour that drove us back to the car may have colored our opinion but you can give this one a miss also. The day was redeemed by our visit with Brian and Sindhu whom we had met in Portugal and who were, I'm sure, quite surprised when we took them up on their invitation to visit. Sindhu's delightful Indian meal was a welcome treat.
July 8 - 13 Barr, France, just south of Strasbourg. Way ahead of schedule, we fled back to France to kill some time before our next commitment. As we had found three years ago, the Alsace is a wonderful place to kill time. We visited Strasbourg which is a surprisingly beautiful city and also made a day trip back across the Rhine to enjoy the Black Forest.
July 13 - 17 Nuremberg, Germany. We are here along with a couple of fellow model railroaders from Phoenix to attend the LGB 125 birthday festival, about which more later. Nice walled city but like all cities, too noisy and hectic. Having a good time. More later.
Now that we are in the last month of our trip, here's a timeline summary for the linear thinkers in the audience. Note that I am using the German keyboard and the Z and Y may be transposed. Please bear with me.
April 10-14 Lisbon Portugal Beautiful, walkable, manageable city that was a mellow place to recover from jet lag. Highlights were taking the Number 15 tram with about 10,000 of our closest (in the literal sense of the word) friends out to Belem to enjoy the maritime museum and walking along the river.
April 14-19 Cascais, Portugal This beach resort turned out to be a suburb of Lisbon out at the end of the train line which meant that everyone in Lisbon came out to the beach for Easter weekend. No matter, there was room for all and we never felt crowded since there were lots of beaches, restaurants and public areas. We made side trips to the towns of Sintra (old buildings) and Peniche (seaside town) as well as to the westernmost point of Portugal. Loved the new highways but the traffic mix was scary because some of these folks don't understand that they are not on that country lane anymore.
April 19-22 Évora, Portugal A delightful walled city near the Spanish border. We also enjoyed exploring the countryside which was a riot of spring-blooming wildflowers--large fields of brilliant purples highlighted with splashes of red, yellow and white.
April 22-24 Faro, Portugal. We had intended to go north to Porto, but the weather gods dictated a southern move so we just had to see if the Algarve was as bad as the guidebooks said. From Faro west the coast is lovely and the development not nearly as dreadful as in Spain but yes, there are way too many people. All of us decided to go to the southwesternmost point in the country on the same day, including all of the motorcycles in the country, who regard it as their right to pass in the most impossible conditions.
April 24-28 Matalascanas, Spain, on the far SW coast. We were there to visit the Donana National Park with its flocks of lesser flamingos, spoonbills and other waterbirds. We made a side trip to visit the town where Columbus heard mass before leaving on that first voyage and climbed around on tull-scale replicas of his three ships. How did they all live in those close quarters for so long?
April 28-May 1 Zalamea, Spain, near Minos de Riotinto where the oldest copper mines in the world were still worked until last year. Great mining museum with a replica of the Roman mining tunnels and a so-so tourist railroad on the old ore-carrying line. Stayed at a delightful B&B in a building restored by a German-born artist and her Spanish husband. Made drives into the surrounding hills to the wonderful old villages.
May 1-May 9 Conil, Spain, on the south coast between Cadiz and Gibralter. A laid back beach resort built around a living ancient walled town so there is something for everyone. Visited a sherry bodega at Jerez, lunched on the windsurfing beach in Tarifa and saw Gibralter and Tangier from a distance. Cheap room, great tapas, great beach--why would anyone want to leave? Starting to get hot, that´s why.
May 9 Drove the route of the white villages so beloved by the guidebooks. Don´t bother. The onle redeeming feature of the day was the non-guidebook drive through spectacular small-mountain national park west of Ronda.
May 10-13 Trujillo, Spain, in the west-central part of the country. Visited Montafrague national park with its wonderful large birds. Thanks to the kindness of fellow birders, I saw much more than I would have expected although the great bustard remained elusive. Trujillo is a great town with a medieval section and a wonderful main plaza where there is action every night. Now it's getting really hot.
May 13 Transit day about which the less said the better.
May 14-May 19 Ribadesella, Spain, on the north coast west of Bilbao. Cheap hotel room with a balcony above the beachfront promenade. Visited the Picos de Europe and the prehistoric paintings at Altamira but just did a drive-by of the Gehry museum in Bilbao.
May 19 - Arcachon, on the French coast west of Bordeaux. Later in the trip we met another American who advised us to give this town a miss and he was right. Terrible weather, unattractive town and the oysters, which are the only reason to visit, were non-edible becausse of a toxin.
May 20-22 Chabanais, France, SW of Limoges. One of the many French villages that never make it into the guidebooks but which are delightful. Lovely countryside full of flowers and beautiful homes and farms. Visited the memorial at Oradour-dur-Glane and found an English-language book sale while here.
May 22 Noirmoutier, France, off the southeast coast of Brittany. Neat little island but the wind and rain swept us off after one night.
May 23-29 Malestroit, France, in the heart of Brittany along the canal to Brest. Revisited a B&B from three years ago and through the owner met several local people whose restored homes we were able to visit.
May 29-June 3 La Hisse, near Dinan, France on the east edge of Brittany. Dinan is a walled city on the Rance River with a great old town and a separate great old port. Our B&B was high above the river with a wonderful view. Visited lLe Mont-St. Michel again as well as the seaside town of Dinard and walked along the cliffs at Cap Frejus.
June 3 -June 17 Greye-sur-Mer, France, at the Juno Beach invasion site. The week of D-Day was full of commemorative activities including a mass parachute drop of US forces over the bridge at St. Mere-Eglise. Made a day trip to Monet's garden at Giverny but mostly just enjoyed life in this seaside town. For this period we had an apartment which made life easier in many ergards.
June 17- transit day
June 18-26 Near Millau in south-central France to visit the famous Viaduc du Millau which is a work of art in addition to an engineering marvel. The area is also near the confluence of rivers that have carved scenic gorges between limestone plateaus. We also visited the chees-ripening caves at Roquefort. Yummm.
June 26 - transit day into northern Provence
June 27 - Drove the road at the top of the Gorges du Tarn, the deepest gorge in Europe. Not the Grand Canyon but pretty impressive. White limestone cliffs plunging into the green river far below.
June 28 - Entered northern Italy via Briancon, France. Slogged through Torino and Milano on an under-construction highway for which the tolls were still diligently collected. Ended up on the western short of Lago Garda in -- wonder of wonders-- an air-conditioned room. The host directed us down the narrow lane to a lakeside plaza with a small marina and an outdoor pizzaria. Things were looking up.
June 29 -- Arco, Italy. We moved north a few km to this medieval town with its ecclesiastical buildings looming on the steep hill immediately above the walled old town. The guidebook disparages the lake but it is in fact quite scenic with steep hills plunging into the water and the attractive villages hanging precariously just above the waterline. Too many people of course but that is Europe. We would have preferred to go south, but the heat is pushing us into the mountains.
June 30 - July 1 Cortina, Italy Fantastic drive through the Dolomite Alps to get here and the balcony of our room has a killer view. The town is a dud since it's geared to the high rollers of the ski season and not the summer cheapskate hikers. Since I can't do any hiking, we move on.
July 2 Near Brunico, Italy. Our lovely pension has only three other guests for dinner and we have the obligatory great view from the balcony. The map says we are still in Italy but the first language is German as is the deliciouis food.
July 3 - July 5 Grainau, Germany at the foot of the Zugspitze, Baviaria's highest Alp which dominates the view from our balcony. We took the tram car up to the top and the cog railway back down, which was a bit of a disappointment since the train goes through a tunnel for the upper half of the trip.
July 5 - Rothen o. d. Tauber, Germany We took the guidebook's advice and traveled the Romantische Strasse here to this heavily touristed town. The route was a major disappointment and the town a moderate one. All of the tourists must come in on busses and eat at their own hotels because there are few restaurants and the tour busses start loading at 4 am outside our window. You can give this one a miss.
July 6 - Transit day along the Neckar River. Enjoyed watching the freight boats on the river.
July 7 - Wiesloch, Germany, south of Heidelberg. In the middle of the day, we visited Heidelberg along with half the other tourists in Germany. Too modern for our tastes -- early 1700s? The downpour that drove us back to the car may have colored our opinion but you can give this one a miss also. The day was redeemed by our visit with Brian and Sindhu whom we had met in Portugal and who were, I'm sure, quite surprised when we took them up on their invitation to visit. Sindhu's delightful Indian meal was a welcome treat.
July 8 - 13 Barr, France, just south of Strasbourg. Way ahead of schedule, we fled back to France to kill some time before our next commitment. As we had found three years ago, the Alsace is a wonderful place to kill time. We visited Strasbourg which is a surprisingly beautiful city and also made a day trip back across the Rhine to enjoy the Black Forest.
July 13 - 17 Nuremberg, Germany. We are here along with a couple of fellow model railroaders from Phoenix to attend the LGB 125 birthday festival, about which more later. Nice walled city but like all cities, too noisy and hectic. Having a good time. More later.
posted by Al and Linda @ 2:55 AM
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