Barcelona + Southern France
5:36 PM
G'day
Well, I've now officially rolled off the project and have just spent the last 4 days with Mum. We left Stuttgart early Saturday morning and flew to Barcelona. There we got onto one of those hop on, hop off tourist buses and headed around Barca. Our first stop was Park Guell where we looked out over Barca. We then headed out in the direction of the site of the 1992 Olympic Games on Mont Juic.
We next took the funicular down to Las Ramblas and walked around there and through the Gothic Quarter back to our hotel for a regroup and to check in seeing as we were too early to check in earlier. After, we took the underground out to the Church of the Sacred Family. By this time it was getting late so we headed out for dinner.
The next morning we hired a Renault Meagane(despite asking for a VW Golf) and headed towards the Pyrenees and southern France. Our destination for today would be Toulouse. The drive through the Pyrenees was long and windy and slow in sections but the views were excellent. Somehow, we found the city centre in Toulouse, almost by accident and after smashing the car into the hotel car park wall, parked for the night and set out to look around Toulouse and get some dinner.
We got up the next day for a bit more looking around Toulouse before getting in the car and heading out in the general direction of Nimes. Along the way we stopped at a few smaller French villages along the canal regions including Castelnaudary and Carcassonne(which had a big walled city which we explored. More car troubles were to come when we got rear ended when I stopped at a red light. Thank god for plastic bumpers, you couldn't even tell we'd been hit. This time, I did manage to park the car at the hotel without more damage tho.
The next morning, we got up and looked around Nimes a little including a tour of the amphitheatre, which is a Colosseum type structure which was really good. We headed off next in the direction of Avignon but first stopped at an Aquifer just outside of Nimes. We passed through Avignon and headed for Marsailles. Let me give you the big hint, Marsailles is a hole, don't go there. We didn't even stop.
We then headed for Sete, a little seaside town just south of Montpellier. This was our destination for the night and dinner was had down by the canal that runs through the centre of town. Seafood of course.
Our final day, we drove back to Barca but only after we drove through another city, Bezier, which I was unable to navigate out of. After driving around for about 15 circles and 65 days, we finally found the way out of Bezier and headed to Barca. Our final car problem occurred on the way when a warning light on the dash came on and being a Spanish hire car, was in Spanish. I pulled over and called a colleague who spoke Spanish and informed me that it meant "Change Oil Quickly". A few more calls were made to Spanish 'help' lines, and dad and in the end, we went to the nearest Europecar who topped up the oil despite it not really needing it and drove on regardless.
We returned the car, got the guy to sign off saying there was no new damage and then casually walked away until we were out of eyesight then ran off thanking god we didn't have to pay extra for all our 'incidents'. That night we flew to Frankfurt but only for a base to fly from the next day.
Overnight at an airport hotel and then I flew off to Vienna to continue my holidays and Mum flew home to finish hers. We said our goodbyes and parted company.
I will endeavour to update this after Majorca but we'll see how we go.
Til then.
Stay safe, sorry about the epic post.
Dave
Well, I've now officially rolled off the project and have just spent the last 4 days with Mum. We left Stuttgart early Saturday morning and flew to Barcelona. There we got onto one of those hop on, hop off tourist buses and headed around Barca. Our first stop was Park Guell where we looked out over Barca. We then headed out in the direction of the site of the 1992 Olympic Games on Mont Juic.
We next took the funicular down to Las Ramblas and walked around there and through the Gothic Quarter back to our hotel for a regroup and to check in seeing as we were too early to check in earlier. After, we took the underground out to the Church of the Sacred Family. By this time it was getting late so we headed out for dinner.
The next morning we hired a Renault Meagane(despite asking for a VW Golf) and headed towards the Pyrenees and southern France. Our destination for today would be Toulouse. The drive through the Pyrenees was long and windy and slow in sections but the views were excellent. Somehow, we found the city centre in Toulouse, almost by accident and after smashing the car into the hotel car park wall, parked for the night and set out to look around Toulouse and get some dinner.
We got up the next day for a bit more looking around Toulouse before getting in the car and heading out in the general direction of Nimes. Along the way we stopped at a few smaller French villages along the canal regions including Castelnaudary and Carcassonne(which had a big walled city which we explored. More car troubles were to come when we got rear ended when I stopped at a red light. Thank god for plastic bumpers, you couldn't even tell we'd been hit. This time, I did manage to park the car at the hotel without more damage tho.
The next morning, we got up and looked around Nimes a little including a tour of the amphitheatre, which is a Colosseum type structure which was really good. We headed off next in the direction of Avignon but first stopped at an Aquifer just outside of Nimes. We passed through Avignon and headed for Marsailles. Let me give you the big hint, Marsailles is a hole, don't go there. We didn't even stop.
We then headed for Sete, a little seaside town just south of Montpellier. This was our destination for the night and dinner was had down by the canal that runs through the centre of town. Seafood of course.
Our final day, we drove back to Barca but only after we drove through another city, Bezier, which I was unable to navigate out of. After driving around for about 15 circles and 65 days, we finally found the way out of Bezier and headed to Barca. Our final car problem occurred on the way when a warning light on the dash came on and being a Spanish hire car, was in Spanish. I pulled over and called a colleague who spoke Spanish and informed me that it meant "Change Oil Quickly". A few more calls were made to Spanish 'help' lines, and dad and in the end, we went to the nearest Europecar who topped up the oil despite it not really needing it and drove on regardless.
We returned the car, got the guy to sign off saying there was no new damage and then casually walked away until we were out of eyesight then ran off thanking god we didn't have to pay extra for all our 'incidents'. That night we flew to Frankfurt but only for a base to fly from the next day.
Overnight at an airport hotel and then I flew off to Vienna to continue my holidays and Mum flew home to finish hers. We said our goodbyes and parted company.
I will endeavour to update this after Majorca but we'll see how we go.
Til then.
Stay safe, sorry about the epic post.
Dave
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