This morning we disembarked from the cruise ship and set off by car to the medieval town of La Seu d’Urgell in the Pyrenees.
After we got off the ship, we needed to go to the car rental center at the airport. We’d asked the cab driver yesterday how much it costs for a taxi ride to the airport - he said €40. We shouldn’t have believed him since he was the guy who charged us €12 for a €7.40 fare. So we loaded up our bags in the back of a taxi and asked how much the ride would cost - €60. John said we’d been quoted €40. Driver said €55. John said nope, and we unloaded our bags, to the disbelief of several taxi drivers who’d been watching.
I’m so glad my friend Linda Joslin taught me how to use Uber. I ordered a taxi van - exactly like the one we’d eschewed - and he arrived in 2 minutes and charged €44 (which included the two airport surcharges). And the driver was cheerful and helpful. And we were cheerful.
Moral of the story: when in Barcelona, use Uber.
Our rental car was upgraded to a brand new BMW X3/M3 - much nicer than we’d expected (or paid for!). John’s enjoying the sports SUV acceleration and handling.
Once we got out of the Barcelona urban area, it was a nice drive, passing medieval hill towns and farming areas.
Further north the terrain changed as we approached the mountains.
John had once stayed at a Parador in La Seu d’Urgell, so we made a reservation to stay there for a couple of days. Paradores are very nice hotels that have been developed by the Spanish government using abandoned monasteries, estates, castles, etc. Here’s more about them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradores
This one is located close to the cathedral and was built around a 14th century convent.
Once we got settled in, I went out for a walk to take a few pictures of the town. While there’s a newer town that surrounds the old center, the core of the town dates back to the 1100’s.
The name of this town intrigued me, in part because it looks more French than Spanish. It means “See of Urgell” - this is where the cathedral and bishop of Urgell are located. This episcopate includes Andorra, and it probably also once included areas in France, as well (if it doesn’t still).
Since it’s wedged in between other buildings, it’s hard to get a good photo of it.
While I was wandering around I suddenly heard loud drumming echoing off the stone walls, so I followed the sound and came upon a drum corps marching through the streets.
A little Google research indicates that these are traditional Catalan drums (from the Catalonia region in the north of Spain - these are the guys who keep wanting to secede). They were so much fun to watch, and they were clearly enjoying playing, as well. From what I could glean, they’re from a neighboring town, but the language barrier prevented learning anymore.
Our plan was to drive up the mountains to the tiny country of Andorra, then on across the border into France on Sunday. But we woke up this morning (Sunday) to snow flakes wafting past our windows. We’re only about 10 miles from Andorra, but if there are snow flurries here, there’s serious snow falling there. We checked AccuWeather, and they forecast snow and ice in Andorra.
Change of plans!
We had a relaxing day. We dug out our heavy coats before we set out to explore more of the town (technically a city since it has a cathedral). I’d stuck in a pair of gloves, thinking I’d never need them but that they didn’t take up much space, and they really felt good. We stepped outside and were immediately hit with an arctic blast. Yesterday I walked around town in a light jacket and sandals - today we bundled up and still nearly froze. We found a little restaurant for lunch - definitely a local hangout where no one spoke English - and stopped by the little grocery store for a couple more bottles of water. Eventually we cut out exploring short and returned to the hotel to thaw out.
Another interesting discovery is that the town is hosting a “games festival” - table games of all sorts. I’d never heard of anything like this. It’s being held in various locations around town, including our hotel. Judging from the number of people of all ages taking part, it seems to be quite a big deal.
Despite our best efforts, including getting out and walking in the fresh air and staying up until 10:00 pm Venice time, we both woke up at around 3:30 am with our brains telling us it was time to get up. We had a hearty breakfast at our hotel before starting the day. The photo’s a bit deceiving - the breakfast room was busier than this looks. John noted that after Italian, Russian was the most common language he heard, both at the hotel and throughout the city. We started off by buying 24-hour passes for the vaporetto - passenger boats that serve as Venice’s answer to city buses. According to Google (would Google lie?), the term “vaporetto” comes from the fact that they were originally steam-powered (vapor=steam). Buying the tickets should have been an easy process using the ticket kiosks at the dock. But I couldn’t get the contactless card reader to read my credit card. Other people seemed to be having some difficulty with it, but they were eventual...
Today we’re in Split. Apparently there are lines of people waiting their turns to get photographed at this iconic location during the tourist season. Despite the fact that the cruise historian talked about this last night, we were the only ones who posed here. We’re thinking we may have been the only ones of the MANY tour participants who bothered to go to the lecture and learn about what we were going to see today. What we were going to see is Diocletian’s Palace, the heart of the city. Diocletian, in case you weren’t paying attention in class that day, was a 3rd century Roman emperor infamous for being one of the nastiest persecutors of Christians. He was born in a town near Split, and decided to build a retirement palace in Split where he spent his last years. The history here goes back way further, though. Split is on the Dalmatian coast in a region first settled by the Illyrians, who predated the Romans. The name Dalmatian comes from their langua...
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