Let's face it - the Pyrenees are the best part of Spain - at least they're my favorite. I've thought a lot about this: the south has a good mix of culture, the coasts are great with the beaches and seafood, but the northern mountains are where it's at. I think my feelings are in large part due to my having grown up in New Mexico around mountains and forest.
It was weird being by myself again after spending three weeks with Jim and LeAnn, especially in the remote mountains! I got plenty of practice speaking Spanish though, because very few people spoke English in these small towns. Luckily, everyone is fluent in hand gestures. The first weekend I returned, it was the Fiestas de Pilar so lots of Spanish families were in the mountains for the long weekend. I was barely on time to be able to get the last available bed in the hostel! Otherwise it would have been Hostel de Fiat - something that I was hoping didn't have to happen.
I spent the days hiking in and around the towns, and since I had the car I was able to drive north into the national park. The whole area was beautiful and very picturesque! By night, I went hunting out good restaurants, which was pleasantly easy - there were so many great places to choose from. I was surprised by how into soups people are here - it makes sense though, being up in the mountain coolness. My favorite was one I had at Casa Coronel, which had garbanzo beans, a hard boiled egg, spinach, and a croquette all in some sort of chicken broth. It sounds like an odd combination - it even looks weird too, with all the stuff floating in it, I was reminded of the soup from "The Berenstain Bears Go Camping" - but it tasted incredible.
Another interesting eating experience I had was at a restaurant named Callizo, although this one was on the other end of the spectrum. It wasn't a bad experience so much as it was off-putting. The only way I can capture this is by saying how they served the salad, while still growing on a soil-filled porous rock. Along with this came a pair of scissors for you to trim your own leaves as you wanted. This was ridiculous - I could pay less and have the lettuce already pre-cut for me at the restaurant next door! So next time I felt like going out to eat, that is where I went. On the other days, I used the kitchen in the hostel to prepare meals. Being in the hostel was very quiet after the weekend of the Festival - I was the only person in the whole place for three days. I was joined by two other travelers on the fourth night - they were a couple from Sort (in Catalunya) who were biking the Camino Santiago de Compostela. Esteban and Maria were their names, and despite the fact that their English wasn't great (still much better than my Spanish) we talked the whole evening in an odd mix of Spanish, English, and Italian. I really enjoyed this - especially when they left me a half bottle of wine and jar of olives as they left the next day! All I had to do for lunch was go out and get a loaf of bread and I was set!
After a week in the Ainsa/Boltaña area I moved east to Meranges, where I had been with Jim and LeAnn two weeks prior. We spent less than 24hrs there during that visit because we were solely looking for a place to stay the night before going back to Barcelona for their flight. When we found it, we were all really impressed and immediately wanted to stay multiple nights - so I came back and did just that! Can Borrell is the name of the hotel, but they also have a restaurant - a family owns it, the husband is the chef and his wife takes care of all the business affairs. Their names are Laura and Oliver and they were both really sweet to me - introduced me to their three sons, as well as Laura's father who turned out to be a mechanical engineering professor!
The first night I was there, I had the place entirely to myself, and since it was pouring rain, I just stayed in and enjoyed the fantastic food that Oliver prepared. The next night however, a family from the U.S. was also staying at the hotel. They were really nice and even asked me to eat dinner with them, which I happily did! It was a nice to have the company while eating. Sadly, two nights was not nearly a long enough stay, but I needed to be on my way - I had plans to meet up with Martin and his girlfriend Ida in Barcelona on Sunday night. What was supposed to be a 2hr drive, grew to 4hrs when I got lost in Barcelona traffic...whoops. I did eventually make it safely to the hostel in Barcelona, but I didn't want to be in the car anymore. I spent the next few days in Barcelona visiting some of the sights I hadn't seen before, but mostly relaxing and reading.
Yesterday (Thursday the 25th) I had a ticket for the night train from Barcelona to Torino - the French rail workers had other plans. I checked the board at the station about an hour before I was supposed to take off and found out that the train had been cancelled due to a strike going on in France. Apparently they don't let other countries' trains use their tracks either during these times. Luckily, the Spanish train company scheduled buses to take us to our destination. It was a long, uncomfortable night in a packed bus, but I am finally back in Italy!
Boltaña and Sieste:
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| Power line and clouds in Sieste |
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| Sieste church |
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| This tree has been here for a while.... |
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| .....and so has this one! |
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| Obviously I just couldn't get enough of this tree |
Ainsa:
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| The church in Ainsa |
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| "Wood"n't that be a pain to ever try and move? But.... |
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| .....I'd be stony faced if anyone even suggested moving this. |
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| For the love of god, no more puns - look at this church instead! |
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| Sunset from the hostel |
Parque Nacional Ordesa y Monte Perdido:
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| I swear that I'm in the Gila right now |
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| Don't let the cliffs distract you from the tiny road that I had to drive on! |
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| Rock formations on the side of the road |
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| Looking up from my parking spot |
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| Further into the park |
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| An old wall on the hike to the ermita |
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| Dying thistle flowers |
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| A waterfall on the hike |
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| Looking down into the waterfall |
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| Incredible skies.... |
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| ....and clouds |
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| The ermita |
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| The walk back to the parking lot |
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| Looking up the valley toward Mt. Perdido on the drive back (it's covered by the clouds though) |
More Ainsa:
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| Morning walk view of Mt. Perdido |
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| Portion of the wall at the Ainsa Castle |
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| Small chapel on the walk to San Vicente |
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| View of the Peña Montañesa |
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| View to the east |
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| DO NOT touch these....bad experience |
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| The "equals" sign with on white strip and the other yellow is the symbol that is used to demarcate the hiking trails in the Pyrenees. |
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| Looks like I'm still on the right path! |
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| Someone must have been bored hiking this trail |
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| I thought this looked like an old cobbled road, but it was actually just the way the rock was fractured. |
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| More of the Peña Montañesa |
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| That looks like a pretty bad erosion problem |
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| Another little chapel on the way to San Vicente |
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| The roman church in San Vicente. Parts of it date from the 11th century! |
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| I see what they did there... |
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| Last night in Ainsa |
Meranges:
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| I wish I could wake up to this every morning |
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| I'm wondering if this was original or added later as a patch up job? |
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| One of the "fixer-uppers" in Meranges |
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| A cool, autumn day in the Pyrenees |
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| Window in the skies |
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| Close up of one of the Meranges trees |
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| One of the fields on the outskirts of the village |
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| The church door, complete with a cat entrance! |
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| The church in Meranges |
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| They make sure the addresses really catch your attention. This must be important in a town of fifty people, so the mailman doesn't blink and miss it. |
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| My friend for the day |
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| Aaaaand he's gone! |
