Tag Archives: travel

The Sea and the Food and the Food and the Food….

03 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by in Gallery, Travel

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

Antique photo of Vila Vella

Tossa de Mar as it appeared in the 1940s or 1950s.

Tossa de Mar has been home for somebody since the Neolithic days, continuously populated through the early Iberians to the Romans … and now we’re only up to 100 BC.

So Vila Vella enceinte, the ancient walled city located within Tossa de Mar and the only fortified medieval town still standing on the coast of Catalonia, is a journey back in time – way back (Vila Vella was built in 1200 BC). On the first summery day of the season, we climbed up the hill with our friends Vicens and Jeannette to wander within and on top of the ancient walls.

Continue reading →

The Return of The Spanish Patient

09 Thursday May 2013

Posted by in Travel

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

,

Picture of patio party

If you’ve been reading along, you know that Tom visited many floors of the Dr. Josep Trueta Hospital — Emergency, Neurology, three different intensive care units, and Cardiology – as though trying to figure out whether Orthopedics or Gastroenterology might be worth a try. He could have been a Secret Shopper for Spain’s Department of Health.

Continue reading →

Bubbles and Brew

22 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by in Accommodations, Travel

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , , ,

A glass of cava; a glass of beer

I’m a Portland, Oregon native. Some say Portland is among the five best places to live in the world. Others say it’s where young people go to retire. That’s fine, but that’s not what Portland is all about. Portland is all about beer.

Continue reading →

The Jetsons Arrive in Girona

20 Saturday Apr 2013

Posted by in Travel

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

, ,

panorama of Girona

Those of you who read last year’s April in France blog will remember that Tom is a four-year-old in spirit. For example, every time a train goes by our Girona apartment, he points at it and yells “TRAIN!” If he’s really lucky it will be a “CAR TRAIN!” saddled with Seats.

Continue reading →

April in Paris

11 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by in Travel, Video

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

photo of the LGV speed indicator

Cue Tony Bennett: Last year, the train trip from Barcelona to Girona took an hour and twenty minutes. Last week, we did it in thirty-seven. Minutes. On a train. At 200 km/h.

Continue reading →

When Catalonia Takes Over the World

09 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by in Travel

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

, , ,

catalan sign in grocery store

Nothing could have prepared me for Catalan. Well, maybe my sixty years of French study and forty years of Spanish study and those two miserable years of Latin. But the Catalan independence movement around here has become so fierce that the signs and menus are no longer bilingual in Catalan and Castilian Spanish, as they were just last year. It’s all Catalan, all the time.

Continue reading →

The Costa Brava

07 Sunday Apr 2013

Posted by in Travel

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

, , ,

costa brava photo

We love our hosts! Vicens and Jeanette own the apartment we’re renting in Girona. They have provided us with an astounding place to live (remind me someday to tell you about the hot tub that shoots fountains in the air), and yesterday – quite to our surprise – they offered to take us on a drive to the Costa Brava, the “rugged coast” of northeastern Spain. Thirteen hours of unremitting wonder!

Continue reading →

Slimy Things on Beds of Ice

05 Friday Apr 2013

Posted by in Travel

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

, , ,

fish at the market

Slimy things on beds of ice. This is sort of the general tenor of the fish stalls at our Mercat, which is Catalan for market. The Mercat, of course, is full of raw, natural, farm-fresh unprocessed food. I’ll try any fruit or vegetable, but when it comes to proteins, I will admit that I prefer boneless, finless, scale-free meats and fish which I can recognize, and which is not still looking at me. I am not proud of this, but that’s how it is.

Continue reading →