What's to see in Spain beyond Barcelona?

the Spanish countryside and me

Emerald lakes

Siefko on fields blanketed with spring blooms

Spanish countryside

Emerald waters cutting through sandstone mountains

Medieval town

a break from our drive way up the mountains

Mountain scenery

vineyard

countryside scenery

red poppies

countryside scenery

Pyrenees

a reminder to be on the lookout for the brown bear

Pyrenees

Pyrenees

Pyrenees

Pyrenees

Pyrenees

Pyrenees

Pyrenees

Medieval arch bridge

Medieval arch bridge

Besalu

Besalu

Besalu


Balaguer

Balaguer

At the grounds of Parador Tortosa

Beyond Barcelona, there's more of Spain to see. While I do love the hustle and bustle of a very cosmopolitan city, escaping to the peace and quiet of the countryside is also a welcome relief. On a trip to Spain in the spring of 2002, we decided to see more of Catalonia, headed for the Pyrenees and saw the Principality of Andorra on the side.

Flying to Barcelona via EasyJet, we leased a car from EasyJet at a very attractive deal which consisted of a big free mileage and very low daily rate plus a competitive rate per kilometer on the extra distance on top of the free mileage.

The nice thing about this trip was that we were able to combine arrangements for our stay with a night at the posh Parador Tortosa to staying at pension houses or small hotels in places where nightfall caught us up in our trip.

From Tortosa, we headed to Balaguer, a lovely town on the banks of the Segre River, a tributary of the Ebro River. The most prominent feature of this Catalan town was the church perched on the hilltop. This church illuminated on a cloudless night sky was a sight to behold.

Traveling through the Spanish countryside in spring was awesome. Sceneries that we passed by were simply spectacular -- rolling hills blanketed by spring blooms exploding in hues of reds, whites, yellows, and blues; gorges and mountains, emerald lakes and waterfalls. Oh, what a sight!

As we ascended the Pyrenees, the sights just became more and more astounding as the patches of snow provided additional charm.

The principality of Andorra did not appeal to me that much. Maybe its the influence of Spain in me... Nonetheless, it was nice to do the shopping here because it was tax-free for all luxury stuffs.

One place which I loved so much from our holiday was the town of Besalu which has the best well-preserved Romanesque architecture in the whole of Spain. Stepping into this town was like going back in time to the Middle Ages. Time stood still in this town as I walked through its cobbled streets and admired its most famous feature, an 11th century fortified bridge which spans the Fluvia River.

The Drome Region of the Provence

Rocky outcrops


a mountain pass


Typical countryside scenery


Me at the Drome


Siefko and me by the cliff


Siefko and the rock


Rocky outcrops

Hairpin road leading to the mountains


My husband and me


Lavender fields


Castle ruins

After the castle fatigue at the Loire Valley, we proceeded to the Drome Region of the Provence. Lovely, lovely place! I loved those mountains and the hairpin roads we took to reach the summit, the vineyards and the lavender fields which were close to blooming during our stay. My husband took me to Die, the area where he did fieldwork as an engineering geology student. Die is the place where my favorite sparling white wine "Clairette de Die" which I find to be better than champagne comes from. Too bad that with my pregnancy I had to be careful with alcohol so a sip was all I had. Would love to visit this place another time if only to have Clairette de Die to my heart's content. In Holland, we would normally horde Clairette de Die from Hema ;-)

Camping at the Loire Valley -- Home to best castles in the world

Chaumont Sur Loire


The elephant trees thriving well on the swamp at Cheverny Castle


Chateau de Chenonceau


The Royal Castle of Amboise


Chateau Azay-le-Rideau


Chateau d'Usse


Chateau de Villandry


Chateau d'Usse


Chambord Castle


Cheverny Castle


View of the town below from Amboise Castle


Royal Castle of Amboise


Our tent

I love camping and my being 5-month pregnant was not a reason why I cannot enjoy a camping holiday. It was around the mid of June in 2007 when we headed to France with the first leg of our camping holiday at the Loire Valley. It was an incredible experience to be camping by the Cher River, a tributary of Loire River and be a stone's throw from Chenonceau Castle. With the village of Chenonceau as our base, we could explore other famed Loire Valley castles on our 5-day stay in the area. There were just so many castles to see that we were going at the rate of 2 to 3 castles a day to explore that in the end, I was quite exhausted!

I love Chenonceau Castle the most. The interiors were great and so were its gardens. We had a nice lunch at the restaurant on the castle grounds with incredible view of the gardens.

The Royal Castle of Amboise was also nice. On its grounds was a chapel where Leonardo da Vinci was buried. It was incredible to learn of this information as all along, I thought he's resting in peace in his home country, Italy.

Cheverny Castle has been the inspiration for the comic strip "Tintin". Also a lovely place with incredibly nice interiors and beautiful gardens. It is the biggest private Loire Valley castle still occupied by a family. We had a great time exploring the castle gardens and took a boat ride from where we saw also exceptional collection like the elephant trees that thrive well in the swamp or those huge sequoia trees which were imported from the United States.

Chateau de Chambord, the biggest of the Loire Valley castles was a disappointment because of its sad state of disrepair. Built during the time of King Francis I as a hunting lodge, the castle was hardly occupied so it was sparsely furnished. Its immense size also meant that it was just impossible to heat it up and keep it in good order. The main feature of the castle that drew attention was its double-helix staircase.

Chateau d'Usse has been the inspiration for Walt Disney Castles. It was believed that Charles Perrault had in mind this castle while writing Sleeping Beauty.

I love the gardens of Villandry Castle. It was amazing to see the harmony of flowers and vegetables, trees, herbs and ornamentals in perfect geometric rendition.

Close to Villandry was the Chateau Azay-le-Rideau. Not much of a favorite because it was relatively small and less impressive compared to the other Loire Valley castles.

Chaumont Sur Loire, the castle that Catherine de Medici traded with Diane du Poitiers upon the death of Henri II was under reconstruction during our visit so we had a limited access of the castle's interior. We could explore the castle grounds though because at that time was the "Festival International des Jardins de Chaumont Sur Loire".

Hmmm...finally the castle fatigue also hit me that from the Loire Valley, we headed into the direction of the Drome region in the Provence for our next camping destination.