A month in Europe!
I spent 2 weeks touring Spain & France with my bestie, Kim. Hunter swapped in for the second 2 weeks in Spain & Portugal. A most fantastic month exploring 3 countries!
Just in from a 12 hour nonstop flight from SFO. Going to power through the rest of the day in localtime to quash jetlag. Kim met me at the airport. We metro to her place and walked to a charming nearby outdoor square of restaurants in Madrid.
The huge Retiro Park in Madrid was part of our great nice long daily walks.
San Sebastián! Second time here and wow did I love it. It’s Kim’s favorite place in Spain, so she knew so many great secret spots.
Hiking up this crazy hilly park overlooking the city & beaches. The water and weather was just stunning!
Tapas / pintxos are crazy good. As a seafood junkie, I was in tears at times how amazing these little bites are. Stinky, fatty little fish, with minced pickles, sea salt, crema on toast. OMG.
They were our lunch & dinner most of our three days staying here.
Our favorite place was La Espiga – went there twice!
The last day was very warm & sunny – everyone hit the beach. I got to splish/splash around at sunset which made me so happy.
Kim & I had just wrapped an eleven mile forested coastal magical hike – so this was an amazing day.
We took a bus to Biarritz for a night, then train to Bordeaux for 2 days. Here we are in one of the medieval blocks of the Old Town, with the famous Bordeaux Grosse Cloche – one of the oldest belfries in France.
Next, a train to two nights in Sarlat, a disney-like immaculate medieval village. We managed to rent a car on-the-fly to visit the nearby amazing Beynac Castle. We also did a one hour boat ride on the Dordogne River each day, seeing 3-4 castles from the river and hearing much of the fascinating history.
The top floor of Beynac Castle has Richard the Lionheart’s restored room. You can got out on the roof and look at the stunning Dordogne River.
Kim & I split for a night. I took a train + car to middle-of-nowhere 2,000 person medieval town of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val. This was tearfully amazing. I can’t remember being this relaxed! The people were all so amazing, kind, and completely without any kind of shields or artifice. It reminded me of the 10,000 person town I grew up in, where everyone knows each other. It’s rare I visit somewhere so tiny in a country far away – I need to do this more often.
This iconic view! Having only ~20 hours in this town of Saint Antonin, and having had a bit more out late fun than I thought I would/should the night before – I still got up at 7:30am trying to guess the best “magic hour” sunrise for this view. It was too foggy for the first 30 minutes – but the sun finally cracked through. I fell in love with this town from this view when we were planning which cities to visit.
San Antonin view from my Bed & Breakfast balcony!
I felt like a total princess in a Fairytale at this
amazing Bed & Breakfast
I walked most of the downtown and even ventured further out and found this cafe in the park forest that overlooked the main river of Saint Antonin. Do I have to leave this town?!
Kim & I took trains and met near the south central coast of France in Narbonne, for two nights. My twin, Russ, just happened to be in France with his wife and we managed to meetup with only a seven-minute (!) train to Béziers. Here we are together in front of the iconic view of Béziers ancient downtown.
Hunter! Barcelona! Lisbon! Madrid!
Kim & I took a train to Barcelona, but she stayed on the same train to return to Madrid. I found a cool place with a rooftop pool for five nights. Hunter flew into Barcelona (yay!) for the final three nights.
Barcelona has been one of my favorite cities in the world. We stayed in Eixample this time (after Gràcia last time). We took some day trips to the coast, museums, the Gothic Center and more. Here we are exiting the main museum which has panoramic views of Barcelona.
Our place was next to the amazing
Carrer del Consell de Cent
which had just been converted to a “living street” 2 years before.
Cars & bikes were rare and had to crawl at walking speed.
Practically, it became a tree-covered green strip of just people for 20 blocks.
So we got to use it as our main base for cafes & tapas, and main corridor to walk everywhere.
We flew to Lisbon, Portugal to visit our dear friends, Gary & Katharine, who had moved there 3 years ago.
Lisbon amazed us! Tile covered sidewalks & cobblestone streets everywhere. Hills & views everywhere! A bay area-like river & ocean nearby. Fog. Cool breezes. A dead ringer for San Francisco, dear to our hearts. They even have a “Golden Gate Bridge”!
Here we are just meeting Gary & Katharine!
We stayed for three nights at a great location hotel that was ~20 minute walk from their place.
Lisbon has fun surprises everywhere. This 3-story mini palace now hosts art & trendy clothes stores under its wonderful slightly over-the-top huge paintings. A little old chipping paint only adds to the charm.
We had great food together and they showed us all around the city.
We got to see their neighborhood, local park, and favorite haunts.
So amazing to see our friends again.
We use to live less than 10 minutes from each other and would
hang out nearly every weekend in Oakland.
Lisbon is famous for its annual Jacaranda trees blossoming.
We timed it perfectly and found brilliant purple blossoms all over the city. Here we are at sunset on a walk all over town.
Hunter & I flew to Madrid for two nights after this, to visit Kim & Miguel. I got to play “greatest hits” with Hunter, from the walks & parks that Kim & I did there just days ago, while squishing in a visit to the Prado Musuem, too.
After that.... OH MY GOD...
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