Monday, February 23, 2009
When you just can´t go climbing
I just got back from an extra long weekend. I left Thursday morning as there was no school and I drove to Barcelona. Everyone had kind of bailed out on the trip, but I had decided to go anyway. I have been talking about going to Barcelona ever since early last year and I finally made it. I parked in the Olympic park and walked down to La Rambla, the Passeig de Gracia (where you find a couple of Gaudi houses) and then over to the Sagrada Familia. Then, worn out, I took the subway back and hit the road again. That night, I slept in my van in some beach town up the coast a little ways.
Friday I headed to a town called Tossa de Mar, after breakfast on the beach of course. While I was leaving the beach Valentina called to see where I was because her retreat for the weekend had been cancelled. So we decided to meet up in Girona. Tossa de Mar was indeed a very nice beach town with an interesting medieval quarter. Then I headed up the coast on a section of road that is a cyclist´s dream and had an excellent menú del día in Sant Feliu de Guíxols. Everywhere you go in Cataluña you hear Catalan and road signs are also in Catalan, but everyone also speaks Spanish. I arrived in Girona just in time to get some good photos before it got dark. Girona is now one of my favorite Spanish cities. It´s about 81,000 inhabitants with the river running through it and a really beautiful old part of town. Valentina arrived later that night. The van sleeps two very comfortably and I think if Daniel had come we might have even tried to sleep three. It is a great way to travel. I didn´t really do much cooking with all the city touring but it was a relief not to have to spend money on lodging.
Saturday we explored Girona a little more and then headed for Figueres to see the Dalí museum. Then to Cadaques catching the sea town with the last hours of light. Next it was to Empuriés in the dark to be poised to see the Greek and Roman ruins and head back south to church in Vilassar de Mar (closer to Barcelona) Sunday morning. Empuriés is a really little medieval town all by itself right on the beach. The church http://www.eevilassar.org/ is pastored by a couple of Westminister grads but is not affiliated with any congregation. We arrived quite late Sunday morning but it was good to hear some solid preaching and partake of the Lord´s Supper. After the service we headed back into Barcelona, I took a wrong turn or two and ended up driving through the heart of the city (no problem, I have these Spanish roads under control). Repeated La Rambla and explored the Gothic neighborhood a bit. Next Valentina wanted to go to a mass, so I said I wouldn´t mind getting inside the Sagrada Familia (without paying) so we went to the 8:15 mass there. I didn´t see much of the cathedral, but I did enjoy the contemporary, guitar accompanied songs of the mass in the setting with heat lamps and scaffolding. The highpoint for me was the Padre Nuestro to the tune of Simon and Garfunkle´s the Sounds of Silence. Then down to Tarragona, and today (Monday) back to good old Alcañiz which I noticed has quite a writeup itself in the guidebook (for all you would be visitors).
Friday I headed to a town called Tossa de Mar, after breakfast on the beach of course. While I was leaving the beach Valentina called to see where I was because her retreat for the weekend had been cancelled. So we decided to meet up in Girona. Tossa de Mar was indeed a very nice beach town with an interesting medieval quarter. Then I headed up the coast on a section of road that is a cyclist´s dream and had an excellent menú del día in Sant Feliu de Guíxols. Everywhere you go in Cataluña you hear Catalan and road signs are also in Catalan, but everyone also speaks Spanish. I arrived in Girona just in time to get some good photos before it got dark. Girona is now one of my favorite Spanish cities. It´s about 81,000 inhabitants with the river running through it and a really beautiful old part of town. Valentina arrived later that night. The van sleeps two very comfortably and I think if Daniel had come we might have even tried to sleep three. It is a great way to travel. I didn´t really do much cooking with all the city touring but it was a relief not to have to spend money on lodging.
Saturday we explored Girona a little more and then headed for Figueres to see the Dalí museum. Then to Cadaques catching the sea town with the last hours of light. Next it was to Empuriés in the dark to be poised to see the Greek and Roman ruins and head back south to church in Vilassar de Mar (closer to Barcelona) Sunday morning. Empuriés is a really little medieval town all by itself right on the beach. The church http://www.eevilassar.org/ is pastored by a couple of Westminister grads but is not affiliated with any congregation. We arrived quite late Sunday morning but it was good to hear some solid preaching and partake of the Lord´s Supper. After the service we headed back into Barcelona, I took a wrong turn or two and ended up driving through the heart of the city (no problem, I have these Spanish roads under control). Repeated La Rambla and explored the Gothic neighborhood a bit. Next Valentina wanted to go to a mass, so I said I wouldn´t mind getting inside the Sagrada Familia (without paying) so we went to the 8:15 mass there. I didn´t see much of the cathedral, but I did enjoy the contemporary, guitar accompanied songs of the mass in the setting with heat lamps and scaffolding. The highpoint for me was the Padre Nuestro to the tune of Simon and Garfunkle´s the Sounds of Silence. Then down to Tarragona, and today (Monday) back to good old Alcañiz which I noticed has quite a writeup itself in the guidebook (for all you would be visitors).
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Finally, the furgoneta
I have finally bought a vehicle. It is a ´92 Citroen C-15, diesel. In Spain this type of vehicle is called a furgoneta, I guess you can call it a van? I felt like I was 16 again driving it around yesterday, just getting familiar with the new car and the European streets. Yesterday I went to the junkyard (between classes) and found a window latch because one of them was broken. I also found an old mapbook of Spain and a C-15 owner´s manual. Also a piece of weatherstripping that the rear door was missing. All for 3 Euros, you gotta love the junkyard... Next up is mounting a bed in the back.
In other news Spain has been having a lot of rainy or windy weather so climbing has been difficult. Luckily here in Alcañiz we have lots of options. One weekend Mason and I climbed a fun multipitch route (and got soaking wet walking down afterwards). Another day I went to Margalef for the day. We have also been bouldering a lot, it is not uncommon on the weekends to see a group of 20 people bouldering somewhere in Alcañiz, with worse weather elsewhere the climbers from Zaragoza have been coming to try out Alcañiz´s boulder problems.
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