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Bilbao – This and That

Bilbao – This and That

  • Travel
Excusez-moi, Président Bush, mais vous envahissez le mauvais pays!

France

Tomorrow we return to France. Mary Anne and I love France, but many ‘mericans don’t. Maybe it’s because the French refuse to go along with some of our less-than-well-thought-out plans.

But we showed them! Freedom fries! How’d

Guggenheim – Bilbao

Guggenheim – Bilbao

  • Travel
Everybody talks about the Guggenheim art museum in Bilbao. Designed by Frank Gehry, the same guy who gave us the Experience Music Project (now MoPop) in Seattle, the Guggenheim has garnered accolades for its design.

In its short lifetime, the museum has joined a rarified list of places that folks

Pamplona

Pamplona

  • Travel
Bullfighting. Meh.

Look, I get it. Bulls are big, have pointy things on their heads, and can be dangerous if provoked. If you want to show your skill at dancing with death, I suppose annoying a bull makes as much sense as free climbing or Formula 1 racing or whatever.

Zaragoza

Zaragoza

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Zaragoza dates back to 14 BC when it was established by the Romans. There’s little left from that period, but there is a spectacular basilica, a Moorish palace, a Goya museum, and enough general interest material to make a stop worthwhile.

But let’s begin with a quick look

Barcelona Cathedral

Barcelona Cathedral

  • Travel
There is a claim that this cathedral dates to the fourth century, but I think that’s kind of playing with numbers. The current structure was likely built on the ruins of something earlier, or greatly expanded it. The real action started in the fourteenth century. Practically yesterday.

Rick Steve’

Not Collioure

Not Collioure

  • Travel
There’s a joke about places that are quiet in the evenings and on weekends, it goes: “I went to xxx once, but it was closed.” When I lived in New Zealand, you could fill in the name of anyplace in the country.

Today we had a similar experience in

Perpignan

Perpignan

  • Travel
This is La Mas Bresson, a former stable that will be our home for the next three days. As you can see, it’s been improved. We share it with a German couple and a couple of Canadians from Montreal.

After settling in, we drove to an auberge a few

Carcassone

Carcassone

  • Travel
I know, I know, I know. Another day, another damned walled medieval city. But look, the Medieval period went on for a long time, plenty long enough to build a lot of these places. And even though they’re similar, there are enough differences to make each one interesting. Carcassone,
Toulouse II

Toulouse II

  • Travel
We booked one of those around-the-city bus tours for this morning. I thought I’d be taking a ton of photos, but took none. Although we saw a lot, the bus never put passengers in a position to take photos of the things we passed.

So let me take up

Toulouse I

Toulouse I

  • Travel
We arrived at our AirBnB apartment in Toulouse after a nerve-wracking two hour drive from Rocamadour. Why nerve-wracking? Not because of the French drivers, they are on the whole much better and much more courteous than in Seattle. Not because of the Autoroute speed. One hundred thirty kilometers per hour
Rocamadour

Rocamadour

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I wouldn’t blame you if you’re getting a little tired of medieval towns hung on cliffs. I think Rocamadour will be the last – at least for a while.

We drove an hour east to visit this place because Mary Anne read that it is the second most visited

Beynac-et-Cazenac

Beynac-et-Cazenac

  • Travel
Eleanor of Aquitaine was really something! First she marries a French king, later an English one. But she was much more than arm candy. Eleanor was a strong, smart woman who helped the Périgord region prosper, lived into her eighties (twice the average in those days) and was the mother
Sarlat-la-Canéda

Sarlat-la-Canéda

  • Travel
The hub of this part of the Dordogne region is the town of Sarlat-la-Canéda. I’ll call it Sarlat from now on. As everyone’s favorite American tourist, Rick Steves, says, there’s nothing “special” about Sarlat, its appeal comes from having a large, well-preserved medieval center.

in case you’

La Roque-Gageac

La Roque-Gageac

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The big draws in this part of the Dordogne are the prehistoric cave drawings and outdoor activities. I’ll show you our little village which stretches right up a sheer cliff and includes an ancient cave dwelling similar to those of the natives of the American Southwest. Then you’ll
Saint-Émilion

Saint-Émilion

  • Travel
We’re in the Dordogne region now, which is to say the area along the Dordogne river. It’s famous for a number of things including great wine, ancient cave drawings, and picturesque villages and chateaux. That’s a lot to see, leaving little time to blog about it.

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