After breakfast in Lagrasse, we continued our trip to Spain. The French-Spain border was guarded, and they even stopped us to check our documents.
Our first planned stop was in Figueres to see the Spanish town and visit the Dali Museum. We thought it would be wise to visit the local tourist information first to book the accommodation and get some additional ideas about what to see and do around us. This was a waste of time. The lady in the info was talking on the phone, and when we got her attention, she suggested we look at the stands with the information.
Figueres is a small city situated 100 km north of Barcelona. It is famous for being the hometown of Salvador Dali. In Figueres, you must visit the Teatre-Museu Dalí, which is full of surrealist masterpieces. Dali is buried in his museum. It does not matter whether you like Dali; the place is worth visiting. I also believe that Figueres is an excellent place to buy interesting souvenirs. At least we liked it.
In the afternoon, we continued to Cadaques because Lonely Planet said:
“If you have time for only one stop on the Costa Brava, you can hardly do better than Cadaques.”
Cadaques is 40 km away by mountain roads from Figueres. They repaired the road in June 2005, so now it should be easier. On the beaches in Cadaques, there is no sand but pebbles. The water is blue and clear, and the village’s architecture around it is beautiful. Most of the buildings are white. We had lunch at the beach restaurant here. It seems that they are very good with combos here. For 10 euros per person, you will have a salad or soup, pasta or pizza, and coffee.
After lunch, we headed towards the Pyrenees and the Bay of Biscay. We intended to drive approximately 150 km and find some cozy B&B-type accommodation in the mountains. When I was going to the Pyrenees, stormy weather started. It rained heavily, and thunder was on. The driving speed was very low because of the mountains and the weather. The narrow road, but the views were beautiful (primarily when it did not rain). We thought there would be several accommodation options in the mountains, but we were mistaken. There was none available. Then again, we looked for help from the Lonely Planet guide and called hotels in Andorra Ville.
Andorra is something completely different. It is like a giant shopping paradise in the mountains. Finding the hotel was accessible. The next day, before lunch, we were busy shopping. The price for electronics is excellent, but still, bargaining is a must. We also drove around a little bit to see the surroundings. As in winter, Andorra is a ski resort. The atmosphere was perfect. We had lunch in Andorra also, but to be honest, the food here was not comparable to what we had so far on our trip.
After filling up, we continued our drive towards the Bay of Biscay. It was a delightful ride with magnificent views. It was surprising that corn was already harvested and sunflowers bloomed in June. Huesca is one of the provinces of the Aragon region; it is also a small town. We found a fancy hotel in the center. It was easy to find it because there were several pointers in town showing the name of the hotels and the number of stars with the direction. We found a snob hotel for 70 EUR.
In the morning, we continued our trip. The next planned stop was San Sebastian. San Sebastian (Donostia San Sebastian) is a beautiful beach town in Spain, near the border with France and on the Bay of Biscay. The beach here is stunning. And the city itself had a fantastic atmosphere. At the beach, we noticed a strange thing; people do not lie on the sand or sit — they walk around. If you look at any photo taken there, you will notice that also. We also saw many people coming and going at lunchtime; they probably spent an hour on the beach and probably returned to the office. We spent most of the day in San Sebastian, breathing in the resort’s atmosphere and relaxing. It was planned to spend a night here also, but we did not find tourist info to help us with the hotel and therefore decided to drive to France.
The trip continues to Bordeaux.
