Bot to Horta

We walked from Bot to Horta on the 6^th of May. Considering the fact that this was a 26km walk, the food in Horta had better be good! Ok, so the food was worth the walk. We can only wish that the restaurants in Canada felt the need to entice us with such menus! I’ll tell you more about the lunch later.

The walk was breathtaking. We went the first half of the way … from Bot to Horta along the Via Verde, or Green Way. Did I already tell you about this? It’s a series of pathways along the old railway tracks in Spain that have been marked and maintained in beautiful condition. The scenery is amazing, with old villas and bridges along the way. We passed through tunnels that are now lit with solar motion lights so that you have no problem walking through. There are no cars or motorized vehicles allowed, so you were very safe. We saw wild mint, rosemary, sage, thyme, and bay all along the path that rivaled the sight of olives, grapes, almonds and peaches!

The old rock walls … some built by the Franco regime and some by the resistance were simply incredible. I can’t tell you the politics in Spain as I really didn’t understand it, but I did understand that Franco was NOT a nice guy!

The lunch in Horta was our first taste of Menu Del Dia. The people in Catalunya do not speak Spanish. They speak Catalan. This is a cross between French and Italian, so we had a great time with the translations! The food was copious. Let me explain.

When you order “The Menu of the Day” in Catalunya, you are really getting a bargain! This meal costs anywhere from 7Euros to 13Euros (in our experience, anyway) and includes either 2 or 3 “plates” of food. On top the plates, you also get wine and water, plus a dessert and sometimes coffee or tea. The first plate is, of course, an appy. This can be a salad or soup or juice or other delicacy … each restaurant is different. The only similarity to me seemed to be that once I was finished my appy, I was full!!! And there were more plates to go! Of course, they expected you to finish everything, or you weren’t healthy. Sheesh!!

The walk back to Bot was through the mountains where all (and I mean ALL) the grades of the hills were 10%. We believe the roadbuilders got a deal on the signs. It was far more difficult than the 13k Horta, and both Corry and I were in bad shape at the end of it. The boys pretended that they were fine( … sure … sure….).  Margaret and Ronald were definitely ok. They’re in incredible walking shape!

Rain in Spain

There is no rain in Spain. We've decided that. The weather has been phenomenal with temperatures in the mid 20's and not a cloud in sight. Sorry, all our Canadian family and friends!

Life so far in Spain has been non-stop! We stayed in Barcelona at the Gat Xino Hostel, which really DID remind me of the hostels that I stayed in when I was in Europe in the 70’s! The rooms were tiny and spartan and you got breakfast in the common room, which was all included in the price. Of course, in 1973, the price was $1-3 per night per person. It’s now up to 35 Euro per person, so it was much more expensive than we’re used to. It was downtown Barcelona, however, so we taking that into consideration we got a bargain. Besides … we only used the rooms to sleep in. We had the terrace on the roof for our tapas.

We decided on Wednesday morning that we’d head off by tourist bus to see the basic sites of Barcelona and then we’d decide what we really wanted to see. Pete and I really didn’t have a clue about anything except the statue, the ramblas, and the church. Sooooo … we headed off to catch the bus. We observed a rather large crowd of people queuing in a meandering line, and discovered that this was to be the line we were to stand in for the next hour or so. Not so! The Sagrada Famillia was not that far away on the map (so we were told by our fearless leader, Ad), just 7 blocks, let’s walk and catch the bus there when all these fools get off. What a marvelous idea!!!! 21 blocks later, we were wondering just exactly how far away this church was. I mean … it’s BIG, right? We should be able to see the top of it if nothing else! Suffice it to say, that we eventually found or sore feet at the church grounds. Yes, it was magnificent. No, scores of people did not get off the bus. Yes, we got into another queue and waited for 7 (our new number for “a lot more than you bargained for”) busses before we finally got on. When we got back off an hour later, we decided that Christopher was beckoning and sounded much more comfortable than another bus! Bought cheap, good Spanish wine on the way home … some cheese and bread … a jar of olives … yup, tapas on the terrace. Bueno!

The Beer Out Here

Just a short post. Pete has been following in Art’s tradition of being kind to his and he’s stopping to rest at all of the little cafes in the different regions. This is, of course, so that I can have a rest. And why not use the opportunity to sample a bit of the local grog!

We’ve had Belgium ales and beers brewed by the Trappist monks; darks, whites and lights and even a pink one! (not too fine, that one … tasted like beer with raspberry syrup in it … but it had to be done)

Pete has a fine collection of beer glasses to bring home as he insists on a sample of the stemware as well as the contents. We’ll have to have you all over for beer just so that he can show them all off! I believe that we’re going to have to mail the glasses home, as we simply don’t have room in our suitcase for all of them. Ad has kindly offered to help us get them there safely. He was talking something about a container ship leaving next month …

Our Dutch Home

I’ve spoken about our little home here in the Netherlands, but I’ve never really shown you just how fine it really is. We live in Hulten, which is the smallest of 4 communities. I think the 4 together are called “Gilze en Rijen”, but I could be wrong about that. The villages are Rijen (16,000), Gilze (8,000), Molenschot  (1,300), and Hulten (328 – 330 while we’re here)

Ad and Corry have a wonderful home on a large, deep lot in the middle of town. They’ placed a small mobile home at the back of the lot and outfitted it with all the comforts of home. We’re actually testing it for them, as they’ll be living in it when they sell the house and need a place to live while they build their dream home on the back of the lot. Here, you’re allowed to sub-divide your land quite easily.

At the moment, there is a marvelous garden between the house and our home where we can sit out in the sun or relax under the grape arbour. The birds sing continuously with a composition of blackbird (beautiful songs), doves, pigeons, an “alarm bird”, something that goes “me-me-me-me-me--TWEE!”, and the rooks. The heron visits once in a while, but Corry hates him. He sits by the edge of the fish ponds and does his fishing without any effort!

Our livingroom boasts a leather couch and a wine rack. ’Nuff said. The kitchen has a Senseo coffee maker which has completely converted me to Dutch coffee! We have all the comforts of home here with central hot water heating, a gas range, and a shower with pre-set temperature controls. Set it the way you like it, and whenever you turn it on, it’s the perfect temperature. Pretty ingenious!

Across the street, Pete found an interesting sign. We found out from Ad that it’s a different sort of brothel. You don’t actually rent the girl. You rent the room and then you sign an agreement to share it with her. I’m not exactly sure what the difference is, but it apparently gets around one of the prostitution laws here. It’s a fantastic property, so they must be doing all right!

Signs of the Times

The signs here are often a bit difficult to understand. They have pictures, but the pictures are sometimes a tad ambiguous … or maybe just that you could take them a couple of ways.

Some of the signs we’ve found here have taken some imagination to put a purpose to. We have the “It’s ok to take stuff out of your trunk now” sign; and the one that seems to say “Run for your life!!!” These are found spaced frequently all along the freeways with the arrows going both ways. They actually lead to doors in the sound barriers so that you can safely rejoin society … who knew?!?

The bottom signs at the railway crossings are new. It literally says “If you want to live, wait here”. At least 5 suicides are committed on the rails every year … just at the crossing up the road from Ad & Corry’s house. That’s a scary number! The signs seem to give you a choice …

The one at Kinderdijk was quite unexpected. There are lots of these posts in the biking paths in the Netherlands. They separate the right and left sides of the path. This was the only one, however, where they gave you fair warning! “Stick in road” on a caution sign. We are now fairly warned and will endeavor not to impale ourselves upon same.

This was the most poignant sign we’ve seen. We biked to Breda on Tuesday of this week to find a shop I’d seen. The city was a bit larger than we thought, and we never did find it, but we stopped at one of the many cafes along the way. This sign was hidden under a bridge. It’s a poem in Dutch, but translated, it means “See the waterfall, hear the words of the reeds as they touch like lovers, they speak a language that all can understand”.

Since the sign for “This is not allowed” is a red circle within a round white sign. When they put a slash through any sign, it usually means “End of this zone”. So, when you enter a town, it has the town name in white letters on a blue sign, and when you exit the town they have the same sign, but it has a red slash through the town name. Simple, right? Well, then … consider this sign. Even Ad wasn’t quite sure exactly what it is supposed to mean. If you take it literally, it means “End of No Pooping Dogs Zone”.