Thursday 19 April 2012  - From Lake to Sea

Day 7 and 151 to go

As expected our night was somewhat restless. Getting used to the noises of the van and being in an unfamiliar and open area aren’t recipes for a good night’s rest. Ducks that sounded like yelling people in the middle of the night had us on edge for a short while and wrestling for bed space were all over come. One thing we didn’t need to worry about was being cold. The van is super toasty. 

By 730am Paul was awake and ready to start the day. I on the other hand wanted to stay put in bed and I did for a short while, then it was up for breakfast and a super quick shower. When you are surrounded by a shower curtain, like a caterpillar in a cocoon, you aren’t looking to have a 10 min bathe.

So with the run of the mill stuff out of the way, e investigated the lake and the old ruins on the spit. We later found out it was an old church, but is now a roofless building encroached on by the scrub and vines.  After checking out our night stop we headed into the town site of Nuevalos. We parked the van and wandered up the steep main street to reach the church that was perched on top of the rocks. It had a spectacular if somewhat precarious position in the town. 

 

With the walk under our belts it was back to driving positions and on the road to Zaragoza about an hour and half away. We watched the winding roads disappear behind us, the landscape was desolate in places with some farming areas. We wound our way up the hillsides and onto the plains fighting with the large trucks that were sharing our road. The rock formations in places were just spectacular. You could see the layers folding over each other like ribbons.

The lands ahead looked dark and stormy. We could see sheets of rain falling in the distance and hoped it would not meet us. 

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By 11am we had followed the GPS to the centre of Zaragoza great, parking not so great. After a couple of goes round and Paul getting a little frustrated we decided we were a tour bus and parked with them.

We walked to the tourist bureau building (Zuda tower)which has roman ruins beneath it. We walked the 5 flights of stairs to check out the view of the religious buildings. We then wandered the main square, Plaza de Pilar. The Basilica de Pilar was beckoning. The architecture of this building is spectacular and the artwork on the inside is incredible. It truly was an amazing place. Apparently it is one of the most important Christianity pilgrimage sites.

 Following our meander down the plaza we ducked into a supermarket for some food before wandering back to the van in the rain. Yes it finally caught up with us and we were soaked by the time we got to the van.

We made our selves lunch while it bucketed outside and then decided to cut short our visit to Zaragoza and hit the road again this time for Barcelona another 2 ½ hours away. So with Paul in the drivers seat and me navigating we continued the road journey.

We took the non-toll roads which meant we saw a little more the country-side but we also shared it with a lot more traffic, mostly large lorries. It was slow going in places but generally easy driving.

By the time it was 4pm we were driving with the nutters through Barcelona centre and no idea where we were heading to. We managed to head out to the seaside and find a park. We were looking for an information bay, but none were found. It was great to get out and stretch, but again the walk was hampered by the rain. By the time we returned I had cleared my head enough to remember that the GPS was likely to list camp- grounds and it did, so we were back on the road to head 14 km away from Barcelona to Masnou where we were able to book into a crappy looking place. But you can’t be too choosy and it was across from the beach and train station.

We found a space for our van, plugged in the power and then had a drink. One that was well deserved.

We checked the map of Barcelona to work out what we would do for the next few days and then we decided to go for a walk along the beach front, not that we could see it over the train line. We made another pit stop at a supermarket for some extra vege and then made our way back to the van to cook up dinner at 9pm. Paul was fading fast so it was a small meal before getting ready for bed. Another 10pm night hopefully more restful than the last.

 

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