Had a very good sleep, quiet and cool mountain air. Breakfast was pretty good, they had fried eggs which was a first. But crappy bread. They like this stale, soft white bread here, not nice crusty baguettes. When I have the bread with some red wine at dinner I feel like I'm taking communion again! My sister Diane would like that.
We had a little time before the train left for Nuria and we wanted to do a wash to let our stuff dry during the day. We asked at the front desk and there wasn't a laundromat in town. So I had the great idea to use the jetted tub as the washing machine. We loaded it with hot water, threw in some hand soap, got the jets going and put the clothes in. Skills! But the clothes were blocking the intake valve, so I had to block that with my hand, but overall better than hand washing.
We got to the train station and we were the most underdressed folks there. Some guys were going skiing, most people had parkas on, everyone seemed ready for the cold. I had shorts on and April had her biking tights, and we had our little day hiker shoes. But the sun was out and it seemed beautiful.
The train ride up took about 30 minutes. Gorgeous scenery. Super steep, rocky mtns, lots of water flowing, tops covered with snow. We got up to the Vall de Nuria, and there's a huge hotel/restaurant/ski shop complex up there.
A little history....
Around 700 AD Sant Gil came from France to live up in this mtn valley and preach the Gospel to the shepherds. Like he didnt have better things to do??? Anyway a few years later the Visigoths came to kick his ass so he fled. Before he left he buried a wooden Virgin and child carving, a cross, his cooking pot, and a bell he used to summon the shepherds. Supposedly this stuff stayed hidden for 300 years until an ox led some shepherds to the buried stash. They found the statuette carving, subsequently called the Mare de Deu de Nuria, and it became the patron of the Pyrenean shepherds. After that Nuria was on the map!
Another story we heard from a previous B and B owner we had stayed with was that women who couldn't get pregnant went up to Nuria and said a special prayer and voila they became with child. This guy said it was obviously the priest up the who was working all the ladies. Haha. I like this story better.
Enough of the history, we bought some ham and cheese sandwiches and started the hike down. The hike was great. Snowy peaks, the river Nuria running down the middle of a gorge, lots of trees. Overall a winner. We made it down in about three hours. Then caught the train from the last town, Queralbs back to Ribes.
Showered, chilled, dinner didn't start until 8:30! Planned our route back to the coast. Talked with Chris and Emma who are now in Barcelona, and we'll probably see them in Girona on Saturday.
Dinner was very good, just like our lunch yesterday. April had the Mac and cheese, then the chicken and fries. I had some raw cod in oil, and some lamb chops. I was still taking it easy because of my stomach.
No pics from today because we didn't haul the iPad on the hike.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Calle Puigmal,Ribes de Freser,Spain
No comments:
Post a Comment