Spain

Since we have now reached our fifth country - Andorra - it's time to write about Spain...

We left a grey and windy France and it felt like the weather improved as soon as we crossed the border to Spain. We spent about three days in a place called Llanca, which had a nice beach/yacht-harbour, two great playgrounds for Yana and a cheap, but completely acceptable, camping ground. The weather was great during our stay. We got to do a bit of sun-bathing, Lindsay went for a 4 hour run/tramp while Kerstin went to the beach with Yana and Kerstin went for a shorter run the next day.

The coast by Llanca

The beach/yacht-harbour of Llanca

Our next stop was Girona, a city with a nice colourful row of houses along the river, an impressive cathedral, cute narrow streets, but a slightly dodgy looking carpark that we were glad to leave behind.

Girona's colourful houses

The next few days we spent in a camping ground just north of Barcelona, near a town called Mataro. From there we took the train into Barcelona for two days. In Barcelona we bought a two-day tourist bus pass, which was a great way to see the city and learn about all the sights. We were able to hop on and off the bus as many times as we wanted. On the first day, a slightly rainy day unfortunately, we did the Southern route that took us to the Olympic stadium and the harbour. And on the second day, a nice and sunny day, we did the Northern route that took us to a couple of creative houses, the impressive Sagrada Familia and the colourful Park Güell - all designed by Gaudi.

The Sagrada Familia from the outside...

...and from the inside

Inside Park Güell - it was hard to get this photo without anyone posing in it.

More from Park Güell - again very hard to not get anyone in the ph

A very very unique looking building... anyone else get cravings for gherkins???

The first part of our drive to Andorra was not very exciting. Last night, however, we stayed in a really cool spot by a gorge here in the pyrenees and the drive today was really spectacular as well. After we've done some duty-free shopping tomorrow, we will try to experience the pyrenees from a hiker's perspective.