According to the notes on our 1997 Spanish map, it was 16 years ago that we had explored the many beautiful beaches along the Costa Verde of northern Spain. Perhaps our favorite was one called Playa Merón. Parking was free and the long, clean deserted beach was a short walk away. We remembered it had […]
Of all the amazing UNESCO World heritage sites scattered across Spain, one of the most impressive is the Altamira Cave near the medieval village of Santillana del Mar in the state of Cantabria, 30 km west of the city of Santander. Altamira (Spanish for ‘high views’) is a cave in Spain famous for its Upper […]
Santillana del Mar is a small town in the state of Cantabria in northern Spain. The first people living in the area were prehistoric cave dwellers some 36,000 and 13,000 years ago. Romans had settled nearby but the exact date of the founding of the abbey of Santa and Asturias de Santillana is not known. […]
Fresh out of France, as we headed west along the north coast of Spain, our first destination was Bilbao. Not so much for the city itself but more to visit the amazing Guggenheim Museum designed by Canadian-American Frank Gehry. This extraordinary piece of modern architecture is arguably as important itself as the exhibits it contains. […]
Gascony in southwestern France no longer offers any tourist facilities like we had experienced all the way from Switzerland. This is farm country where they grow mostly sunflowers, wheat and corn. Signs advertised Foie de Gras (goose liver pâté) and Armagnac, a type of brandy distilled from wine made from a blend of grapes. Stopping […]
Saint-Cirq-Lapopie is a commune in the Lot department, (state), in southwestern France. It is a member of the Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (“The most beautiful villages of France”) association. Its position, originally selected for defense, perched on a steep cliff 100 meters above the river, has helped make the town one of the […]
The area around Espédaillac is known to have several Dolmen and Cazelles. The Dolmen, also known as portal tomb or portal grave, is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb or burial chamber, usually consisting of three or more upright stones supporting a large flat horizontal capstone (table). The oldest known Dolmen are in Western Europe […]
Looking at the Michelin map, Espédaillac is not even a dust spec. Our Garmin GPS knew where it was but the first road sign we spotted indicated: Espédaillac, 6km. At one point in history, the village must have been a central stopping place for military and other travelers. One of the main buildings, situated next […]
Vivienne insisted we check out the monument to the Rosetta Stone, a tribute to Figeac’s most famous citizen, Jean-Francois Champollion, born in December 1790. If you didn’t know before, he was an outstanding Orientalist whose brilliance enabled Egyptology to make great strides. By the time he was 14 he spoke Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, Chaldean […]
The medieval town of Figeac is located on the Célé in the Lot District of France. Its prestigious past as a commercial center is evidenced by its tall sandstone town houses. It is now famous for its Saturday markets. We were excited when our friend Vivienne invited us to tag along. The market sprawls over […]
