Reus is the birthplace of Barcelona's famous architect, Antoni Gaudi, who is best known for the design of La Sagrada Familia church, Parc Guell and a number of large homes and palaces in the area. I was in Barcelona once without C and toured La Sagrada Familia. Unfortunately on a return trip together the lines…

Going through Camino walking withdrawal I convinced C to walk an hour on the town's "cholesterol trail" to the beach and agreed to take the train home. Turns out we walked farther and did the return path as well, for a total of three hours. Needed to burn off the delicious burgers at lunch.  We…

There was a noticeable security presence at the airport in Bordeaux reminding me of post 911 military presence in the US.  Back to Catalonia, but this time extending our reach to Tarragona and further. We've decided to visit Morocco, a place a bit beyond our usual comfort zone.  In the meantime, our timing was right…

After a relaxing morning we took Bruce to noon Sunday dinner at a local restaurant. This is the busiest time in France for eating out. No wonder, you need the rest of the day to wear off the food coma. It was coincidentally Canadian Thanksgiving with the over indulgence of a holiday meal.  It started…

This morning we walked Saint-Fort-sur-Gironde, to visit the market and find a geocache at the the Eglise St. Fortunat. It was reminiscent of Camino paths and felt good. Lots of flowers, fields and vineyards along the way. On the way back we met two friendly Golden Retrievers from England visiting their French country home, the…

It turns out that yesterday we were right on a Camino route that starts in Paris and goes through Bordeaux. Hmmm, I feel the seeds of another Camino dream starting to sprout.  This morning I had the opportunity to introduce Bruce to geocaching. Two very brief previous opportunities to cache in France were fruitless due…

In the afternoon we were escorted by more friends of Bruce for a tour of the town of Cognac. Sister Salvatore, my high school French teacher would be proud at how much I understood given my French grades. Must be all the knowledge gleaned from living over half my life in Canada and reading cereal…

Morning at Jean and Bruce's in Bordeaux: Our friends have a connection in the next village, Saint-Fort-sur-Gironde, who was able to get us into the bell tower of the church, Eglise Saint-Fortunat. We walked up a very narrow winding stairway, outside, to the very breezy top. This is not an activity for those who are claustrophobic of…

The sun was rising when we arrived at our gate at the Santiago Airport.  Our 3.5 hour layover in Barcelona was spent in a pleasant outdoor courtyard, still within the security zone at the airport. We indulged in tapas and a last bit of Spanish wine and beer from our favourite vineyard. Oops, airport pricing.…

We are determined to lighten our load for this year's Camino as opposed to last year's: – We shed some weight by omitting the sleeping bags, as We were ending a few weeks earlier. It's amazing how warm silk sleeping bag liners are. – We also left behind the extention cord, something we read was…