Sarah & Mum Adventures - Spain and France Part 2

We left this adventure off in Barcelona, having explored the fantastic Sagrada Familia, several museums and complaining about the heat.

Our last day in Barcelona saw us checking out of our hotel and making our way to where we were picking up our car. Once all the paperwork was signed, we hit the road and proceeded to go the wrong way several times, but luckily round-about are a thing, and they allowed us to correct our route. Finally, we were heading towards the French border.

We stopped in a seaside town for lunch and a look around. (I cannot remember what town it was, we weren’t there for very long.) It was a touch of chaos. Small streets, loads of pedestrians, loads of cars and then two kiwis who were driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road! (We drive on the Left in New Zealand, and in Europe, they drive on the righthand side, except the UK) We somehow found somewhere to park and proceeded to find something to eat. I remember wandering through a shop looking for something like a chilly bin or eski or cooler thing whatever everyone calls it. After a little bit, we were once again on our way.

Realising that the French border was coming up, I pulled out our passports ready for the border stop. Only to learn, as we crossed the border, that you don’t have to stop! We just drove into another country! For someone who’s grown up on an Island, at the bottom of the world, the ability to drive into another country is crazy!

Bonjour France!

We ended up booking into a motel near Perpignan. Once checked in we headed out to find something for dinner, only to realise that it’s Sunday and that almost everything is closed! We did find a kind of buffet-style place that was open and serving, where we had dinner before calling it a day. I found Dr Who playing on the TV and proceeded to sit amused over the fact that it was dubbed in French.

The next day, we were up and headed for Carcassonne. We had decided that we would try and avoid the main motorways to have a more exciting drive. It was, in fact, enjoyable. We wove our way through the foothills of the Pyrenees, following a winding river. I spotted towers and castles high up in the mountains.

There was also a lot of me calmly (mostly) saying, “Mum, you’re very very close to the edge of the cliff we’re driving along you might want to go to your right a little…” “Mum, just go to your right a smidge more, I can see over the edge…” Never mind that time she looked the wrong way when we reached a round-about, and there was a car going around it… As I said, mum was driving on the opposite side of the road than we were/are used to. She also punched the driver's side door a lot while trying to go for the gear stick.

We arrived in Carcassonne, safely having not driven off a cliff. Mum’s a great driver by the way. It took us a little bit to try and figure out where to park, but soon we were stretching our legs and finding something to eat. Mum began to get worried about timings, so we didn’t go into the old town of Carcassonne, but I wandered towards it to get a few pictures from the bridge. In retrospect, we realised that we could have easily stopped and walked around. That means we’ll have to go back another time.

Back on the sunflower lined roads, we headed to a town near Limoges, where family friends live. It was while we were waiting for Peter to come to meet us, to lead us to their place, that I had my first ever experience of a squatter potty. Now you might find it somewhat off that I bring this up, it is, but I can honestly say that I never expected to use one in France.

The next day we went with Jayne to have a look around the cute French town. Including a tour of a Macaron shop/factory, where we got to have a tasting as well, yum!! She also took us to a couple of chateaus. It was so beautiful, and all in its summer glory.

While we were staying with them, they suggested we go so Oradour-sur-Glane, a town which is now the national war memorial in France. A little bit of background, in 1944 642 people including 254 women, 207 children and 181 men were killed by Nazi SS Troops in retaliation of a SS Commander who had been kidnapped by the French Resistance. I’ve linked an article with a bit more information on it for you. The town has been preserved and is now the National War Memorial. It was unique to walk around it. I had never learnt about the massacre that had happened here. It’s one of those more poignant places that you can visit.

From Jayne and Peter’s, we headed towards Bordeaux. Unfortunately, we only had one night in Bordeaux, but Mum and I fell in love with it. We went on a tourist bus tour of the city, which included a taster glass of wine at the end, and as I don’t drink Mum got to have two glasses! Was she complaining? Absolutely not. We then wandered around a bit ourselves, before finding somewhere to have crepes for dinner. Bordeaux has such a lovely atmosphere about it. We came across a mirror fountain that was just full of people, adults and children alike, playing in it. The streets were bustling, lively and full of happy people. Bordeaux is on my list to go back to, to explore more.

From Bordeaux, we headed south to Lourdes, where we stayed for two nights. We took the funicular up to the summit of Pic du Jer only to find a view of clouds. It had been raining so this made sense. Lourdes is a place of pilgrimage, I will say this we are not religious in any way and didn’t know this until we got there, but it was stunning and serene as in temperature-wise. We used it as a bit of a couple of relaxing days, enjoying to swimming pool.

Leaving Lourdes, we headed back towards Spain and ended up passing through an eight-kilometre tunnel under the Pyrenees. Never been in a tunnel that long before, it blew my mind! But coming out on the Spanish side, we found ourselves in a different environment. The French side had been lush, green and cooler. The Spanish side was brown and a bit desert-like.

One of my Best Friends had travelled from New Zealand to Spain at about the same time as Mum had. She had spent the last week or two near Zaragoza at a festival called Nowhere (I think) we had planned it so that we would be there when it finished to collect her. So having driven to the middle of nowhere, we found a rather tired and dusty Sam, who was also not feeling very well.

We spent a night in Soria, where we also went for a bit of an explore. Before heading back to Madrid.

After having driven around the airport entrance about five times, we eventually figured out how to get to the place where we needed to drop the car off. We ventured back into Madrid so Sam could have a bit of a look around and get some souvenirs.

The next day was goodbyes. Sam and I were heading to Rome for five days before she continued her Europe trip and I went to Glasgow. Mum was heading back to New Zealand.