To Barcelona and Back to Canada

Last Tuesday we left Valencia mid morning and rode to a hotel near the Barcelona El Prat Airport, about 350K.  We reserved a room near the airport so that we had a place to organize our luggage and prepare the bike for storage the next day. 

The ride from Valencia was quite relaxing. Since 350K is quite a long ride for us we decided to take the pay road... the AP7. This highway follows fairly close to the coast with nice views of the mountains to your left and the coastal towns to the right.  The traffic was fairly light and it was easy to make good time. We cruised about 5 to 10K below the legal limit of 120K. Although the weather was a bit cool, (17 to 19 C) it was sunny and comfortable.   There are rest stops every 50K or so with fuel and restaurant.  About 2/3 of the way along we stopped for lunch and chatted with a German couple on a couple, on two F700GS.   I have to say that in North America we are "language limited".  Most people we meet can get by in more than 1 language.  English is often one of them.

The down side to the pay roads is the cost.  We rode about 300K on the pay road and tolls came to 35E  (a little over $50.) Quite a hefty toll.

The next day we  rode the bike about 12K into the heart of the city to IMT Bike Tours and Rentals. We met Ruben at 10am and filled out the storage paperwork. We also made arrangements for an oil change and to replace the fork seals, one of which had started leaking.  Once we that taken care of, we asked Ruben if we could leave our MC jackets and helmets with him while we explored Barcelona. 

Barcelona has an extensive Metro system. The closest metro station was only 50 metres from IMT Bike location. We purchased a multi-use pass, good on both the metro or bus system. This pass cost 10E and can be shared between users for a total of 10 trips. We used the pass to get around town and back to our hotel near the airport.

There is an interesting pricing policy, if you go to or depart from the airport (Terminal 1 or 2).  You cannot use the cheaper multi-pass. You must pay 4.5E per person for a single ride.   Still it is a good deal considering that a cab downtown would cost 30 to 45E. 

We spent a few hours wandering around parts of Barcelona, then stopped for lunch before heading back to IMT Bikes to pick up our gear and return to the hotel.  Linda finally managed to find the boots she had been looking for! Yahoo!

Below are a few photos of Barcelona . The first two are of Plaza Espanya and the third is of Plaza del Rey

Thursday we arose very early (4:15am) and took the shuttle to the airport for our flight. Our route back to Canada took us from Barcelona to Frankfurt, a short stop then on to Montreal, where we had about 4 hours between flights.

We went to one of the airport restaurants for a drink and a bite to eat.  The prices were quite a shock.  We went from paying 2E or less for glass of wine in a restaurant in Spain to $10 a glass in Montreal!

The final flight of the day took us from Montreal to Hamilton, ON, where we took a cab to a downtown hotel.  It was a long day.  From the time we got up until we arrived in our hotel room we had been travelling for over 21 hours.  It was a long day!

We have a few days in Hamilton to start recovering from the jet lag and visit with Lind's family before flying back to Calgary on Monday.

This has been a very good trip.  Both Linda and I really like Spain and plan to go back again.  I'm going to add one more blog entry for this trip to summarize our experience. Stay tuned....