Spain - Trip from Bilbao to Barcelona

Mosaic on wall of Bullring in Pamplona

We left a nice hotel in Bilbao (Hotel Zabalburu Bilbao, which was worth not having an elevator to stay downtown with cheap parking), and headed out toward Barcelona.  On the way we stopped in Pamplona, the town famous for the "Running of the Bulls".  This event happens later in the year; thankfully, because I am not sure I could handle the bloodshed, or the crowds, for that matter!  It was a pretty town and a nice place to walk around and stop for lunch in the square.

Pamplona Bullring

Part of Running of the Bulls route in Pamplona

Pamplona

Then, while driving up a mountain road toward Huesca, we simply had to pull over to see this lake.  It was remote and there wasn't a soul around.  I don't even remember hearing birds.  It was eerily beautiful and quiet.  We both got out of the car at a place to pullover and walked around in a place that reminded me of the original Planet of the Apes film.  The water was a milky-aqua colour. Awesome!

We spent the night in a roadside hotel just outside of Huesca and didn't venture into the town.  It was simply a place to stop for the night.  The next stop was Lleida, again as a place to check out and stop for a break and lunch.  Check out the ham and sausage below.  This is everywhere in Spain.  We are being VERY good and not surrendering to temptation, well, most of the time.  Both Cassio and I have noticed our pants feel a little looser with all this walking and abstention from fatty food. No calories to look and smell...

Lleida is not much of a tourist town and we noticed many houses in disrepair.  This photo below shows where a house used to be.  See the old kitchen tiles in the back.  It seems that they spray the entire exposed wall with a sort of foam to, supposedly, retain the integrity of the wall and prevent it from releasing debris.  We have seen this in other places, but here in the small, old town of Lleida, it was everywhere.  In fact, we saw almost no signs of original architecture.  Instead, there were newer apartment buildings.  It looked very financially depressed.  The main streets didn't show this as much and of course, nearby there were the token small streets with posh shops - but this below was certainly lacking charm.

Abandoned Church in Lleida.  Notice the large bird nest on the cross!

Lleida did have a castle though, and it looked to have a moor influence.

Continuing on to Barcelona, we drove up and around Montserrat.  We were looking for a Monastery there and saw one, but are not certain if we ever found the right place.  The mountain, however, was spectacular!  You could see the craggy formation from a far distance and as we drove up and around the twisty roads with steep inclines, we could apprecitate the rocks even more.  Pictures simply do not do justice.