A tour in pictures is below of nine days and two countries with my one love. He whisked me to Nice, Avignon, Saint Tropez, and Barcelona in quick succession. Highlights – everything. Lowlights – do not rent a car in Europe and expect to navigate with as bad of a sense of direction as I have without causing your partner to be frustrated (reasonably, totally reasonably, although I have a working theory they make the roads difficult on purpose to keep tourists out). Anyhow, a vacation isn’t really a vacation without an epic shouting match in an Air Bnb right? Right.
Road bumps – somewhat literal -aside being able to travel freely and hop from town to town led to country side views far off the beaten path of what we would have seen staying in one place. The out of the way and unexpected is always the best part of any adventure, in other words. We thoroughly enjoyed every 3 euro bottle of Rose (no bad Rose in France), a spectacular food market, multiple beach scenes… and I cannot thank Jacob at the Wise Old Dog enough for steering us to the Telegraph in Avignon to sample a magnificent Chateneuf du Pape – or two. Barcelona is where I spent my study abroad following high school, so visiting again with older, wiser eyes to a city I loved so much as a teenager was a nostalgic, exhilarating experience. Also – Casa Bonay – hip as hell little hotel with a perfect tiny bookstore in its lobby and a well appointed coffee shop to boot.
Not to mention – we happened to be passing back from a late night (necessary) paella session on the night before Catalan Independence Day, and happened to see the very heart felt and grass roots rally right before they voted for an independence referendum. I’ve very rarely felt like such a witness to history as in that moment, in that square. Barcelona is a city that comes alive and thrives at night, and it’s one of my favorite places on the planet. I’m blessed to get to travel with someone I love, who also loves the same things I do, and I hope you, imagined reader, enjoy the visual tour of our adventures below.
Champs et Frites 