Hotel Sport Hermitage Soldeu

... make an Italian blush, still teaching the Pope a lesson, I guess. Of course the sex ads go off like magic at 6am, so instead of naked couples doing all kinds of mutual gymnastics, you have to make do with pec’ and ‘cep ads of individuals doing all kinds of personal gymmastics so that they’ll be attractive enough to lure someone into doing mutual gymnastics with them. Whew! It’s confusing, but I think I’ ...

we've had some problems getting to this stage, and so haven't been able to keep the blog up to date. So far everything is now working out fine, and we have arrived on site to be able to set up in the light, and the campsite has electricity, so we are ok to get written up today. Hopefully ...

WHAT THE BROCHURE SAID: The Col de Port (1249m) is a beautiful climb and has a great descent to Tarascon.

Unfortunately the rest of the days route is on fairly major roads filed with cars heading for
Andorra to do some tax free shopping. Soaking your feet in thermal waters in Ax is highly
recommended, before taking on the seemingly endless Col de Puymorens (1915m).

We are now ...

... services the Toulouse airport that continues into town. Quite fortunate for me, because if I was going farther north in France like originally planned, it would've been very difficult to get there without taking the 6 AM bus.

I checked into Pension Rosa - very basic and suitable for a short stay, but I have definitely stayed in much better accommodations up to this point. At least it was very affordable. Off to the pharmacy - in addition to the ...

The monastery-turned-hotel Núria, north of the town of Ribes de Freser in Catalunya, Spain is an excellent destination for walking. There are several peaks around the hotel, enabling you to do comfortable and rewarding day-treks. Some peaks: Noufonts, Noucreus, Eyne, Puigmal... (can't remember all names right now). Altitude from 2000 to 3000 meters.

... We have booked for two nights. This is off season so, for 50E a night we get a four star hotel with pool, sauna & gym right in the middle of town. Great! Today we walked from one end of the town to the other on a very nice stone path elevated above the city with a few farms between us and the chaos. Wandered around the city a bit and are now enjoying a kick back. Plan to go for a swim this afternoon, rest a bit and go on the town later for ...

... s ski resorts and as a summer mountain getaway for Europeans. Taking a minibus from Toulouse to Andorra, I literally had to go through rain, hail, and a snowstorm to get there! Arriving at Pas de la Casa, it was 0 degrees and snowing hard. Thirty minutes later we made it to Andorra la Vella, the capital city, where I would stay at ...

... hoping for a bar to magically appear before me. It just didn't happen. I ended up drinking a can of Portuguese Sagres in a small café just up from the bus station. That was it for Andorra really. There's not a great deal to say about the place, the only vaguely interesting thing about it is that it's a joint Principality governed, technically, by the President of France and a Spanish bishop. That's the only thing of note about Andorra- and it's not even that entertaining. I ...

... not exactly the best snow, however Andorra's ski season started the weekend prior so there is a decent covering of snow on the hills and mountains. We head out, with Luis and his daughters also to a hill just behind their apartment, very convenient but deceptively hard work to walk up. The next hour or so is spent going down the hill very fast on sleds and then walking back up considerably slower. Sian did her best to try and hurt one of the children by ...

... Here is magical!" "Yeah," I agreed. "No!" Klara got mad. "Not here ... here ahead of us. You haven´t seen the magical part yet. You just say `yeah.´ That means you don´t listen." "Oh." I´d thought she meant how we were snowboarding amidst a wide, craggy landscape of white; the sky was a blue you could drink: the colors of "heaven." A frozen-over lake hibernated beside us. There was no Pas de la Casa, no other tourist village, no buildings in sight. Just us in ...