Friday 16th May - The Holiday is over!

Rise early and pack - Head for the station arriving at 10.00am - train leaves at mid-day.

Good trip to Paris - again first class service.

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Arrive at Paris Nord and look for a train to the airport - peak hour - down comes the rain - up goes the humidity - on comes the crowds - rush for the last carriage -squeeze in with a huge crowd of north Africans - be greeting with smiles and questioning about where we are from - temperature and humidity in the crowded compartment rises - every one sweats profusely save the stylish, tall, North African girl who elegantly dabs her forehead and cheek with a powder puff - we arrive at the station covered in perspiration and head for the Air France lounge with our Qantas club - I am sorry sir Qantas have not signed an agreement with us for Qantas club members - swear - head for the toilets for a makeshift towel wash.

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Board at 11:15 and sit in the plane for 90 minutes while they try to release the loading tunnel - worry about the crowded and cramped plane flight ahead of us - all is well that ends well - a little girl in the row next to us manages to talk herself into an upgrade - we send the passenger in our row into the spare space and the three of us all manage to have spare spaces beside us for the flight to Singapore.

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A quick change over in Singapore and we get into Melbourne at 5.00 am .

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A great holiday!

Thursday 15th May - Linden

Today was work - tram to central station - train to Liden - taxi to the resort - meet up with Guido and Mary - interesting discussions with the Dutch networkers - home and out to dinner with Bernie - settle for Pizza tonight!

Wednesday 14th may

Wander round Amsterdam - meet Mary in the flower market near Singel - take a tour of the canals - have more coffee - wander home for a nap - a great day.

Rise for dinner - wander into a random restaurant - be told - no menu - we like to surprise you! - wonderful meal build around four small courses each supported by the matched wines - the wine selection was the finest I have every experienced - by the end of the meal we were in a position where the bill was unlikely to surprise us - in fact it did - it turned out to be slightly less than we had grown to expect - while not surprising it was painful!

Tuesday 13th May - To Amsterdam

Farewell to the faithful Peugeot - sad to leave her - a rye smile from the dealer when I tell him I would think about buying one in Australia.

Taxi to the TGV and on our way to Amsterdam - damm! - fire in a station - TGV brought to a long standstill and then reduced to creeping along its banked tracked uncomfortably tilting its passengers as it negotiates the long curves designed for speeds 200 kilometer higher.

Miss the connection in Paris - line up in queue to get the last train - eventually get on board and enjoy a nice, well serviced trip to Amsterdam - wonderful food and great Australian wine served at the seat - all's well that ends well!

Taxi to the hotel - Nicholas Witsen located on the perimeter of the city - nice and clean.

Monday 12th May - St Emillon

St Emillion – not to be missed – Tommy guides us out of Bordeaux over enormous suspension bridge – soon into the wine country – 40 kilometres and we enter St Emillon.

Amongst the first to arrive - Coffee and Macaroons a great idea – Bernie changes her mind when her macaroon displays signs of the overnight feasting activities of local “une animal petite “

St Emillon - Amazing village dating to the 12th century with beautiful preserved low rise homes lining narrow stone paved lanes. The homes are now joined by wine shops, wine shops and wine shops, restaurants, restaurants and restaurants, art shop and art shops. This is what Beechworth would aspire to!

Take a tour of the St Emillon’s cave, the church and catacombs. Not to be missed. The church looks insignificant from the plaza in front of the tourist office – visible is the bell tower only – no wonder - the bell tower is just an after thought planted on top the limestone rock formation – below is the largest underground church in Europe carved out by hand inside the limestone formation – an enormous man-made cavern . Stunning!

Reluctantly leave the tourists and the town and head for St Christophe Du Barres for lunch at a small local restaurant. Lovely setting – worlds greatest potatoes chips – very mediocre steak – lots of good local red wine – complain to myself about my misfortune – I am designated driver and Bernadette gets to drink most of the wine.

Cruise through the St Emillon wine district – understand the romance of the region – hard to beat.

Sunday 11th May - Bordeaux

Check out reception – the delightful French receptionist is still on duty – we joke about his hours – he talks of Australia – we leave a little heavy hearted – holiday coming to a close.

Tommy also not entirely happy at leaving – takes us on a lap of the Pau motor racing street circuit – we finally convince him that all good things have to end – he reluctantly agrees and we head towards Bordeaux.

Along the east-west freeway toward Bayonne – cross, cross and re-cross the Gave du Pau – be reminded and reminded of deer – enjoy the road as it traverses the enjoyable if unspectacular scenery

Turn north towards Bordeaux – could be anywhere following a flat road through the near oceanic hinterland – be impressed by the interactions of the pine forests with the light penetrating from behind. – long weekend – traffic everywhere.

Enter Bordeaux –lac. – 15 minutes from town - Soffitel hotel! – someone has added a few stars to our hotel menu – glorious view over the rowing course and the exhibition centre – check in – never heard of us – agree to accept our print out of the booking – look stunned at the bargain basement price that was quoted on it.

Head into Bordeaux town – large – combination of old and new – check out the rail station and in doing so pass through a street populated by scantily dress ladies who seemed to have a remarkable interest in passing traffic – continue and find some more streets that encouraged the little Peugeot to grab a lower gear and move on – the winds rise up and the rain descends – we attempt to navigate our way though attention grabbing conditions – head back to refuge of hotel.

Saturday 10th May - Lourdes and the Pyrenees

Rise late – breakfast on coffee and croissants on the square - find the supermarket – get lunch and breakfast –– head for Lourdes.

Approach Lourdes through beautiful Pyrenees valley – magnificent river with lots of rafting

Enter Lourdes – surprisingly easy to find parking at hospital

Take public lift down to old street level below

Shock! – horror! - how could people be so crass – everything kitsch related to the Virgin Mary for sale – too painful to describe – others should avoid the main street at all costs.

Recover from shock and enter the shrine itself – lots of people – more smiling faces than Fatima – many more infirmed than Fatima – many large pilgrim groups from European countries – no sign of anyone asking for money – no entry fees. Much less kitsch than expected – interesting to observe the people – all ages – all nationalities – remarkable number of people from the sub-continent.

On to the Pyrenees. Through countless small villages. Lunch in a light mist of rain on entry to the Pyrenees Atlantique national park

Smile as the we see the French cousins of our top guns on their Sunday ride .

Encounter the rain and clouds - Admire the scenery and the villages

Climb to Col du Soulor of Le Tour fame.

Descend through Valle de-Ossau – remain in awe of the Pyrenees – love the rain and mist but wonder about the majesty that this scenery would display on a bright day.

Home to Pau – dinner with nice wine - a wonderful day – love the Pyrenees –love to return .

Friday 9th May - Pau

Rise at respectable hour – tell Tommy to take us to Pau in France – he wakes up early and we have a smooth exit from Pamplona,

Oh what beautiful country side as we travel east along the extreme north of Spain.

More pilgrims – poor people – pouring rain - think of O’Donnell

Stop at the Supermercardo – morning coffee – turn north toward Francia

Rise and rise to the border tunnel - again in awe of the scenery – experience the longest tunnel so far – 10 kilometres? – enter France.

Descend and descend through the Vale d’Aspe – be in awe of the scenery – encounter more Pilgrims making their way up to the border and on to Santiago

Follow Pam lookalike down the mountain – obviously easier down than up.

Stop at Patisserie – cakes – bread and cheese – onwards down through the valley still in awe of the Pyrenees.

Turn east towards Pau – enter the town of 80,000. Nice open town – find way to parking station under the central plaza – walk to the hotel on the corner – very nice French male receptionist.

Siesta and then watch people scurry across the plaza in pouring rain.

Brave the rain - wander the city – find the home of St Bernadette – wander along the river and past the old palace – nice safe comfortable city – find nice restaurant – consume too much local food – get slightly intoxicated on very nice French dry white.

Wednesday 7th May - Burgos and its Pilgrims

Rise early and head for the Peugeots safe and secure in their garages – enter the early morning – a controlled bustle in the square – vans set up for an exhibition – breakfast chefs and a few others scurry towards work – their employers want to open in an hour or so.

On the still magnificent roads past Valladolid – smile a lot as we fondly remember her little Mexico cousin – pass more Spanish wind mills – journey through lush broad acre crops commanding undulating treeless plains – Spain was never like this in my mind.

As we lunch on the roadside John points out the lack of roadside advertising – how could I be so lacking in observational skills? – Spain banned roadside advertising years ago – perhaps that is why the country side looks so nice.

El Cid beckons as we approach Burgos –.still the rolling lush broad acre crops of wheat – enter the town from the south along a tree lined avenue beside the river – feels open – feels kind – pass pilgrims with their packs and walking poles – think of Bernie O’Donnell – see the first footsore pilgrims up close – feel sorry for Bernie O’Donnell.

Arrive at the hotel – new experiences take all forms – push the lift key - slowly squeeze the car into the car lift – press the button for floor minus 2 – park the car – no pole dancing here – spaces so small there is no need for poles.

Tired – sleep awhile – stroll the streets – car-free plazas in the centre of town host pilgrim walkers and riders seeking refuge from the daily trudge on the Camino de Santiago – the walk of Saint James - 783 kilometres to the end of the known world - shells attached to packs an essential symbol of the journey? Some wear their packs and walking poles as medals of honour – others are relieved to be rid of the regalia of the pilgrimage and sport open sandals and socks – the latter hobble obviously footsore and tired – young people and older people – Older ladies seem to predominate – they seek respite on the red granite benches in the Plaza - all exposed calves are taught and tired - all praying for a massage? O’Donnell you are mad!

Oh Bugger! 533 kilometres to go

Stroll further past the cathedral – Gaudi was also here - out of the plaza - along the river side avenue – marvel at the twin rows of plain trees with their branches grafted to one another to enable a glorious continuous canopy to protect strollers on hot Spanish days.

The city – open and clean – wakes up slowly from its siesta and develops a purposeful but controlled bustle – The people calm and stylish - appealing

Our last night with John and Merie … Special dinner … celebrate with great travelling companions.

Tuesday 6th May - Salamanca

Rise early – sit on the porch – watch the sun light the Manteigas valley with its white and orange villas, its freshly tilled market gardens and its bright green steep slopes. Breakfast on bread, cheese and coffee and navigate towards Salamanca.

Be amazed by the wild flowers that adorn the roadside between Manteigias and Portuguegese border - red and orange poppies, yellow daisies, purple riverina bluebell, deep pink lavender, masses of yellow broom and white flowered bushes.

Leave Portugal and enter Spain - Approach Salamanca - Be reminded of the countryside around Dubbo in the middle of a good Australian spring – be amused by the storks nesting in trees and poles – feel comfortable and relaxed.

Enter Salamanca – streets wide by Spanish standards – traffic polite – chaotic parking practices characteristically Spanish – still feel comfortable and relaxed.

Find a parking station with little effort – be reassured by the nice attendant and his large German Shepard – be impressed by the traffic free 17th century plazas and streets in the centre of town - tow our cases 300 metres to the hotel.

Check in – nice small room – head out – become increasingly relaxed and impressed with Salamanca – walk 30 meters – enter the famous square – impressive in the extreme – wander the quite wide pedestrian streets during siesta – met happy polite people – wander around the historic university buildings in the middle of town – imagine that the chancellery at Coimbra would be jealous of all of this – try and find the frog on the university entrance façade without referring to the lonely planet – fail miserably. – wrong façade! –I go home for a siesta – Bernie finds the right façade and the missing frog – we have untold luck before us!

Sit in the open square - drink strong delightful G&Ts - watch people stroll around the square - 30 euros – shock - As John says – “not so bad in the scheme of things”

Wonderful town … not to be missed!

Our last night with John and Merie … Special dinner … celebrate with great travelling companions.

Monday 5th May - Lisbon to Manteigas

Rise early – bread, butter, cheese, jam and coffee on the house. Lug the increasingly obese cases down the stairs to the car –even it looks like it yearns for the country side.

Issue instructions to Tommy – avoid the motorways and get on your way! Tommy interprets us literally and endeavours to avoid motorways at all costs – we learn the Portuguese words for “deteriorating pavement ahead” -

We pass plantations of eucalypts many suffering die back, pass through small villages and towns – we take back streets and side roads – we climb and climb and climb the magnificent Serra da estrela . As we climb it shows us increasingly rugged terrain decorated with rounded rocky outcrops of granite coloured with vegetation of purple heath and bright yellow broom. As we climb higher and higher the flowering reduces and we alternate between bare ridges and lush valleys on roads that have Bernie gasping and tormenting the grab handles.

We pass spectacular views across the mountains, finish our climb and look down on the twisting, 10 kilometre descent into Manteigas. We pass a sheep herder with his flock and shepherd dog and reach the old, beautiful little town that is the main centre within the Serra da estrela – Out of season – the sun is shining and the tourists are few.

Sit on the porch –write – read – admire the view – look down at the car sitting in the lonely car park below – she smiles back – indeed it is nice to be in the countryside.

I don’t believe it – its true – no it cannot be true – the first snake that I see for the year weaves its way down the rock paved driveway of a hotel on a European mountainside– delivery vehicle passes - weaving ceases. Another lesson for the antipodean travellers!

End our afternoon watching sheep and goats being herded home past the villa.

Take out own advice – dine on Pizza and white wine – superb.