Off to Zaragoza via Rupit....

During our wine session where we drank the 1.10 euro Tempranillo we decided to get up in the morning for the sunrise for photography.  Despite getting to bed late - we managed to catch it...

Then Steven and I jumped in the car and hightailed it down to the bottom of the cliffs to catch the light on the houses along the clifftop..

You can see where we are staying in the photo below - fourth house from the left...

We found a path past the old cotton mill down to the dam where we could take photos without all the power lines in the way...

The light was beautiful, and the river pretty...

We headed back to our accommodation where a beautiful breakfast had been laid on for us. Yoghurt with freshly stewed apricots, toast and home made jams, and banana and lemon curd muffins. It was nice that breakfast was included and made for a relaxing morning. During breakfast I took the following photo because the light was still so lovely... Just the view from our balcany.

We then drove to another very old village called Rupit. It had more of a swiss architecture feel, but was really interesting in that it was all built on the river and the streets were not paved at all, rather they were just the riverbed stones...

What made this village so beautiful was the number of window boxes with either geraniums or white lillies in the windows.

In these next two photos you can see evidence of the river bed for pavings...

The cathedral in the centre of town was beautiful- inside the altar was made of gold.

Beautiful oak doors, years old adorned the village. Nikki was becoming very good at photographing them, in fact, we think she can fill a photobook of the Doors of Spain already!

Again you can see the old riverbed that paved this roadway up to the houses...

The surrounding valley was beautiful... 

The houses were litterally built into the rock...

 The houses were beautiful, I would have loved to have seen inside one...

The village from the top...

After leaving Rupit we made our way to Zaragoza, which was approximately 3 hourss. Made faster because the speed limit was 120!  Our apartment in Zaragoz was nice - and we just down our bags and headed out to explore the old town and have some dinner.  Tapas - lovely - had 3 different dishes and a wine all for under 10 Euros.

On the way to the old city we passed a wine choice.  How is this for choice?

I also found a pair of shoes and finally bought a pair. Spanish shoes rock - pure leather, comfort and stylie! We then walked to the old town. We all thought it was very mundane until we reached the bottom and our jaws just dropped!

We had Tapas in town and then caught a taxi home so I could finish this.  Tomorrow we drive to turuel where the archecture is mainly Moorish.  

Barcelona to Girona, to Besalu, to Castellfollit de la Roca

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\We were up and out at 8AM to explore the area behind the Cathedral. There were recommendations from Amy for breakfast. She was right.  The coffee was good, and opposite was Santa Clara who had brilliant pastries...

After we had eaten we wandered round the alleyways for half an hour before heading back to the apartment to pack for our next days adventure...

 Although we couldn't resist some last minute images of the Barcelona cathedral... A side door...

And the front. First thing int he morning is a good time to do photography in Barcelona, as the tourists haven't woken up yet!

We then picked up our rental car from the airport, and headed first to Girona.  I had been there before but wanted to show Steven and Nikki.  Parking was problematic, but we finally found an uncdercover place, then walked over the bridge into the Old Historic Town..

I loved girona last time, and loved it all over again this time.  LIttle alleyways with narrow staircases linking up strets as they climbed twoards the cathredral.

We were worried about how expensive the parking was going to be, so we limited ourselves for an hour in Girona. As it was the parking wasn't that expensive, but we did get stuck in the parking building while we worked out how to pay to exit!

We then drove to Besalu. A medieval town dating back to the 10th Century of Roman Origin. Still in remarkable preservation an really interesting to walk around...

I found a grave, which I'm assuming to be a Knights final resting point.  I couldn't find any information though.

This is part of the original wall that surrounded Besalu...

After wanding around Besalu for several hours, we then hopped in the car and drove to Castellfollit de la Roca where we are staying for one night.  This villave is up on basalt cliffs and is stunning. We bought a bottle of wine for 1.10 - a tempranillo, nd had it on the deck overlooking this view!

This is just around the corner from where we are staying, Ancient!

Tomorrow we're off to Rupit and then on to Zaragoza.

PS the 1.10 euro wine was not too bad considering the price!