Calabardina to Castellon, Spain

291 miles

Wound our way out of Castellón past a large beautiful park, several interesting statues and out into the fields of oranges and olives. The hills were on one side and the Sea on the other, but the hills were a lot closer.

It took about an hour to reach the foothills, crawl through the pass and arrive closer to the beach.  Being closer to the water made the air much cooler, though the cooler air came in way of the sea breeze to our side.

Found a beach road off the busy ‘national’ road that let to Marina D’Or, “City of Vacations; miles and miles of large condos and four-star hotels.  Not a very large beach, but a nice green belt to separate the tall buildings from the beach.  Not our style, but a nice break from the traffic.  Back on course, we now had beautiful hills on both sides of us. The deep green of the orange groves and light hues of the olive trees made for spectacular landscape. There was little in the way of towns or homes. We had another long, but not steep, climb to get through the mountains and then to the beaches of Peñíscola. The water was an incredible color with the white caps from the wind adding contrast.  It was a truly beautiful spot sandwiched between the beach beach towns of Peñíscola and Benicarló.  Though we’d only done 44 miles, the next 15 miles yielded no hotel availability, so sitting by the beach with a beer is what we will just have to do.

In the low 70’s with no wind this morning as we biked out of Peñíscola, through the sleeping town of Benicarlo and out into the small farm fields that bordered the sea. We imagine this is what most of the coast looked like before tourism took over the small country roads

and fields of artichokes. It wasn’t long before this too would end for us and we were back out on the busy national road. We watched as the Serra de Montsia Mountains crept closer and closer There was one small pass at the foothills of these mountains and that was at the edge of the sea.  We made almost a half circle around the mountain and then took the chance to get off the busy road.  So after 20 miles we took a long drop down into the small town of Sant Carles de la Rapitá  and straight to the beach. A little further and we reached their very large harbor and then on to the delta, leaving the town and mountains behind. Though this route was longer, it was flat and quiet, almost peaceful.  It also helped, that our turn from the mountains put the wind at our back.  We rode through miles and miles of rice fields,seeing our first aqueduct since last year’s ride.Enjoyed a wonderful lunch under the shade of a tree and the sound of the water rushing by.  As soon as the delta ended, the white beaches took over,

even rode a “real” boardwalk. Decided to stop in this small town with a beautiful view of the harbor.After all those rice fields and having just left the capital of Paella, it seemed only natural what we would have for dinner.It was an incredibly huge and deep dish piled with seafood, most delicious!  We watched some kind of young bull/boy ceremony from across the water, which is as close as I could bring myself to the torment.  But from this distance it was entertaining.  A stroll back to the hotel and then to bed.

Think we now have the hang of the Spanish lifestyle; sleep in, have a big breakfast and get on your bicycle around nine in the morning.  Not really recommended in the heat, but it sounded good at the time.

When we left the sun was way above the horizon, shining bright and pushing the temperature to 80 degrees.

The course today, began right away on the state highway

where you learn to look at the small things to enjoy the ride.  The tall stand of cedar trees with their cool shade and smell of Christmas.  The mountains in the distance with perfectly still wind generators.  The break in traffic of the big rigs and cars that allow you to hear the birds singing.  This lasted for about an hour until the reality of the climbs

and the heat of the day kicked in.  It was still a pretty ride despite the busy road and the looming mountain.  We had been told, the true coast between l’Ampollo and Tarragona is spectacular with tiny coves and private beaches, but a challenge even by car.  Perfect if you want to “hike” in, obviously, not for us…..this time.We went through several valleys that are apparently are very windy, not today,but with no sea breeze, even if it is in your face, it was HOT and we were dripping.  Got our second reference to Florida today as we passed through “Miami Beach”.Shortly before noon, I stopped for a pictureand Jerry to refer to the map.  This local gentlemancould not resist the opportunity to offer advise, “get off this road, head to the beach, the ride is much nicer.”  It was actually great advice.  Naturally, the beach was beautiful

the harbor filled with expensive sailboatsand the streets and boardwalk, very interesting, incredible sculpture.What our new friend did not tell us was that a climb (or three) was necessary in order to connect to the next town.  But the view of the crystal clear waterand packed beach was worth the straight up hills.  Our ride into our destination city was exactly opposite, through miles of industry.The city of Tarragona is thick in Roman history, but we went to the outskirts, so missed most of the picture taking with some exceptions.We chilled for a couple of hours once we checked in, waiting for the heat to subside.  Around six, we wandered down to the beach, to find it packed…..still!  We were staying in a predominately residential neighborhood, so naturally found a little local restaurant.  Both the food and the waiterwere outstanding, it was a deliciously fun evening.

Much cooler this morning to start, of course getting out an hour earlier made a huge difference.  We had an hour and a half of large trucks screaming in our ear and though we had a generous shoulder and they were very polite, it was not much fun.  Not to mention the small but constant climbs; much like continually biking overpasses.  The crops had changed to grapes, which we were happy to see, considering our consumption of wine and Sangria; wouldn’t want to run out!  Reminders of the Romans dotted our ride.This is the Arc de Barà constructed in the first century B.C. Our alternate route was still busy and hilly, but no trucks and an opportunity for a café con lèche y croissantin one of the small towns we biked through.  Mountains loomed large behind church towersa constant reminder of what we will face…… tomorrow.Passed beautiful vineyardsand green crops thriving in the rich soil.  We reached the edge of Sitges, way before noon and rode the tree-lined roads to the beach.We debated staying or heading on to Barcelona, 35 kilometers away, but there are some brutal climbs in between; decided to wait (while overlooking the beach)for the cool of the morning to tackle the ride…..that’s our story and we are sticking to it….. the mountain in the distance we have to climb tomorrow. Besides, this looks to be a very “interesting” town, picture South Beach, Key West style.Expensive homes and condos lined the boardwalk.Statuesand sculpturesadorned the streets.  The sights,architecture,shopping,and narrow streetswere amazing, but the people watchingbest served with refreshmentswas the best.  Unfortunately, the ‘best’ was embarrassing to photograph.  Plenty of cafés and restaurants to choose from for dinner, but after a month of pasta and paella, the smell of rotisserie chicken won us over.Gotta run now, as Spain is playing Portugal in football!  See you in the mountains, tomorrow.

“TAKE THE TRAIN”

It was the third time we had gotten this unsolicited advise.  We had looked at the steepness of the climb, which is why we decided to wait to climb it in the morning; but not climb it at all was not in our vocabulary. What all these well wishers neglected to mention was that our course had NO shoulder on the narrow roads that led up the mountain.  But I’m getting ahead of the day.

When we awoke it was overcast with a forecast for it to last until noon; hopefully, we’d be close to Barcelona by then.  By the time we had our bikes loaded a half hour later

the sun was shining through a humid, hot and hazy sky.  Our climbing started right away, possibly a bit early and unwarranted, but thankfully we were shortly directed to the correct climb…..but now our legs were warmed up (or so we’d like to think).  This climb was no better, and as mentioned before there was NO shoulder (that’s our road on the left, that crosses the highway in the middle)

just a Jersey wall on the edge of the road which sat on the edge of rock that dropped to the sea. With no shoulder, pictures were impossible except at the few turn-offs, that obviously were not placed for the best picture taking.  But what we could see as we crawled up the mountain was wonderful, fishing boats, water skiers and sailboats enjoying the day.  Had a couple of chances to stop (breath)and check out the views.Now if we’d had the option to take a bike road beside the nice flat train track,

that would be nice, of course, it was not an option.  So for twelve miles we climbed and dropped through the hairpin turns on the edge of the mountain and wondered why the road always insisted on taking you to sea level, before having to climb to the top again.  As we flew down the mountain for the last time, found an alternate route that led to the beach and a very nice bike path.

From here, we had to ride a short stint on the highway and then somehow, miraculously, we (ie: Jerry) wound our way through the city on side streets with little traffic.  With help from a couple of people, we found the apartment we had booked.  Sat on a park bench, enjoyed our picnic lunch while we waited for the manager to let us in.  Did some housekeeping (loads of laundry) and tomorrow we will take our first day off in three weeks and pack in the city of Barcelona.  No glitch this time, we are definitely booked for two days, so while not a ‘real’ day off of doing nothing, at least we’ll see the sights of Spain’s second largest city.

Do you realize Barcelona has 5 million people and is the 16th most visited city in the World! And we are supposed to do it in a day??   “Ya’ gotta be kidding me?” And then how will we show all the pictures?  In order to attempt to make this happen we bought a tour bus ticket (you know the double decker kind) to see the seventh largest city in Europe and THE largest European Union city on the Mediterranean.

Barcelona is an incredible city filled with a lot of whatever it is you may be looking for.  We’ll try to highlight a few, but most of the pictures will be included in the gallery below.  We will first note that most of the streets are lined with beautiful trees, so as fabulous as the architecture is, it is often tough to see because of them, not that we did not enjoy their shade.

The largest monument in the world to Christopher Columbus is in Barcelona.We were told how many gazillion statues and monuments there are here, can’t remember the number, but do remember this one is by Lichtenstein.

The La Rambla stroll (pedestrian mall to see and be seen) is a must here, this is the extension over the water. The Barcelona Cathedral built primarily in the 14th century.Incredible interior, this is the choir seating, sorry to have missed the actual singing in this church.The National Art Museum of Catalunyaand the view from it’s steps.The 1992 Summer Olympics were held here and naturally there are a lot of notable structures attributed to it, not to mention the renaissance of the city.  This is the torch tower.We post this next picture as we were taken aback as we turned the corner on our bus, thought this was an office building; it was on of six cruise ships in port today.Barcelona also boasts an incredible botanical garden filled with incredible sub-tropical plants.But by far the MOST iconic structure in Barcelona, and we dare say, anywhere, is the Sagrada Família, This is the creation of Gaudí two centuries ago; he dedicated more than 40 years of his life to this “church” knowing it would not be completed for several generations.This ‘structure’s’ scheduled completion is 2026 (which is hard to believe, given the time it has taken them to get this far).  It is difficult to politely describe this church, so we will quote:  “It’s breathtaking and grotesque.”  The pictures below should tell the story.

Not exactly a tough day’s workout, but we were exhausted nonetheless; time to carbo-load, Bolognese and calzone.