Let's see...I think I left off at the end of July when I was nearing my time in Barcelona and preparing for Walt to visit. He came to town on July 31st, miraculously making all 3 of his flights and arriving to Barca on time. We had a really fun 5 days together in Spain - a perfect ending to my time there. Par for the course, we spent a lot of time on the beach, even more time eating and drinking our way through the city and also running almost every day on the beach. We also rented bikes one day and headed to my little beach town Badalona. Had a minor glitch when I biked over a tack that popped a tire - oops! Thankfully it happened near a train station which got us partially back to the city. Channeling Lance and being the rockstar cyclist that he is, Walt managed to ride home the rest of the way in spite of the flat tire (shh...don't tell the guy we rented it from!)...
On August 5th I packed up my things (after 5 weeks it was a little bit of a nightmare), we went to the airport to pick up our rental car and started driving north to France. My friends Jim & Meri had recommended a B&B "La Dolce Vita" in a town called Azille where they had spent a few days of their honeymoon a few years ago (Jim is related to the owner Natalie, a very interesting woman who is originally from Seattle but has lived in numerous areas of Europe for many years). It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Barcelona but felt like an entirely different world - going from the madness of "barcaloca" (as we somewhat affectionately nicknamed it) the tranquility of the French countryside. From the first minute, we absolutely fell in love with France. I can't begin to describe the sense of peace and happiness I felt instantaneously in Azille. It's a tiny town in the middle of the Minervois wine country. There is one restaurant called "Bar" and finding an open store for cold water in the middle of the afternoon was nothing short of a miracle.
We had 2 nights there but really only 1 full day - we first went running through the vineyards and then went back to enjoy their products - amazing French wine! We also had the most spectacular meal in a town called La Livierne which is a few km from Azille. It was a great story - the owner of one of the wineries had recommended it to us but when we arrived, they were completely booked for the night. One man at a table overheard our plea and somehow convinced them to set up another table from us - there was one table not being used inside the restaurant so they brought it out to the courtyard and set it up for us. We were in shock at our good fortune and kindness of the staff. They were so friendly and our 4 course meal was fabulous. The experience overall was truly magical! If you're ever in the area you MUST go to the restaurant - Les Meulieres.
Natalie only had room for us for one night so the 2nd night she hooked us up with a room in another woman's home - she isn't technically a B&B but could accommodate us. And, we loved this place even more. This old French woman had recently restored this mansion and randomly rented out rooms when needed. Her son and his family was visiting and overall the family was so welcoming and contributed the peaceful, loving feeling we had in the town. Truly unforgettable.
On Friday August 7th we headed up to Nice, France - about a 4 hour drive from Azille. I had been there once on my other trip to Europe 12 years ago because my good friend Suzanne was studying there. It was just as beautiful as I remembered and we had a wonderful time! More amazing food, beautiful views and kind people everywhere we went. I will go on record to debunk the myth that French people are snobby and rude - every single one we met was genuinely kind and so helpful. Unfortunately we were both lacking any sense of direction in Nice and spent much of our time in the car making u-turns and backtracking but while frustrating at the time, we can both laugh about the numerous detours and debacles now.
After 2 nights in Nice we headed an hour south down to Saint Raphael, a beach town just outside of St. Tropez, which is where we were originally going to go but due to a lack of lodging ended up nearby. Which, as we had somewhat become accustomed to, was a blessing in disguise. St. Raphael was beautiful and yet again, we enjoyed amazing food & wine and very kind people. Thank goodness for our nearly daily runs otherwise I'd be need to buy a whole new wardrobe upon my return to the States!
Well, I still have some exploring and reminiscing I need to do in this amazing city of Florence before I take the train to Venice tomorrow so I'll pick up where I left off as soon as I can (hopefully later tonight). Ciao for now! I hope this finds you all happy & well!!
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