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**saralou** · #**1621** 23 Apr 2016

We had a 468 KM drive to the south west coast of Spain to our friends town Los Areneles del Sol, that is just south of the port city of Alicante. We pressed for 5 hours on the highway and made it in good time. We had pretty good weather and the temperature warmed up to 26 at the coast.

Screen Shot 2016-04-17 at 21.22.51 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We had met João (Joam) and Ania on our boat when we were in the Galapagos for 2 weeks in 2014 and then again later the same month in Mancora Peru. They were so nice to ask us to come stay at the beach. We spent the first evening recounting to each other the stories of our trips in south America. They had traveled by bus, but eventually bought a car in Chile and did the Ruta 40 and Carretera Austral like we did. It was great to share stores and some good Spanish wine. Dan still managed to get up for the sun rise!

Spain-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Spain-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**1622** 23 Apr 2016

João planned a full day for us of sightseeing.

Screen Shot 2016-04-17 at 22.47.16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Spain-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We stated with a visit to Xixona, which is a picturesque village on the hills near Alicante. We walked up to the church on the top and enjoyed a drink in the square.

Spain-27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Spain-26 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Spain-24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

IMG_5709 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Spain-25 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**1623** 23 Apr 2016

We then drove further up into the hills on what would be a great motorcycle rode to the village of El Castell de Guadalest, which was where one the site of one of the last captured castles in the reconquest of Spain.

“After the disappearance of the Caliphate at the beginning of the 11 th century, the Muslim Hispanic faced a fragmentation into small independent kingdoms. There are remains of the palaces or citadels (Arabian al-qasaba or fortified citadel), belonging to the monarchs. The building of the Castle of saint Joseph was started in the 11 th century. During the 13 th century and especially in its second third the Christian kingdoms started to conquer the Muslim territory. The area of Alicante was turned into the crossroads of the Reconquest since the neighboring rival kingdoms of Valencia and Murcia both wanted the lands for their crowns of Aragon and Castlie. In 1644 a large boulder was torn off the castle in an earthquake. In 1708 during the Spanish war of Succession a mine explosion destroyed the western aisle. In 1848 the walls surrounding the castle were knocked down. “

IMG_5717 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Spain-29 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Spain-28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

IMG_5722 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

IMG_5723 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**1624** 23 Apr 2016

We then continued up to the small village of Benimantell to the popular Venta de Montagne restaurant to enjoy a local specialty of “aroz al Horno” or baked rice. It is sort of a rendition of paella.

IMG_5715 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

IMG_5713 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Then it was back to the city for a tour of the old barrios of Alicante and a Mojito at Ania’s favourite dive bar. Parking in this city is insane!

Spain-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Spain-16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Spain-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Spain-19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Spain-20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**1625** 24 Apr 2016

Today we need to book it north as we need to be in Milan in 6 days time to meet the King and Queen of Sweden!! We took a slightly less direct, but more scenic route to Ainsa near the french border after 657 km. The first bit is a back track towards Madrid, but we started north at Almansa.

Screen Shot 2016-04-17 at 21.21.45 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The route from here is on secondary road.

Screen Shot 2016-04-20 at 17.24.43 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**1626** 24 Apr 2016

Video from the ride to Ainsa

There are several sections of narrow winding mountain crossings and several long tunnels. It varied from 9 to 22 degrees Celsius. The road is highway from South of Zargosa until Huesca. The last 90 km is on a very narrow winding road along a river to the small town on Ainsa which sits between two rivers. So the Dos Rios hotel it is!

The ride along the river

**saralou** · #**1627** 24 Apr 2016

Getting up in the morning we have a 5 hours drive to Carcassonne, but we want to arrive there early enough to take in the medieval city. The day started out sunny in Spain, but only 6 degrees and so a bit brisk. Then it warmed up to 9 about an hour later. Todays ride was again on small windy roads. We took the secondary route thru Foix.

Screen Shot 2016-04-17 at 21.26.11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Carcasonne-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**1628** 24 Apr 2016

The road comes to a tunnel on the Spain side that says Francia 1 km, the tunnel is one way when there are campers and trucks, and the tunnel is open 24 hours. That all sounds good. We managed to time it perfectly for going in our direction. It was 6 degrees in the tunnel, but only 1 degree when we came out on the cold cloudy French side. The road was a bit damp and thus scary at that temperature. As well there was snow at the side of the road and we were essentially in the clouds. (video)

**saralou** · #**1629** 24 Apr 2016

Visibility improved enough to see that a huge transport truck was bearing down on us even on the tight switchbacks. He was driving the thing like a Ferrari and once we were down the pass we let him by us. Nice guy though as he gave us the big wave when we ran into him at a round about an hour later. His “faster route” was not I guess. There was a certain lack of petrol stations on our route and we arrived to the hotel with 7 km left.

After a quick change we were off to see the ancient Cite of Carcassonne. This is a walled medieval town on a hilltop. There streets are cobbled and lined with shops selling postcards, lavender, and other typical French items. We had a lunch of Duck cassoulet and crepes.

“Hilltop Carcassonne, in southern France’s Languedoc region, is a medieval citadel famous for its 53 watchtowers and double-walled fortifications. The first walls of the upper town, Le Cité, were built in Gallo-Roman times; major additions were made in the 13th and 14th centuries. Château Comtal, a 12th-century fortress within Le Cité, offers archaeological exhibits and a tour of the inner ramparts.”

Carcasonne-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Carcasonne by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Carcasonne-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Carcasonne-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Carcasonne-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Carcasonne-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Carcasonne-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Carcasonne-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Carcasonne-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**1630** 24 Apr 2016

Walking on the bridge “in the blue hour” Dan got some great shots of the city at night. There was a guy on a donor cycle riding over the bridge at over 200 km with no lights and in shorts and a T shirt. We knew he was not going to last long. On his was back he was going faster and on one wheel when he screamed past us and then BOOM. He hit the back of a car who of course did not see him coming and he was sent flying! What a noise.

Carcasonne-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Carcasonne-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**1631** 24 Apr 2016

Today is is sunny again but only 10 degrees. We had to put the gas for the stove in the 800 to make it the 2 km to the gas station! We had 287 km and 3.5 hours to go on the small roads to Avignon.

Screen Shot 2016-04-20 at 17.45.53 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE0058 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The first section was nice thru some small villages, but the last 2/3 was very windy along the water and a lot of time on the highway.

Screen Shot 2016-04-20 at 17.24.43 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE0060 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE0073 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**1632** 24 Apr 2016

Arriving to the camping Pont de Avignon we made a quick change again and grabbed the free ferry across the Rhone to the city.

Avignon-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

This is again a huge walled medieval town and was the seat of the Papacy at the Palais de Pape. We climbed the long stairs to the palace gardens and then toured the church and the palace itself. It was fun to go out on the Pont de Avignon as all my Canadian friends will have learned the nursery rhyme in school. “Sur la Pont D’Avignon…” We finished the evening with steak and frits sitting on the main square.

“Avignon, a city in southeastern France’s Provence region, is set on the Rhône River. From 1309 to 1377, it was the seat of the Catholic popes, and remained under papal rule until becoming part of France in 1791. Its center, surrounded by medieval stone ramparts, contains the massive Palais des Papes and remains of the Saint-Bénezet bridge, also known as Pont d’Avignon.”

Avignon by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Avignon-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Avignon-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Avignon-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Avignon-8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Avignon-9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**1633** 24 Apr 2016

We had a 275 km drive east to get to near Nice.

Screen Shot 2016-04-20 at 17.46.19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We were up and out early again this morning and had a nice view of the city and the bridge on the way out of town.

FILE0092 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

There is a custom here foreign to North Americans where in traffic the cars will pull over into the shoulder to let you pass on a motorbike there is oncoming traffic! V

FILE0095 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We had another nice day with curvy small roads and nice warm weather at 22 degrees.

FILE0100 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE0108 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE0132 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**1634** 24 Apr 2016

The middle of the day was a spectacular ride thru the Gorge de Verdon (25 km long and 700 meters deep). There is a panoramic view of the gorge from the road and the river and lake below.

FILE0187 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE0178 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

On Route Vence by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

On Route Vence-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

There are a number of stone tunnel bored thru the rock and in a number of spot the cliff overhangs the entire road. The large trucks slowed to a crawl to make it thru.

FILE0228 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE0229 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE0264 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE0265 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr