Nearby Hiking

In early November, we had a hankering for hiking. Our goal this year has been to explore the mountains near us more. We aren't ever sure quite how to get there or where to go, so we tried a couple of group hikes this November. We went on one hike arranged by Meet-up and another one organized by the American Society of Barcelona. We really enjoyed the scenery, as well as meeting people from all over the world (New Zealand, Estonia, Germany, England, the US, etc.), each with a unique story of why and how they are in Barcelona. We are enjoying experiencing more of our own region and spending more of our weekends doing local day trips rather than always leaving the country!

Sibling Weekend

Things have been extremely busy around here, hence the lack of updating. Devin has been gone from Barcelona for about five weeks, and Rachel spent 1 1/2 weeks in the US doing professional development. We have been apart for a long time, but Devin soon returns to Barcelona, and we plan to not do this distance again anytime soon!

Just before we set off for separate work, we had a weekend visit from Sarah and Peter. As we mentioned in a previous post, we love having visitors, because they help us to get out and explore our own city! We have been out of town so many weekends this Fall that we have not spent much time in the city. Sarah and Peter arrived late Friday night, and we spent the next few hours eating pizza on the roof and laughing until our bellies ached.

We had a blast with them - ate amazing food, drank delicious coffee and wine, rode bikes on the beach and ventured into the hidden corners of the city. Here are some pictures of the way we spent our time together!

We had to start the day at the famous Boqueria to get some fresh fruit juices

First Coffee Stop in Placa Real

Love this sunny placa full of palm trees.

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We went to the museum of the original city of Barcelona, which is underneath the current city! Very cool.

Another favorite cafe, this one underground. 

Strolled through an antique market

Catalonians gathering to do a casual traditional dance on Saturday afternoon.

Les Mills was hosting their traveling "Immersive Fitness" on the beach in Barcelona this weekend. Extremely cool!

We Love Les Mills!

Pyrenees

One of the best things about Barcelona is that while it has everything a city offers with amazing architecture, delicious food, and the buzz of culture, it is also easy to escape when you need a break from city life. It is on the water, so that is easy to reach, but it’s also just an arm’s reach away from the mountains. It is at the foot of the Pyrenees range, which is known for it’s hiking, skiing, and beautiful landscape.

We have been wanting to visit the Pyrenees for years, but have always been intimidated by the idea of renting a car and trying to navigate the mountains. Thankfully, our Catalan friends finally said they would show us the ropes, and spend a weekend with us in the mountains!

We left on a Friday evening and drove only two hours. Because it got dark as we were driving, we couldn’t really see where we were driving, but we knew as soon as we got out of the car and felt the crisp air and looked up and saw a clear sky full of stars…we were not in Barcelona anymore!

We stayed at another “casa rural”, in which we got a two bedroom apartment, and a fireplace! We immediately opened the windows to let the cool air in, threw on our sweatshirts, and utilized the fireplace! Although it was mid-October, it was still in the high 70s or low 80s in Barcelona, so we were feeling desperate for some Fall!

Saturday we left for our hike, which was to a peak called Puigmal. Puigmal is among the highest peaks in Catalunya and lies on the border between Spain and France. The hike could be divided into three parts - up, down, and flat. It began with a very steep ascent to the top, which was difficult do to it being very windy and rocky. But we pushed ourselves to get to the summit, where we had our picnic lunch,  peered over into France, and then began the descent. After our knees had had enough decline, we reached the Vall de Nuria. This famous valley was full of families, and busy with activities for children including horse rides, farm animals, a lake, etc. We passed through it to head onto part three of our hike, which wrapped around the mountain, past grazing horses, and back to where we began. 

On Sunday, as we drove back to Barcelona, we stopped by 4 small villages between the Pyrenees and Barcelona. We loved seeing authentic Catalan life and stumbling upon a pumpkin festival and market.

We hope to return to the Pyrenees very soon, as there is much more to explore!

First Anniversary

On October 5th, we celebrated our first anniversary. It's still hard to believe that it has been a whole year since our wedding - and what a year it has been!

The last twelve months have been full of adventure, travel, and growth. We moved into our first apartment together, Devin moved to Spain, we have traveled the world, made it through times of distance from one another, and navigated the new challenges and joys of married life.

We tossed out many ideas for how to celebrate our anniversary. We toyed with the idea of going to Paris or Amsterdam, renting a car to go to Southern France or Andorra, but we finally decided that we wanted something different than our other travels. We wanted to go somewhere that we wouldn't have so much to do, but we would be able to focus on each other, to have lots of conversation and quiet surroundings!

We finally settled on going to a "Casa Rural", which is like a Spanish B&B in the countryside. They are on farms or wineries, away from the city. The one we chose was called Can Caponet, and was about a 45 minute train ride away from Barcelona. It is owned by a Spanish family, and can host up to 12 people at a time. The property was absolutely incredible. We stayed in one of two cabins down the hill from the main house, which provided even more quiet and traquility. The whole wall of our cabin was glass, so we could see out to the woods surrounding us. We could not have been happier.

We spent our time relaxing, reading, laying by the salted pool, walking on a nearby trail, and having hours and hours of conversation. We had a candle light dinner in the house on Saturday evening, prepared by the owners, and made with products they grow in their garden. It was a perfect weekend.

We loved the foggy mornings

To the cabins!

Our cabin by the eco pool

From the garden and local wine

Dinner in the house

One of the corners where we could tuck away and read.

Coffee, tea and fruit were left out for us 24 hours. 

The fireplace in the living room of the house, which we especially loved.

The floating bed

We finished the weekend in Barcelona, with our own candelight dinner of our favorite Fall foods on our roof terrace, and watching our wedding video!

As we reflect on our wedding, we are reminded (as we are every day, really), of the immense support and love that we have surrounding us and our marriage. We remember clearly who shared our wedding day with us, and are still so deeply grateful to those who celebrated love and new beginnings with us, and who vowed to care for us and encourage us in the life we were creating with one another.

Although we are far from most of you, we feel the love from you, and frequently watch videos or look at pictures from our wedding day and feel so encouraged by your presence. The day was perfect, but beyond that, we have had a whole year of marriage in which we were covered in love. Marriage has been an incredible experience so far. We have had successes and failures, but most importantly, growth. We are both more complete people and are becoming better versions of ourselves as we learn how to best love one another.

We are grateful to everyone who is a part of our life, and do not take you for granted. Thank you for your part in our lives and our marriage. Thank you for not forgetting about us just because we are far away.

Here's to year two!!

Some of the places in which we have been able to spend time getting to know each other more and experiencing new things together in the past year! We are so grateful to be on this journey together.

Trolltunga

Trolltunga, or “the troll’s tongue,” looks much like how it sounds.  It is a giant rock sticking straight out of the side of a cliff, high above a majestic fjord.  We had heard that the hike was long and very difficult, ranging at least eight-ten hours round-trip with several thousand feet of elevation gain.  For this reason, many people choose to split it up and camp somewhere in the middle.  We did not have the time to do this, so we set our minds on doing it all in one day. It proved to be well worth it!

We began the hike early in the morning, at the bottom of an old wooden funicular which was not in operation.  The trail zigzagged up the side of the fjord near the wooden rails.  Almost immediately, we hit fog… and lots of it.  When we reached a relatively flat spot near the top of the funicular, the fog was so thick that we could hardly see 50ft down the trail! We kept turning around, expecting to be rewarded by the view after gaining such elevation...but we could see absolutely nothing but fog. We just kept pressing on, and remained hopeful that it would burn off by the time we reached the tongue a few hours from then.

Hoping it got better...

Along the way, there were small houses here and there, hidden in the fog a ways off the trail. For a majority of the time the trail was undefined, and the dampness of the smooth rock made it very hard to climb. At times, there was not exactly a trail, but more a general direction marked by the occasional red “T” painted on some random rock nearby. They were especially hard to find in the thick fog, but we managed to never get too far off track. Every so often, we’d encounter a signpost that told us the number of kilometers we’d traveled, and the number remaining.  At least we kept our conversation riveting, otherwise four hours in a cloud might have become slightly tedious. 

Only 1 km to go! (notice all the fog still...)

Finally, we reached the tongue!  And just as we did, the clouds began to lift!!  Although we only saw a few other hikers on the trail, there were crowds of people at the tongue who had all been waiting for the fog to go away.  As it lifted, the entire fjord slowly came into view, and everyone formed a line to take turns getting their picture taken out on the edge of the overhang.  It was a bit nerve-racking, since the thickness of the rock was really only a couple of feet near the end.  But, this didn’t stop everyone from doing a “jumping” picture. 

We had packed a picnic lunch which we ate sitting on the edge of the cliff above the tongue, with a complete 180 degree view of the fjord and surrounding mountain range topped with glaciers and teeming with waterfalls. It was difficult to take in the depth of the beauty before us, and we all sat in awe as we nibbled our carrots and trail mix. We could have stayed at the lookout point forever, but with such a long hike back and another big hike planned for the next day, we took our pictures, ate our food, and began the trek downward – only this time in full view of the fjord!  And what a different experience it was.  We actually appreciated this fact, because “hike backs” can often seem redundant and pointless, but for us it was totally new, and every step was breathtaking!

Picnicing...and staring.

That T was one of our trail "guiders". 

Arriving at the top of the old funicular, we had to choose between stumbling down the same trail that we had taken up the mountain, or squeezing through a hole in the fence (marked "do not enter")  and walking down the wooden steps.  We of course chose the latter, since the view would be amazing the whole way down, but we really didn’t have a clue as to exactly just how many steps it would be!  In addition, the steps themselves were thin, narrow pieces of old wood separated by several inches at times, and the only thing we had to hold on to for stabilization was a steel cable, beyond which was a good 20ft to 30ft drop off at times!  Our legs were shaking the entire 1.7 km of narrow steps, begging for relief; it seemed to never end!

View from the funicular climb down. Well worth it!

Conquered!

By 6pm, we had reached the bottom, and felt quite accomplished! We couldn't wait to get back to our little cabin, and continue dreaming of the most incredible views of our lives.