Honeymooning in France & Spain!

Oh la la! We are spoiled indeed. The cheese, the baguettes, the wine, the beaches and the architecture. Unforgettable. This is a long one... but it deserves to be :)

PARIS!
When we arrived in Paris, it was early morning... or for us, the middle of the night. We started the trip off right by having a petit dejeuner at a café close to our hotel.
After a power nap, we took the metro to the Champs-Élysées and walked down to the Arc de Triomphe which was stunning. From there, we walked back towards le Jardins du Trocadero to view the Eiffel Tower. As were were walking towards it and saw glimpses of the tower above houses, it felt pretty surreal. Unfortunately, we couldn't sit in the park and enjoy a baguette as I hoped because it was blocked off due to the Euro Cup. There was also a soccer ball hanging from the Eiffel Tour in honour of the Cup. Euro Cup FEVER!
For dinner we found a Italian cafe that served very runny and very blue cheesy pizzas that were delicious. Fork and knife required. We headed back to Gare de Lyon for a glass of wine before bed. Cote du Rhone for Jan, and Chevergny for me!

DIJON!

We took our first high speed train from Paris to Dijon... very Harry Potteresque, except everyone was speaking French. Jan and I both really loved Dijon. The city had a much more historic feel to it; the people moved slower and the architecture was gorgeous. We decided to learn a little about the city by taking the Owl Tour. Metal owl plaques along the road guided us through the city and brought us back in time. Although... some of the roads had been repaved, so we were basically just guessing where were going at some points :) On the tour we saw Notre Dame, the lucky owl (rubbed for good luck!) la Maison Milliére (a house built in 1483), Porte Guillaume and so much more!

We had dinner at Chez Leon, which served classic French cuisine. I was willing to eat meat on this vacation, but holy moly, the meat options were pretty extreme for a 9 year vegetarian. Bone marrow, pork pâtés, steaks... so I ordered Ouefs De Maurette and was shocked at how delicious it was! Oh and the creme brûlée at the end of the meal was one of the best desserts I have ever had. After dinner, we checked out this unique bar across the street from our place called Antre II Monde, a medieval metal bar. And to end the night, we enjoyed more french delights... Cheese (Issau-Ortay & Tomme de brebis bourgogne) and some Chablis... paradise!

DIJON, ROUTE DES GRAND CRUS & BEAUNE!

Ok there is a bird in France that makes a particular sound, which sounds like a demon. Please ask me to imitate this sound for you, so someone can tell me what bird this is! The demon bird.

We started the day by visiting the market in Dijon, Helles Market. Vendors lined the street selling peaches, apricots, cherries and melons. The indoor section of the market was full of meat, cheese and so many perfect picnic items. 

After the market, we picked up our rental car and hit the road to enjoy la Route des Grands Crus... an amazingly scenic drive through small towns that produce amazing wine, mainly pinot noir. We stopped in Gevrey-Chambertin. We purchased wine from Gerard Seguin & Philippe Leclerc... Cru La Combe Aux Moines & Bourgogne. So amazing how different these wines tasted, produced only a few miles from each other. We drove the rest of the Route Des Grands Crus, stopped in a few sleepy towns, and ended up in Beaune for dinner. A Rick Steves recommended dinner to be exact, at Brasserie Le Carnot. 

Oh and Jan was not a fan of driving in France. He said the roundabouts were enough to make him leave Europe too. #janxit

LYON!

We drove from Dijon to Lyon, and it was a beautiful ride. Lavender growing along the side of the streets. Our flat in Lyon was incredible, but possibly haunted. The owner was definitely a collector. Ceramic rabbits, old armoires and weird artwork filled the place. We headed down to the historic district, Vieux Lyon, to have dinner. France had won the soccer match that day, and the game happened to be in Lyon, so the streets were crowded with people celebrating, singing, waving flags and eventually blocking entire streets. We joined a crowd of people sitting on the steps of a church for some quality people watching. We also found a park, where people were playing Mölkky, a game where you basically throw a wooden pin at a bunch of other wooden pins. We had dinner at La Bouchon Des Filles, and what a dinner it was! To start, a delicious bottle of Bourgogne. Next les amuse-bouches - a lentil salad, herring and a pork pâté. Then we received a beet apéritif with a fantastic cream on top. For the entree, Jan got a steak and I got blood pudding. I was a bit nervous when I received the meal but it was unbelievable; the parsley, mint, apples and pastry accompanied it so well! Next course, CHEESE! Brie, goat and "brain cheese" with fresh dill. And finally... a cheesecake and the best banana split I have ever tasted. We decided not to take the tram back, so we walked the huge incline back to our flat to work off that meal!

LYON & COLLIAS

We started the day in Lyon, by visiting a huge park called Parc de la Tete d'or which had a zoo with bears, tigers, monkeys and giraffes! The park was completely free, had no staff and some of the enclosures didn't even have fences! The bear simply had a cement wall to contain her, oh and a sign that said "Do not feed or excite the bear." Seems safe. After the park we made our way to a medieval village called Collias where we stayed in a castle called La Castellas Hostellerie. It had a pool and AC which was a treat, but the best part was the meal. OH LA LA, it was good. Fish pate, smoked salmon with dill cream, goat cheese lollipops... to start. Jan had the pork and I had the veggie artichoke dish. For dessert, we had so many different cheeses and cherries stuffed with almond and rhubarb ice cream. UNREAL! We walked around the town, and found many kitty cats and a beautiful body of water called Gardon.

AVIGNON & AIX EN PROVENCE

We woke up in Collias, and spent the morning at the Gorge Gordon. We sat on a rock, and watched people swim, kayak and sunbathe. After grabbing a much needed café emportee, we hit the road and headed to Avignon. We parked at les Italianes University, and then walked into town. As we walked about 30 minutes to find the Palais de Papes, we noticed the city was pretty rundown, but the Palais was truly impressive. It must have taken hundreds of years to build. We had lunch at a café called 'In & Off' which is weird, but I had the most delicious goat cheese salad ever. Next we continue south to Aix En Provence. We heard good things about the bar Barberousse which looked like you were inside a pirate ship. Jan taught me some french so I could order mojitos like a pro :)

AIX EN PROVENCE

I found Aix En Provence to be a weird city... modern and touristy. We wandered around the Cours Mirabeau pretty much all day. I had an amazing lunch forced upon me by the waiter - eggplant and tomatoes all baked up with mozzarella. We hunted down calissons, which I thought were a pastry but turned out to be more like a candy. We needed a night in, so we picked up some meat, cheese, bread and wine and had a nice night relaxing.

BARCELONA!
Theresa muy amado de Barcelona! We drove to the Marseille Airport, and flew on the airline Vueling over to Spain! Our host Rosa was great. She met us at the Palau de la Musicia, which was just 2 blocks from our place, and had sangria waiting for us! Our apartment was 5 flights up this steep, narrow staircase. The building was built in the 1700s, so we ignored our burning legs. We had dinner at Casa Lolea and it was unbelievable. Chorizo, aged & cured cheese, cocoa bread (which you rub garlic, oil, salt & tomato on), black truffle risotto, and pear & pesto pasta. Oh and a homemade sangria made with brut. So good. We wandered around the city after that, and found Casa Batllo... one of the many masterpieces of Gaudi in Barcelona. We had a nightcap at Café Alzur, where we purchased empanadas for breakfast!

Our second day in Barcelona, we started by visiting El Born, a city found and excavated in 1998. Next, we headed to the beach! We spent a few hours on Playa San Sebastia, enjoying our books, the sun, some cervezas, and the boobies of course :) We slowly made our way to Playa Catalunya, and then to Port Olympic which was recommended as a less touristy spot. We had a late lunch at a restaurant called Barca de Salamanca. We ordered patatas de bravas & poblenos... which were kinda lackluster. Finally, it was time for the beer festival which was in Parc del Poblenos. It was a decent festival with all kinds of beers for Jan to try. After a quick siesta, we headed out to check out the Barcelona nightlife at a bar called Sidecar. 

 

On our final day in Barcelona, we passed by the Arc de Trimof accidentally, as we headed to La Sagrada Familia... unfortunately we did not purchase tickets in advance, so were unable to go inside. But the building was unbelievable. Gaudi's work is incredible. So much detail, and very nook and cranny is different. Next, we took the metro over to Jamon Musuem where we learned all about the piggies! Jamon Iberico De Belotta... pretty much the best meat I have ever tasted. The Iberico pigs are free range, roaming many acres and eating acorns until they reach 150 pounds. The meat is cured for years; first salted, then dried, and then hung for the aging process. After the Jamon Experience, we enjoyed some sangria on a patio and watched the many street performers who came by... but Jan still needed more Jamon! So we headed to a shop called Reserva Iberica to taste 5 different kinds of jamon, and we purchased our favourite for a afternoon snack. For our final venture in Barcelona, we went to a Michelin star restaurant called Hoja Santa. We had olives, cornbread, chicken skins, duck tacos, chicken sopas, pork tacos, quail mole and corn ice cream. A little too much meat for TT, but overall an amazing experience. 

SAN SEBASTIAN
We took a surprisingly pleasant 6 hour train ride over to San Sebastian. It was so scenic... the hills, the bright blue sky, and all of the houses looked like castles. Our host Jorge picked us up from the train station and showed us around our airbnb, which was a very old, gorgeous house. We took a walk along la Concha Bay, and then into town for some grub. We wandered around until we found Mamma's for some Italian food. Next is was beach time... but holy spanish titties.. the beach was FULL! We found a tiny little spot of sand and enjoyed the sunshine. We went to a restaurant called KÖK for a few drinks and I had an amazing ensaladata de la pasta. Seriously... it was so yummy. We tried txakoli, which is a sparkling dry white wine produced in Basque countries. We went for a late night stroll and found a park that was FULL of croaking frogs. As we walked closer to the pond where all the frogs were, we noticed bats diving at our heads... BATMAN!?

Since the next day was Monday, most of the Spanish tourists had left and the beach was MUCH more enjoyable. La Concha is a gorgeous beach. Once we had enough sun, we headed to the Old Town, near Urquell (the hill on the right, with Jesus on top) to begin our PINXTO tour! Pinxtos are basically tapas but many are out on the bar, and you fill your plate and pay at the end. We also found a square with a bunch of patios to finally try a Gin & Tonic. There were about 10 different gins on the menu, Jan picked Monkey 74, I chose G'Vine... Jan's was better, but mine was complimented by manzana y uva (apple & grape)! We walked home along the beach, and noticed how much the tide changes. It was probably 20 feet different. 

We had a delightful final day in San Sebastian. It was overcast and threatening to rain the entire day, but we made the most of it! First, we took the funicular up the hill with the water tower on it. Surprisingly, at the top of the hill, was an amusement park built in 1912, approved by Queen Maria Christina. And the park didn't look like it was updated since. We climbed the water tower and were treated to a beautiful view on La Concha Bay. Next it was time for PINTXO TOUR 2! We borrowed Jorge's bikes and headed back to the Old Town. We visited Fuego Negro, Haizea, Bar Zeruko and La Vina. My favourite pintxo was this airy cheesecake, and runner up would be fried goat cheese. We also visited a cemetery called Polloe, which was HUGE and the plots were so elaborate. Some plots had over 10 family members buried together. We wrapped up the night back at KÖK because I loved the pasta salad that much. True story.

AMBOISE!

We started the day off bright and early for our long travel day to Amboise, back in France. We took one bus to Hendaye, and then a high speed from there to Tours (after we got off one stop too far). In Tours we picked up our final rental car to drive over to Amboise, Château Country! We spent our first day in Amboise relaxing! Reading in the sunshine, drinking blonde beers and Jan made tartiflette for dinner. Oh la la!

The next day in Amboise, we headed to Château Chenonceau... a big ol house that a bunch of rich people lived in basically. So rich their initials are part of the ceiling, floor and fireplace design, unreal. Louis XIV lived there at one point. We strutted around the grounds like aristocrats, just like Rick Steves told us to do :) After the château, we visited two wineries. La Grange Tiphaine was first and it had KITTENS... oh and delicious wine as well. We bought a few bottles we will open on anniversaries down the road. Closerie de Chanteloup was next, and it was a bit more of a sterile environment. The guy there schooled me on Malbec however, which I thought was originally from Argentina. Later on that night, we walked around the town, found a corner store to have a beer, and then watched the Euro Cup!

And finally... back to PARIS!
We dropped off the rental car, and hopped on our final train to Paris. We took the metro from the train station and it was insane how many steps I had to carry my heavy suitcase up. We grabbed a savoury crepe to start our final stop off right! After we were settled into our apartment, we headed to Bonvivant for dinner. It had great reviews, but it was a bit lackluster, although the saison dupont was delicious. For dessert we had ice cream at Gelateria del Alberto. The ice cream was delicious and the presentation was even better! Each ice cream cone looked like a flower!

The next day we explored Île de la Cité. This small island is home to Notre Dame, Saint Chapelle, & the Palais de Justice. We didn't actually go into any of the buildings, because the lines were insanely long, but it was still amazing to see them.We checked out a beer store for Jan, called La Cave à Bulles and picked up some beers to bring back with us. We grabbed some cheese called mothais a la feuille, some bread at Maison Eric Kayser (which was incredible) and we had a delightful picnic dinner in Jardin de Luxembourg. After we spent quite a few hours relaxing in the park, we headed to La Creperie for some vino and a desert crepe. Seriously, we ate and drank our way right through France & Spain.

For our final day in Paris, we decided to do something touristy: The Catacombs! We waited in line for 2 hours before we were able to head down into the catacombs. Seriously, I would be pissed if my bones were down there! The bones of over 6 million people were placed there in the late 1700s after the cemeteries started overflowing. Next of course, we stopped at a café for some cheese and vino, before heading to Montparnasse Cemetery. A morbid day I suppose, but Jan and I both love visiting cemeteries. We had our final drink near our flat at Cafe Delmas in the little roundabout called Place de la Contrescarpe. For our final honeymoon meal, we chose Italian, and Salento was the perfect choice. The meal was delicious, and we also were able to watch the finale of the Euro Cup. We left before the game was over and it was amazing to see Paris like that; the streets were dead, but the cafés were packed and the cheers echoed through the streets. Unfortunately Portugal won in overtime. "A footsyball tragedy" as Jan would say.

Amazing food, amazing countries... AN AMAZING HONEYMOON!