Mad 60 hours in Spain
The challenge was set. Every possible and impossible route was investigated. Sadly, Derbyshire had to be crossed off (hubby attended by himself) and daughter Laura suggested we tried and include planes, trains, automobiles and ships.
I found myself with Laura, on a Ryanair flight to Barcelona, having left home at 4.30 am driving 4 hours to Stansted Airport. We left the car in the Short Stay Blue Zone Car park with a quick walk into the terminal building.
Arriving into Barcelona at 4pm, we struggled to find the hotel shuttle bus. The Tryp Airport hotel is lovely with a friendly, efficient reception. We dropped our bags and walked to the Metro, (so easy and cheap, 2 euros) and headed to Plaza Cataluña, down Las Ramblas with an ice cream in hand.
Having been to Barcelona numerous times, what could I do differently in the early evening? Las Golondrinas is an hour tour by boat around the harbour, with great views of the city and cruise ships. Afterwards, dinner in Expat Café, Plaza Real, by which time it was 11pm. We then jumped into a taxi and bed.
Next morning was an early start, checking back into the airport for 9am Vueling flight to Santiago de Compostela, where I had reserved a car with Avis, but it still took nearly 1.5 hours to sort and get onto the road. We drove for nearly 3 hours through the beautiful scenery of Galicia, to our destination and met up with the rest of the family for the 50th wedding anniversary party. My parents had decided to renew their vows and invite about 80 people. That was a lot of washing up (and potato peeling, but that’s another story).
36 hours after arriving it was back onto the road again, heading to the airport, this time with a direct flight to Stansted and we had accomplished:
3 flights 2 hotel shuttle buses 2 underground trains Harbour cruise Taxi back to the hotel Car hire Monorail at Stansted Numerous elevators, lifts and travelators
Both challenges completed!