Construction signs for entertainment??

 I had to share this as neither of us have ever seen road signs like this. This was in a construction zone in rainy Germany. I missed the first 2 signs as I wasn’t expecting them.  These first 2 looked like this:

😡

12 km noch 

😡

10 km noch 

These were the others:

Favorite things

 Favorite things: don’t miss these if you’ve got the time in your travels:

Cities/towns/Villages: in the order we visited as we couldn’t pick 1 favorite. 

• Zarautz: the beach was awesome, food was amazing, the drive along the coast was stunning. 
• Gijon: the long pedestrian promenade along the beach was super relaxing; food was amazing; we didn’t find many touristy places (no souvenir stores to be found)
• Costa Nova: adorable striped houses and building gave this fishing village so much charm. The festival going on while we were there allowed for more fun shopping and artist displays. The beach here was the softest we’ve ever walked on and was fully empty. I could imagine moving to this adorable village (or at least staying more than 2 days). 
• Gibralter: adorable little British town and how can you not love walking across a runway to climb a mountain full of monkeys so you can see Africa - so much new and interesting 

Palace:

• Sintra: cool palace and the climb to get there made us feel like superheroes; so much original art, furniture, china, etc - really cool to see how they lived hundreds of years ago (way more fancy and in shape than we are now)

Boat rides:

• Porto at sunset: this was so beautiful, made us fall in love with Porto
• Lagos grotto tours: seeing the grottos and caves and driving the boat in spots where boats shouldn’t fit - can’t be done any other places in the world (maybe the 12 Apostles in Australia??). 

Campground:

• Yelloh village in Luz: most luxurious with 2 main pools, a spa, restaurant and bar. Great and affordable grocery store. Many offerings for sport activities, concerts, bingo, etc. 
• Camping Roquetas near Roquetas/Almeria: the sense of welcoming and community was so amazing. The German speakers were all ready to be our new best friends. We didn’t feel this level of friendly other places. Too bad the beach was rocky and the pool was closed for the “winter.”
• La Peyraud agri-campground outside of Bordeaux - the campground was part of a winery and was so quiet and relaxing. Who wouldn’t be relaxed after tasting 5 different wines. 

Foods: this is really impossible to say as we tried so many foods and drinks. We worked hard to eat local or traditional foods as much as possible. 

• I will call out the excellent service, the lasagna and the eggplant appetizer at Alloro restaurant in Luz. This wasn’t local food but was absolutely amazing. 
• Pica Pau at a small place outside of Porto call Braseo (on the beach). It is like a beef stew with lightly pickled veggies in it. 
• Marcus loved swordfish in most of the places he had it (and he must have ordered it at least 5 places).
• More details coming on foods…

Cathedral elements: (because sometimes only 1 thing within a cathedral is a favorite)

• in the Santiago de Compostela: the giant hanging (sometimes swinging) air freshener called a botafumeira that smelled like sandalwood and other yummy incense smells (orange and vanilla maybe??). Fun fact: 8 people swing it and it can go over 80 mph across the church. 
• In the Cathedral of Valencia: the chalise Jesus supposedly used at the last supper. Many call it the holy grail. 
• Favorite overall cathedral: Segrada Familia - it is just mesmerizing, especially the inside. 

Technology: 

• Roamless e-sim for phone data usage. This couldn’t be easier and is so much less expensive than using international plans. I’ll use Roamless for every international trip from now on. 
• “Maut box” - this is a small device that attaches to the windshield and pays tolls for you. We probably had to go through at least 50 toll booths. Don’t hassle with trying to have money. And Portugal only collects electronically so you have to have one of these. We got our from ADAC in Germany but I’m guessing other places would also have them. And, if you use ADAC (like AAA in the US) be sure to have a German address first. They won’t take a US address or a temporary address either. They are real sticklers for their own rules. 

I created this blog so we’d remember what this trip years from now. And we also want others to learn from our challenges and mistakes. So I think it’s ok to tell you about some annoyances we encountered. It’s up to you to decide if these are issues that would prevent you from traveling  to the place:

• I have to start with our gps system. Sygic is terrible. But it’s also the only one we could find that was downloadable as an app to our phone that takes RV height, width and weight into account. You can’t just drive an RV everywhere and Apple and Google won’t take bridge height or road weight allowance or width into account (at least not yet). And we didn’t want to buy another device  that has to be updated (like a Tom-Tom). We ended up using Apple Maps to give us decent directions with Sygic - following the Sygic route but with Apple directions of how to do it. For example, Apple would tell us to stay left at a fork and Sygic would make you guess by saying and showing nothing (or occasionally a really wrong direction). 
• Small houseflies in southern Spain, Portugal and Gibralter. These were simply annoying and all over. I have no idea if this is seasonal. 
• Mosquitos near the nature park in Valencia. This would be a no-go for us next time. I recommend staying further out and just taking an expensive Uber. Being near the city wasn’t worth it. 
• Beaches in southern Spain. Don’t travel for the beaches as most are rock or pebbles in the south. This was a surprise and disappointment for us. 
• Finally, I have to mention that many cities that are near the beach or are low in altitude (are near sea level) could occasionally use a new sewer system. Many communities just don’t smell fresh. If you have a senstitive nose, plan ahead to breath through your mouth more (a trick we learned living in Bangkok where they sell dried fish on a stick and the fish are dried in the sales booths all over the city). As my friend once Dean said, “that mouth breathing really helps.” 

Overall, Spain, Portugal and Gibralter were amazing. Every couple of hours the landscape would change. We’ve seen mauntains, flat, desert, green and lush - nearly every landscape we could want. It is an amazing way to see a bit of so many kinds of landscapes and cultures. If you are considering an RV trip to Spain and/or Portugal, we would highly recommend it. Be open to trying new things and see every stop as a new adventure. Hunt for newness and cultural differences. Get to know or at least observe locals when you can. If you stick to the touristy areas it will quickly look all the same. If you look for new and different and look for something to learn, it stays fun keeps feeling new which is what vacation or retirement should be.

Back towards Berlin

 We’re driving back from Barcelona headed to Berlin. It would figure that it started pouring rain in France and hasn’t really stopped raining for 2 days. It’s making our journey slower and longer than we’d hoped. And last night was 36 degrees with the windchill in Öhringen, Germany. We had an excellent German meal, but are sure missing the sun and warmth of southern Spain!

Familia Sagrada church

Before I start, let me apologize for formatting issues. This is challenging to do on a phone. I didn’t insert links or formatting - but I somehow pushed some button that did it. No idea how to unformat  on my phone. 

 I decided to post about the Barcelona church, Sagrada Familia as a single post since there is so much to say about it. We had a tour guide that was the best story teller I’ve ever met. Our little tour group of about 15 people were mesmerized by this guide - the group was literally leaning into every story he told us. So I’ll do my best to repeat a few of them.

Sagrada Familia means holy family. This was designed and partially built by Antoni Gaudi who was an artist and architect. 

Gaudi was from or at least live much of his life in Barcelona and was a very religious man. He was more “modern” than other artists he’s often compared to and more modern than others in this time - he was born in 1852 and lived until 1926. Supposedly his religion increased over the years, showing up more and more in his work. He decided to build this church to help revive religion for future generations who read the Bible less and less. He wanted the church to be a stone representation of the bible, telling the same stories. I’d say he accomplished this. And it doesn’t look like any other church I’ve visited. 

Interestingly Gaudi was described by several guides to us as looking like a homeless person. He was very thin and had a scraggly beard. He apparently wasn’t much for hygiene. He told people that life didn’t mean anything if you don’t feel sacrafice. And he often didn’t eat enough, didn’t bathe enough so that he could feel more of a sense of sacrifice. Therefore, when he got hit by a tram in Barcelona in 1926, the ambulance people thought he was homeless. They took him to the poor people hospital where he eventually died of sepsis. 

So, when he died, the church wasn’t finished. And of course, he had drawn plans for the rest, but some of them got destroyed in a fire. There is now a council or board that makes decisions for the rest that still has to be completed. They base their decisions mostly on what notes and drawings they still have, trying to keep to what they think was the original plan. Overall, it need to represent the stories of the Bible and should represent nature (because God made all of nature). Gaudi was so into nature that he uses it for design ideas and for guidelines or principles for his buildings. For example, there are many mountains in Spain. Gaudi designed the highest part of the church to be 3 meters shorter than the tallest mountain because as a man, he couldn’t exceed what God made himself. This was so interesting as many / most architects want to outdo others and nature. 

There are 3 main sides of the church: the nativity facade, the passion facade and the glory facade. When I describe 3 sides, don’t think triangle. Gaudi was famous for using curves and ideas coming from nature rather than traditional architectural methods. In fact, the entire inside and outside of this church doesn’t have any (or at least very few) right angles. And our guide told us that Gaudi didn’t put any architectural feature into this church that he didn’t first try somewhere else in a different building. That may be part of why there are so many Gaudi buildings in Barcelona. 

This is a Wikipedia image that I found so you can have a sense of what it looks like before I try to cull down the several hundred pics I took. This shows the part existing today and what is still missing. 

The white part is done - the brown sections are still to come. 

Outside: 

Nativity facade: the birth and life of Jesus. It has 3 panels in nativity facade:

• hope: showing Mary and Joseph’s travels to Jerusalem 
• Love: the birth of Jesus 
• Faith: the life of Jesus as a carpenter and miracle worker

This side feels warm and fuzzy - yes, stone carvings can make you feel warm and fuzzy. You feel hopefulnesss and love. There is a giant cedar tree that looks a lot like a Christmas tree with doves decorating it. 

Passion facade: last moments of  Jesus life

• last supper
• The trial of Jesus
• The crucifix 

This side has a fully different style than the other side. It is more of a feeling of scary-ness with carvings looking almost like skeletons in some cases. It feels cold and hard. 

This was our tour guide

This is a palm frond fossil discovered when the sculptor was sculpting the crucafixtion statues. Palm frond apparently represent reinvention so the artist felt compelled to leave it in the sculpture. It’s also apparently good

luck to touch it as everyone was. 

Glory facade: the resurrection 

This side isn’t yet finished. It is a blank slab of stone. It was hoped to be finished by 2026 for the 100 year anniversary of Gaudi’s death but won’t be. Now the architects are saying in less than 10 years. Many are guessing they are trying for 2033 as it is holy year. (2000th anniversary of the death and resurrection of Jesus).

It is interesting that this side has a lot of porcelain fruit on it now. One side has the spring and summer fruits and veggies (representing birth and life) and the other side has fall and winter fruits and veggies (representing death and endings). Interestingly, the Barcelona people love this. To them, the fruit represents their crops that they grow in the Barcelona area. It makes this feel more personal to the locals who are super proud of Gaudi and the church generally - this is their church. 

Speaking of pride, our tuk tuk driving guide proudly told us that the building of the church has always been fully funded by donations rather than from the Catholic Church (that apparently pays for many other churches to be built but they may find some elements of the church a bit offensive (our guide thinks they don’t find bananas and grapes on the church appropriate)). Our guide told us that Gaudi was so religious that he wouldn’t take donations that came from ill-reputable means (such as gambling). And he really wanted donations to give the donator a sense of sacrifice. 

There are currently 14 towers on the church. There will eventually be 18 total. The towers stand for the 12 apostles, the Evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), Mary, and Jesus. The Jesus tower will be the last one finished and will be the main tower.

On some parts of the outside, there are stone pices that almost look like flaps or air vents. These are for when they finally finish the church and put in the bells that are being designed. These flaps will project the sound down from the bells. Today, they actually use a recording of bells. These flaps work well - they are like little speakers projecting downward. 

Inside:

So, the outside has 3 main sides, but inside feels a bit like an oval. The entire design is meant to make you look upward, to the heavens. And here I need to mention that we went into the church around 5:30pm. The time of day you visit will impact how it looks. Our tour guide told me that every single time he enters, he thinks it has a new feel and he sees something new. The time of day and sun levels impacts the colors and art you see. I am sure my descriptions and even pics won’t do it justice. 

The current entrance is on the nativity side. There are wrought iron leaves and vines on the giant door and above the door. From the outside, you just think about pretty nature.  From the inside, these vines spell out Jesus name. You can’t see this from the outside at all. This is a good example of how much detail and symbolism is in this design. 

On the nativity side of the church, the stained glass windows are mostly blue,

violet and green. This side of the church faces east (new beginnings, life) so would get the morning sun. 

The passion/crucafixtion side of the church faces west and has the afternoon and evening light (endings, death). These windows are mostly red, orange and yellow. 

Depending on what time you enter, the colors inside change. When we went in, it actually felt like the air was orange. I have no idea how this works. I need to ask my niece Julia who is studying architecture how the light was somehow refracted to make the air feel colored. This only lasted about 15 minutes and then the air went back to being invisible. 

There are really too many things to see inside - tributes to so many elements of the Bible. There is a giant gold pyramid or triangle that is the highest symbol of God (highest in the building heightwise). Under this is Jesus on the cross. There are 4 pillars, one each for Matthew, Mark, Luka and John. There are pillars for the 12 apostles. The closer to the ground, the more human and tangible the thing is. The higher it is, represents it being more heavenly and closer to God. 

Most of the columns are designed to look like trees growing upward. Gaudi actually studied trees to figure out how they could hold the weight of all the branches with only a trunk to hold up all the weight of the branches. He used this design approach instead of buttresses. 

The ceiling is sort of a cross between feeling like a nature carving (trees) and what it might feel like to be inside an egg. Parts look like snowflakes. The highest parts inside are all white and gold. It’s beautiful chaos. I told you words won’t do it justice.  I’m going to add more pics than usual so you might get a since of what I’m explaining very badly. 

There was one part of the church that was a bit more traditional. I suspect this wasn’t in Gaudi’s plans and might have been a concession in some ways. There is a basement (crypt) in the church that is huge. This is where Gaudi is buried. And this is also where they do sermons today (upstairs is filled with too many tourists to conduct services more than a couple of times a year). The basement area looks like what you’ve more traditionally seen in a church - right angles, darkish, traditional but simple. You can only see parts of this through a glass window. 

I think there is a bit of a description from a young man who was in our tour group that might help you understand the feeling more. There was a boy on the tour with his mom. They were from Pennsylvania. The boy was probably 20ish. He looked like a bit of a redneck that wants to be considered tough. He didn’t smile ever and looked like he did not want to be on this tour. His mom was in the bathroom at the same time as me later. I asked what did your son think of the church? She said he told her it felt “life-changing”. 

If you ever have the opportunity to see this church, I highly recommend it. And, book it super early. I thought a week before we arrived would be enough. Let’s just say our entry fees definitely felt like a sacrifice and we were lucky to find them on a week’s notice. Book far ahead and definitely sign up for a guided tour - the audio alone couldn’t possibly be as good as our guide was. I booked it through Trip Advisor (company was World Experience) and our guide was Marco. Get these if you ever take a tour. 

Overall, this was probably one of my favorite things we’ve done the past 2 months. This was our last big city to visit. We’ll be heading back to Berlin now. But don’t worry - I’ve got a few more things to post…