Lebanon, Dubai and. . .home!!

Fellow bloggers, it's October 21 as I write and we have been home for nearly 3 weeks! So hard to believe. We are now all slowly re-adapting to our normal life and routines after 14 weeks on the road.

To all our family and friends who took the time to follow our travels via the blog, we say "thank you". We really didn't think anyone would actually read the blog. . .but we were humbled by everyone's love and interest in our trip and our well-being.

So, this will be a retrospective blog post. . .

Farewell Italia. . .yiassou Hellas!!!

It’s been an eventful couple of weeks since our last post and our arrival in Rome.
We had a fantastic stay in Rome. Our hotel was amazing – set just outside the Villa Borghese gardens alongside the Saudi embassy and a 20 minute walk through the park to the Spanish Steps. We also had a spectacular view of St Peter’s Basilica from our vernadah. It’s unbelievable (but true) that the dome of St Peter’s continues to be the tallest structure in Rome/Vatican City.
We arrived early afternoon on Friday the 27th and settled into the hotel. The kids were keen to swim so we headed to the pool and let them swim out their car frustrations! We decided to postpone a walk in town and ate in the hotel restaurant.
Saturday the 28th was a BIG day. First stop was the Spanish Steps, then Via Condotti, Via Del Corso, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, a fascinating tour of the Colosseum and we finished off for dinner at the Hard Rock Café. Sunday the 29th was a rest day – thank goodness - laying by the pool and swimming. The weather continued to be fantastic for the entire time we were in Rome – we were so lucky!
Monday the 30th, we decided to visit Vatican City. We took a fantastic tour! We started in St Peter’s Square and then the Vatican Museums and into the Sistine Chapel. We had an amazing guide and our tour lasted some 4 hours finishing off in St Peter’s Basilica. Unfortunately, the Pope was not in Vatican City at the time of our visit – apparently, the Pope goes away during the summer months. After an early dinner just outside the Vatican walls, we headed into the Piazza Del Popolo for a walk down the other end of the Via Del Corso (main shopping strip) and then back to the hotel.
Tuesday the 31st, we had another day by the pool swimming and relaxing. The boys visited the barber’s shop to have their hair cut and we headed into Piazza Navona for dinner (which was disappointing). Wednesday the 1st of September we headed back to the Colosseum, the Roman Forums, Bocca Della Verita and the Piazza Del Popolo to have a look at Santa Maria Del Popolo Church with the Raphael-designed Chigi Chapel.
We spent our last day in Rome by the pool and making our final preparations for our flight to Greece the next day. We asked the hotel concierge to recommend a restaurant for dinner and were directed to the “Paga Roma” – 15 minutes walk from our hotel. This restaurant was fantastic and reminded us of all the wonderful things about eating in Italy: good food (fantastic tiramisu), good service, fantastic wine and being so full we could barely walk back to the hotel. What a way to finish our stay in Rome!
The next day we flew out of Rome and into Athens – arriving about 2.20 pm. It was an uneventful and quiet flight (as Zoe slept most of the way – which was not surprising as we woke very early that morning). As we’d been driving for the last 54 days, we had forgotten how much luggage we have. Consequently, we were unable to get one taxi into Plaka (central Athens) – deciding instead to get a private service to take us in. Our driver was fantastic (thanks, Dimitri!!) and efficiently got us (and our mountains of luggage) to the hotel by 3.30pm. By the by, we were pleasantly surprised by the change in Athens and the Athenian roads since our last visit (13 years ago).
We were sooo delighted by the location of our hotel – “Plaka Hotel”. As its name suggests it is located in the Plaka District of Athens, at the base of the Acropolis and is teeming with shops with traditional Greek items, restaurants and cafes. In addition, the hotel had a roof-top terrace that had unsurpassed views of the Acropolis and the Parthenon. Brilliant!
We dumped our luggage in the hotel and headed out into the streets of Plaka for a late lunch. Yeeros or “gyros” was on our minds and the first restaurant that we came across served us up delectable yeeros with an ice-cold frappe (like an iced-coffee – just less milk) to wash it down. After that we headed into Monastiraki’s flea market. We were on the hunt for a bouzouki for the boys and found a number of shops with excellent examples of hand-made bouzoukia. . .just have to decide which one to buy!
Jewellery shops abound in the Plaka district and we did a bit of shopping and finished our evening with a lovely meal that reminded us of home!
Saturday 4th September, we took a double-decker bus tour of Athens city which was fantastic! After that we headed back to our hotel lobby where we were meeting Thea Vassou, Theo Dimitri and cousin Michael. It was wonderful to see them again and we spent the next few hours catching up and sharing a meal together at one of the numerous restaurants in Plaka. Sadly, Thea had to leave by 4.30pm to journey back to Evia about 2 hours outside of Athens!
The next day (5th September) was Father's Day and we started our day by visiting the Acropolis and the Parthenon - walking there directly from our hotel. It was unbelievably hot and we wilted under the heat of the sun - but at the same time were awestruck by the magnificence of this ancient structure.
Back to our hotel after that to make some calls back home and get ready to go and visit cousin Stavrou and his family. We jumped in a cab and 20 minutes later we were met by Stavrou and his lovely family - wife Eleni and daughters Effie and Vassiliki! We spent a lovely afternoon together catching up and the children became acquainted with their cousins. Effie is close to Dean's age and made a huge effort to speak to both Dean and Andrew in English - while our boys made some effort to say some Greek words. The little ones - Zoe and Vassiliki (3 and 4 respectively) played so well together and managed to communicate with each other even though neither understood what the other one was saying!!!! We had a wonderful afternoon and Stavrou drove us back into town at about 1 am.
Monday the 6th of September was our last day in Athens and we spent the morning preparing our bags and doing some last minute shopping in Plaka, then onto the airport for our flight to Mytilene on the island of Lesvos.
Our flight was uneventful and we arrived in Mytilene on time around 6.20 pm. Unfortunately, when we arrived our hire car was in bad shape - a flat tyre and with the to-ing and fro-ing between the airport and the car-hire office to sort out the flat tyre - we didn't arrive in Agiasos (a small village about 25 minutes away from the town of Mytilene) until after 9pm. By the time, Steven's mother was beside herself and waiting for us in the village square!!!
We had a lovely dinner in the town centre (agora) and caught up on our respective news. The next couple of days were housekeeping days. . .with lack of access to washing facilities since Florence - we had pretty much used up most of our clean clothes!! Thank goodness for Steven's mum who helped out with all the washing.
Staying in the old family home on the island was definitely an experience for the children as it had no hot water system and the other facilities were quite rustic!!! All good fun, anyway!
Over the next few days we also caught up with the Tinellis cousins in Mytilene. That was lovely for Steven and the children who met a whole new side of the Tinellis family. Steven was especially thrilled to being seeing Panagioti again and they got on like a house on fire as we say. . .
The days passed by filled with yummy Greek home cooking, visits to the town square, Greek coffee, frappes, driving to various monasteries that Steven's mum wanted to go to and visits with family members whom we'd never met before or we were catching up again with. Thanks to Strati and Eleftheria for a lovely dinner on the last Wednesday of our visit. Forgot to mention we all suffered from the snotty nose syndrome while we were in Agiosos - but this did not interfere with our visit too much.
Before we knew it, it was time to leave Greece. We spent the last day washing and packing as we had to leave Agiasos at 5.15am on Friday to get to the airport on time. Who knows when we'll be back again. . .but we had a great time!

Montepulciano, Positano and Rome

Fellow bloggers, Monday the 23rd of August was the day I'd been waiting for. . .a visit to Tuscany was planned. More importantly, we were going to Montepulciano. This beautiful cliff top town is not just any Tuscan town; it was the setting for part of the "Twilight: New Moon" movie. . .need I say more fellow twi-fans??? Of course, I got lots of eye-rolls and "can't believe we driving all this way just because of Twilight" from Steven and the boys. . .but I could put up with all of that to see this fab town.
We set out from Florence to Montelpulciano (about 1 and 1/2 hours drive) on another hot and sunny Italian day. It was an easy drive and we got as close to the centre of town as we could and parked the car. From there we walked a little ways into the town - not quite reaching the Piazza Grande before we came across the restaurant that I had researched for our lunch: "Il Gambe di Gatta". This restaurant received rave reviews on TripAdvisor so when we walked straight past it and there was no one there, we decided to sit down and eat. It was amazingly small, but was run and owned by a husband and wife team. The husband in particular was very accomodating - nothing was too much trouble. We were even offered a full wine-tasting experience in the restaurant at no charge. . .I must mention that Montepulciano is a well-known wine-producing region and produces a particular red known as "Nobili di Montepulciano". Well we started our lovely lunch with this wine-tasting - sampling reds and whites from the region. Fantastic! The Nobili was unreal - had to buy a bottle of course! Not only did we sample wines, but different olive oils, vinegars and limoncello. All produced in Tuscany. I tell you people, this was unreal! The ravioli was simply heavenly and the panna cotta was sooo delectable we were all literally licking the plates.
So, we hadn't even seen Montepulciano yet and we were very impressed! After our stupendous meal, we left the restaurant and headed into the centre of town - which was up a steep hill! Not so good after a gastronomic 3 course meal + wine!!!!! Finally turned into the Piazza Grande - the setting for that infamous scene where Bella races through the streets of Volterra and jumps through the fountain to stop Edward from revealing himself to the mortals. . .It was remarkably recognizable from the scenes of the movie and we sat in the Piazza for a while taking in the scenery and imagining the whole place as a movie set.
After more walking around the town, we said goodbye to Montepulciano and headed back to Florence. I think we all agreed (even the non-Twi fans) that this town was definitely worth the visit.
Next day, I took a nice long walk along the Arno and over the Ponte Vecchio very early in the morning before heading back to the apartment to get the troops up and out to the post office to offload some more excess baggage and then more pavement pounding. The tourists were out in force this day and our plans to visit the Uffizi in the morning had to be postponed until later in the day as the queues were so long. We enjoyed a simple lunch in the shadow of Il Duomo and then back to the apartment for a few hours before heading back to the Uffizi after 6pm. In the interim, we all agreed we'd have home-made crepes for dinner so this time Dean made the mixture and Steven cooked while I organised our luggage for our departure from Florence the next day.
On Wednesday, after another early morning walk, we packed the car and headed out of Florence for our long drive down to Positano on the Amalfi coast (about 6 hours south of Florence). It was a long and hot drive and truly frustrating as there are very few signs which indicate the speed limits and most drivers seem to just do whatever speed limit suits. Tailgating is very common and even when there are speed limits posted, everyone ignores them!!! So, when we arrived in Positano at around 4.30 that afternoon, we were very relieved to have arrived safely!
The Amalfi Coast is truly a beautiful part of the world. The cliff tops rise dramatically from the shimmering blue of the ocean. The roads wind precariously around the cliff faces up and down and are so narrow that we found it hard to believe they were actually two-way streets!
As I mentioned above, the roads are notoriously bad and the aggressive driving practices and limited (or complete absence of) signage makes it a risky task negotiating the hair-pin bends - often to face cars, trucks or scooters coming directly at you (ie they are driving on the wrong side of the road) at great speed!!!
Having driven across and through 9 different countries now, Steven and I agreed that we found Italy to be the most dangerous for driving.
Notwithstanding, we enjoyed Positano. We had superb views of the bay from our hotel and were fortunate our hotel had a pool. . .so there was no great urgency to make the trek down the treacherous roads to get to the beach. We did venture into town on the shuttle bus for a look around and to have lunch down by the beach on our second day. But, it was stinking hot so we raced back to the hotel pool to cool down.
Friday 27th August, we farewelled Positano and travelled 3 and 1/2 hours to Rome - our final driving destination. Steven did some quick thinking and organised for us to hand-back our Renault one week early (as we didn't really need it while in Rome and it was going to cost a bomb to park it in the hotel for a week) so we also farewelled our trusty Renault after 9 countries and nearly 7, 500 km!!

Nice, Genova and Florence

We have been so lucky of late with the weather. It has been continuously hot and sunny.
The last couple of days we spent in Nice were fantastic beach days and we have tanned up somewhat. Suprisingly, skin cancer awareness appears to be quite low in this part of the world. . .as we were the only family on the beach wearing rashies and boardies. In fact, most people looked at us quite strangely as speedos and bikinis are standard attire on the beaches (and in some cases, not even that!).
Last Tuesday (17th August), we decided to tour Cannes, Monaco and Monte Carlo. The kids wanted to see the beach Mr Bean went to great efforts to find - so we travelled about an hour south of Nice to find Cannes beach. It was sooo hot and there were so many people crowding the beaches, but the kids were really keen to swim - so we joined the crowds and found a spot on the beach. Unfortunately, the water was FREEZING and the boys couldn't stay in the water for longer than an hour and Zoe wouldn't even dip her toes in the water! So, after a home-packed lunch on the beach, we headed into town to check out the Palais Des Festivals - where they hold the annual Cannes Film Festival each year. There were lots of multi-million dollar yachts and boats in the lovely harbour. . .so you can certainly see why this is a playground for the rich and famous. But, for my money, nothing is more bautiful than our harbours at home. . .
Back into the car for our drive back to Nice and onto Monaco. After a quick snack, we walked up to the royal palace to take some pictures and admire the fantastic view over Monaco from the clifftop location. Back down into town and we spotted a childrens' carnival and the kids were keen to go on a few rides. We spent a couple of great hours down there before walking further along the marina, spotting some amazing yachts and highpowered vessels and having a delicious dinner. We got back into the car for the short drive over to Monte Carlo and the famous casino and then through the tunnel which forms part of the circuit for the Monaco F1 Grand Prix. A delightful moment for Steven as he realised his dream of driving on an F1 circuit!!!
Wednesday was our last day in France and we left Nice via the clifftop castle in the Old Town. The kids played in the playground there for a little while and enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine before getting into the car for our drive to Genova in Italy.
We arrived in Genova in good time and checked into our lovely hotel. We decided that after our busy days in Nice, we'd have a quiet night in. We ate a really lovely meal in the hotel restaurant (which had fabulous views over Genova), but it took us the best part of 2 hours to finish our meals as the service was exceptionally slow. . .
Unfortunately, the best part of Genova seemed to be our lovely hotel - as there really was not that much to see in the city. The next day, we toured as much as we could (and wanted) before we headed back to the hotel for a movie (I finally saw "Avatar") and room service (as we couldn't bear to sit in the hotel restaurant for 2 hours again!).
The next day we left Genova early for a drive down the Ligurian coast to Portofino. To our amazement, it was raining quite heavily there and parking was exceptionally difficult so we decided to continue straight through to Pisa on our way into Florence.
Pisa was a great stop. We were all amazed to see the Leaning Tower! In particular, for Steven and I, the last time we were here 13 years ago, it was not permissible to climb the Tower as there were some works being done to stablise the structure. Obviously, these works were now complete as there were queues of people lining up to climb to the top. We weren't keen!!
Arrived in Florence about 3pm and were met by our host, Simon, who escorted us up to our apartment and showed us around. WOW!! What an amazing apartment! It was huge - with 3 large bedrooms, and eat-in kitchen, laundry, 2 bathrooms and a private roof-top terrace with 360 degree views of Florence and direct view to Il Duomo (the most famous building in Florence)! We all felt like we were in heaven and as there was a supermarket directly across the road from the apartment building, things were very convenient.
Although we've recently enjoyed quite good food in France and in Genova, we all decided we'd like a home-cooked meal, so I made a simple pasta and salad and we all enjoyed our dinner up on the terrace with our perfect view of Il Duomo and later a beautiful sunset.
Saturday 22 August, we toured Florence and did some shopping at the famous leather markets - picking up some choice buys. Sunday, more of the same, though we were all craving crepes again and we decided to give it a go ourselves back at the apartment. Dean and I made the mixture and Steven cooked them. Yummy! Steven couldn't cook them quick enough for the troops! Afterwards, we took some snacks and our bottle of Chablis up to the terrace to watch the sun set again. We even endured the mozzies to stay up there as long as we could. Finally came down as the moon was high in the sky. . .another day gone!

Barcelona then back to France

Picking up from the last post, we were on our way down to Barcelona from Biarritz. . .we left Biarritz just after 10am for an expected drive of about 6 hours to get to Barcelona. After a quick fuel stop, we crossed into Spain at about 11 am. About half-way through our drive, we stopped in Zaragoza for lunch and a rest. It was really hot, but we parked the car conveniently in a parking station underneath the Plaza de Pilar (the main city square) and had a buffet tapas lunch - which was fabulous.
We feasted on traditional Spanish fare and filled our bellies so we could complete the rest of the long drive. It was really weird. . .after speaking French for a while and communicating so well with the locals, suddenly, we had to resort to sign language and lots of "non hablas Espanol"!
We arrived in Barcelona finally at around 6.30pm and found our apartment quite easily. It was beautiful and spacious and the staff were very helpful to us. We settled in and then took a walk around the hotel to get our bearings and decided (after our fabulous tapas lunch) that we weren't that hungry and had a light dinner of fresh fruit and sandwiches before turning in. By the way, we were delighted that of all the places we'd stayed in so far, Spain was the only country to offer one English-speaking channel on its free-to-air channels. So, Steven and I were happy to spend a quiet evening watching a lovely golden oldie movie that we could actually understand!!!
The next day we set out for the centre of town by metro and took a double-decker bus tour of the city (a hop on hop off affair which seems to be the tour of choice for most visitors in large cities now). Actually, they are a really great introduction to a city and this tour was no exception. The kids loved being on the top deck of the bus and we got a terrific view of most of the major attractions. . .starting off in Barri Gotic (or the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona) and continuing up to the hill of Montjuic which overlooks the city and has most of the Olympic facilities (used in the 1992 Olympics). It also took us along the port, and Barcelona's beaches (which incidentally were crammed with people and looked quite inviting).
We had lunch down at Port Vell which has a large shopping centre, aquarium and Imax theatre (a bit like Sydney's Darling Harbour really). We were really keen to have Paella and this restaurant claimed to specialise in this regional dish. Steven and I ordered a paella for two. . .but were slightly disappointed when a tiny paella pan came out!! Of course, we realised that these were tapas-sized paella servings. . .so we ordered another as we were still hungry!! Have to say though, our very good friend Marisol makes a far superior paella than the ones we had in this restaurant!!! That's not to say that we didn't enjoy them. . ."scoffed the lot" as Steven would say!
We finished off our day with a walk down La Ramblas the main tourist strip through the gothic quarter where the boys found their authentic Spanish world cup soccer jerseys and Zoe scored some free maraccas! Later, another trip on the double-decker bus before getting off near our hotel which was situated quite close to the Gaudi-designed temple called La Sagrada Familia. We all had quite mixed feelings about this building as it was very unusual - almost ugly to look at - yet hugely popular as tourists were lining up to get inside from quite early in the morning. However, we all decided that we preferred to admire it from the outside and any view we would get from the top we could (and in fact did) get just as easily from somewhere else.
The next day was a shopping day (yes, I know another one. . .but amazingly one does find things to buy in each different city visited - much to Steven's horror!) so we had a light breakfast in the hotel and hopped on the metro to the centre of town. By the way, we were very impressed with Barcelona's efficient and clean underground transport system. Compared with Paris and to some extent London, this system was fantastic. In fact, the whole of Barcelona was amazingly clean. Lovely really.
I was in search of some authentic Spanish espadrilles (shoes) and dragged everyone through the city's streets trying to find this one shop (which closed for 3 hours in the middle of the day) and apparently is so famous even the Pope gets his espadrilles from here. As we missed it first go, we toured the cathedral and had lunch in another tapas bar (oddly called Chardonnay) and got our first taste of local mussels (great) and the catalan version of creme caramel. Sadly, we didn't really like this version of this classic dessert. . .
Anyway, back on the espadrilles trail, we got to the right shop just before 4.30 when it was to reopen and were amazed when another 20 people seemed to materialise out of nowhere also waiting for the shop to open. Second in line, I quickly got the shoes I wanted and at 20 euros a pair - are the cheapest pair of shoes I have bought on this whole trip!!! No one else was keen to get a pair (even though they are popular with men, women and children alike). Spotted some churros - but as we were due to have dinner at 7.00 decided against it. Some final shopping at a ceramics studio before the long walk up to our dinner rendez-vous which was a dinner-show Flamenco spectacular- trying to work up an appetite. We arrived all hot and sweaty but in time for our appointment. Dinner was served at 7.00 and we enjoyed some more sangria and paella before the most amazing flamenco dancing we have ever seen. This place was called "Palacio Flamenco" and the dancers were amazing, thrilling and so talented. We were all mesmerised and shouting "Ole!", "Ole!", "Ole!" til our throats hurt! It was a fantastic way to spend our last evening in Barcelona. . .
The next day, we packed up and left Barcelona via Tibidabo which is the highest spot above Barcelona and which also has a permanent carnival/amusmement park and hilltop church. We spent a little time there before heading out at about 12.30 pm for Avignon in the south of France.
Arrived in Avignon quite late and had dinner in our hotel room as everyone was a little exhausted from our very long day. Avignon is a unique town as it is completely circled by a massive wall (described as a rampart) with entry points through the wall at regular intervals. While all the boys had a sleep-in the next morning, Zoe and I enjoyed a walk around town trying to find some fresh pastries for breakfast. After everyone had breakfast, we all walked into town for coffee and then a walk around this unusual town. Avignon was once the seat of the Catholic popes and therefore made it the centre of christianity during the 14th century. We toured the Palace of the Popes and then took a river cruise on the Rhone taking in the sights of Avignon. The boys enjoyed a somewhat icy dip in the hotel roof-top pool before heading out to order some takeaway provencal pizzas!
Next morning, we enjoyed a wholesome breakfast in the hotel and then got into the car for our drive to Nice on the French Riviera - less than 3 hours away. We drove into Nice via the coastal roads and caught a good glimpse of the glittering mediterrean waters and the sun-worshippers lining the beautiful, yet rocky beaches of the riveria.
Our apartment was conveniently located on the Promenade des Anglaise (the main beachfront strip) and literally across the road from the beach - although a couple of kilometres from the centre of town. After dumping our bags, we went out to the beachfront for a walk along the promenade and into town for some dinner. It was incredibly windy and we - like everyone else - were dodging papers and holding onto our hats as we walked along. Speaking of windblown. . .my hair is in need of some serious attention! The boys' also are really needing another haircut (even though Steven did the honours in Paris) - where oh where is my hairdresser when I need her?? Mona!!!!!!
We sat down for a well-earned drink after our long walk into town and did some people-watching and listened to some buskers before finding dinner. We ate at a popular brasserie - Brasserie Romaine - where the food was great and service was friendly. Although, our waiter was a bit like Basil from Fawlty Towers - he kept making mistakes and infuriating the other staff! It was so funny to watch. . . well I guess you had to be there. . .
Facing another long walk back to the hotel, we were surprised to find a street party in full swing with bands playing and people dancing in the streets. The atmosphere was wonderful (even though the planned fireworks had to be cancelled due to the windy conditions).

Au Revoir Paris. . .Hola Barcelona!

Last Friday (6 August) was our last full day in Paris and we decided to hit the famous Parisian department stores for some more retail therapy. Part of it was out of necessity as our trusty stroller died from overuse and we urgently required a replacement. So we went to the wonderful Galleries Lafayette and headed to the childrens' department on the 5th floor. We found another McLaren (very popular in France) and arranged for the old pram to have a respectful burial along with all the other unwanted Parisian prams.

After some hours in Galleries Lafayette, we headed to the other large department store - Au Printemps - and found a beautiful Lebanese restaurant called "Noura" right in the middle of the store on the ground level. Now most of you reading this blog will know of my complete aversion to eating Lebanese food anywhere but at home (meaning the places I know make the food the way we like it!). . .but this place looked so lovely and we really needed a break so we sat down. The waiters were lovely and very accomodating - especially with the children - and even spoke to me in very familiar Arabic. When the food came out. . .well we were all in heaven. It was so good and served with a very decent pile of Lebanese bread which the kids loved (because they eat it all the time at home). It was just like being wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold winter's day. . .we all felt so comforted and happy. We washed down this lovely food with baklava and for (Steven and I) short blacks. Yum!

We left Paris apartment on Saturday morning around 10 am and made our way to Montmartre for a visit to the famous Basilica Du Sacre Coeur which sits on the second-highest point in Paris (after the Eiffel Tower). The views were terrific and the church was beautiful. We lit some candles and offered some more prayers before driving around the area - taking in the Moulin Rouge and then making our way to the autoroute towards Goujounac in southwest France.

Goujounac was our pitstop for the evening. We chose this small village for its proximity to Frayssinet Le-Gelat about 2 km further south. One of my favourite authors, Mary Moody visits this area often and has a house here and I wanted to have a look. We had a quick look around this beautiful town and I can really understand why it attracts so many foreigners. . .

The hotel we stayed in was a tiny hotel set in the middle of the Goujounac town square and run by a lovely couple - who obviously enjoy meeting new people as they were really friendly and spoke to us at length about our travels. The hotel only had 5 rooms - but was really clean and cosy. It's main attraction was the restaurant and bar which was really popular with the locals and visitors alike - as it was booked out the evening we were there. We were relieved that we had booked our table in advance and enjoyed a spectacular dinner outside (literally on the road!!) of regional produce with fabulous wine and beer to boot! The desserts were to die for as well!

Breakfast was a traditional affair of coffee, hot chocolates, croissants, bread and local ham and cheese with beautiful butter and jams. Lovely! We then said goodbye to our hosts and got into the car for our 4 hour drive to the seaside town of Biarritz on the France/Spain border for some sun and relaxation on our way down into Barcelona in Spain.

We had an uneventful drive down and got into our hotel at about 2.30 pm. We settled in quickly and headed down to the beach - about 150m away. Though this was the beach. . .it was not a sand beach - just a seawall, rocks and then ocean! Although. . .people were sunbathing on the seawall and surfers were congregated there waiting for the tide to got out. We walked another 1-1.5 km before we hit the sand beaches - but man oh man were these beaches crowded!! Finding a space to lay down the towels was like finding water in the desert!

Here, as I suspect on many European beaches, beach space in the form of umbrellas, deckchairs and private tents are hired out on an hourly or daily basis - should people wish to avail themselves of these facilities. Otherwise, it's a fight for space to lay down a towel! In addition, there's a bona fide kids club operating on the beach. . .The beach was lovely and the kids enjoyed being on the sand and playing in the water for a few hours before it was time to head into town to find some dinner.

Had a lovely dinner in a restaurant across the road from our hotel - which was French but served mostly Spanish food. Steven and I shared a jug of Sangria over a plate of chorizo, Serrano ham, mussels and calamari. Our mains were delicious too - steak, sea bream, pork fillets and grilled prawns washed down with icecreams and creme brulee. Yummo!

We met a lovely French couple who shared our table and the lady was particularly chatty and was at pains to let me know she thought our children were very well-behaved and offered her congratulations to Steven and I!! The kids were especially chuffed when I explained what the lady had said. . .

Day 2 in Biarritz (Monday, 9 August) was raining. Sadly our plans to spend the day on the beach were foiled somewhat. After spending some time in the local post office sending some things home, we walked around town stopping for a warm drink in a beachside cafe. Unfortunately, there's not much else to do in Biarritz when it's raining so there were lots of people wandering aimlessly about the town. Fortunately, the rain seemed to hold off during the middle of the day and we decided to head down to the beach anyway and spent a lovely few hours there - the kids were really happy playing on the sand and the overcast skies seemed to keep the crowds at bay.

Another lovely dinner and our stay in Biarritz had come to an end. Tuesday (10 August), we packed the car and left Biarritz for our long drive to Barcelona (about 6 hours). It was a bientot to France for a little while (be back next week).