a quick update from FLorence where we toured the city last nigth without the crowds. Great! after toodling around Chianti, Umbria, Sienna and Assisi, we liked the small villages the best. Several wines and a great stay for 3 nights in a farm cottage (organic olive groves!). Have actually had some rain now, but all is good. Heading for Venice soon.

Have made it to Italy. Hangin' out on the Med at Cinque Terra - 4 little towns at the mouths of valleys and one on the top of the ridge between vineyards stretching along the coast. First place we have heard mostly English - Yanks, Brits and several Canadians - one of whom had lost their passport. Weather remains great, noisy German camper mates competing with the birds at this campground.

Canal du Midi

B at Pont du Gard

Road to Castellane

Well we were a while in Agde as we suspected. The weather was windy and cool, but the vibe was good so we hung out for an extra day or two.

Biked the canal du Midi on two days (tandem one day, ours the other), and met an Englishman and his Norwegian wife and in-laws, got invited on board his guppy for some box wine and a hilarious chat that would have sat very well with brother John in its blunt references to other boaters from various countries (that we shall leave unnamed, although we did watch one of them try at least three times to line up a lock, while a tug and barge did the same thing in one shot). Agde was an interesting ancient town that has the old streets but not the tourist bucks to fix them up. Did a wine tasting (Mas St Antoine - bought and drank some Picpoul de Pinet white and St Nicolas red). We eventually decided to leave because the beaches were too cool and windy for bikinis, and the store at the campsite opened so they stopped delivering croissants directly to your campsite.

Made it along the coast via beaches, oyster beds, windsurf/kite board areas, another walled town and a load of pink flamingos (unlike in Woodbridge, these ones moved) to the Pont du Gard, another 2000 year old Roman structure that we as a society should reflect on more. Had a campsite in pine trees overlooking the Gard River - more like Canada than we would have expected, but with this wonderful human creation around the corner.

Then off through Provence poppy and lavender fields (if I typed this before the panache, wine and port, it would be a lot faster) along yet another truly amazing road (with Barb doing her best imitation of M. Villenueve in a camper car) to our campsite in Castellane and the Gorge de Verdon that we will explore in the next couple of days. Campsite has free wireless internet and a truly amazing radio station (still primarily the rock that we grew up on, or some French copies of same).

La Sagrada Familia (and the most common bird in Spain - the crane)

imagine telling the building inspector you didn't use mortar!

B in a little church in Segovia

Walls of Avila

No more photo envy for the kids.

So after the wonder of Salamanca Cathedral, we saw the 1000 year old walls of Avila with 86 towers, and moved on to Segovia. This place had a cathedral to match Salamanca (and we had a camera this time!), a castle that would start another castle envy round with the kids (and Real Gaston) and an enormous 2000 year old aquaduct (yes, other real Spike Gaston, we have seen an aquaduct - a heck of a lot of construction to carry a ditch about 150mm x 150mm, not sure they couldn't have paid the peasants to carry the water instead, but it sure looks neat, but pretty amazing that there is no mortar in it).
Met our first Canadian campers (from Burnaby) and stayed up way too late with Rioja and Port before the big (500km) road trip across the middle of Spain to the low point campground of the trip, but the scenery on the way was a spectacular mix of mountain, mesa, prairie, wind farms and river valley. Off through the industrial belt to get to Barcelona early the next day, to a campground with a view over the Mediterranean (clothing is apparently optional on their beaches) and close to the train (everyone was dressed, 15 minutes into the centre of town). We checked out their redeveloped waterfront (a huge marina, cruise port and theme park and bi-level roads and pedestrian boulevards), the gaudy Gaudi cathedral that has been under construction for over 1oo years as a tourist attraction (which one person said had nothing to do with God and all to do with Gaudi, which we will leave to you architects to discuss), and the Picasso Museum, giving a great perspective on the evolution of his art from 15 years old until 80 or so. We also had a superb dinner in the place that he used to hang out early in his career. And everyone was hanging on tightly to their purses and packs, which was disconcerting, so enough city for us.
Off on the autopista to the south of France, where people seem a little lighter in the heart. Passed through the Fitou region and thought of Mark. Landed at a really nice campground on the river and a short bike ride to the fishing port and beach town of Grau d'Agde, along the beach from the mega resort of Cap d'Agde. First cloudy day in ages, but great to slow down in a place that is so pleasant. We may not move for a while.

So Oporto was an amazing visit, with grand buildings on grand boulevards, a huge (closed) cathedral with what are close to slums around it, very steep alleys and huge store houses of Port. White port, vintage port, tawny port and ruby port. Yup, we tried them all at Graham´s, and a couple of restaurants. Dinner in a beach bar watching the sun go over Toronto.

Off to Spain through the hills and plains, with storks (no wonder there is so much construction here, the storks are everywhere presumably doing their deliveries) and wind turbines. Salamancha cathedral is the most amazing building! Every other church can only try to represent this. A very neat central plaza, like in San Sebastian but bigger, so maybe the bulls were bigger here. Lots of Uni students here give it a younger vibe than many of the Spanish places we have been.

Been to Bilbao to see some ex-Canadian's art gallery - amazing transformation to a city that is basically a bigger Hamilton - based on steel mills and a port. It does have some pretty neat old buildings though, that make a difference.

From there into the surprising mountains in a tiny village called Potes which is near one of 4 most important religious sites in the world (presumably for Catholics) with Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostella, and we didn't know it when we hiked through it (and the tour buses).

Then off along the coast with amazing scenery mixed with heavy industry belching out stuff. And onto Santiago itself, where the biggest church we have ever seen, with the gaudiest interior, awaits the millions at the end of their pilgrimage. Pretty stunning to see.

Have now reached Oporto in northern Portugal, where we can't even pretend to speak the language. It is an incredible city, tumbling down to the water and to the Port houses on the other side. A big campground by the beach within biking and bussing distance. You have not been on a bus until you have driven through Porto in one!

So we have made it to Spain, on the cold and wet Basque coast. France was turning into a Spanish/Basque satellite in the south-west anyway, so here we don't even have to pretend to know the language. After a canoe trip down the DOrdogne river on Sunday, drove to Cahors on a road that was a bit shakey for the dishes in the back of the bus. Took in the old town of Cahors and another great dinner of foie gras, duck and boeuf poivre. Amazing trip from Cahors over the top of the Lot river valley and the Cahors vineyards. Then camped on teh wild Atlantic shore, on latitiude with the south end of Nova Scotia, about even with Utah ski hills. The Pyrenees were just visible through the clouds.
Spain in this part anyway is the most densely populated part of the planet we have ever seen. But the people seem friendly - on their May Day national holiday.