Tue, May 31 Aranese Villages

  It was drizzling when we got up so we dawdled a bit, ordered eggs for breakfast and returned to our room. The hotel shop was open for the first time since we checked in and Bob couldn’t resist picking up a map and booklet about this area! We had considered checking out and leaving for somewhere sunnier midway between here and Barcelona, but with the book in hand, rain or not, we ought we should explore the region further. 

We drove about ten km east on the highway and turned into the town of Artíes that we had passed through two days ago, as it has a notable church, and is the birthplace of Gaspar de Portolá, the governor of Baja & Alta Calif. and founder of San Diego and Monterey!

Although the town is tiny, driving around its twisted cobblestone streets is confusing, so we parked and explored on foot. We found the Portolá house and statue, and crossing the little river that flows through town, the Església de Santa Maria o’Artíes, the old Romanesque church.
  It was filled with murals depicting various violent scenes from the bible, some of which are recreations, as the best ones were taken to Barcelona, but some look original. It was a lovely space and must have looked quite gaudy back in its heyday.

With the aid of our new map, we drove through town and up a valley into the mountains. The huge sheer walls of granite were very dramatic and in summer this area is full of trekkers and rock climbers, and probably fly fishermen, as well! It was raining intermittently, but we walked a couple of miles up a gentle slope on an old jeep track through meadows full of beautiful flowers: purple columbine, white columbine, large yellow ranunculus and narcissus.

We entered the forest which is spectacularly healthy, unlike the forests of the American west, and tried to look for birds. We found our friends, the black slugs, and the beautiful Red Squirrel with tufted-ears, but birds were, as usual, very scarce. We returned to the car and drove back to Vielha and a ways on the highway to France which is very near, but turned back as our rental can’t go there, and returned to the hotel to organize our stuff before we return to Barcelona tomorrow.

For dinner we picked the hotel’s tasting menu which started with a plate of a bit of pate, sausage on tomato bread and a tiny cup of onion and garlic soup. That was followed by meat-stuffed cabbage, and then bean and meat soup for RRZ and trout sandwiched with ratatouille for me. For dessert we got a sweet omelet flamed with rum. Out table had a lovely view of the whole valley - a nice way to finish our stay in the Pyrenees!

Wed, Jun 1 We packed up and left the Parador at 9:30. It was pretty chilly - in the high 30s when we got up and there was a new sprinkling of snow on the mountains. We headed south through the tunnels and through some lovely