On the flight to head home.
Bilbao
We got to Bilbao on Friday evening and went out to search for a new restaurant. We stumbled upon a Good Friday Procession.
While backtracking we stumbled upon Foodoo. It is great! Great food, good prices!
On Saturday we went for a hike to the hermitage on Gaztelugatxe.
EuskoGuide tells us:
The climb down the hill, across the bridge and up to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe is a small adventure that will handsomely reward you with truly impressive views. The ocean can be particular rough in this area and the waves really crash against the rocks of the island, adding to its awe-inspiring beauty. If you think it looks cool in the photos, just wait till you experience it in person.
San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, whose name means “castle rock” in Basque (“gaztelu” = castle + “aitz” = rock), is a definite “must” if you are visiting the Basque Country. It is an island located just off the shore along the Bay of Biscay, 35 km east from Bilbao. The island is cone-shaped and features a tiny church on its highest point that is dedicated to John the Baptist. Although not proven, it has been said that he even set foot on the island.
San Juan de Gaztelugatxe is connected to the mainland by a man-made stone bridge. The bridge transitions into a narrow path that contains 241 steps and zigzags its way back and forth to the top. Once there, you will find the church which has a bell situated along the front of its facade. According to legend, after you have completed the climb, you should ring the bell three times and make a wish.
http://www.euskoguide.com/places-basque-country/spain/san-juan-de-gaztelugatxe/
We both rang the bell and made our wishes, probably for a helicopter to lift us back up the hill to the village.
Bus back to Bilbao and we wandered around town all afternoon. I will rest tomorrow on the plane.
My flight is out at 6:50am. Heading home.
Tour Eiffel
We got up early and we were at the Eiffel Tower at 9:30 AM. Through the security line, through the ticket line, through elevator line and through the second level elevator line, and we were at the top of the Eiffel tower by 10:30. We downloaded the Eiffel Tower audio tour app and started listening to the audio tour while on the ground, and continued listening to it during the entire visit.
We loved the Eiffel Tower! The views were spectacular, the Eiffel Tower itself incredible, it was an amazing visit.
We went to lunch, and then to the Apple Store at the Louvre. It is my favourite place to get Wi-Fi, so pretty, so much to see and the Carrousel du Louvre mall has lovely shops and the best bathroom in Paris!
After using the Wi-Fi a while we decided to go to sunset at Sacré-Cœur, what I didn't calculate into this decision on a whim was that Sacré-Cœur is at the top of a very high hill in Paris. Just the metro station we came out of had more than 150 stairs to get to the street and then we still had to climb up the hill. Not a great decision on a day you spent your morning climbing up and down the Eiffel Tower.
Wikipedia says: The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, commonly known as Sacré-Cœur Basilica and often simply Sacré-Cœuri s a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica, dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Paris, France. A popular landmark, the basilica is located at the summit of the butte Montmartre, the highest point in the city.
After we collapsed at the summit, we went in to the beautiful church and lit a candle. However it was windy and cold and full of tourists smoking so we soon left and went back to our hotel.
We took a break to pack our bags for departure the next day and at 10 o'clock went out to see the Eiffel Tower on it's hourly evening brilliance! For 5 minutes at the top of every hour in the evening the Eiffel Tour Sparkles.
On Friday we had a lazy day, did a bit of wandering and we headed out to Orly Airport at 2pm.
We would be in Bilbao by 6pm
Disneyland Paris
But plans change and now that Wednesday was free Joan and I talked about moving Disneyland Paris to Wednesday we thought we could avoid the weekend crowds on Thursday. It is Easter break in Ireland and all the other Catholic countries have their spring break over Easter as well, and all these wonderful people vacation at Disneyland so we thought it might be less crazy earlier in the week.
We got on the train and headed to Disneyland Paris, it is a direct train RER C from downtown to a station right outside the gate.
It was a little crowded as we arrived, but we chalked that up to people getting to Disney before it opened. We got to the ticket turnstile and our ticket didn't work. I had bought the ticket online and but the discount we got didn't work for this Wednesday so we went to the ticket window to upgrade our tickets. "Did you know today is a very special day?" was the first thing the Disneyland cast member said. We did not, but maybe she was going to give us free upgrades? No, we paid €16 each to upgrade and found out that it was another special day.
We had arrived on the 25th anniversary of the opening day of Disneyland Paris. I have never gone to Disneyland in the summer but I imagine that is what it would be like. There were people everywhere, however they were all joyful and exuberant about the anniversary and the extra celebrations. We got special tickets which we may sell on eBay one day to pay for our entire trip! There were special parades and special shows, and we got to ride the Tower of Terror twice, Rock 'n' Rollercoaster, Star Tours twice, and the new Ratatouille ride twice. We wandered through both parks Disneyland and Disney Studios and were there from 10 in the morning to 10 at night. Even though we missed Thunder Mountain (2hour lines) it was a good Disney day!
On the way home I was sitting acros from a man in a suit, with the Disney pin on his lapel. So I had to ask, if he had come out just for the celebration. He said he was part of the management team when Disney opened 25 years ago and they had had a reunion on the anniversary day. By the end of the day 200 people were in a restaurant in downtown Disney celebrating what they had achieved 25 years before.
We spoke of Disney and the opening day and all the work that had been put into it, we spoke about the anniversary and how great the celebration was, and then we asked him where he was working now? He chuckled, and said well that's an interesting story, he works at the Eiffel Tower. So then we spent the next 20 minutes talking about the Eiffel Tower.
Went home excited and planning to visit the Eiffel Tower the next morning.
Ireland driving
Single lane roads, with no room to pass someone, to wide roads with a 8 foot shoulder. But through it all the speed is 80km/h on all roads and 100km/h on most. In the towns and villages you slow down to 60 or 50 for a km or two.
As I returned the car I was told people in the west don't park their cars they abandon them.
We drove around County Mayo, County Galway and County Clare. We stayed in Westport in the north and drove as far south as the Cliffs of Moher. As you can see from the map we spent a lot of time driving in the West.
The driving portion of our trip was thanks to Tim Hastings VW. As there are no rental car companies in Westport we were thrilled to discover that Tim Hastings rented cars. 🚗 (A surprisingly accurate emoji!)
Paris
Paris! We left Dublin at 8:30 PM and landed in Paris at 10:30. What we didn't account for was that Paris Beauvais is one hour outside of the city. So it was after 1:00 AM when we got to our hotel.
I had picked a hotel in the Montmartre region, but didn't realize our hotel was outside the arrondissement, North of the freeway! We decided to change hotels the next day to something more convenient. Our new hotel was near the Tour Eiffel which made that the focus for our Parisian visit this time.
Our second day was spent trying to find a Metro office open to sell us a Navigo Découverte metro card.
The Navigo is the French metro pass for locals, the Navigo Découverte is a short term pass with local pricing. You need a passport photo and to pay €5 for the card and then you need to find someone to sell it. After 3 hours we had been to
Porte de Saint Ouen, Gare du Nord, Gare du l'Est, and we finally found it at République. After such confusion and running around, we walked up to the window and asked for Navigo Découverte and he give it to us like it was not a problem. Three minutes later we were gone with our super train passes.
Because of the three hour delay we were now late for Disneyland. So we decided to go on Thursday. We had already had breakfast so we took our bags over to the new hotel by the Eiffel Tower. It was just after 12 when we arrived and he let us check in immediately. We emptied out our Packs picked up all our laundry and went to find a laundromat. While our laundry was washing we sat at a cafe in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower and ate lunch.
I was planning to go visit my cousin Lexi in Amsterdam on Wednesday. So on Tuesday I confirmed with her that she was still available and went onto the train website to book a train to Amsterdam. €400 later, we decided that as she only had four hours free, €400 for a train ticket was crazy. I was very disappointed as it has been years since I have seen Lexi, and even though I am planning to visit her Mom and Dad in Abu Dhabi next year I probably won't see Lexi as she is off at school. Next time for sure!!!
Ireland
Here is another guest entry from Joan . . .
On our second day in Dublin we took another tour, this time to Newgrange a "passage tomb" built over 5200 years ago making it older than the great pyramids! It is a huge circular mound about 270 feet in diameter and the passage and chambers underneath are about 60 feet long! It was built with such amazing accuracy that 5000 years later after being discovered and excavated the rising sun on the winter solstice still lights up the entire passage and central chamber!
We also visited the hills of Tara and got to wander around the beautiful city of Dublin a little more.
We had decided that after all our wonderful but busy days of traveling Europe (Joan had been to England, Portugal, Spain, France and Italy by this point) and Morocco that we wanted relaxation. So we booked 5 nights in a B&B on Ireland's West coast in the town of Westport, County Mayo. We took a 3 hour train trip across Ireland and a taxi to our B&B.
We received a warm Irish welcome from our hostess Margaret. The place was lovely and our room clean and very comfortable. The B&B wasvery close to Croagh Patrick (Irish Gaelic for Patrick's Mountain) legend has it that St Patrick climbed to the top, fasted for 40 days and then drove all the snakes out of Ireland and into the sea!
The next morning we went on a long leisurely walk along the coast and the as it was low tide we returned on the beach. I thought it looked too wet so after a while I made way back to shore while Kathy continued on the sand. On an area that looked drier than the rest she found that the water had simply seeped under the sand and she proceeded to sink about 6 to 8 inches into bog-like mud. She managed to extract herself getting pretty muddy in he process and slightly wrenching her back while rescuing her feet and shoes. So it was back to the B&B and clean up 😜
We decided to rent a car for a few days and explore further down to Galway and County Clare and the Cliffs of Moher. (More on this in the next post.)
On the day we drove the 3 hours to the Cliff of Mother - We arrived only to find that heavy fog had rolled in just 5 minutes before and we decided to risk it and paid the entrance fee. We sat in the car and read for an hour, still foggy . . .
Kathy suggested that we should walk over to the cliffs anyway cause it was going to clear for us! We did and it did! Very dramatically! As we stood near the cliffs we heard excited teenagers squealing that they could see ocean and within moments the wind came in strong and blew the fog up the cliff walls and away. It was amazing. The views were worth waiting for!
So ended our Irish sojourn. We returned the next morning to Dublin and enjoyed a few more hours in that great city then caught an evening flight to Paris arriving at the hotel after midnight.
Photo Galleries
I have a few photo galleries set up. I have been having trouble uploading to the galleries so if they are empty check back in a few days and they will be updated.
Kathy
Giants Causeway and Belfast
For our first two days in Ireland we stayed at a University dorm, a beautiful old building where they teach Educators and make a little extra for the school by renting out the dorms to travellers!
Today we took a Paddywagon tour north through Belfast to the Dark Hedges and all the way to the north coast and the Giants Causeway.
The Dark Hedges are a long tree tunnel that in full leaf in the summer are much more dramatic than my pictures show and was used as the Kings Road in Game of Thrones!
The Giants Causeway is an incredible area of ancient lava formations of more than 40,000 basalt columns! Legend has it that the Giant Finn McCool built it as a bridge to Scotland where another giant lived that he wanted to beat up, however when he saw the other guy, he was a lot bigger and so he ran back to Ireland chased by the Scottish giant. Finn's wife tricked the other giant, by wrapping Finn in a diaper and inviting the Scottish Giant in for tea. Seeing "Finn's Baby" he surmised that Finn must be Gigantic and the Scottish Giant ran back to Scotland and destroying most of the bridge behind him.
~~ Guest entry by Joan
On our way back to Dublin we stopped in Belfast for an hour. Looked for a post box to mail postcards for Christian, Will and Anna. We met a lovely Canadian lady in a coffee shop, she was from Montreal. Finally! Everyone we meet asks us if we are from Montreal.
While in Belfast we went to the Titanic Memorial. Seeing the names of all who perished was quite a sobering sight. The 3 White Star ships, Olympic Class were the Olympic (1911), Titanic (1912), and Britannic (1914). The Titanic sunk on it's maiden voyage in 1912 and the Britannia sunk in 1916 after hitting a mine layed by a submarine. The Olympic had a 24 year career (according to Wikipedia) and was retired in 1935.
Leonardo
Leonardo Museum
Magic!
In the Piazza
Milan Cathedral
New Metro to figure out!
Milan
Milan was amazing we wandered the streets, did a walking tour, went to a DaVinci museum and the caught a bus to Bergen where the airport from Milan to Dublin was.
Venice to Milan to Dublin
Venezia Santa Lucia
So Europe for Visitors ( http://europeforvisitors.com/venice/mobile/articles/venice-railroad-station.htm ) says:
First things first: The term "Venice Railroad Station" is a misnomer, because the municipality of Venice has two major stations: Venezia Mestre station on the Italian mainland, and Venezia Santa Lucia station in the city's historic center (which is 6 km or 4 miles offshore in the Venetian Lagoon).
Mestre is a through station where trains stop briefly on their way from Austria and Slovenia to Bologna and Florence. Some trains cross the causeway from Mestre to the Santa Lucia station; others require passengers to disembark in Mestre and catch a local train into the historic center. It's wise to check your train's timetable before departing for Venice, just so you'll know where to get off the train.
From Mestre, a brick-and-stone causeway named the Ponte della Libertà, or "Bridge of Liberty," crosses the Venetian Lagoon to central Venice.
Trains dead-end in the Stazione Ferroviaria Santa Lucia, a stark white building from the mid-1950s that looks out of place in a city where most buildings are hundreds of years old. The station's façade is decorated with the logo of the FS, or Ferrovie dello Stato, a.k.a. Italian State Railways.
Inside, you'll find the usual services, with a few surprises such as a piano (see photo below) for use by passengers and passersby.
So Joan and I bought our tickets from Venice to Milan when we were in Monaco, what we didn't realize we had booked the ticket from Mestre so we left the hotel on the first ferry ⛴ and got to Santa Lucia at 20 minutes before the train was to depart, from Mestre. So. . . we ran into the ticket office and said, we have a problem!
Luckily the ticket seller had heard this time and time again, Mestre was 10 minutes away and if we moved now . . . we would make our train. Just barely!!!
We made it ! ! ! !
From our room
Joan's Wine
The thing we didn't mention was that before we left we spoke to Ron and Linda about Venice. Linda told me about a shop that sells wine out of the barrel into a container that you bring into the shop. We were going to go looking for the shop in the next day or two, but on the first night we were there we stumbled across it on our way to the Vaparetto heading home. Joan didn't have a container so she bought one of theirs they only had 1.5 L containers in stock so four €3.20 Joan got 1.5 L of really good red wine.
We were only in Venice for a couple of days so she had to drink fast. The urgency was exacerbated by the fact that she kept forgetting to drink her wine. She ended up finishing the wine on a bench in Milan before we got on the plane to Dublin.
