Cindy's Spain/France/Switzerland adventure 2026

We met Deb and Sandy at Bodega Joan’s, a local place that was recommended for the best Spanish paella, and it was a spot-on recommendation! We had a mixed paella (meat and seafood), and it was awesome! Then we shared some deserts – a chocolate lava cake and a Catalan cheesecake. We also drank 2 bottles of Spain’s best wine. Ha! Bodega Joan was established in 1942 (Spain was just emerging from its own civil conflict and it was a time of great uncertainty and control) by Balbina Garrido from Puertollano, Castilla La Mancha and Joan Balsells I Torres, Catalan. The young married couple founded the winery “La Unica” to sell wines in bulk along with ice, potatoes and dry goods. To accommodate locals spending afternoons playing dominos and cards, the couple renovated the patio and house in the 1950s. Balbina dn Joan retired and passed the management to their daughter-in-law Genoveva Herrero and Jose Maria Vazques, who reopened the bodega in the 1990s, and it was formalized as a long-standing ...

Today we kind of chilled. Stayed in bed until 9 am (went to bed at midnight last night) and left our hotel room around noon to visit Mountjuic, which is a “hill” in Barcelona. The name means “Jewish Mountain” in medieval Latin and Catalan. Some describe it as a broad, shallow hill with a rich history. The “hill” is 173 meters or about 568 feet. There is surprisingly little information out about where that name comes from. The history of Jewish people in Barcelona echoes the experience in many cities across Europe. In the late 14th Century, the Jewish population was around 15% of the city’s total. That came to a violent end in 1391 with pogroms, persecution and forced conversion. There wasn’t a sizeable Jewish population again until the late 19th Century. Others can’t say definitely if Montjuïc was home to a Jewish community; it seems to be just a Jewish cemetery that gave the hill its name.  Some history of Jews in Barcelona: The Jewish Quarter, known as El Call, is a labyrinthine ...

There were only two things on our agenda today: a guided tour through the Picasso Museum and a concert tonight in Palau de la Musica Orfeo Catala. Our friends, Sandy Herrington and Debbie Harvey from Vancouver, whom we met on the South Pacific cruise last year, met us at the Picasso Museum tour. They are going to be on the Azamara cruise with us next week. They cruise to Amsterdam; we’re getting off in Bordeaux, France. Anywho, the guided tour was very interesting; the guide was knowledgeable and fun. The museum is organized into linear timelines so it begins with Picasso’s earlier works in Malaga, Corunna and Barcelona (1890-97), the training period (1897-1901), the Blue Period (1901-04) and what the guide called the Pink Period (when he began doing cubist work). The museum has a total of 4,251 of Picasso’s works.                                             ...

 I forgot to post photos of Placa Reial where we're staying. Placa Reial A beautiful building that was closed off - Barcelona officious artistic; we thought it might have been the home for some artists' organization. One of the streets typical in La Rambla off the main boulevard. The local tapas bar at which we ate on our first night in Barcelona.

  Days 1-2 in Barcelona May 27-29 Our travel day went well – no glitches, just had to sit in Chicago for 6 hours. Our flight was easy – a little over 8 hours to Barcelona – but it was overnight. Neither of us sleep well on an airplane. We arrived in Barcelona and waited in line for at least an hour – with about 500 other people, easily – to get through customs, but we came out the other side and our driver was waiting for us to take us to our hotel. Our hotel doesn’t have an elevator, but it does have air conditioning – thank goodness. It’s right on Placa Reial , which was built in the mid-19th century on the site of a demolished Capuchin monastery. Designed by architect Francesc Daniel Molina I Casamajo, the neoclassical square was originally intended to exalt the Spanish monarchy but evolved into a vibrant hub of bohemian culture and nightlife. And indeed it is a hub of nightlife! We were given ear plugs when checking into our room.   An earlier history of where Placa Reial...

 Getting prepared for our big trip to Spain/France/Switzerland May 27 to July 14, 2026! I'll be posting stuff here for all who want to follow - photos will be from my Samsung Galaxy instead of my "real" camera, but I will be taking photos with my "real" camera I can post after we return. Leaving Tucson at 6:45 am Wednesday, May 27, with one carry-on and one personal item each for the trip. We got some compressed packing cubes that are very helpful. We're going to be doing trains in Europe - don't want to schlep around luggage.  Here's our itinerary: Barcelona May 28-June 2 Azamara cruise from Barcelona to Bordeaux, France June 2-16 Bordeaux June 16-19 Arcachon, France June 19-23 Montignac and Lacaux June 23-24 Angers, France, with our friends Jae and Boots June 24-29 Chambery, France June 30-July 2 St. Moritz, Switzerland July 2-3 Zermatt, Switzerland July 3-6 Evian-les-Bains, France July 6-13 Geneva, Switzerland July 13