A Mountainous Adventure, Part 2

At the end of our tortuous drive, we arrived in Lles de Cerdanya. Another spectacular village. We drove through the village to Fonda Ca l’Abel where we were staying for the next two nights. Or so we had planned. Everyone got settled in their rooms and then headed down the road for a drink. Bob and I stayed behind (don’t worry we made it in time for a drink) to check the WiFi and do a mock Zoom call. You see, Bob was asked to give evidence on Road Safety to The Victorian Parliament in Australia. Pretty cool, huh? Due to the time difference the Zoom call was to take place on Monday morning at 4:30am our time. Yup…a bit early. Anyway, we needed to be sure the WiFi was strong enough and that he could set up the room so that the background looked professional (there were very strict instructions and Zoom backgrounds were not allowed). So, we did a practice Zoom call between our two laptops and figured it all out. Things looked good. The WiFi was stronger on one side of the room than the other but our setup would work there. Feeling relieved we wandered down the road to join everyone else for a drink. They had finished and we had reservations at the inn’s restaurant at 8:30pm so we drank our glass of wine fairly quickly. lol. The bar was setting up their outdoor garden area with tables and a video setup to broadcast the Barcelona FC soccer game that night. How cool is that?! What a setting. This is a house next to the garden of the bar. Gorgeous.

While we were standing there I noticed this big doggie in the doorway of the shed…oh and the cat slowly wandering by. I zoomed in so the photo isn’t great.

We wandered back to the restaurant for what would be an amazing dinner. The photo below shows part of the road but more so the ROCK that evidently no one is allowed to move. lol.

Oh and this is the driveway up to the inn. Be sure to turn right sharply at the top.

We had a wonderful dinner and I didn’t take any photos so you’ll have to trust me.

Sunday morning we woke up to…no WiFi! Ack. Not a big deal for Sunday but obviously not good for Monday morning at 4:30am. We were prepared for this possibility which is why we drove our own car…just in case we needed to drive back home Sunday night and then return Monday. Bob and I had a wandered through Lles before breakfast.

I love these villages. So much character in the architecture let alone in the inhabitants.

Another rock that is not to be moved.

Oh…and the history is incredible and heartbreaking.

Here is the link with more details of this history. https://www.perseguitsisalvats.cat/en/

No words. We knew the history but after driving and being in the Pyrenees it just brought it home how incredibly amazing the story of these refugees is.

Back to the restaurant for a yummy breakfast where we explained our predicament to everyone. Suggestions were offered but in the end we knew that we would be stressed out if there was a chance the WiFi wouldn’t work where ever we were. We loaded our car and checked out before we started the day’s adventure.

Our next stop was Salás de Pallars and the Botigues Museu Salàs. These shops are preserved from the past and what a fabulous way to show us history. Instead of having these items all together in one museum we were able to see the storefronts as they were. Incredible! A barber, a pharmacy, a tobacconist, a haberdashery and perfumery, a bar, a printing press, a kiosk, and a grocery store.

You can click on any of the photos above to enlarge them. There are just too many photos to place them individually.

I think you’ll agree that there are some interesting finds and that it is a cool way to share history. Thanks Kim for arranging the tour!

Then it was off to lunch at Hotel Bertran which is a three generation-run restaurant. Oh my, it was all so yummy!!!

After lunch around 5:30pm we said our goodbyes and headed down the road to home.

OH MY GOSH! The view was SPECTACULAR!!!

How many of you thought Spain looked like this? It reminded us of Arizona. So beautiful!

We got back home in about two hours and had an early night to prepare for our 4am alarm the next morning. What a day we had and there is still another day in the mountains to come!

For reference here are the maps that I shared in A Mountainous Adventure, Part 1.