After a hectic week of moving all our belongings to our parents (see previous blog post) we managed to start our journey on Monday. Admitted, we first had to finish some administrative stops in Frauenfeld but right after some traditional lunch at the Migros restaurant, our adventure was ready to begin.

Instead of going straight for the border of Morocco we decided to spend a little bit of time in Europe. Therefore, quite unspectacular, our first day brought us to Berne. We spent a lovely evening with Lucas and Nadine and were invited to sleep at their place.

On Tuesday we explored the Canton of Vaud and the Jura valley. We haven’t had a lot of snow so far this winter and were eager to walk up the snowy path to Creux du Vans. We planned to drive as far up as possible but that plan got crossed by a lot of snow on that road. So walking it is.

We spent the night at Lac de Joux which would have normally been frozen at that time of the year. Winter was coming late but it just decided to come that night. As a result, we spent the first two hours of Wednesday driving veeeery slowly through the mountains until we were back down (by now having crossed into France). After a brief visit to Lyon, we headed down to Avignon. 

SUR LE PONT D’AVIGNON

In Avignon, we were pleasantly surprised by the Palais de Papes. They provide a tablet for an interactive visit. Using augmented reality you can see the various rooms as they once were 600 years ago. Plus, they integrated some games. They already had us with that. After the obligatory visit to the Pont d’Avignon, we moved along and found camping close to the Spanish border.

TAPAS, COCKTAILS AND WINE

On Friday, thanks to some warmer temperatures we enjoyed our first breakfast next to our Pantherli. Just before 10, we drove onwards to Barcelona where we luckily found a safe parking spot close to the city. It’s an underground parking spot often used by bus and truck drivers. A nice walk along the beachfront brought us to the new office building of Thierry’s former employer Haufe-umantis. We were warmly greeted and Thierry, of course, had to perform several rounds of table tennis. Some after-work beers later we headed to Tamay’s apartment who generously invited us to stay at his place. Later, we went to dinner with five of Thierry’s work colleagues which ended up into quite a late night. So we slept late that Saturday and then went for some late brunch (well, for Swiss standards) at some fancy place and a hangover stroll through lovely Barcelona.

On the late afternoon, we headed onwards to some wild camping at the beachfront close to the town Creixell. From there, we drove on for breakfast at Tarragona and some wine in Gratallops and tapas in Molar. We feel Spanish now.