SuperTensai: Catalunya

After some overnight rain in Barcelona, which literally stopped as we started walking to the station, we picked up our car and headed West on the AP-2 autopista to Lleida, then North into Aragon and Barbastro (stopping for groceries there). We spent the afternoon among the Pyrénées, driving down the Carretera del Valle de Añisclo at Escalona on the Southern end of Southern end of Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido. The road through the park is one-way, and there are no signs, but we got lucky by being on the right track from Puyarruego. After spending a few hours in complete mouth-dropping awe, we drove up to Bielsa and stayed at the Parador de Monte Perdido Bielsa in Valle de Pineta. The Parador is actually fifteen kilometers from the center of town. We had drinks and dinner at the foot of Monte Perdido and the Ordesa Pyrénées. It was truly amazing.
October 9, 2009	9:30	Sants Estació	Sants Estació	Atesa - Pick-up Citroën C3 (22,711km/0km)
	10:30	Sants	Sants Montjuïk	C. de Tarragona, Pl. de Espanya, Gran Cia de les Corts Catalanes, Pl. d'Ildefons Cerda, Rambla de Badal, Rambla de Brasil
	10:30	Les Corts	Sarrià	Gran Via de Charles III, Pl. de Prat de la Riba, C. de Numància, C. de Flos Calcat, C. de Marti'i Julia
	10:30	Sarrià	B-23 AP-2	Avenue Diagonal
	11:28	Gelida	AP-2 AP-7	Toll €3.40
	11:47	AP-2 cutoff	AP-2	AP-2 toward Lleida
	12:14	Service Area	AP-2	Medas Service Area
	12:44	Lleida cutoff	Exit AP-2	Toll €10.40
	13:05	Lleida	N-240	Driving through Lleida
	13:18	Entering Aragón	N-240
	13:50	Barbastro	N-240	Shopping at Simply Mercado, Gas up!
	14:27	Barbastro	N-240
	15:06	Morillo de Tou	A-138
	15:11	La Peña Montañesa	A-138
	15:14	Anisa	A-138	Eating jamón bocadillos de la Mako in the car
	15:24	Escalona	A-138	La Peña Montañesa (2291m)
	15:30	Carretera del Valle de Añisclo	HU-631	Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park ( UNESCO 1997): Cañón de Añisclo, Rio Bellós
	Driving through Cañón de Añisclo: Near Puyarruego heading in in the canyon nearing the end
	16:19	Carretera del Valle de Añisclo	HU-631	Cañón de Añisclo: Mondoto (1957m) , Sestral Alto (2101m)
	17:03	Puyarruego	HU-631	Carretera Añisclo: Vio cutoff, Buerba
	17:30	Bielsa	A-138	"Quince Kilometros"
	18:16	Valle de Pineta	HU-V-6402	Carretera de Pineta a Bielsa Pineta, Parador de Monte Perdido Bielsa (23,105km/391.9km)
	Pico de Pineta (2861m), Lagode Narboré, Cascada Pasacela, Rio Cinco , Soum de Ramon (3254m), Monte Perdido (3355m) , Punta de las Olas (3002m) , La Suca (2802)
	Dinner at Parador de Bielsa: Jamon D.O. Teruel con Pan con Tomate (producto regional), Arroz Cremoso de Cordero y Hongos (cocina regional), Bacalao al Ajoarriero como en el Alto Aragon (cocina regional)

We left Bielsa and headed North through Le tunnel d'Aragnouet-Bielsa which goes under the Pyrénées into France (starting at 1664m in Spain and ending at 1821 m in France). We arrived in France in the drizzle and fog, which disappeared as we decended to Sant Lary-Soulan and Bagneres-de-Luchon. Navigating through Bagneres-de-Luchon by following the signs to Espagne, we re-entered Spain at Vall'd Aran and stopped in Vielha for drinks and gas. We then drove across Parc Nacional d'Aigüestortes from Viella on the C28 and C13, past all the ski resorts, arriving in La Seu d'Urgell for the night. Luckily, we found our hotel as we forgot to bring our confirmation and neiter of us remembered the name.
October 10, 2009	10:58	Valle de Pineta	HU-V-6402	Bielsa town center from the HU-V-6402
	11:21	Bielsa	A-138	Toward France
	11:36	Entering France	RD-173/D-929	Le tunnel d'Aragnouet-Bielsa, Aragnouet, Sant Lary-Soulan
	12:16	Arreau	D-618
	13:02	Bagneres-de-Luchon	D-618	Through Luchon, D-125 to Espagne
	13:20	Entering Spain, Catalunya	N-230	Vall'd Aran
	13:34	Bossòst	N-230	Bossòst from the N-230 toward Vielha
	13:45	Vielha	N-230	Gas up!
	14:06	Vielha	C-28/C-13	Parc Nacional d'Aigüestortes, Port de la Bonaigua (2072m)
	15:26	Sort	N-260	Sort after the N-260 junction to Adrall
	16:27	Adrall	N-260
	16:33	La Seu d'Urgell	N-260	Shopping , Hotel Andria (23,354km/641.0km)
	Catedral de Santa Maria (13th C.) , Passeig de Joan Brudieu, Parc Olimpic del Segre, drinks at Quiosc Bar , dinner at La Mina

Leaving La Seu d'Urgell, we got in the long line of cars entering Andorra. Once we got past the check-point, we drove through the congestion in Andorra la Vella to the CG-2 toward France. We stopped at a wine shop in Soldeu, then climbed the Pyrenees to road into France (deciding to bypass the cheap Andorra gas due to the long lines). Once back in France, we drove across the Pays de Sault to Quillan, not aware of our elevation until we made our decent into Quillan (wow, were we surprised). Heading South from Quillan through Axat, we stopped and hiked up to the the Cathar Castle of Le Château de Puilaurens. Then we hit the D-118 straight into Carcassonne, and got very lucky with parking on Av. du Général Leclerc near La Cité since it was Sunday.
October 11, 2009	10:30	La Seu d'Urgell	N-260	N-145 toward Andorra
	11:03	Entering Andorra	CG-1
	11:20	Andorra la Vella	CG-1
	11:29	Encamp	CG-2	Toward Franqa
	12:11	Soldeu	CG-2	Shopping at Caves Manacor (AND - Andorra)
	12:36	Pas de la Casa	CG-2
	12:39	Entering France	N-22
	13:12	Ax-les-Thermes	N-22
	13:25	Ascou	D-613	Toward Quillan
	13:54	Belcaire	D-613	Through the high mountain plateau of Pays de Sault
	14:15	Quillan	D-118
	14:44	Axat	D-118	Turn-around in Axat
	14:46	Traffic circle	D-118/D-117
	14:59	Lapradelle	D-117
	Le Château de Puilaurens (1162) (700m)
	15:58	Lapradelle	D-117
	16:27	Quillan	D-118
	16:41	Couiza	D-118
	16:54	Limoux	D-118
	17:28	Carcassonne	D-118	ETAP HOTEL Carcassonne la Cité on Av. du Général Leclerc
	La Cité (100BC) ( UNESCO 1997), Ville Basse, Pont-Neuf, River Aude, dinner at Le Plô (Cassoulet Royale & Moules et Frites)

We got a very early start and it was a straight shot from our hotel to the A-61 autoroute. We made it to the A-9 junction in less than an hour and stopped at a service area for coffee and gas, then made our way to Perpignon. We drove through Perpignon toward the N-114 at the Southern end of town, and made our way to the coast driving along the Pic du Canigou. We hit the Mediterranean at Collioure, passed through Cerbère (stopping at Cap Cerbère and the howling wind) and crossed over the border into Spain and Portbou. We then made our way back inland to Figueras where we had lunch on La Rambla and went to Teatre-Museu Dalí. From there we drove South on the N-11 to Girona and had one of the best nights of our journey. We got lucky and saw the interior of Església de Sant Feliu and ate "pintxo" with the locals at Lizarran Girona at Plaça de la Independència.
October 12, 2009	8:24	Carcassonne	Av. du Gen. Leclerc	Toward the A-61
	8:29	Carcassonne	A-61
	8:43	Lezignan-Corbieres	A-61
	8:54	A-9 cutoff	A-61 A-9
	9:24	Aire de La Palme	A-9	Gas up and coffee
	9:36	D-83 cutoff	Exit A-9
	9:47	Perpignon	C. Lazare Escarguel
	10:02	Perpignon	N-114
	10:16	Argelès-s-Mer	N-114	Collioure, Port-Vendres, Banyuls-s-Mer, Pic du Canigou (2784m)
	11:00	Cerbère	N-114	Cap Cerbère
	11:21	Entering Spain	N-260
	11:25	Portbou	N-260
	12:13	Figueras	N-260
	Lunch at Astoria Snack Bar on C. de la Rambla , Teatre-Museu Dalí (1961-1974)
	15:23	Girona Sud	N-11
	15:30	Girona	N-11	ETAP HOTEL Girona
	16:35	Girona	Pg. de la Devesa	Ramon Folch, Plaça de la Independència, Pont d'en Gómez, Pl. de la Catedral
	16:40	Girona	Rambla de Llibertat	Força, B. Carreras Peralta, Cort Reial, Rambla de Llibertat, Ponte de Pedra, Santa Clara, Plaça de la Independència (23,852km/1139.1km)
	Església de Sant Feliu (14th-17th C.), Catedral (14 C.) , drinks at El Museo del Vi , dinner at Lizarran Girona at Plaça de la Independència Pintxo

We headed back North on the N-11 to Port Lligat (to visit the Casa Museu Dalí) and Cadaqués, which was one of the most beautiful towns we spent time in. We touched the Mediterranean for the first time, walked up to the Església de Santa Maria, had lunch, but didn't leave until after 2pm. Leaving Cadaqués, we drove to the Monestir de Sant Pere de Rodes along one of the most scary roads I have ever driven up, GIV-6121 (500+ meters of switch-backs with just a few guard rails). From there we headed South to Palafrugell and Sant Feliu de Gu�xols. The GI-682 was a little difficult to find and it also took a lot longer than expected to reach Blaines as the road snakes along the coastline. We didn't arrive in Mataró until after 9pm, and got lost trying to find our hotel. However, the night turned into one of our most memorable experiences of our entire trip, as we ate, drank and hungout at a "very" local restaurant and met some very nice people.
October 13, 2009	8:28	Girona	N-11
	9:06	C-260 cutoff	C-260
	9:21	Roses	GI-614	Toward Cadaqués
	9:35	Cadaqués	GI-614	Av. de Caritat Serinyana
	9:43	Port Lligat	Ctra de Port Lligat
	9:54	Port Lligat	C. de Cap de Creus	Av. de Salvadore Dali
	Casa Museu Dalí at 10:50 (1930-1982)
	11:51	Back to Cadaqués	C. de Cap de Creus
	11:56	Cadaqués	Ctra de Port Lligat	Av. de Caritat Serinyana, Pl. de Frederic Rahola, C. de Passeig, lunch at La Gritta, Platja es Portix
	Església de Santa Maria (16th-17th C.) , touch the Mediterranean for the first time at Platja es Portixó & Platja es Portal
	14:00	Leaving Cadaqués	GI-614
	14:10	GI-613 cutoff	GI-613
	14:19	el Port de la Selva	GI-613	el Port de la Selva from GIV-6121
	14:39	Serra de Roda	GIV-6121
	Monestir de Sant Pere de Rodes (878) (520m)
	15:35	Leaving Sant Pere de Rodes	GIP-6041
	15:53	Vilauïga	GIP-6041	Where are we?, heading down the N-11, Gas up!
	16:35	C-66 cutoff	Exit A-7
	16:55	Vulpellac	C-66
	17:11	Palafrugell	C-66
	17:18	Platja de Llafranc	Pg. de Cipsela	First swim in the Mediterranean!
	17:48	Leaving Llafranc	C. de Pere Pascuet
	17:54	Calella de Palafrugell	C. de Villaamil	Platja del Canadell
	18:06	Leaving Calella de Palafrugell	C-31
	18:32	Sant Feliu de Guíxols	C-31/GI-682	Crazy time finding GI-682
	19:24	Tossa del Mar	GI-682
	19:36	Lloret del Mar	GI-682
	19:47	Blanes	GI-682
	20:02	Palafolls	C-32
	20:20	Mataró	C-32	Toll €0.69, €1.92, €0.73, turn-around at Premiá del Mar, Toll €0.73
	21:13	Mataró	Camí Ral	NH Ciutat de Mataró (24,191km/1478.2km)
	Dinner at Frankfurt Burguer City ("Kevin Pickford" looking guy, green sweat-pants guy, "¿Es tú amigo?")

We woke-up late and decided to drive up to Montserrat before heading back to Barcelona. We easily arrived at the Aeri de Montserrat, and took the five minute, 1350m cable car ride to Montserrat. We walked around, touched the orb of La Moreneta, had lunch and then made our way back to Barcelona. It got a little hectic again looking for gas in Barcelona traffic, but we did find a gas station and finally navigated our way back to Sants Estació, totaling just over 1600km for our journey.
October 14, 2009	11:30	Mataró	Camí Ral	Café at El Setrill
	12:06	Mataró	C-32	C-32 toward Barcelona, Toll €1.16, 1.95
	12:18	Toward Sabadell/Terassa	B-20
	12:25	Toward Sabadell/Terassa	C-58
	12:34	Toward Taragona	AP-7
	12:49	A-7 toll	Exit AP-7
	12:54	Toward Lleida	A-2
	12:57	Abrera	C-1414	Av. Francesc Marimon, exit 582/581
	13:01	Abrera	C-55
	13:06	Montserrat	C-55	Aeri de Montserrat to the Monestir de Montserrat (1236m)
	Montserrat (1236m) , Monestir de Montserrat , La Moreneta (50AD), lunch at L'Arsa Le Cafeteria at Montserrat
	15:19	Leaving Montserrat	C-55
	15:30	Abrera	A-2
	15:49	Barcelona	B-23	Av. Diagonal
	Av. Diagonal, C. de Numàncìa, Pl. de Prat de la Riba, Rhonda del General Mitre, C. de Ricard Villa, Gas up!
	16:40	Sants Estació	Sants Estació	Atesa - Return Citroën C3 (24,315km/1601.9km)
	Av. de Sarrià, Pl. de Prat de la Riba, C. de Numàncìa, Av. Diagonal, Pl. de Francesc Maria, C. del Conte d'Urgell, C. de Provença, C. de Vilamarí, Av de Roma, Sants Estació

Finding Your Way Around	When driving through towns and cities, do your best to go in the direction of the next largest town. Sometimes, street and highway signs aren't easily visible. You can also look for highway markers along the side of the road, but these aren't usually present in the towns and cities. Coming across a traffic circle is always helpful, as it's a lot easier to figure out the route with the various exits. When driving in France and you don't see your route, "toutes directions" and "autres directions" means "other directions" and "all directions".
Exits and Junctions	We noticed that many junctions have multiple exits. If you miss the initial junction, another may be down the road (and/or don't be alarmed if you see the same exit/junction more than once, especially on the autopistas and larger highways). An exit sign usually displays how far away it is and is usually in blue. When you come upon the actual exit, the sign is usually in white.
Driving Toll Roads (autopistas)	You run into two types of toll roads. Basically you pay your toll before you enter the toll section of a highway and you "pay as you go", or you take a ticket and pay as you exit the autopista. It seems like the toll roads closer to Barcelona are "pay as you go".
HU-631 from Escalona to Cañón de Añisclo	Off the A-138 just past Aínsa at Escalona, the Carretera del Valle de Añisclo is a spectacular road which winds through the Southern portion of Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido. One-way during peak season, stay to the right at Puyarruego from Escalona (do not take the left road toward the campgrounds), the carretera begins along the Rio Bellos and ends up in Cañón de Añisclo (eventually leading to the parking area for hikers). Return to the A-138 by following the signs to Buerba/Vio/Escalona (away from Fanlo). You'll end up near the campground near Puyarruego. We took our time, taking pictures, etc... and it took us about an hour to get from Puyarruego to the Cañón de Añisclo parking lot. Also note that sections of this road are non-paved.
D-138/A-929 to France via Le tunnel d'Aragnouet-Bielsa	Le tunnel d'Aragnouet-Bielsa which goes under the Pyrénées into France is really spectacular. It starts at 1664m in Spain and ends at 1821 m in France. Mind the stop light at the entrance of the tunnel so traffic is regulated. When you exit the tunnel on the French side there is a vista point to the right.
D-618 to N-230 to Bagneres-de-Luchon	If you're on the D-618 in France looking for the N-230 to cross over into Spain and driving through Bagneres-de-Luchon, look for signs marked D-125 Espagne. Our Michelin map didn't note that road, but it will lead to the N-230. Bagneres-de-Luchon is also a neat little town right on the border.
C-28/C-13 from Vielha to Sort	This road leads through the Parc Nacional d'Aig�estortes and has many elevation changes, so there are a number of switchbacks. You'll also pass by all the ski resorts around Vielha (it's a good idea to gas up in Viehla too). The section of highway closer to Sort is a little boring, but there are some nice mountain towns to see.
N-260 to Figueras and Girona	Initially, we thought that we would have to split Figueras and Girona into two days, but we easily covered that area (and more) in a single day. Llançà to Figueras took us only about 30 minutes on the N-260. Figueras wasn't too interesting other than the Teatre-Museu Dalí and La Rambla, but Girona was very cool and definnitely worth an overnight stay (or more).
Parking in Cadaqués	As you enter Cadaqués the parking lot is essentially "straight" through the traffic circle on the right. About 2 hours was €4.65.
GIP-6041 from Sant Pere de Rodes to Vilauïga to the N-260	If you're coming from Cadaqués, most likely you'll take the GL-613 to Sant Pere de Rodes (from el Port de la Selva). If you exit the monastery and take the road away from el Port de la Selva toward the N-260, you'll be on the GIP-6041 to Vilauïga (this is also the route buses take). When you end up in Vilauïga, you'll have no clue where you are (this is a small town and all the signs are facing in the direction of Sant Pere de Rodes). When you get to Vilauïga, turn left and follow the road as straight as you can (staying left as you pass the little mercato). You will eventually arrive at the N-260. Luckily, the town isn't too big and if you find yourself driving under an overpass, you went the wrong way.
GI-682 from Sant Feliu de Gu�xols to Blanes	This is a very curvy road which takes awhile to drive. It takes approximately one hour to drive from Sant Feliu de Gu�xols to Tossa del Mar, so you need to plan accordingly. The drive is beautiful, as the road snakes along the coastline. Finding the GI-682 isn't the easiest. Try to follow the signs thru Sant Feliu de Gu�xols, and try to stay on the "largest" road, going straight as possible through the traffic circles, when the signs dissappear. Just as you think you're leaving Sant Feliu de Gu�xols, you should stumble on GI-682 like we did (the cutoff looks like a small, uphill road).

Etap Hotels	These hotels are clean, affordable and located throughout Europe in major cities and highways. The Etap Hotels used to be "automated", with no staff present, but we found a number of Etap hotels are now "staffed". (http://www.etaphotel.com).
What do those icons mean?	We liked it!, Recommended!, Image, Autopista (Spain), Autoroute (France), Unisco and Atesa, Carrefour, Repsol