Languages
Main Menu
 Inicio Photos Opciones de Miembros Web
User Log in
Recent Movies
|
Noticias › Spain 2008
In July of 2008, the Ferguson's had the opportunity to enjoy the country of Spain for over two weeks. Actually Craig was there for just over two weeks, Rosa and Anna were there for two months, lucky them.
While there, we "hung out" in Alguaire and enjoyed the company of our friends and family. We also visited the site of the new Lleida-Alguaire Airport. Then we traveled to Vall Fosca, Vall de Boi, and Cambrils.
Vall Fosca
Vall Fosca is named "Dark Valley" because it runs from north to south and this limits the amount of sunlight that it receives. It is the one of the last, if not the last, undeveloped valleys in the Pyrenees Mountains area of Spain. Rosa made the choice to go there and to stay in the town of Espui. Once we arrived, we found some new construction occurring. Knowing that Spain has experienced a housing boom in the past several years, this did not surprise us. Actually I was surprised that the valley was only now showing some development. When we talked to the local residents of the area, we found out that there was under construction a new ski resort called, "Vall Fosca Resort". The Resort will offer, when completed, a golf course, ski resort, and housing.
Currently, the golf course is complete, with the exception of a new Clubhouse. It has a temporary clubhouse now, but they are planning on building a new one in the near future.
The Ski Resort is very interesting indeed. The only access to it will be by way of a Cable Car which will pick up people in Espui and will deliver them to the main ski resort building over two thousand feet above Espui. There will be no access by way of a vehicle. The Cable Car will utilize a three-cable method of hauling in which there are only three in use in all of Europe.
To anticipate the need for housing, the company developing the resort, Famesa, has started building roughly 100 housing apartments and residences. In talking to an employee of Famesa, the ski resort part is approximately halfway complete. In looking at the first phase of housing construction, I would estimate that about one third of the units are fully complete, one third are about halfway complete, and the other third is not far from halfway complete.
What is really exciting about this Resort is that its original plan is to exist adjacent to the Boi Taull Ski Resort and once the Vall Fosca Resort is complete, then there would only be needed two chair lifts to actually join the two resorts together. These two resorts operating as one (not necessarily merged into one company) would create the largest ski area in Europe. However, the plan to operate as one has been put on hold, for now at least.
Cable Car Ride
At the end of the valley, there is a cable car ride to the top of the mountain which is inside Aiguestortes National Park. The cable car itself was built to haul workers to the top of the mountain to build and develop hydroelectric capabilities with the many lakes in the park. The pictures on this website really do not show how steep the cable car ride is. A better description of the cable car is not so much of a ride as it is an "elevator". It literally is almost straight up and climbs about 2000 feet in height. At the top of the mountain is a building that houses a restaurant and small shop.
If you look at the pictures you will see a lake at the bottom and another at the top of the mountain. Endesa, the national power company of Spain, uses an interesting and complicated way of "recycling water" for electricity generation. There is a 10 meter (over 30 feet) wide pipeline connecting the top lake to the bottom lake. In the early morning hours of the day, around 5 or 6am, Endesa uses excess and unused electrical generation capacity from a nuclear power plant to actually pump water from the bottom lake back to the top lake to be used again to generate more hydro electric power as it falls back to the bottom lake! I thought that this was interesting. I can only imagine the amount of power it takes to move that much water up to that elevation. Truly amazing.
The notable thing to mention about Vall Fosca is actually the lack of services available in the area right now. For the first time in several trips to Spain, we actually had to use a vehicle to find a restaurant. This was not a big inconvenience, but it was/is a notable difference.
Vall de Boi
Visiting Vall de Boi is like stepping back in time several hundred years. It has several churches from the Romanic time period which were built around 1000-1100 AD. They still are there today and have been strengthened to support the extra stress of visitors visiting them. The artwork in the churches is very historic.
In the center of the town of Taull, there was a pleasant discovery to be made. We found an english speaking American who is from the state of Arizona and he has opened a restaurant called "Cafe Sedona". It was nice to eat truly spanish cuisine which was ordered from a menu in english! The atmosphere of the place was very pleasant and enjoyable. Sitting on the balcony and eating a fine meal, while breathing the fresh air and observing natures beautiful mountains, was a very enjoyable experience. Thanks for your hospitality Tony, we enjoyed your restaurant.
I had been to Taull on two previous occasions (summers of 1996 and 1998), and on both occasions, I failed to ride to the ski resort at the top of the mountain. Visiting the Taull Ski Resort was a priority. We were not disappointed.
We also took a ride to a small village/town in Val de Boi called Iran (prounced E-ran, not I-ran like the country). This ride is not for the weak hearted. The ride was very steep and curvy on a single lane path. The path was paved, which helped, but was quite scary. It was the scariest 4 kilometers that I have driven in my entire life. At the end of the ride was the town of Iran. The town consisted of a population of 8, all family members, and a restaurant. Yes, the family ran the restaurant... (-;
How scary was it you ask? If a picture can say a thousand words, this one does. When asked why she (Anna, our daughter) had her teddy bear's eyes covered, she replied "because Teddy is scared". Notice that Anna's eyes are covered too! (Click on the photo to see a larger image.)
We did not want to leave Taull. But it was time to go to the beach.
Cambrils
We stayed at the port city of Cambrils and enjoyed some really, really great food, nice beaches, and our family. Cambrils is located about 90 kilometers (one hour drive) south of Barcelona. It is a popular tourist destination which means that there are lots of restaurants and shopping stores around.
All good things had to end, so it was time for me to start the travel back to the USA.
July 31 was the day that I was scheduled to arrive back in the US. But this day was planned, sanctioned, and executed by the devil itself as it was an air travel day from hell. To make a long story short, I had to catch three flights to get back to the US: Barcelona > Dublin > Philadelphia > Charlotte. The initial flight from Barcelona was delayed by 90 minutes which caused me to miss the connecting flight from Dublin to Philadelphia. Wouldn't you know it, this was the last flight across the Atlantic to Philadelphia. So, I was "re-routed" to New York, spent the night there, not in my own bed, and caught the first flight to Charlotte just after 6am the following morning. I was there when US Airways opened their counter at 4:30am to get a boarding pass. Landed in Charlotte at 8:15am (a day late) and arrived home at 11am. It is now 23 hours later and I have to go to work. Vacation is over, how depressing.
Has anybody seen my checked-in luggage???!!! It is missing, wouldn't you know it.
The trip back was anything but pleasant.
But the vacation was heavenly.
Update: My luggage was found by the airline and returned. Thank goodness.
Enviado por Craig el , 02 a las 13:57:39 (592 Lecturas)
|
Topicos Asociados
| "Spain 2008" | Entrar/Crear Cuenta | 0 Comentarios |
|
|
| Los comentarios son propiedad de quien los envió. No somos responsables por su contenido. |
|
Enlaces Relacionados
Votos del Artículo
Puntuación Promedio: 0
votos: 0
Opciones
|
