We have just returned from our very first house sitting experience in the Catalan region of Spain.
Riner is situated between Solsona and Cardona and the property had the most magnificent views towards the mountains.
Each evening saw us having a wine and watching the views towards the mountains.
As far as house sitting goes, I think this one was quite easy.
The animals were all self sufficient - that is - they came and went through a doggy door.
We walked the dogs twice a day which was just as much fun for us as it was for them.
Nort and Petra were extremely well natured dogs,
The only problems we encountered were on "Hunt Days".
Nort would bark all day and stand guard in the paddock and Petra cowered upstairs.
The sound of gunshots could be heard all through the valley.
They did run off one night, so we got out the torches and were wandering around the Catalan countryside in the pitch dark looking for the dogs. All turned out okay though.
Each day our walks took us through some amazing woods and then up through a hamlet where we were invited into the home of a Catalan family for a snack.
The cats were all different in temperament.
Nickel, the boss cat, sat on our laps at night. Melas, the ginger cat, the easy going puss.
Then there was Maddie.
She was extremely timid and it was hard to get to pat her but in the end we had her purring like a kitten.
She was afraid of the other two cats and the dogs.
Whilst we were house sitting, we had the opportunity to visit Solsona a few times.
The markets were great and we found some award winning Spanish wine that we ended up bringing back with us. Only 1.65 euro a bottle, a bargain and very delicious.
This is Jayne (the lady whom we house sat for).
Cardona was also an amazing place.
Especially the Castle. Built in 1019 to 1040 and so huge.
Jayne showed us the Cardona markets before she left.
The markets were great and the second time we went there was a mushroom festival happening. There is a huge salt mine in the village but doesn't seem to detract from the beauty of the place. We managed to get stuck in the car park and had to get someone to ring the local police to come and let us out. A bit embarrassing but at least we managed to exit the carpark in a reasonable time given the festival was on as the police were extremely busy.
We visited a place 5kms from our house sit called El Miracle.
Another amazing place with the most incredible piece of art work we have ever seen.
We had lunch in the restaurant which was wonderful - I tried the pigs knuckles.
Very yummy. A few days before that I had pigs cheek at a restaurant in Solsona. So think I am now sufficiently pigged out........
This was Bill trying his hand at drinking the "Catalan" way. We just had to buy one of the different drinking vessels.
We had a day trip into Barcelona.
We drove to Manresa and then caught the train into Barcelona passing Montserrat along the way. These are very jagged mountains and look spectacular.
Wish we had more time that day but will definitely need to return to Barcelona and also make a trip up Montserrat in the funicular.
Looked like Montserrat would be a fascinating place to explore.
Also we noticed when driving out of Manresa that there's a huge fort of some kind so will need to return here as well.
Barcelona was a mixed bag.
Beautiful in the city centre with some amazing architecture.
We wanted to catch the "hop on hop off bus" around the city.
But it was 28 euros each and we only had 45 minutes.
We had to make our way back to the train station for the 1 and half hour journey back to Manresa and then the 50 min drive home to be able to feed the animals.
So time was too short in Barcelona. Perhaps next visit.
On another day we drove to Baga and to Berga.
Both were just amazing places. Baga is a hiking/skiing village. Very pretty.
Berga had a place called Santuario de Queralt at the top of the mountain.
It's the trail the Cathars took when being persecuted.
A lot of steps to climb but well worth the visit.
The forest was just alive with colour.
On our return journey we had a few hours in Girona before stopping for a few nights in Albi, France.
Girona was lovely and again more time was needed here to explore the place in depth.
A few hours just doesn't cut it.
It is now famous for having scenes from Game of Thrones being filmed here.
It was market day.
The bridge was covered with stalls.
I had wanted to visit Albi since when we had spent Christmas in Castres in 2013.
I can now tick it off the bucket list.
It lived up to my expectations.
An amazing, wonderful place.
Whilst Bill went through the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, I visited the Museum de la mode. A private collection of 10,000 items (of which only 100 displayed at a time). The museum is in the gentleman's house (12th century) and all the items are in mint condition. I was particularly interested in the stitching and design of the early 1800's outfits. There were also hair clips, hats, bags and shoes on display as well as some men's dinner jackets and dressing gowns. Quite an impressive collection.
On the way home yesterday we passed through Figeac.
Another beautiful, stunning french village.
The markets were on in the old city.
We had a quick walk around as it was a pretty miserable day weather wise. Raining and only about 6 degrees.
We can't complain about the weather though as we had the most perfect weather in Catalan the whole time we were there.
A bientot
Wendy
How excited were we on Monday when we awoke to the ground spotted with snow.
We had to scrape it off the car to get to our French lessons.
