VAMOSchneiders!: Roadtripping It

Barcelona in August... hot, sticky, humid. So my friends, Kate and Britt, and I decided to rent a car and get out of here! Our itinerary:

- Spain: Logroño and San Sebastian

- France: San Jean de Luz, Biarritz, and Sant Lizier

- Andorra: Whole country

First stop: Logroño, perfect for tapas and wine-tasting.... UNLESS you are there on a Tuesday (which we were). The tour books should really mention the entire city shuts-down on Tuesdays, leaving only two restaurants open - non-tourist friendly restaurants, at that.

The highlight of Logroño

To make a not-so-great stop, worse, we got lost on our way out of town. Of course all tourist info spot were out of maps. Thankfully the locals were able to provide us with these ~~ever so helpful~~, hand-drawn maps of circles and lines with no street names. After almost an hour of trying to interpret these maps we found a gas station with a real map!

Second stop: San Sebastian, a beautiful beach town in the Basque country of Northern Spain. It is also famous for it wide array of tapas, and we definitely did our fair share of sampling (similar but different than those of BCN).

It looks so peaceful, right? It think it probably is most of the time, however we happened to show up during Gran Fiesta, their biggest party of the year! So the city was a bit crazy - lots of people, concerts, parades, etc. There were over a million people there according to our hostel owner. Then again, he was also the one who told us that Bob Marley's band was playing that night, but that unfortunately Bob would not be there b/c he doesn't travel anymore. True story.

We decided to go watch Bob's band, The Wailers, that night. For some reason we were expecting this small little beach concert, but it was huge! At the end of the concert we were just standing around when Kate realized that Bob's son, the lead singer, Damien, was standing behind us! I am not a Wailers fan, or even a reggae fan (actually had to wikipedia the Wailers to find out his name was Damien), but for some reason I thought it appropriate to ask him to sign my arm. Evidence below.

On our final night in San Sebastian, we went to watch the fireworks over the water. In a weird way it made me miss the States... I guess you just can't separate fireworks from the 4th.

Third stop: San Jean de Luz, a beach town off the western coast of France. We only spent 1 day here, but it was super cute and worth the stop. And even though we were only half an hour from Spain, it felt like we were in a different world.

~~Fourth stop:~~ ~~Biarritz~~ DEPANAGE

On our way to Biarritz, we stopped to fill up the car. The only problem was we filled it up with the wrong type of gas... apparently Euro cars take diesel, who knew? So what happens when you put in the wrong type of fuel, you ask. Well, you become depanaged (French word for broken-down, SOL).

Not only did we have to deal with the embarassment of being 'those girls', but the depanage driver made us ride in the car (on the high-way, nonetheless) while being towed.

Being towed...

Fourth stop: Biarritz. Six hours and 300€ later, we finally made it to Biarritz! Biarritz is just a bit North of San Jean de Luz on the Western French coast. It is known for being a surf town.

Fifth stop: Sant-Lizier, a quaint, medieval town in France. We just stopped here for a quick lunch of delicious crepes and then had to hit the road again.

Sixth stop: Andorra. Considerring how small Andorra is, we were able to drive across the entire country in a little over an hour. The drive was a windy one, through foggy mountaines, with regular cow and horse crossings.

I have to say Andorra was weird. I don't honestly know how to describe. It felt like the entire country was a ski resort, abandoned for the summer. Maybe I'll understand it if I go back when there's snow.