For this part of the adventure we will be leaving Barcelona entirely for the “Three Countries in a Day” day trip.

What are you waiting for? Get your ass on the bus already.

No mistake, your ass IS on a bus. It’s a pretty nice bus, comfortable enough and free wi-fi (pronounced “WEE-FEE” in most of the European languages) and decent leg room but it’s still a goddamn bus.

You can already get an idea on the visuals looking out of the window on that shot.

The structure for our post today will be as follows; you will first get a photo of the current time, temperature and the name of the city where we stopped, followed by info and witty repartee about the location as we drop the photos.

That work for you?

GOOD!

First stop on the tour…

It was fucking cold! when stepping off of the bus.

Bagà is located at an elevation of 785 meters (2575 feet) which explains the temps. Also please note the local time. I had to get my ass on the bus at 6:00 AM. Not an easy task after a tapas and wine night.

According to the Wikis.

“Bagà (Catalan pronunciation: [bəˈɣa]) is a Spanish municipality located in the comarca of Berguedà, in Catalonia.

Traditionally, Bagà is considered the capital of Alt Berguedà, the mountainous northern half of the comarca.”

Founded in the 9th century the town has a current population of just under 2,200 swarthy yet hearty residents.

Let’s get a gander.

Mighty close proximity these folks share. The tour group was mixed with many claiming they could live there permanently and others claiming it was a little too “tight knit” for their taste.

Your neighbors would be all up in your grizzy living this close to one another but it’s gorgeous and tranquil as fuck.

That shot above is of the main street. That would be the “Wide” street.

Inside the city it gets closer yet.

I mean godDAMN that’s some close neighbor interaction right there. I don’t care if everyone is related not sure everyone needs to know each time I start cooking or each time I visit the bathroom or crack open a beer.

[shudders]

It’s pretty though and that’s some serious old masonry and brick work going right there.

While visiting Bagà I stopped at the bakery for a morning “kwa-son” and then hit the local cafe for a cafe con leche. Both were excellent for the record.

Love this next shot.

Very obviously a mountain town, they had some crazy steep streets. When do you think these stairs were put in?

It does make one wonder.

Here’s the town church.

Again from the “Wikis” this is “St. Esteve de Bagà is the parish church of the town, built between the 14th and 15th centuries.”

For a “fun?” tradition: “The Fia-faia is a celebration of the winter solstice dating from pre-Christian times which takes place in Bagà every Christmas Eve. A bonfire is set in the mountains to the west of the town, where the sun sets. After dark, inhabitants of the town set faies, or bundles of Cephalaria leucanta alight and carry them from the bonfire to the central square of the town, where they are left on the ground. Children then jump over the fires, singing “Fia-faia, Fia-faia, que nostro senyor ha nascut a la palla”, or ‘Fia-faia, for our Lord is born in the hay’. Afterwards, bread is toasted over the fires and eaten with all i oli or quince paste.”

The view from the city is incredible.

And that’s Bagà.

Back to the bus with you!

We’re just getting started!

As we continued on we crossed the border into France. No stop was required, no checkpoints and no reason to present your passport. This is due to these countries both belonging to the “Shengen area.”

Or the remnants of the former EU with Britain fucking the whole thing up by leaving the agreement. That’s a rant for another time.

We proceeded peacefully while the tour guide played a medley of recognizable French tunes to remind everyone of our current location. The speakers sucked but the sentiment was there.

This is the part where I’m supposed to describe the most perfect valley in the nested middle of the Pyrenees Alps with a golden, crisp, mid-morning fall sun glowing upon it.

A valley that’s self sufficient. They grow everything they eat. It’s terrifying actually and way too expensive. But fuck me it is incredible at the right time of day.

Next we arrive at the Alpine ski resort of…

Ax-Les-Thermes (pronounced “axe-lay term”) or “Axe” as the locals know it.

Holy fuck. This place was fucking magical.

Ax is a “commune” in the Pyrenees alps and is most famous for its hot springs or “healing waters.”

There are fountains throughout the town where folks are encouraged to bathe, soak or just wash their feet.

When previewing this tour I found out about the fountains and responded accordingly.

I did indeed bring a bath towel from my rental apartment for just this reason. 

The water was luke warm at this bath, maybe 75 degrees or so but some of the baths have water up to 175 degrees. The scent was very, I think “depths of Hell” is an adequate descriptor.

All of the sulphur.

My first thought was “Smells like an active volcano.”

The baths are all situated outside the former walls of the city for obvious reasons. The baths are “healing” and during the centuries many sick folks with all kinds of swell diseases including leprosy bathed in them for their healing properties.

I.E sick folks stay the fuck outside the city until cured.

Which brings us to perhaps my favorite photo of the entire trip.

Here you can see the sulphur fumes rising from the water itself.

There is so much in that photo that I hope you take a moment to fully enlarge and appreciate it.

Having an hour to relax and explore we were told this was our lunch break. The town itself had many shops, cafes, bars and such that choices were ample.

My idea was a simple one. Find a local cheese and/or charcuterie shop, taste the local wares and enjoy while sitting outdoors.

Mission accomplished.

Fucking delicious. This is all locally produced and it was sensational. Only needed a glass of wine. Too early in the day and a lot of miles left to go for that.

I ate al fresco in a park with a picnic area. The park had, get this, sequoias! No shit!

As a Californian this was awesome. Look at this fucking place.

Look at the foliage!

This one? I could live up in here. Yes, it would be cold, yes it’s small and you would experience the same small town issues discussed earlier but this place was magical. I’ve never had a single place slap me this hard with its very existence. 

I DO think about this almost daily since I’ve come back from vacation and I DO look at these particular photos all of the time.

The girl who ran the cheese shop was an existentially beautiful person in every way. So incredibly kind and open and she was a light of joy that could outshine the sun. As I left her shop I told her to “Have a wonderful day” to which she responded “Have a wonderful life.” She even humoured me with a conversation in my extremely limited French and was wonderful about it.

It’s the small transitory encounters while traveling that sometimes stick with you forever.

You were incredible “Axe” and a joy to behold.

Now back on the bus you go!

Followed by a rather lengthy and extremely twisting/turning bus ride to our final major destination.

ANDORRA!

Turned out to be a gorgeous day too.

Our driver stopped for this next photo at an incredible location.

The driver was taking photos of everyone who wanted a picture of themselves with that stunning vista of the Pyrenees as the background.

This is as close as I got.

See those folks in the photo? Look just beyond the people on the left. See that drop off just past them? Motherfucker was like 2,000 feet down!

My ass was literally hugging the side of the bus. We’ve discussed my “heights thing” already.

I just took the photo and climbed right the fuck back inside.

Killer fucking locale though.

Just another couple of miles to Andorra La Vella, the capital of Andorra.

Arriving in the city, we park, gather as a group and walk into the center of town. At this time we were allowed to embark on our own and spend the next hour doing whatever struck your fancy.

The town is a world class ski resort but first, second and last…

It’s a fucking mall.

A mall with mountains!

And a mall with a river running run through its heart.

I’ll bet this place is pretty fucking stunning during snow season. They have to skate on this river in the winter.

One thing they DID have was this amazing thing.

That’s an original Salvador Dali sculpture right in the middle of the mall. Right where the Spencers Gifts would normally be. I’m talking shit but this was a very cool experience.

Can’t say they know how to do proper tapas though.

No, I was not interested in trying the tacos in Andorra. I ordered ham croquettes and they were tasty enough, and the white wine was VERY tasty but they served the croquettes on a bed of potato chips?

Not homemade chips or nothing, like they just grabbed a handful out of a bag of Lay’s and put the croquettes on top.

Time to head back to Spain.

That means…

We did stop at the border crossing and I did…

Get an Andorra stamp in my passport!

YES!

Hopefully there was something good you took away from this three part adventure. I enjoyed it for sure.

Finally you may be wondering, is Barcelona worth the time and effort to visit?

Oh GOD yes. It’s gorgeous, the weather is incredible – the climate reminded me so much of Southern California and the people are wonderful, not to mention extremely easy on the eyes.

It’s not perfect though. The over-touristing issue is very real. To the point that you would have to be insane to make this trip during the Summer travel season. Shit, I went the last 10 days of October and it was still packed. It’s also a long goddamn flight, especially coming from California. Doable but still a long trip.

The food though?

You can easily go just for the food.

Thanks for reading along.

Can’t wait to show you “Where” is up next.