San Sebastian - Basque region

The Basque region in the northwestern part of Spain is home to some of the best food in the world. Per acre there are more Michelin stars in this region than anywhere else in the world.

This area lies between the western Pyrenees and the Atlantic and includes part of France as well.

The Basque people have their own language, culture, and cuisine... fueled by an abundant supply of seafood from the Atlantic on the one side and a fertile valley providing meat, herbs and vegetables on the other...

Saint Emilion

The Romans planted the first vineyards here in the 2nd century and the rest, as they say, is history...

Saint Emilion has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Oh, and the wine's not so bad either...

Lourdes

Happy Birthday Mom...

To this...

... and entered France on the other side of the same mountains and it seemed as if we had entered a whole new world. The temperature had dropped to 12 degrees Celsius, the sky was overcast with clouds down to our level, and as you can see, plenty of goats in the middle of the road.

Quite a nice experience!

From this...

We departed Spain via a 3 km tunnel in the heart of the Pyrenees in which the weather was blistering (30 degrees Celsius)...

Aquarium Barcelona

View from underwater...