Spain France ~ June 2025 ~ Part 3

 Updated June 28, 2025  (AM)

Part 1 is our first week in Spain >>HERE 

Part 2 is our second week in Spain >> HERE

Part 3 starts now:

Sunday June 22, 2025

Yesterday after breakfast we went for a little walk before having to check out our hotel at 11:30. Taxis were coming at 1:30 so we just hung out in the lobby until it was time to leave. We arrived at the airport and thank God for Sophia helping us all through. We had no experience with this European airline or budget airlines in general. At least we know the process now for when the trip ends and we go back to Barcelona on our own. Our ticket had included one checked bag and one under seat but a few of us also had carry on roller bags so we had to pay for overhead space. Sophia told the owner of the tour company who felt bad because apparently the policy changed recently. Previously if you paid for a checked bag, you automatically got the overhead, so he is going to reimburse us.  Lisa and I split a BLT and had a bag of chips while waiting for our flight.  The flight was only about an hour.  

First impression, France is very expensive compared to Spain. Taxi from the airport to the hotel was €70. Compared to Barcelona, where it was €15-€20 for the same 30 minute ride. We got to the hotel and had about 40 minutes before we met in the lobby for our 8:pm tour.  The tour guy was super nice and said since we had a long travel day and had not had dinner maybe we should wait and do the tour tomorrow (today) instead. Apparently, the restaurants here are not open really late like they are in Spain. We all agreed. We asked if he had any suggestions of where to have dinner and he actually walked with us to a restaurant he said was a 10 minute walk.  English translation = 30 minutes.

Église Saint Vincent de Paul on the way to dinner

Fortaine Fossati on the way to dinner

There may have been cocktails 

It was an Irish Pub and it was hoppin’. 

They were having a music festival. Who knew? There was a lot of police presence and paddy wagons on standby.  Our guide said that about 4 am they tear gas to get people to leave! 😱  We were back before midnight.  

Le Vieux Port

L’ete = Summer

We all walked back together.  Totally crowded, hot, and sweaty.  Two of the ladies in our group feel like it was safer here than it was in Barcelona. For the record, we did not feel unsafe in Barcelona.

Today

Yes, we are and will continue to be extra careful.

Breakfast at this hotel opens at 6:30 so I was able to enjoy my morning coffee out on the patio adjacent to the main dining room. The breakfast buffet was better than the others.  

We haven’t decided what we are going to do today.  Last night we decided not to venture off too far into the unknown.  Nikki said there is an old town area not far where they have local craft vendors so we might check that out. 

After breakfast and relaxing on the beautiful outside patio we walked down with Nikki and Seth to the old town area. We got there and everything was closed. We thought maybe because it was Sunday. Later the tour guide said they do not usually closed on Sunday and he thought maybe the vendors stayed out drinking all night because of the festival  Nikki thought maybe it was so crowded that they sold out of merchandise. Nobody knows.

Deserted actually

Statue at the train station

Typical side street 

Back side of Palais Longchamp during out walk

Lisa and I walked back and went to the market next to the hotel and bought some snacks. We sat outside in the patio area, just relaxing and reading for a few hours. We decided to skip the guided tour at 3 PM. It was just too hot out and we were comfortable right where we were. 

Sidenote – you wouldn’t think that 85° would be too hot for me, however it feels like it does when it’s 118 in Phoenix. I am not used to the humidity. It’s a sweaty heat!

Around 4 PM we went out for a late lunch/early dinner. We ended up at the Patisserie just down the street from the hotel.

Lisa got pizza and I got a ham and cheese something-or-other that would be called a calzone if it was Italian. It was more like a pizza crust than a pastry or croissant crust. We sat outside in their street side eating area for a while before getting a soft serve ice cream and heading back to the hotel.

We sat out and chatted and read for a little while longer. Lisa turned in early. I grabbed my iPad and went back down to the lobby and was going to update my blog. Nick and Seth came back so they sat down to chat. They said the tour was very good. Nikki said the fountain at Palias Longchamp could give the Trevi Fountain a run for the money. 

Not my photo

They said the guide told them they were lucky all the fountains were running at the same time. That is not always the case.

Seth said some of the graffiti wall art was incredible.

Not my photo..

Then Cheryl came in and told us about her day. Then Sophia came in and we talked to her for a little bit. Basically, the lobby area was pretty active!  No rest for the wicked.

Tomorrow we take the train out of Dodge and head to Antibes. Wish us luck! 

Monday June 23,2025

Long story short, skip to the end version. I will never get on a train again for the rest of my life. You heard it here first. The train ride from HELL. Our torture to treasure day.

First of all, Marseille was definitely our least favorite place we’ve been to and we were glad to leave this morning. After breakfast, we checked out and walked across the street to the train station. Rudest, pushiest crowd of people ever. I think my toes were rolled over six times including a couple of times by me, trying to get my luggage out-of-the-way and not bulldozed as people were pushing and shoving. They don’t announce what track you’re departing from until maybe 15–20 minutes before your departure time. There was limited luggage space and Lisa, Nikki, and I ended up sitting in jump seats between train cars. At least we could keep our eyes on our bags.

You can tell this picture was taken when we first
sat down because I still had a smile on my face.
 THAT didn’t last long!

The windows were cloudy so there was no enjoying
the view of the beautiful French countryside

The seats would have been fine, except it was so crowded that people were sitting on their luggage on the floor. Added bonus, the air condition was not working, and there were no openable windows. Not just in the area we were sitting in, but the entire train. What should have been a 2 hr and 15 minute ride ended up being 3 1/2 because he got delayed on the track at a standstill for some unknown reason. Like I said, the trip from HELL. We were at one of the stops and a worker came in and was saying something in French to a woman who had just sat in the jump seat next to Lisa. After she left, I asked the lady if she spoke English and she said yes, so I asked her what the employee had told her. She said that the air condition wasn’t working and they’re not doing any maintenance because this is the last week of service for this train. Next week they will be getting new trains. And then a man two seats over, said that she also said the train was very crowded because of the music festival. A lot of people were headed to the airport after the weekend, which is the next stop after ours, in Nice. 

Finally at our destination! The train only stops for 10 minutes for you to get all of your luggage off and depart, but luckily we have a great group of people and we made a little assembly line so some of us got off and others handed luggage down. We got out of that death trap quickly. 

Out of the train station, into our much appreciated air conditioned transport vehicles, and arrived at the hotel. This is a beach town. It is very clean and beautiful. It is hard to believe that Marseille and Antibes are even in the same country. The hotel is nice and we all have balconies. We were supposed to have a two hour tour at 5 but everyone in our group was completely over the day due to the drama of the train ride. Sophia was able to get the tour rescheduled for tomorrow morning.

My feet were swollen, which never happens to me. The first thing I did when I got in the room was stood in the bathtub and ran cold water on them for five minutes. Then I was completely refreshed and ready to go.

View from my room. Overlooking the street, 

the ocean at the end of the block.

Lisa is across the hall and this is the view 

from her room of a beautiful courtyard

We decided we absolutely needed a cocktail trés vite.  We walked down towards the ocean. It was beautiful out. We went into a few shops where they had beautiful clothing and shoes. A little pricy but very nice. 

We decided to go into a restaurant on the waterfront.  

My chocolate espresso martini, Lisa’s cosmopolitan. 
We may have had two 😜

Lisa’s Skirt Steak

My Ribeye

We saw elephants today

We really needed this nice dinner tonight. After dinner we walked down to check out the entrance to the beach. 

View of Plage de la Garoupe 

We really like it here a lot. Cheryl told me that Nikki is already looking at real estate to buy a place here!  We really wish that this tour would have skipped Marseille and spent the extra days in Antibes but we are going to chalk that up to experience and make the most of it.  

I didn’t get much sleep last night.  🥱💤😴I am hoping to get some good sleep tonight.

Tomorrow the breakfast opens at 7 and then we have our two hour tour at 10:30.  The rest of the day is free until the farewell dinner in the evening.

Tuesday June 24, 2025

Tom!

I had a peeping Tom this morning across from my balcony. If you zoom in you can see he is totally giving me the eye!

After breakfast some of us went on the tour.  Our group is dwindling. Three people bowed out. We met at a shopping district.  

Chapelle Saint-Bernardin 

Inside the Chapelle 

The guide was just okay so we bowed out of the slow stroll.  There was an open market at our starting point at the square so we went back there and mowsied around a little before heading back to the hotel.  It was about a 20-25 minute walk. 

We saw a Flamingo today.
 I don’t know what is cuter.
The lashes or the high heels.

I was wearing pants so I changed into shorts and we headed down to the beach. We stood in the ocean before sitting down for lunch.

Now THIS is the French Riviera!  

Sorry, I don’t usually post feet pics, but had to document
dipping our toes in the Mediterranean Sea!!

I had Kafta and Fretes.  
Meatballs with mint yogurt sauce and pita

Lisa had Rigatoni 

Churros in France

We passed a gelato shop and they had churros in the window, so I took a picture for the girls and for Denise since they were borderline obsessed with churros and chocolate in Spain. These were filled with cream. No chocolate sauce.

We lounged in a grassy area under a tree for a while people watching before going back to the hotel. It was in incredibly hot out. Neither one of us slept well last night. Our last dinner together as a group tonight isn’t until 8 PM so we thought a nap might be an order. I tried but only rested. 

Tomorrow morning, we have a taxi coming for us at 5 AM to take us to the airport for a flight back to Barcelona.

Wednesday June 25, 2025

Last night’s farewell dinner with the group was very nice. 

I shared escargot with Steph

Lisa and I both got beef tagliata which is there specialty 

Groupies

We had great people in the group.  Hugs all around.  Nikki and Seth were headed to Paris with Cheryl and Matt for a few days.  Kendra and Steph were going to Nice for a day or two. Sofia was going home to Germany.

And yet another sleepless night. 

Hurry up and wait day.  Our ride to the airport was easy and pricy. There was no traffic so it only took about 20 minutes and was €90 not including the tip. 😱 We had to wait before we could check in so we grabbed a coffee.  After we checked our bags and went through security we had to wait a bit for the gate assignment. The process was much easier for us with disconnecting flight. Au Revior France. 

Flight was on time and luggage came down quickly.  There was a long line for a taxi but it moved fast. The driver had the radio loud, channel surfing, singing along and kept turning off the A/C.  When we got off the freeway (do they call them freeways here) we were in traffic so I asked him to put the air back on.  He said “it’s kaput”.  He fiddled with some dials and it magically un-kaput-ed itself.  

We are in the Augusta area of Barcelona this time which is in the Sarriá-Sant Gervasi District. We aren’t sure why he picked this over the Gothic Quarter unless he felt it would be safer for us since we are on our own for a couple of days. Or maybe so we could experience another area in Barcelona. Dunno.  

Our rooms weren’t going to be ready until 1:30 so we had them hold our bags and walked to the pharmacia.  Lisa started feeling stuffy last night and needed some OTC meds.  Then we walked around a bit looking for a place to grab lunch since we skipped breakfast.  We finally found a to-go place and got a small pizza to share.  Lisa also got a container of a rice dish. 

We walked back to the hotel and sat in the breakfast area to eat our lunch. It did not take long until we were surrounded by very annoying people also waiting for there rooms. The lady at the front desk is very nice and said she asked housekeeping to put our rooms on their priority list. Hurry up and wait.  OMG people are annoying. And unruly child with oblivious parents. I can’t really blame the kid. How long do you expect a child to wait in a lobby with nothing to entertain them but a bouncy ball? Another large group waiting for their rooms. Everyone is yelling over everyone else.  Maybe I was just cranky 👀. Lisa’s room was ready at 1:30 so I told her to go up and rest and I would just wait in the lobby for mine. The lady called housekeeping and they said it was “almost ready”. At 2:30 I was the only one still waiting for my room. So much for the priority status. I told her that when they said my room was almost ready, I do not believe they had even started it yet.  She called again and said I could go up in five minutes. When I got to my room she was still mopping the floor.  

After I dropped my bags, I went across the street and around the corner and got a pedicure. When in Spain!  The only difference with the Spanish pedicure is the water was filled with rose petals. 🌹👣🌹When I got back Lisa came up. This is our seventh hotel. Six out of seven my room has been slightly larger!  This time mine has also been renovated and has a little balcony. 🤷🏼‍♀️ We sat out on the terrace for a little while. 

View from the terrace

View to the right. 

If you zoom you can see the ocean. 

We ventured out to buy water.  We sat under a shade tree for a bit and the cutest little weenie dog came by carrying a stick.  

The Branch Manager

We have seen SOOOoooo many dashounds in Spain and France. 

Lisa is going to try to sleep it off so I’m on my own for dinner.  There is a place right next door so I’m going to grab something there and go out and eat on the terrace.

Dinner for one? Are you kidding me?

Holy Mammoth Malanesa Batman, this could have feed a family of four for €15.50!  And it may have. The cheese lover in me admits it was a sin to say it was too cheesy. The fry lover in me ate only two.  What to do with the leftovers!?!? I asked two men working the front desk if there are homeless people in the area that come by looking for food. He said there are no homeless people here. This is a very nice area. I told them that I hate to waste, but I didn’t even eat half of it and I would rather not throw it away. I told them we had been in the Gothic Quarter and there were a lot of street people looking for handouts. He said they actually don’t want food. They want money for alcohol. Anyhow, bottom line one of them looked at the other and said maybe so-and-so would want it. The other guy said don’t throw it away, they would pass it on to someone. 👍👍

I grabbed a cup of chamomile tea while I was downstairs in hopes of catching up on some sleep tonight

Hopefully Lisa will feel better tomorrow.  She feels bad for me (I’m fine) and I feel bad for her. 

Friday June 26, 2025

I actually got some restful sleep last night even though I woke up a few times hot because the A/C wasn’t working in my room. Early morning I went to the front desk and asked if there was a trick to the thermostat. He said he’d come up and check it.  I grabbed a coffee and sat out on my balcony. 

When he came up the thermostat was set to 19c and it was 29c (85). He got the fan working and said he would put in an order for maintenance. It started cooling down right away.

Lisa felt a little better but not great.  We had breakfast and she went to lay back down.  I went down the street to the little square and walked around.  Then went into Parroquia Santa Teresa de l’infant Jesus. So beautiful inside.  

About and hour later she was feeling a little bit better so we took a taxi down to the Gothic Quarter to find a dress shop that Cheryl and Nikki had found some cute things at last week. We couldn’t find it. The taxis can’t get into those narrow streets so he dropped us as close as he could and said cross the street and go left and the shop is right there. Lisa queued it up on her phone map and it said “you have arrived” but we clearly had not arrived. We walked over to the Farmicia to get some cold medicine to take back home. The OTC stuff here is better than the stuff at home. Good to have on hand in case her cold follows me home. We tried to find the dress shop again, and again it told us “you have arrived” and we clearly had not arrived. Must’ve been a sign that I really didn’t need anything from that shop! We had lunch and grabbed a taxi back to the hotel.  We hung out in the lobby for a while.  She went to rest and I went for a walk again. I bought a dress but not without a little drama.  It was a little more expensive than some of the others around it but had a necklace hanging with it.  I asked the guy if the necklace was included and he said yes. When I went to pay, he went and got an older gentleman to take my money. When he folded up the dress and gave it to me, I said “where is the necklace?” He said “necklace not included”. I told him that I asked if it was included and he said yes. He said “he doesn’t understand the language”. I said “well then he shouldn’t say yes to questions”. Then I told him never mind and to give me money back. He picked up the necklace and tossed it onto my folded dress. It’s just a cord with a little charm, so I doubt it cost him more than a couple of euro.

Dog water feature 😍

We are all checked in for our flights tomorrow and our taxi has been ordered. We’ll grab a quick dinner in a bit.

Lisa was feeling a little better.  We walked around a while looking for a place to eat.  We ended up on the patio at a tapas bar.  We skipped the cocktails and had Lèmone Fanta. Lisa had meatballs and I had pork kebab. We also got olives and chips.

The pork was good.  I skipped the croutons. 

We sat outside a while people watching before heading back to the hotel.

Friday June 27, 2025

My worst travel day ever. We got to the airport in plenty of time. After I checked in, I went and found Lisa waiting to check in. The agent put the wrong boarding time on my boarding pass so by the time I got to the incredibly long immigration checkpoint I thought my flight was about to board. Stressed my way through there since I almost missed my flight coming into Madrid. When I got to the gate boarding time was in two minutes. Ultimately, we had a three hour delay due to a mechanical problem. That resulted in missing my connecting flight in Dallas. They rebooked me for a flight at 11:30 PM, delayed that flight to 12:30 AM, canceled the flight. There was mass chaos because there were approximately 300 people in line waiting for customer service to rebook their flights. Instead of standing in line, I called and spoke to an agent who told me there were no flights to Tucson until Sunday morning. I checked to see if there was a flight to Phoenix because my sister would have picked me up and they would have driven me home (3 hours each way).  There wasn’t a flight available until Saturday night so at that point, I wouldn’t have gotten home till Sunday anyhow so might as well just wait it out. They gave me a hotel voucher and then part two chaos began. Waited two hours for a shuttle to the hotel due to all the people who also had canceled flights trying to get a ride.  I finally checked into the hotel at 2 AM after being up for over 30 hours and after not having a meal since, I can’t remember when. I only have my carry-on bag since my checked bag is somewhere in the airport. I washed my outfit in the sink so I’ll have refreshed clothes in the morning before trying to get some sleep.

I only slept about three hours. The breakfast buffet opens early here so I went down to get food before taking a shower and now I feel somewhat human again.

The hotel here is very nice. I’m probably just going to hang around here today and get some rest and maybe catch up on some reading for my book club book of the month. I’ll probably just order room service late afternoon/early evening. I’m already checked in for my flight tomorrow morning. Prayers said, fingers crossed, wishes made, and spells cast that my travel drama is behind me and I will be able to get home with no issues tomorrow morning.

 🙏🏼🤞🧞‍♀️💫🪄

Bottom line, this was a great trip. Lisa is a great travel companion. We met some nice people. We had a few flaws along the way but the good most definitely outweighed the not so good. We definitely learned a lot, not only about all the places we visited, but also about our preferences in traveling. We are both Team River Cruise over Team drag-your-luggage-from-place-to-place travelers.