Highlights of France & Barcelona Reflections

It's been a week since I returned home from France & Barcelona and after recovering from jetlag I have had to tell everyone I've seen about my experience. So many people have opinions and ideas of what a "guided tour" is like. I sure did...and I sell them for a living. I'd bet that my perception of them was like many peoples. Here are 7 ways I was proven wrong and proven right on my opinions.

1. Guided tours are for old people - Wrong - Are you kidding me?! One day on the tour and an 80 year old would be in bed for a couple of days! We had extensive walking tours up and down the hills of cobble street villages. We did a lot of walking where we had to keep up with our guide. We were busy from 8am to roughly 6pm every day. By the time we checked in to our hotel and had dinner I was exhausted! I slept maybe 5-6 hours per night and catnapped on the bus just to keep up with the tour.

2. A guided tour will only have old people on the tour - Wrong - Our tour had a great variety of people! We had a family with 2 kids ages 6 & 11, a honeymoon couple in their late 20s, single travelers, friends, and couples. Our group ranged in age from 6 - 65.

3. You spend all day on the bus - True...Some days - Yes, this was partially true. We had a couple of days where we spent a lot of time on the bus. However, after looking at a map of the territory we covered on our tour it was understandable as to why we had to have a couple of long bus days. We visited a large part of France and some days had to be spent driving. Trafalgar did an excellent job of breaking up the long bus days by stopping every couple of hours at a fancy gas station or a chateau or a cathedral. Patricia spent some of the bus time telling us about the country or the place we were headed to and she also allowed us to have some quiet time (particularly in the morning) to sleep or read.

4. You have to up early every day - True - We had to be up early with our bags outside our door even earlier every day but 2 days. It was tough. I won't lie. It was mind boggling to set my alarm for even earlier on vacation than I typically do for work. However, now knowing how many places we visited during our tour I completely understand why we had to get up so early. If we had not be on the bus by 8am every day we would have missed out on visiting many of the wonderful places we spent time at. We covered a large part of the country and that required some early days. It was worth it, but I was excited to sleep in until 7:15am on our free day in Nice!

5. On a guided tour you are herded around like cattle - Wrong - We did have to travel as a group but when we did have a walking tour of a town we had little Vox boxes that allowed us to walk at our own pace or wander a little behind our group but still hear our guide talk about the places we were seeing. We also had a great amount of free time in each place we visited. We may have had a tour of the town with our guide but then we had free time to explore on our own.

6. Escorted tours are too touristy - Wrong - Yes, we did see the tourist highlights such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris and Las Ramblas in Barcelona. However, we saw a lot of places that I never would have even heard of had a not been on a guided vacation. And I'm in the business! I never would have known about Fragonard Perfumery in Eze, a hillside village near Nice, unless I was searching for that kind of experience. I would have missed the historic walled villages of St. Paul de Vance and Carcassonne. We were able to see a great variety of places that were popular and some hidden treasures.

7. Every tour is fast pace - Wrong - Guided vacations have changed a lot in the last 5 to 10 years. Guided tours used to be 1 night in each city and jam packed with seeing as much as physically possible in a week. Today, tour companies offer a fantastic variety of tour paces. Trafalgar has a Discovery pace that is the stereotypical 1 night in each city and multi-country tour. I did a Regional tour that focuses on 1 or 2 countries and will spend 1 or 2 nights in each city...still fast pace but a bit more focused. Trafalgar's most popular tour style is their At Leisure pace tours. These tours never leave the hotel before 9am and spend 2-3 nights in most cities. This allows guests to have more free time and not feel rushed in each place. After participating in a Regional pace tour I can definitely see why the At Leisure tours are the most popular. There were a lot of places I would have enjoyed spending a little more time in and it sure would have been nice to sleep past 6am each day.

Overall my Trafalgar Tour was an exceptional experience that I would recommend to anyone. Trafalgar has a tour style to fit anyone's interests. I saw so many places I would have missed by traveling on my own. I had a guide who acted like my walking encyclopedia by telling me the history and fun facts about each place we visited and my personal concierge by telling me the must see shops and restaurants during my free time. My cultural experience in France and Spain was well worth getting up a little early in the mornings and sitting on a bus for a few hours while watching the French countryside pass by my eyes.

Goodbye from Barcelona

Day 11 & 12 - Highlights of France & Barcelona

Our last day of the tour brought sunshine and a chance to see as many of the highlights of the city as possible. We woke early again and met our local guide to go see Gaudi's infamous La Sagrada Familia church and do a panoramic city tour of Barcelona. When we arrived at the work in progress church we walked through a garden to get the full effect from a distance. I stood in awe. I have seen plenty of pictures of La Sagrada Familia, but to see it in person was incredible. 

Maybe you won't agree, but the architecture reminds me of a sand-drip castle I made as a child at the beach. However, the detail in the architecture was far more intricate than I ever created. The church is still being worked on and architects are still following the original creators designs. 

We continued touring the city and went to an overlook high above the city to see all of Barcelona and the cruise port. I know, as a travel agent, how many cruises begin and end in Barcelona but I had no idea that the port could hold 16 cruise ships at one time! And it happens! Our guide said occasionally there are 16 in port at the same time. Holy Moly! That's potentionally a minimum of 18,000  tourists in the city just from cruise ships! 

As we made our way to La Placa de Catalonia in the heart of the city we passed another of Gaudi's designs. I don't know the name of it, but it is on my list of places to see again whenever I get a chance to return to Barcelona. The facade of the building looks like bones and beautiful tile work decorates the walls. 

We dropped of some people at La Placa de Catalonia and those of us who signed up for the optional excursion to Montserrat continued on with our local guide out of the city. I woke up from my nap to an unusual looking mountain and our guide describing the history of Montserrat. I'm not catholic so I don't quite understand the significance of the Black Madonna, but the church was simply gorgeous! The views of Spain and the Pyrnees Mountains were also breathtaking! 

We made it back to the city with enough time to stroll some more on Las Ramblas and snack on chocolate churros and champagne sangria. We ended the day with a farewell group dinner at a local restaurant, Citrus.

It was nice to spend one last evening all together with our travel buddies. We were blessed with a great variety of people from all over the world. We bonded with some more than others and the large group naturally divided itself into smaller groups throughout the week. We spent most of our time with the Australian family with young boys, a couple from California, a newlywed couple from the Phillipines, and two shopaholic women from California. We all bonded through our love for travel and exploration.

The ride to the airport was bittersweet. We took pictures and there were hugs all around...even from our Australian little brothers. The couple from California was on our flight from Barcelona to Philadelphia and they sent us Baileys from first class occasionally throughout the flight to sip on while we watched movies. Our luck struck twice as Katie and I ended up with our own seats at the back of the plane. After a week on a motor coach we were extremely grateful to be able to stretch out for the duration of our flight. 

Crossing the Border

Day 10 - Highlights of France & Barcelona

South of the Border? No, that's on the way to Clemson...today we went West of the Border...to Spain! We woke up to sunrise and a double rainbow over old Carcassonne. It was beautiful!!! 

Our first stop once we crossed into Spain was Figueres and the Salvador Dali Art Museum. Now I'm not at all an artsy fartsy person so I wasn't terribly excited about this stop. Europeans sure love their nudity. I have had to get over the shock of seeing art of naked women everywhere! Americans are a bunch of prudes compared to the Europeans! 

Katie and I had about all we could stand of nudity after about 30 minutes in the museum so we wandered the town of Figueres in search of coffee and breakfast...nude statues before coffee is just a little too much. We found a cute little spot for a chocolate croissant and something that was supposedly hot chocolate and I'll tell you, the croissant was better than those in France! 

The lunch spot for the day was La Roca del Valles, Spain's version of Tanger Outlets, so we had time to shop and eat! The outlets were packed since yesterday was May Day many people made a long weekend of it so everyone was out shopping. I found some cute Clark's wedges and we pushed through the crowds to eat lunch at a sandwich shop. I'm so tired of eating bread! The bread is great in France & Spain, but they eat so much of it! 

It was a short drive from La Roca del Valles to the city of Barcelona so we arrived at our hotel by 4pm and caught the bus to Las Ramblas where we met complete chaos. I suppose the extreme crowds were due to the holiday and it was a Friday night, but it was elbow to elbow people the entire length of Las Ramblas. You can definitely compare Las Ramblas to Paris' Champs Élysées and I'll give it to Paris for a more organized road versus shop set up. 

We were pushed the entire length of the Ramblas and only broke through the crowds to visit a few stores. We ventured down some side streets and I know I have travel in my blood when it excites me to see a hotel that I have researched and recommended to clients! 

We found La Boqueria Food Market and I felt like my childhood hero, Travel Channel's Samantha Brown, was exploring the food stands with me. The market had everything from fresh fruits and vegetables to meats and seafood to chocolates and candies. It was packed with people but many of the stands were beginning to close up so I got a fresh fruit smoothie for only 1€! 

As it got later, the crowds thinned out and we found an outdoor cafe on Las Ramblas to have paella and sangria and people watch before catching a cab back to our hotel. Tomorrow is our last day in Barcelona and of our tour. It has been an amazing journey and there are still more highlights to be seen!

Arles & Carcassonne

Day 8 - Highlights of France & Barcelona

I could have happily spent a few more days in Nice, but it was time to move on. We loaded back in the bus and napped on the way to Arles. Vincent Van Gogh lived in Arles and used much of the scenery as his inspiration for his paintings. May 1st is a holiday all over Europe called May Day so much of the city was closed. In Arles they were also celebrating a festival called Festival of the Guardians so while a lot of shops were closed the town was alive with parades and people in costume. The festival made it a little more difficult to explore the village, but we saw as much as we could. We walked past the Cafe of the Night and the gardens that Van Gogh painted, the hospital that he went to when he cut off his own ear, and the bull fighting arena in the middle of town. 

We spent the night in the new village of Carcassonne, but we had a local guide take us around the historic walled village of old Carcassonne. The village reminded me a lot of St. Paul de Vance that we visited near Nice due to it's walled exterior and coblestone streets lined by local shops and cafés. Carcassonne has a castle within the walls and a basilica where we listened to an ensemble of Russian singers. 

Since we arrived on May Day and everything was closed, we had dinner at the hotel and spent the evening chatting with fellow travelers and Luis and Patricia. 

Twice as nice in Nice

Day 7 - Highlights of France & Barcelona

Twice as nice? Corny, but true. Arriving in Nice meant 2 nights in the same hotel, more than 2 hours of free time, and 2 days on the sea. We arrived in Nice late on Tuesday evening just in time to see the buildings in the square turn on and find a cute outdoor cafe with several of our tour group buddies to eat dinner. Wednesday was definitely my favorite day since Paris. It was so nice to be able to sleep in a little - it's bad when 7:15am is sleeping in - and be able to take our time in the morning and not have to pack up our bags. We grabbed a small breakfast, threw on sunglasses and hit the streets of Nice. 

We headed toward the Flower Market first since it was still early. The Flower Market had a little bit of everything! They had beautiful flowers, of course, huge fresh veggies, the sweetest smelling fruits, and local artists with the crafts and paintings. 

The market was only a block from the Mediterranean Sea so we just had to go see it! The water was a breathtaking blue!  Instead of sand the beach was made of smooth pebbles. Definitely have to wear sturdy shoes on this beach! The view of Nice from the beach was simply gorgeous! 

Nice is famous for their shopping so we had to check out their variety of stores. One whole street along the plaza has designer stores like Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Longchamp, etc. Another street has the stores for the common people. Katie and I split and she shopped with a few other marathon shoppers from our group and I opted to pop in and out of little boutiques until it was time to grab a lunch and meet the group at the hotel. I found a cute little take a way lunch spot and picked up a tomato and basil quiche and a fruit salad. I headed up to the hotel  to eat and had some time to kill so I FaceTimed my Mom. Thank goodness for technology! Since we have had wifi in each hotel and sporadically on the bus we have been able to text, but it was great to be able to call her and see her and Roy for a few minutes...even if I did wake them up. 

Wednesday afternoon we had an optional excursion to St. Paul de Vance and Eze. I learned the optional excursions are probably the best part of the trip! We had a smaller group so it was easier to talk to different people. We drove out of Nice to a hilltop walled art village called St. Paul de Vance. It was beautiful! Patricia led us on a walking tour and pointed out boutiques and gorgeous overlook spots. The cobble streets were like walking through a living art gallery. 

We continued driving up the neighboring hill to the village of Eze. The winding roads were a little nerve wracking in a large motor coach but the views of the Mediterranean made it worth the nausea.

One of my clients absolutely loves Eze so she was really excited I would get to see it! We visited Perfumerie Fragonard where they make soaps, lotions, and cosmetics right there on site. We toured the factory and listened as the guide explained the process. Of course, the tour ended in the factory boutique where they had us smell their most popular fragrances. Some were nice and some...were not. 

We drove back up the hill to Eze to have dinner at a local restaurant. Katie and I joined the Australian family with their 2 little boys for dinner. We really enjoyed getting to know them and the parents laughed that their kids have added to their family by naturally drifting toward Katie and I, the new big sisters, and an older couple who you can tell would make the best grandparents! 

It has been really interesting to get to know the people on our tour and learn that for many of them this is 1 of several tours of their vacation. I need to start handing out my business card! The Australian family did Dubai and another Trafalgar Tour before this one and then they are going to Dublin and England before stopping in Singapore on their way home. The sweet grandparent couple did a CIE tour in Ireland before this tour and then they are doing another Trafalgar Tour after ours before catching a river cruise. Must be nice! The ride back was entertaining after the free wine at dinner. Patricia turned up her Adele cd and the bus full of people sang while the little boys danced in the aisle.