Mid-life gap year Tanya and Craig

The Causses is a limestone plateaux with green fertile canyon valleys. It is at the southern end of France's Massif Central. It is a vast and largely unspoiled territory with amazing scenery.  For us there were 3 highlights: Millau Viaduct (world's highest bridge), Gorges du Tarn, and the Roquefort cheese caves.  Millau Viaduct Loving most bridges and being fans of Lord Norman Foster's other architecture (British Museum, Hong Kong Airport, Bundestag in Berlin) we were excited to visit the world's tallest bridge in Millau. It has a structural height of 343m and is a 7 pylon multi-span bridge. It is not only beautiful with its needle pylons reaching for the sky but is also considered an engineering marvel.  Gorges du Tarn A canyon formed by the Tarn River near the beginning of its journey to the Atlantic Ocean is nearly 53km long and 400-600m deep. Over millennia the river has eaten its way through the limestone plateau. The gorges are flanked ...

Our absolute highlight was the Basílica de la Sagrada Família or simply La Familia. Construction started in the 1880’s and it is scheduled for completion in 2026. It is the masterpiece and life’s work of architect Antonio Gaudi. The building is organic, audacious, crazy and brilliant and almost every detail came out of one man’s imagination. The eastern façade was completed early in the construction and is more traditional in its appearance depicting 3 events from the life of Christ: Birth, Death and Resurrection. The western facade is modern with sculptures depicting the passion of Christ. These sculptures are the work of artist Josep Maria Subirachs and his team. They began in the 1990's and took over twenty years to complete them with each figure carved in situ. The Familia is hard to photograph from the outside due to obstacles such as fences, trees, roads and people. Inside I found it impossible to capture the scale and feeling of light. I am not religious but ...

Our Madrid adventure started at the Puerta del Sol, a large public square in the centre of Madrid. Exiting the railway station we saw the statue of the bear and the strawberry tree. The statue is a representation of the emblem on the coat of arms of the city. Next stop was Kilometre Zero, which now contains a plaque, but in its day was where all distances in the Spanish world were measured from. We walked past the Palacio Real de Madrid (the royal palace) and the Madrid Cathedral to Templo de Debod. In 1960 the construction of the Aswan Dam in Egypt meant many significant sites were to be lost below the water. Spain provided knowledge and assistance to relocate many of these. Egypt thanked Spain by donating the 2 nd Century BC Temple which now stands in a park in Madrid. We spent the rest of the day walking the streets marvelling at the ornate buildings, stopping for beer / wine and tapas when the mood took us. Day 2. We headed st raight to the Reina Sophi...

Tanya met Marg and Bob in the arrivals hall of Malaga airport whilst Craig did blockies around the airport in Hotwheels. We were all very happy to see each other. We drove south along the beautiful Costa del Sol to Istan in the hills behind Marbella.  Our accommodation for 4 days was a lovely 2 bedroom multi-storey apartment with stunning views. We arrived on a clear afternoon and could see the Rock of Gibraltar and the coastal mountains of Morocco in the distance. The lake and hills in the foreground were equally beautiful. It rained for the next few days so we made use of our early Christmas present, a game of Scrabble.  We ate fabulous Spanish delicacies whilst assuring ourselves optimistically that the cloud and rain was lifting.  On a warm sunny morning we walked the beach and marina sea wall at Puerto Banus. The beach umbrellas and deck chairs were laid out on the highly groomed white sandy beach. The sun glistened on the Med and the super-y...

White flat-rooved buildings, largely built on hilltops around a castle ruin dating back to the Moors. A very large ornate Catholic church in the centre of town, usually built on the site of the old Mosque surrounded by smaller Catholic churches. Possibly a remaining synagogue. Streets and gardens lined with tart Seville Oranges which the Moors introduced for aesthetics and scent. The back lanes are narrow with glimpses of the surrounding hills. The countryside is covered in olive groves interspersed with a patchwork of  grapes, avocados, citrus and vegetable greenhouses. Small herds of goats or sheep for milk and meat, horses for parading, donkeys and bulls for ring fighting.   We have to confess our knowledge of Andalusia was scant before visiting. Yes, we knew a bit about the history, the major monuments such as the Mezquite and Alhambra, the white villages, etc., but beyond that our knowledge was limited. Some of our highlights of Andalucía are:...