Costa Brava

The first week of December we took another holiday to visit the Costa Brava. We stayed 3 days in Figueras and we visited the town and a big fortress on a hill above it, it's one of the biggest in Europe. Another day we drove to the Cap de Creus peninsula, next to the boarder to France. There we visited the monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes and the lovely village of Cadaques at the end of the peninsula.
On the way to France we stopped in the medival town of Peralada before driving along the coast to France, where we stayed 2 days in Argelès-sur-Mer. We visited the amazing old town of Collioure with many nice buildings and a fort built by Vauban.
Back in Spain we stopped in Castello d'Empuries with a nice cathedral and then we spent the night in Rodes where we had a nice sunset. In this region nearly every day we had very strong winds, so we could stay outside for a long time. On the way back to Barcelona we had a stroll through the nice medival village of Peratallada.

Fort Castell Sant Ferran in Figueras

Dali museum in Figueras

Monastry Sant Pere de Rodes

Cadaques

Castle in Peralada

View over Collioure

Castle and port of Collioure

Collioure

Cathedral in Castello d'Empuries

Sunset in Rodes

Very strong winds in Rodes

Peratallada

Peñiscola, Ebro delta, Montblanc

During the first week of October we rented a car for a week and first we drove to the Ebro delta and then we stayed 2 days in Peñiscola. The hotel on the beach was very nice and the fortified old town on a peninsula with a castle on the top is amazing.
Afterwards we stayed 2 days in L'Ametlla de Mar, a nice fishing village, before heading to Mora d'Ebre a bit upriver of the Ebro. Nearby lies Miravet with its Templar castle on a hill above the Ebro, offering a nice view over the surrounding landscape. On the way back to Barcelona we visited the medival town of Montblanc with its intact town wall and on the next day Santa Coloma de Queralt.

Ebro delta, near Deltebre

Peñiscola

Peñiscola castle

View from the top of the castle

Port in L'Ametlla de Mar

Hotel in L'Ametlla de Mar

Miravet on the bank of the Ebro

Miravet castle

Miravet with the castle on the hill

Town wall of Montblanc

Montblanc

Main square in Santa Coloma

Switzerland

In September we travelled the first time with Irina to Switzerland. We went walking with her in Goldiwil above the lake of Thun and in the Basel region, where we visited the Dorneck ruin and also the cathedral in Arlesheim.

View from Goldwil towards the mountains

Dorneck ruin

Dorneck ruin

Arlesheim cathedral

Sort, Rialp

For an extended weekend we rented a car and drove to the Pyrenees. We stayed in a hotel in Rialp and from there we visited Sort and Escalo, an old village with a wall and many nice stone houses. It was quite cold and windy, so we couldn't stay outside for a long time.



Agramunt

View towards Tremp

Sort

Sort

Escalo

Pals, Aiguamolls

In April and May we stayed twice for a weekend near Pals and visited the surrounding area. The medival town of Pals is very nice and we had been there also before. This time we went to L'Estartit too where we saw the Medes islands and then we had a stroll through Torroella de Montgri, an nice village. On the other day we drove to the Aiguamolls Natural Park next to Empuriabrava, a protected area with coastal lakes, saltmarshes and dunes, we could see fishes, frogs and a lot of storks.

Pals

Pals



Medes Islands



Torroella de Montgri



Lake in the Aiguamolls Natural Park



Aiguamolls Natural Park



Aiguamolls, view towards Roses



Two of many more storks in the park



Tallinn

For an extended weekend we went at the beginning of February to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Cold air covered whole Europe and in Tallinn we had during 2 days a maximum temperature of -19 degrees, in the morning it was up to -24. It was very cold, we never wore so many clothes before and we visited many museums, made a bus tour, went to cafes and shopping centers to avoid staying outside for a long time. However everything was covered with snow and together with the sun and blue sky it looked very nice.
Tallinn's old town is wonderful, it has a lot of nice old buildings and the town wall with many towers is in a good condition. It's possible to climb up the wall and some towers, it has different churches to visit and the museums offer a wide range of articles about the country's people and history and the city. The old town is divided into 2 parts, the upper Castle Hill with the oldest church and at its bottom the lower Town which stretches to the sea. Not far away from the old town is the Kadriorg Palace built by the Russian tsar Peter the Great and surrounded by a park. Despite the cold weather, the sea unfortunately wasn't frozen. Only some small parts were covered with ice blocks.

Viru Gate

Baltic Sea and Tallinn in the background.

Kadriorg Palace

Town wall and Alexander Nevsky cathedral.

View from the Castle Hill to the old town.

Another view from the Castle Hill.

Tallinn's well preserved town wall.

The town hall square.

Niguliste Church

at -19 degrees top temperature.