Saturday Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, España What a night. At 03:00, just after the bars closed, people were in the street singing and have a good time. By 04:00 they were gone. Then at 05:30 the delivery trucks started to arrive. Arriving wasn’t the issue it was the back-up signals which were maddening. Otherwise, it was a good night. The bed was comfortable and the room was at a good temperature. You would think after being on the bus as much as we were yesterday a

Friday León, León, España > Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, España Due to the large number of pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago our breakfast is scheduled for 08:00. Normally it would “start” at 08:00 and run until the breakfast room closed or we had to be on the bus. Today, not only dues breakfast have a scheduled time, but it is the same as the luggage pick-up. We must be out of our rooms by 09:00 and we have to have our carry-on on the bus by 09:00. Our walking tour

Thursday Cangas de Onis, Asturias, España > León, León, España A very rough night’s sleep. Really ate too much yesterday. Breakfast only consisted of a cappuccino; there was no way anything else could be had. Mary got up at 08:00 just as went back to sleep. I woke up again just after 09:00. The bags are to be picked up at 09:30 and there is a demonstration of sheep herding at 09:30. I didn’t manage to get myself back together by 09:30 so Mary went out alone for the sheep

Wednesday San Sebastián-Donistā, Gulpuscoa, España > Bilbo, Biscay, España > Cangas de Onis, Asturias, España It was an early start today. Get up, get bags out, and get on the bus by 08:30. For the first time one couple was not on the bus on time. There was some confusion last night if the depart time was 08:30 or 09:00. Several of us were confused at breakfast but apparently all but one couple figured it out. Francesco called them and they came right down. We were on our w

October 13, 2026 Tuesday San Sebastián-Donistā, Gulpuscoa, España With a side trip to France and Saint-Jean-De-Luz Slept well but it ended just about 04:00. Took a nice hot bath climbed back into bed and slept until 05:30. Got up to check emails etc. and found the internet wasn’t working. At 06:00 headed downstairs to reception to find out why. They gave me a new access code, and I managed to get connected. Went back to the room and waited until 07:00 to wake Mary up. We we

Monday San Sebastián-Donistā, Gulpuscoa, Spain Well, it is Christopher Columbus Day in the United States, and a National Spanish Holiday. I went down for breakfast at 07:00 only to discover that breakfast opens at 07:30. Sat and talked with Bill, a retired or semi-retired back surgeon from Texas, while we waited for breakfast to open. Breakfast opened and we went in. The breakfast room is huge! The selections aren’t bad either. We ordered Cappuccini and then got our break

Sunday Elciego, Álava, Basque County, Spain > Pamplona, Navarre, Spain (For the running of the bulls) > San Sebastián-Donistā, Gulpuscoa, Spain Managed to sleep until almost 06:00. Desayuno (breakfast) begins at 07:00 as usual. This morning because we have to have our bags ready by 08:00, Mary got up and we went to breakfast shortly after it had gone 07:00. We were back in the room before the 08:00 bag pickup. They did come and get the bags right at 08:00. We stayed in the

Saturday Elciego, Álava, Basque County, Spain Managed to sleep in until 06:00. Desayuno (breakfast) begins at 07:00. There was no one in the breakfast room when I arrived at 07:00. After a few minutes someone showed up and showed me to the seating area for our tour group. I ordered a cappuccino and huevos fritos con la yema hacia arribaen, aceite de oliva virgen extra con rubino ibérico y tomate a la plancha. You thought was difficult to read, it was equally difficult to

Thursday Le Méridien Hotel, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain > Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain > Elciego, Álava, Basque County, Spain It was an early morning. The bags had to be ready at 06:45, which basically means we had to be ready as well. The bellhop actually came for our bags at 06:40 but we were ready. We headed down to breakfast just before 06:45. They opened the door to the breakfast room at 06:45 and we sat down to breakfast. We made sure we go a little extra breakfast this

October 8, 2026 Thursday Le Méridien Hotel, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain Today is our first full day on the Tauck Tour of Norther Spain: Barcelona to Porto (Portugal). Breakfast is in Cent0nze. It may have been pointed out that a couple places it is writer Cent111onze. Mike pointed out that centonze is one-hundred-and-eleven, in French. He may have also pointed out that the address of the restaurant is 111 Las Ramblas. It must not be omitted that the connection was never mad

Wednesday Le Méridien Hotel, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain We started the day by having breakfast with Mike & Maddie here in the hotel in the breakfast room. They were going to see Sagrada Família this morning with their friends from New Jersey. We will connect up with them again at the Tauck welcome party and dinner. There are twenty-six people, including us, on the tour. We decided to ride the Barcelona Bus Turístic. After breakfast we headed back to the room to get ready

October 6, 2026 Tuesday Le Méridien Hotel, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain We have the entire day off before we start our Tauck Tour with Mike & Maddie. We usually plan an extra day into our travels just in case something goes awry. While yesterday’s flight was quite literally the flight from hell, we did still manage to get to Barcelona on our scheduled day. Having that extra day allows us to relax and, possibly, recover from the travel day. We got going later than usual thi

Monday – Travel Day Malpensa Airport, Ferno, Lombardia, Italia > Barcelona El Prat Josep Tarradellas Airport, between the municipalities of El Prat de Llobregat, Viladecans and Sant Boi > Le Méridien Hotel, Barcelona, Spain That was a mouthful. Wednesday, we start our first Tauck Tour. We are going today because there is no flight on Tuesday. We are going to take a tour of La Sagrada Família on Tuesday. Mike and Maddie arrive late on Tuesday and have a dinner planned with f

October 4, 2026 Sunday – Torino, Piemonte, Italia > Malpensa Airport, Ferno, Lombardia, Italia É il Aeroporto di Milano Feeling much better today. Unfortunately woke up very early just after it had gone 04:00. Managed to stay in bed until 06:00. Showered, shaved and dressed and downstairs in the breakfast room by 07:00. Back up in the room at 07:20, and off to the laundromat at 07:25. Got to the laundromat at 07:50. The door electronically unlocked at 07:55. The laundry w

Saturday Torino, Piemonte, Italia Sick Day. Slept 11 plus hours last night. Managed to get up enough strength to go downstairs and have some fruit, a brioche and a cappuccino. Felt awful. Mary left for Serra’s about 08:30. She is on duty from 09:00 until 12:00 while Serra and Pietro go for a meeting at Amadea’s school. The doctor came to Serra’s at 10:00 and checked out Luisa. Luisa has tonsillitis. So, apparently whatever I have wasn’t something Luisa shared with me. I w

October 2, 2026 Friday Torino, Piemonte, Italia Had a good night’s sleep. Slept until almost 06:00. Showered, shaved, and went down to breakfast. Breakfast here has a lot of choices, but it was just some fruit, and a ham and cheese omelette. The machine-made cappuccino is just that, machine made. Back in the room Mary got up, we had tea and looked at our emails, worked on the blog. We decided to take a walk around the Quadrilatero, the oldest part of Torino. It wasn’t com

October 1, 2026 Thursday Torino, Piemonte, Italia Good morning. We agreed to be at Serra’s at 09:00 to watch the girls until the nanny arrives at 10:30. We were just a few minutes late getting to Serra’s. Mary left me with the girls at 10:00 to get her hair done. Luisa just sat and watched cartoons. Amadea sat for a little while, then Serra left and Amadea went into full melt down. Nothing seemed to please her. Rocking, singing (ok my singing is so great but I had to try so

September 30, 2026 Wednesday Torino, Piemonte, Italia Although yesterday was a travel day, we almost made it to 10,000 steps, just about 200 short. We would have made it if we had walked back to the hotel from Serra’s, but the heavy suitcases made that impossible. Yes, the 10,000-step target is not based on clinical research. It is all a catcher marketing slogan from a Japanese company in 1965 when they introduced the Manpo-kei pedometer in 1965. Manpo-kei translates to "10

Seared Chicken and Figs with Olives By Cibele Tondu Ready In - 30 min Hot, seared, jammy figs form the foundation of a tart and spicy pan sauce in this quick chicken stovetop dinner. Briny green olives round out the Mediterranean-inspired flavors and balance the sweetness of the fruit. Be careful to lower the heat if the marinated chicken thighs begin to scorch so that the concentrated bits left in the pan can be transformed into a flavorful pan sauce with minimal effort.

September 29, 2026 Tuesday Milano, Lombardy, Italia > Torino, Piemonte, Italia Travel Day This is just a “resting” day. The night went ok. My arthritis acted up and I was generally uncomfortable all night. Mary slept until 08:00. We went down to breakfast at 09:00. The breakfast here is still one of the best. The best part, for us, at least is that it is free. We each had a cappuccino, yogurt and an omelet. After breakfast we returned to the room with no particular plans