Spring in France, Spain, and Italy

Looks like you have done some great planning.

We are looking to visit the Bordeaux region of France and then the Basque region of Spain just across the border.

We are in our mid-70s now and prefer taking tours, but we can still do it on our own.

We would prefer to take trains and not do the car rental. The only tours that I find only spend about three days in each area, which is not enough and they also include time in Barcelona and Madrid, which we don't need to redo anymore.

Please publish your trip review when you return so that we can take advantage of your experience.

@geovagriffith I definitely was going to try and do Trip Reports as we went along (basically one per bullet). It will be the first time I've done that, but I wanted to try and get thoughts down while they were fresh. The mind isn't getting any sharper!

Looks like a fantastic trip, I'm a big history buff myself , especially medieval and classical history, so a lot of the stops are right up my alley! A few personal day trip recommendations:

From Tours, make sure to do a day trip to Saumur to see the Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud, which houses the tombs of King Richard the Lionheart and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. Also in Saumur is the Musée des Blindés, this is one of the top 3 best tank museums in the world. They have many different tanks from WWI to Modern and from many different countries too. The Musée des Blindés hardly known to most foreign tourists so when I went there I had most of the museum to myself.

From Zaragoza, consider daytriping to Tarazona a medieval town where Muslims, Christians and Jews all lived in harmony. The town's unique architectural eye candy reflects this synergy between the three cultures. Tarazona’s medieval Jewish Quarter is the best preserved in the region. Also Zaragoza's Semana Santa (Holy Week) festivities are very good and a great way to see our history and culture come to life.

From Barcelona, I'd suggest a day trip to Tarragona an ancient seaside town with very good Roman ruins, including an amphitheater, intact aqueduct, and Praetorium Tower, was once the capital of Roman Hispania Tarraconensis (most of modern-day Spain). Tarragona's medieval old town is a delight to explore too. Next door is Les Ferreres Aqueduct a real Roman Aqueduct you can walk on top of.

If you have extra time in Barcelona, I'd also suggest a trip to the Poblet Royal Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and still active 12th-century Cistercian monastery. It was a fortified medieval royal residence and contains the unique hanging tombs of the old Kings of Aragon.

From Girona, if you want to see a unique classical site, take a look at Empúries, a rare site of an ancient Greek colony (6th–3rd century BC) in the western Mediterranean. It's quite unique as the ruins sit right on the Costa Brava overlooking the sea. The area is also the site of an ancient Roman town called Emporiæ from the 2nd century BC - 6th century AD. There is a pretty good museum on-site containing artifacts, mosaics, and statues of the Roman and Greek periods called the Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Empúries.

Hope this all helps :)

@Carlos Thank you for this! We have added Tarazona to our Zaragoza section straight away based on this, and are looking into your other recommendations. Really appreciate you taking the time...

History Traveler,

Sounds like a fabulous trip!
I look forward to reading about your travel experiences.

Wishing you a wonderful trip!

Carlos,
Can one get to Poblet Royal Monastery, and Empúries, via public transportation? Thanks!

P.S.
When in Annecy, I recommend ‘Crêperie Ti Mad’ for delicious crepes, and Glacier des Alpes for the best creamy gelato (temporarily closed now but hopefully will be open during your stay)

When in Milan, I recommend you go visit the Monumental Cemetery (Cimitero Monumentale di Milano) if you haven’t yet. It’s very impressive.

@History Traveler - happy to help! A few more ideas popped into my head in the meantime. Thinking about it now, maybe a visit Tarazona would benefit from a local guide for the day, especially one with their own wheels.

On your way back from Tarazona, if you have the guide with a car you can also stop at Trasmoz, a "cursed" village of witches and dark magic, Trasmoz is the only town in the world to be excommunicated by the Pope. Tucked in the foothills of the haunted Moncayo mountain range, Trasmoz has centuries of witchcraft history. For example, a deadly epidemic struck the village in the 19th century and a quiet woman was suspected of causing the disease and thrown into a well! You can read more here - https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20160418-spains-cursed-village-of-witches

Also if you have spare time in Pamplona, consider a daytrip to Olite, a fortified medieval town with winding narrow streets and impressive old walls, in the center is the Royal Palace of Olite, the seat of the old Kings of Navarre, actually incorporated into the old town's fortifications. For me, it's one of the more impressive medieval castles in Spain.

@Priscilla - I visited Poblet with my own car. However one could also take the regional train (Regional Exprés) from Barcelona Sants to L'Espluga de Francolí (1:30 hr), which is the local village and then walk the 3 km to Poblet Monastery. Of course, a private guide with their own car could also solve that problem.

Thanks Carlos!
I appreciate all the detailed information you’ve provided and I’m taking notes for future reference!
Muchas gracias!

Happy to help :)

Olite...yes! I had never heard of it and stumbled upon it largely by accident while researching a few weeks ago. Quickly added it to the itinerary based on pictures alone. Glad to hear it is tops on your list. Can't wait!

I'll just add a suggestion on your Trip Reports. I can definitely understand wanting to do a TR while things are fresh especially since you are traveling for a longer period of time. I'll just say if you do them in separate segments, consider adding links to each thread to the other parts of your report. OR start one TR thread and add to it as you travel. To me it's much better to have things set so a trip is easy to follow!

Do you do FB/Instagram? RS tour guide Veronique lives in Tours and often does live walks or picture posts of the area along some theme at France with Vero. She is an excellent teacher and fun to watch. I think I may do a day trip to Tours this spring when I'm in Paris because she makes it look so attractive!

I can't remember if I've mentioned this to you or not. I've posted on it recently so I apologize if my info is a repeat. While you are in Paris if you are in the Louvre you can see the vase Alienor d'Aquitaine gave Louis VII (although he wasn't yet king) for a wedding present. It's really not even marked with what it is which to me is shocking but there you have it! It is apparently the only thing that is known to have actually been hers. I just stand there and try to imagine her holding this. This link gives the location of the wing and room, it's also easy to just find the Angelina Cafe in the Richelieu wing and then the 500 corridor is perpendicular to it, lol.

https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010096614

@Carlos, thanks for the info on Fontevraud Abbey. This is on a to-do list for me. I'm very interested in Alienor d'Aquitaine as well.

Hi Pam! I love your idea for trip reports. I think as I write each "chapter," I'll also go back and add links, so there's a preceding and succeeding link in each report connecting the whole trip like a chain.

And yes, I've seen your past posts about the Alienor d'Aquitaine vase. As soon as I read that section of Elizabeth Chadwick's The Summer Queen, I immediately Googled it. I was thrilled I recognized it, which is shocking since I had no context at the time I saw it. I just remember it as a beautiful object. Also can't wait to visit Saint Denis on this trip (have never been). Chadwick really brought that moment to life when Alienor sees the Gothic church for the first time and recognizes the "great leap forward" in architecture.

Finally, thanks for the tip on Tours. I'll track that down.

Oh, you'll love Saint-Denis. Such a neat and interesting place! Although the website gives the option to purchase a ticket ahead, last April when I visited I did not do a timed entry. I'd visited before and really, I've never seen it crowded there. The audioguide is pretty inexpensive and I'd recommend that too. Make sure you get it going before you walk away from the kiosk. For some reason I had difficulty (eye-roll...user error) and had to have one of the ticket sellers help me, lol.

so food, culture, food, history, architecture, food, wine, food. :-)

If you love food and wine you may be surprised to hear that Zaragoza and Girona are also somewhat of foodie destinations in northern Spain, if not underappreciated ones compared to the likes of the Basque Country or Barcelona. Some of my personal recommendations:

For Zaragoza:

Chocolatería Valor - a great place for traditional Spanish hot (or cold) chocolate drinks and churros, makes for a perfect breakfast.

El Tubo District - the tapas quarter of Zaragoza old town, a collection of great little tapas bars strung together by its twisting medieval streets, you can't go wrong with any tapas bars here. https://www.spain.info/en/places-of-interest/el-tubo-quarter/

Puerta Cinegia Mercado - a gourmet food hall/market just off the Plaza de España, it has little shops with many different local and regional foods and beer, like mushroom croquetas or seafood Paella. Complete with a 3 story statue of Roman Emperor Augustus, very cool place. https://zaragozaguia.com/puerta-cinegia-gastronomica-un-mercado-gourmet-en-el-corazon-de-zaragoza/

Taberna 1941 - contemporary tavern offering traditional mountain and sea foods of Northern Spain, if you want to eat good hearty fish this is the place to go.

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For Girona:

Casa Marieta - 100+ year old restaurant on the Plaça de la Independencia. For a traditional Catalan treat (and if in season) try the Canelones de ceps, which are pasta tubes stuffed with ceps, which are local mushrooms from the area, and baked with a béchamel sauce on top.

Rocambolesc Ice Cream - A fairly new establishment by the Roca brothers, local Michelin star chefs who have won the "best restaurant" award multiple times. Rocambolesc serves whimsical gourmet ice cream that's out of this world.

For good regional wines try Calatayud (DO) near Zaragoza for full-bodied reds and Empordà (DOP) near Girona for delicate Rosés.

Bon Profit! (as we say in Catalonia)