France - Versailles

Early this month, my sister and I spent an extended weekend at Versailles. It's altogether not a bad idea to stay in Versailles itself, instead of Paris. The distance between Paris and Versailles is easily around 40 minutes by car or by metro. 

There are various hotels in Versailles, but the grandest is the Trianon, a Waldorf Astoria hotel that is actually divided into two different hotels: the chateau (5 stars) and the pavillon (4 stars). It hosts a 2 Michelin star restaurant too. We were lucky to have been able to use hilton honors points (saved up quite a few) to secure a room there for three nights.

We left on Friday afternoon and arrived early in the evening in Versailles. On Saturday we visited to palace of Versailles (we had booked our tickets online). Must say, though the palace is grand, it did not make an impression on me. We've seen prettier palaces and castles. Only the Hall of Mirrors lived up to its expectation.

That being said, you can easily spend a day at the terrain. The grounds around the palace are vast. You can walk in the gardens, visit the Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon, as well as the Grande Epicurie (where the horses were stabled and you also find the carriages.

Versailles is a village, but not a small one. There are enough restaurants and cafés. On Sunday morning there is a market in the center of the village, which is worth seeing.

On Saturday the weather was sunny and warm, but in the afternoon we got a heavy thunderstorm, which flooded parts of the country. On Sunday it was more overcast and you could expect rain. 

All in all we had a good weekend, but the next time we'll head to France we'll stay in Paris itself.

Spain - Barcelona

During the last week of May, my sister and I took a trip to Barcelona. We had planned to do this before, but had to cancel, first due to unexpected surgery, then due to corona when it was forbidden to travel.

The weather during our stay was wonderful. Sunny and warm, but not too warm to be comfortable. I always enjoy sunshine and hope for nice weather when we travel. 

The flight from Brussels to Barcelona took about 2 hours. We stayed at the Alexandra hotel in the center of town. This hotel belongs to the Hilton group. The Ramblas were just around the corner. By the way, the Rambla wasn't crowded at all and we didn't spot any pickpockets, as we were warned for. I guess it was still a quiet period to visit Barcelona.

As it was our first time to visit this part of Spain (excuse me, Catalonia) we did and saw the obvious sights. Our first visit was to Park Güell, designed by Barcelona's most famous architect Gaudi. You can easily spend a couple of hours walking through the gardens and admiring the architecture. There are also places to sit down and have a drink.

Next we took a tour of the Sagrada Familia cathedral, which is still under construction after all these years. A very special church, and I can recommend climbing (going up there's a lift) one of the towers. From there you can see construction going on and also have a wonderful view over the town. 

Another day we made a visit to Casa Mila, one of the famous buildings Gaudi created (along with Casa Batllo). It is possible (which a small entrance fee) to enter the apartment building to see the special architecture and view some rooms as they were years ago. Casa Mila also features a nice cafetaria, where you can sample local sweets, like pancakes with Catalonian creme and fruit.

On another occasion, we took the cable car to the top of Mont Juic, where you can visit the fort. Also worth a visit as it allows for great panorama's. From the fort you can take the cable car halfway down, descend at the half way station, walk some and then take another cable car down to the old harbour of Barcelona. From there it is not far to the beach.

Needless to say we had a great time, and we also enjoyed the local gastronomy. Nearly everywhere you'll find little eateries that offer tapas. The restaurant in our hotel also had a good reputation for its preparation of meat. In the bar, you could taste some of it while having a drink.

Last thing to say, Barcelona is not all that expensive. Spain in general isn't (but that's easy to say, as we in Belgium live in one of the most expensive countries in the world). Suffice it to say the budged for this trip wasn't fully used, so the money can come in handy for future trips.