At 9 am we depart the excellent Hotel Duran in Figueres. (Both hôtel and restaurant highly recommended.) Now we await the Teisa bus that will ( hopefully) take us to El Voló, aka Le Boulou (in France). This part of the world has changed hands with France and Spain so many times it must feel like a carnival shell games, never mind previous encounters with Visigoths, Romans and Moors.

Our extra day in Salvador Dali’s backyard allows Cyn and I to do some work. Cyn even squeezes in some yoga. We had planned to meet with Gaetan and Perrine the young French engineers, who saved us in Patagonia when our car broke down but now we have to postpone. We agree to meet two days later, which then allowed us to properly prep for our alternate route into France and explore the Dali Museum the surrealist painter designed just down the street.

One night in our hotel at the Melodia, not a beautiful accommodation, but clean and VERY convenient to the Atoche Train station even if when crossing the eight lane boulevard to get to it means taking your life in your hands. We survive, board the train and rumble onto Girona, yet another short hop RENFE insists we take before getting on a local train that will take us to the little town of Port-Bou to catch another train to Perpignan and, finally, Lyon.