Following Thanksgiving we zoomed across Spain to Zaragoza in Aragon in order to stage for our travels north towards Paris for our departure to Israel. A primary motivating factor underscoring the selection of the route was whether or not we could explore the Pyrenees one last time - in particular a ski area. If that were not possible we would have pressed on to Barcelona.
We were in luck two different ways. First, after arriving in Zaragoza we learned that the "Siberian" which has been affecting weather all across Europe with very cold temps and copious snow dumped enough snow in the Pyrenees to allow many ski resorts to open. So we went north to the Spanish/Catalan/Aran village of Viella/Vielha to stay a few days in the mountains and ski at Baqueira-Beret (see the map at http://www.baqueira.es/estacion/mapa-pistas). Rio, Ari, and I had the mountain and all the lifts pretty much to ourselves, which was especially tough given that there were 2-6 inches (I think that 5-15 cm sounds better) of fresh powder down on virtually untouched slopes since the mountain had just opened. !Muy bueno para nosotros!
We were in luck two different ways. First, after arriving in Zaragoza we learned that the "Siberian" which has been affecting weather all across Europe with very cold temps and copious snow dumped enough snow in the Pyrenees to allow many ski resorts to open. So we went north to the Spanish/Catalan/Aran village of Viella/Vielha to stay a few days in the mountains and ski at Baqueira-Beret (see the map at http://www.baqueira.es/estacion/mapa-pistas). Rio, Ari, and I had the mountain and all the lifts pretty much to ourselves, which was especially tough given that there were 2-6 inches (I think that 5-15 cm sounds better) of fresh powder down on virtually untouched slopes since the mountain had just opened. !Muy bueno para nosotros!
The second way we were lucky was that Barcelona and Madrid soccer clubs were playing a series of matches (a championship?) and the city of Barcelona was in near riot form in a number of areas apparently even though the Barcelona club was trouncing Madrid (even a 5-0 match).
Some notes on geography and water. The landscape north of Zaragoza in the area of Huesca and Barbastro, and Benabarre is similar in many ways to Montana's Rocky Mountain Front (minus the dramatic hilltop villages of course). Dramatic reefs break down to the plain below, and the sedimentary formations are very impressive (see pic above). On the downside, the rivers that drain the south side of the Pyrenees in Aragon are much developed for irrigation and hydroelectricity production, even to the point where the rivers carried no flow in many reaches. We also witnessed this in the Valle de Aran on the north side of the Pyrenees but still in Spain - on the Riu Aran which is the headwater tributary of France's Garrone (see the other pic above). After crossing the border into France, the canals started immediately too!
We're flying to Tel Aviv tomorrow but won't arrive until Monday because of a layover (Dusseldorf - will only sleep there). Hopefully the fires are out by now. If you hadn't seen it in the news, there are some large and deadly (some 40 fatalities) fires in the North with at least one set intentionally by arsonists according to my dear Aunt Adina. The fact of wildfires is not surprising though given that Israel has been experiencing a hot, dry, and long late summer. Will be looking into water, land, and fire management there during our visit - and spreading the word about proper planning for development in the WUI (wildland urban interface).
Au revoir from and to France - and Peace to all!
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