Friday, June 13, 2025

Home Sweet Home-After 41 of Traveling Europe



We finally landed back in Newark, New Jersey airport around 8:00 PM on Tuesday night after 41 days of traveling throughout Europe.


luggage in train station
Sitting the train station in Barcelona

  Exhausted doesn’t even begin to describe how we felt when we got back. After so many weeks of dragging our carry-ons and backpacks through train stations, we couldn’t bear the thought of one more train ride—so we skipped the hour-long +  train home and called an Uber instead. Worth every penny.

Before the trip, I wrote a pre-vacation post full of excitement and plans. Now that we’re home, I thought I’d follow up with how things actually unfolded—starting with our time in Spain. (I'll post about our initial 15 day Transatlantic Cruise on Virgin Cruises to Morocco, Canary Islands, Valencia, Portugal, and Barcelona in a future post.) Here, I'm beginning in Spain.

 

From Sea to Girona

After our amazing 15-day transatlantic cruise ended in stunning Barcelona, we hopped on a 45-minute high-speed train to Girona, where we spent the next three nights/four days in a lovely Airbnb.


street in Girona

 

It was a one-bedroom apartment just a 6-minute walk to the old city—and best of all, it came with a washer and dryer. After living out of suitcases for 2 weeks, that was a luxury!


cathedral in Girona Spain

 

Girona did not disappoint. This medieval town was straight out of a fairytale—beautiful Gothic cathedrals, colorful buildings along the Onyar River, narrow cobblestone streets, and ancient city walls (yes, we climbed tons of steps to get to the city walls!- we almost gave up they were so high). It was also fun to see filming locations for Game of Thrones—a treat for any fan.

 



street in Blanes Spain

We spent our days wandering shady tree-lined paths, sipping coffee in cozy cafés, sampling local restaurants (finding places that offered a gluten-free vegan choice—score!), and my husband treating himself to a daily gelato. Four days felt just right.


 

pizza in spain
It's hard to believe but this was an individual thin crust pizza!!
He ate it all.. 


bowl of olives
Olives are everywhere in Girona .
If you ordered a beer, Sangria, or other drink, it came with a small bowl of delicious olives. We ate a lot of olives in Spain!!




gelato in spain
We sat next to this lovely young couple in the restaurant. After talking for more than an hour, they insisted on taking us out for ice cream to their favorite Gelato shop!! 

man on the river in Girona Spain

street in Girona, spain

A Day Trip to Blanes

One highlight was a quick day trip to Blanes (pronounced “Blan-es”), a charming seaside town about an hour away. With its history, relaxed vibe, and beautiful coastline, it was the perfect little escape from our already dreamy getaway.

women on the sea in Blanes Spain

You may have noticed we were wearing matching jackets. We actually bought them in Barcelona 7 years ago. We were in Barcelona and it got chilly so we bought jackets. They have been our travel jackets ever since and we are easy to find in crowds and tours too!!! 


More on the food situation on the next post!

16 comments:

  1. Oh, I'm so excited you will be sharing photos and stories of your trip. I love reading people's travel posts and since I'm not familiar with these countries from personal travel, will learn too! Welcome home -- and I'm glad you survived the Newark airport (all that happened while you were away, I think!)

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  2. How lovely to meet friendly young locals.

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  3. First, Welcome Home! It looks like a great time! Ohhhh, those olives!

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  4. wow...you two had a fantastic time! That pizza looks great. Look forward to reading more about your vacation in Europe, Judee.

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  5. What a beautiful place. He ate the entire pizza? I'm sure it was delicious but it looks huge. I would be exhausted after 41 days of travel.

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  6. Spain is a gem. We enjoyed our time there too. What a wonderful time you had! I look forward to the next part!

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  7. Welcome home, and thank you for this lovely post and photographs.

    All the best Jan

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  8. Welcome home! I have been on vacations that long and I remember very well how exhausting it was. You often need a vacation after the vacation in order to rest up. Take it easy, and bask in those wonderful memories you made.

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  9. Wow, 41 days in Europe—that’s an epic trip! Girona and Blanes sound amazing, and I love the travel jacket tradition. Can’t wait to hear more about the food! Welcome back! 😊🏡✈️

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  10. "there's no place like home" judy garland said so eloquently....great images of your trip.we always have an itinerary when we travel and i keep a journal. i always did all the research on the best things to do in the area. we take shorter, less complicated vacations now!!

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  11. Wow! You had such an adventure. Your trip sounds amazing. I'm looking forward to more great stories from your trip.

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  12. Here’s the thing about travel. The destination is wonderful, getting there not so much! I have very fond memories of Spain and I would return in a heartbeat. Great destination although there are areas now that are shunning tourists. With good reason. Have a great weekend and eat olives! David

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  13. Wow! What an adventure. I would love to do that but I don't think I could ever convince my hubby to leave the country. That pizza looks amazing. Yes, I can believe your hubby ate it all. It's easy to eat more of a thin crust pizza.

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  14. Love these pictures and updates. So wonderful. Your descriptions are so spot on! It was so fun to spend time with you in Spain.

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  15. Your cruise and the second part of the vacation sounds fantastic. But 41 days of travelling? Oh wow - after such an intense vacation I'd probably need one week off to have some rest from all the travelling LOL

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  16. What a great trip you enjoyed and I enjoyed reading about it! We are also travel enthusiasts, but have not traveled as long in terms of consecutive days aside from a cross country road trip quite a few years ago, never abroad for so long. Spain is on our travel bucket list as ks Portugal which we visit in October.

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Your comments are appreciated. I love knowing who is stopping by to read my posts! Have a great day.

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