From Bilbao to Porto, stayed in great Parador on the way. Bilboa beautiful. Ibis hotel downtown. Roast chicken late at night while the town partied all night on wine and tapas.
Porto, Portugal - hated it, one night is a bad hotel. City is huge, dirty, poor, run down, ugly, old. People seem unhappy and surly. Beggar girl harassed me relentlessly. Long walk made me tired and hurt my feet. Nuke this town.
Ride across Spain for two nights in ETAP/Ibis cheap hotel 10 km from Barcelona, stayed in another OK Parador en route- got a haircut and walked to Sagrada Familglia and art museum, exhausted. Autoroutes in Portugal had tolls every 10 km. All electronic, so I didn't pay and drove 130 kph! After Spanish border, waved over my caribinieri for routine stop, asked for papers, gave license, asked where I was from, amazed - move along. Worst truck traffic ever seen on long no passing through the Spanish desert 4 hours from Barcelona. Nothing is Spain worth seeing between coasts.
Ride back to France, Nimes, Mediocre Ibis hotel in suburbs, with broken elevator. Nimes sightseeing next day.
Ride towards Chamonix, through wine country, passed through Chateauneuf du Pape region, through Val d'Isere, fantastic Alpine roads. Stayed in Combleux, at Arvis Hotel per tourist office info, quiet place needs work but nice people. All these fancy towns are ski resorts, dead in summer, except for bicyclists and hikers, lots of them. Most shops closed. Still too early for heavy tourists.
Into Chamonix/Mount Blanc next morning then on into Alps, across Col du Grand St Bernard, lunch on Italian side, dropped bike in parking lot after a bad idea beer. Rode all the way to Milan suburbs, night in motel with food trapdoors. Rained all night.
Got parts to repair drop damage in Navarro at FrideMoto, a great BMW dealer with a very helpful service and parts department, rode North and East no good roads, lots of traffic to Bolzano, Hotel Alpi (shabby town, expensive hotel). Rain at night. Dinner was a kebab and beer. Saw one hundred caribinieri traffic cops pulling over cars and trucks everywhere. Looks like a revenue thing. Italian drivers the worst tailgaters. Too much truck traffic on small roads. Tiring drive. Two small passes.
Plan to go North to Innsbruck, Austria tomorrow.
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