Spain Photos: Famous Paradors

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We arrived in Spain in early April, ready for a long stay. For three weeks we toured the pastoral Pyrenees Mountains and the Basque country in the north, strolled Barcelona's wide thoroughfares and lounged on the beaches of the Mediterranean coast.

Then it was time to get serious. In Salamanca we enrolled in language school for a month of Spanish lessons. After more travel through the rugged interior and the sensuous south, we moved to the province of Galicia.

There on the northwest coast near the village of Muros, we rented a bay-front apartment, reveled in the village, made new friends, and practiced our meager Spanish.

Heading East
At the end of July we took a long train ride to southeastern France. For three weeks we hiked in the Alps near Grenoble and Chamonix, and indulged in the local gastronomy.

As the weather began to cool, we boarded ferryboats, crossed the Adriatic and the Aegean Seas, and wandered for eight weeks through Greece and Turkey.

Because autumn is the best time for hiking in the Himalayas, we arranged our itinerary to arrive in Nepal in early October. For nearly a month we walked the trail that circles the Annapurna mountain range, reaching the geographical climax of our travels at 17,700 feet on the pass known as Throng La.