TBEX Girona, the Pyrenees and Beaches of Costa Brava

TBEX Europe ended for most of the travel bloggers on Saturday.

Girona, Catalunya, Spain was a welcoming environment for bloggers and photographers. I had camera envy as I watched so many bloggers with fancy lenses and DSLR cameras shooting photographs around the city. I did the best I could with my point and shoot camera.

The iron bridge in Girona was built by the same Gustave Eiffel as in the Paris Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Bridge is a good location for photographs of old Girona.

The old quarter of the city had many places loaded with tourists and bloggers and some places where even in a city of travelers there was solitude to be found.

Of course there were places in Girona loaded with people too; especially at night by The River.

I booked four days of post conference tours courtesy of the Costa Brava tourism board.

The post-TBEX events really started on the steps of the cathedral in a late night post-conference party around Sunday midnight, September 23, Bruce Springsteen’s birthday. 

A re-enactment of Napoleon’s invasion of Girona performed in the city on Saturday night was followed by making new travel blogger friends before everyone went their own ways.

The Nuria Valley of the Pyrenees is quite a sight to see at about 6,500 to 7,000 feet in elevation. Unfortunately the skies clouded over just after we arrived and cleared just after we left Nuria. The imagery was beautiful to the eye; not so much for the camera.

Today was an incredible day at the beaches of Tossa de Mar, Giverola and Blanes.

Hard to choose which location is best.

Tossa de Mar has history with a 1000 year old walled city on the cliffs of Costa Brava.

Andy Garcia and Sharon Stone were supposedly in town for a film shoot. Part of the old city was taped off for the film. I didn’t see the superstars, but I did photograph a pretty red car that I assume will be in the film.

And I am writing this from Blanes on my hotel patio overlooking the blue Mediterranean Sea across the street.

Life is rough.

Loving European living in Catalunya, Spain.

Terrible internet and an incredibly loaded schedule has kept me off the computer most of the past few days. And I just wanted readers to know that while my blog writing has been absent lately, my collection of stories and photos will provide many detailed posts to come on hotels and locations around Costa Brava, north of Barcelona, Spain in the weeks ahead.

Loyalty Traveler Disclosure: Costa Brava tourism provided transportation to the Pyrenees and Costa Brava beach resorts with meals and accommodations for the post-TBEX12 Europe travel blog exchange conference.