Day 5 - Beach, Vineyards, and a Dead Motorcycle

Today, was a nice combination of auto-routes and local roads, mountains and tunnels, villages by the beach and vast vineyards ... and great seafood.

 Left relatively early and headed down the mountain towards the ocean.  Stopped in Gemenos for a nice pain aux chocolate, a small quiche, and a cappuccino inside a courtyard surrounded by small cafes and shops.

It was an uneventful drive with a nice stop for lunch in Forntingan which looked interesting on the map sitting on a sand bar by the sea so I had to go check it out.

In the afternoon, I realized that I may even make it to Andorra la Vella at around 6pm if I just kept going so the plan was to go for it ... until my motorcycle blew up ... in Prades, France, 100km from Andorra.  

The motorcycle just all of sudden when dark ... no power anywhere ... coasted to a stop on the Main Street in Prades ... and set out to figure out what was happening.  Given that I have a lithium battery, my first guess was a complete and sudden failure of the battery.  

It is also good that everybody in the world understands the word "kaput" ... and that a motorcycle repair shop was just a block away ... lucky again!   So, I opened the battery compartment to take the battery out and found one of the bolts that attach the wires to the battery missing.  Fixed it and it started right away .... phew!  I was already running catastrophic vail out scenarios in my head : )

Also, luckily there was a nice hotel (a restored grand house) right across the street so I checked in and decided to hit the road early and visit Andorra early for breakfast.

Prades is a small town nestled right before the big mountains towards Andorra.  It has an amazing church that started as a Benedictine Abbey in the 9th century with incredible gold carvings all over inside.

I walked around and had pizza Napolitana for dinner.  Another good day to be alive.

The entrance to the courtyard where I had breakfast in Gemenos

Headed to the beach in what looked like a sand bar on the map and found this jewel seafood restaurant in Frontignan

"crevettes aux raviolis aux champignons régionaux"

A nice walk on the beach in front of the restaurant in Frontignan

After my motorcycle blew up ... I found a hotel in a beautifully restored mansion in Prades

Full of antique rooms, doors, furniture, knobs, floors

Sant Pere de Prada was founded as a Benedictine Abbey in the 9th Century

Surprise! ... this was the emblem of my elementary school (Benedictine monks)

Wow ... a total surprise ... the inside is amazing ... gold everywhere

Main Street at dusk with the town's movie theatre on the right and Andorra's mountain at the end of the street