Through the French hexagon

Last weekend, I drove back to Guadalajara from Frankfurt with my parents. Our two-day trip took us through Germany, France and Spain.

The first part of the trip, the one from Frankfurt to the French border, was boring and disappointing. One has heard so much about German highways that it is easy not to meet the expectations. Fifty years ago, I agree that German highways were the best ones in Europe but it seems they have forgotten the meaning of two important words: maintenance and enhancement.

Then, we spent quite a lot of time in France. We entered the hexagon in Mulhouse, close to a huge Peugeot factory and left it in La Jonquera. It is amazing the comfort and quality of French highways: they are clean, the speed limits (130 km/h and 110 km/h when raining) are perfect, they are surrounded by nice woods and landmarks,... We also drove close to river Rhône and, again, I must write that it is the closest thing to the ocean that I have ever seen in my life. Other rivers (such as Doubs, Isére, Ain,...) are also remarkable, but Rhône seems to be the mother of all of them.

I booked a room in Chateauneuf du Pape, a small village close to Avignon. I could not find nice and cheap accommodation in Avignon and that is the reason why I moved some ten kilometres away. Talking with a French colleague at work, I learnt that Chateauneuf du Pape is said to have the best wine in France. As I do not drink wine, there is nothing I can say about it, but I can say that, at least, they are expensive (7 € for a cup of wine for dinner).The name Chateauneuf du Pape means something like "Pope's Newcastle". It has indeed a castle, but it is in ruins, not new. From it, there are nice views of Rhône river and Avignon. These ruins allow the visitor to learn how arches and doors were made in Middle Age (see picture below). They just start by piling up stones, approaching each pair of two a bit more every time, until they can be covered by a single stone. It is obvious, but worth seeing.The last part of our trip, from La Jonquera to Guadalajara went through known places and there is not really much to say. Only the stupid fact that Madrid is not readable in the highway panels until it is only 260 kilometres away, in Zaragoza. In Catalonia there is not a single clue of how far Madrid is. Arghhh, again, another evidence of the stupidity associated with nationalism.