The seeds for this trip were planted about 30 years ago the first time I read Ernest Hemingway’s novel “The Sun Also Rises”.  I became an ardent Hemingway fan and his books have inspired many pilgrimages to places like the dark continent of Africa to the crystal clear waters of the Florida Keys.  For my 50th birthday trip I decided I wanted to fly fish for trout in the Spanish Pyrenees Mountains.  My wife, Gretchen, was not too keen on the idea of a fishing trip so I added to the adventure a horse trekking trip up the Catalonia Coast covering 120 miles through rivers, over mountains and along sandy beaches. 

I booked the fishing trip with Ivan Tarin of Salvelinus Fishing Adventures located in the village of Aren in the Eastern Pyrenees.  The lodge I stayed in was the Ribagorza Lodge and Spa.  This is an Orvis endorsed fishing outfit that has good reviews and a nicely designed website.  Getting to the lodge was a relatively easy affair.  I flew into Barcelona from Atlanta arriving the morning of May 9th.  I took the train from the airport to the Barcelona Sants train station and stayed at the Barcelona Sants Hotel, located in the train station, which was a nice and convenient place to stay.  The next morning I took the train from Barcelona to Lleida which was about an hour ride and I met my guide Aitor at the Lleida train station.

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