France, Portugal and a Squid Ink Ball

21st October – Vouvray, France

Due to the extent of the rain we have been having and the earlier leak we found, we thought we would get the camper checked over for damp, we left early to get to the service place in Tours which was shut for all of Monday so we back tracked to Vouvray for the night. Nice spot in a quiet town just off the main road. Practiced our juggling, went for a walk, had a shower and drank wine. Nice relaxing day.

 mmm relaxing in the carpark (we later found out that setting out chairs in a free site is illegal, but everyone does it)

22^nd to 23^rd October – Oradour Sur Glane, France

We got moving early again to get to service centre. Through German, English, French and a whole bunch of hand gestures we got it figured out. She tested BB's walls and seems like there is no moisture in there so we celebrated by buying a bike cover, fly screen for the door, heater, blue loo stuff and a door stop, it’s like x-mas for BB.

With dark clouds coming we couldn’t be bothered going into tours so we headed south to Oradour. The next day we headed into the burnt out old town of Oradour. Not to give a history lesson but this village/town was burnt to the ground by the Germans during WWII on June 10, 1944. 600 something people were killed including women and young children. Apparently the men were separated and shot in different areas of the town and the women and children were burnt inside the church. The worst thing was that this was when the Germans were being defeated and beginning to leave parts of France. People were shot in the legs so they couldn’t get away and when some managed to get out of the church they were shot. I guess the town has been left alone as a reminder of what war can do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back at the camper spot and we relaxed in the sun for a bit, got chatting to our English neighbours before the thunder, lightning and rain started. Soon enough after it was sunny again followed by more rain and then sun again which is apparently normal for this region. Better than all day rain in any case.

 

 

24^th to 1^st November – Sjef & Roly’s Place (Nats Uncle & Auntie), Payrac, France

We ended up spending a fun 9 days at Sjef and Roly's place. BB stayed out by the house which we still slept but we were treated with great home cooked meals for the 9 days. We especially had fun with all their animals that rule the house. The extended family included: Boy, Beau, Gizmo, Kootz pootz, sheba, chanel and lady, 3 dogs and 4 cats.

 

 

 

Our home for the 9 days

Nat took boy for a walk most mornings and I joined when I wasn’t hung over. Nat gave BB a good clean while I helped Sjef remove a tree from the top of the block so they could have access during the winter as the entrance is steep and difficult when slurry. It took us three goes to get up and I had BB swinging left to right on one occasion.

 

BB with new bike cover, more professional looking now

 

 

Working (still time to pose though)

 

 

Drinking after working

 

 

 Eating after working and drinking

 

Best seat in the house

 

  More drinking and relaxing after working, drinking and eating

 

 

After all the working, drinking and eating

 

There was a lot more dutch talk than English so lucky I had my sexy translator, although towards the end of most nights (after a few hours of drinking) the translating was a bit sloppy!!

Moie tieten (nice tits) being one of sentences that I learnt after some raunchy TV. This was after an advert for a show on an adult tv channel called HIV house….yes that was the name of the program. We didn’t have access to the channel though….

We got stuck into “The voice” and “Hollands got talent”. There are a lot of gay guys on tv in Holland, not that there is anything wrong with that, the shows are quite funny.

We went out to lunch and dinner on a couple of days and we were treated to a 5 course meal at a Belgian place which was really tasty.

Sjef and Roly took us to La Poopie (he he he he) which is a beautiful town on the hillside.

So basically the 9 days was full of good food, good drink and laughter, and lots of love from the extended family. Be warned, there are a lot of animal photos, I couldn’t help myself.

"you should have seen the other guy"

 

 

Apparently Boy didn't eat for a day when we left.

A big thanks to Sjef and Roly for having us and not allowing us to do the dishes.

 2^nd November – Saint Cyrias, Dordogne, France

On the way to Saint Cyrias (rained pretty much all day) the drive was still very beautiful and despite the rain we stopped off in Sarlat La Canade which was a nice town.

Some shots on the way to Sarlat la Canade

 

 

 

 

We then stopped at a nice aire (free camping) in the middle of the Saint Cyrias.

 

3^rd November – Bergerac, Dordogne, France

In the morning we walked through the markets and bought 4 sausisons (like a small salami). Garlic, pepper, fig and duck were our choices. We even tried a donkey sausison, although it wasn’t as good as the others.

We left St Cyrias after the markets and managed to stop at Maccas to get on the internet after quite a while. Managed to get the guitar books (which we bought from Amizon and had them sent to Nats mum place, although she didn’t recognise it and sent it back!!) sent back to Nats mum again for free which is pretty good considering our mistake.

We made it to Bergerac and we followed Nats Dads coordinates for a place to park but it was kind of an odd place next to some industrial plant or something. Anyway we thought we would continue and see what else was there. We drove up a hill to some other place where there was no one and in a very small village with not much happening so we continued onto an aire in a new suburban area. We were the only ones there for the night but still felt fairly safe.

 no one can hear you scream!

4^th to 5^th November – Dax, France

We left Bergerac for greener pastures, well hopefully a place with less rain so we continued south. We drove through several places but the sites didn’t look too interesting so we kept going all the way to Dax. We ended up staying for 2 days, mostly in BB as it......yes continued to rain.

 Roman baths

Dax is a thermal spa city, not that we took advantage of it. It looked as though most of the spas were within hotels and a bit expensive. Once we were sick of the view of the carpark we headed further south towards Basque land.

 6^th November – Anglet, France

You could see the landscape and housing change as we entered the Basque land. More kind of spanishy. We stopped off in Bayonne for a bite to eat and a walk around and then went on to the camper place in Anglet. Driving from the city to Anglet was like driving from France to QLD, the streets were all of a sudden full of palm trees and surf shops with places to eat and drink, it really felt like we were at home.

The camper place was up on a mound surrounded by hedges and just 100m from the beach. It was a pretty good spot actually with free water. There was a small community of campers and finally two days of sun. Even with the sun out everyone else still just stayed in their campers. Crazy. Some of them ventured out for walks. They walk past our GERMAN plate camper with an AUSTRALIAN flag in the window and still talked to me in French!

We made the most of the sun by practising our juggling, beach walks, reading and relaxing and then it started raining again. It was then time to head further towards San Sebastian in anticipation of Nat’s mum arrival and my first taste of Spain.

Our day trip to Biarritz

Not sure where this was 

9^th November - Camper plaats, San Sebastien

We were planning to stay in Hendaye but the camper place was being renovated so we had to keep on going. Couldn’t find the camping site that Nat’s Mum had given us the details of just over the border into Spain so we went to a free site in San Sebastian which was just a car park.

BB with friends

 

10^th to 15^th November - Igueldo Camping, San Sebastian. Spain

Els (Nat’s Mum) was arriving today so we checked her bus drop off in town which looked easy enough to reach and then checked into the camping. The camping was up in the hills with some not so nice driving but it was nice to finally have some power and internet so time to update the blog, photos, facebook and fully charge everything. We picked up Els from the bus stop and then just hung out in the cabin that night away from the rain and cold.

With an 80% chance of rain the next day we decided to stay in the camp site and took to the comfort of food and alcohol.

Watching two liquored up Dutchies trying to put the pillow case on the longest pillow in history was the main source of entertainment. 

The second day of the visit looked promising so we caught the bus into the city but it did not stop raining all fricken day. Nat lost her battle with her umbrella but we won the battle of the tapas which was awesome. Thanks to some research from Els and google maps we started our tapas crawl through the city.

The first one was pretty good, we had rabbit and garlic, quinoa and some other chicken dish I think. All very tasty and cheap but not to the extent that we thought.

The Rabbit

 The second tapas was what I will be expecting when I enter the gates of heaven. You had an option of meat, tomatoes with oil and salt, red peppers with oil and salt and that was the extent of the menu. The waiter came out with two huge slabs of beef, each around the kilo I reckon. The waiter looked and smiled waiting for an answer from us.

We looked at each other and I asked if there was something smaller, to which he replied “noh….thisa one or thisa one”.

I then asked can we have half of that one, to which he replied “noh…thisa one or thisa one”.

So after finally getting the gist of it we chose the smaller one and sat down wondering exactly what we have ordered. How can we go wrong in this place anyway, if it’s good enough for the couples dog next to us (which was being fed whilst in his little purpose made doggy bag) then it’s good enough for me.

So we started to tuck in to the salted tomatoes and paprika which were nice but incredibly salty, the water was fleeing my body with ever mouthful. Then the meat came out, sliced and still sizzling on the plate. It was just the beef with salt and nothing else and was bloody awesome!! Whatever water I had left in my system was now gone, so much salt but so good!

Natty getting directions from the locals

It was then off to the desert bar where we stuffed ourselves again and then headed home to dry ourselves off.

Day three was the tasting menu day. A special treat given to us by Els who herself always wanted to do something like this in Spain. She had booked the three of us at Martin Berasategui’s 3 Michelin start restaurant for lunch and what a lunch it was! 

The tasting menu consisted of 12 plates accompanied with their chosen wine, we only asked for one change which were the oysters, we changed them to roast pigeon and natty also made a small change to the desert so she could have some ice cream (no surprise there). They even gave us each our own copy of the menu each with the necessary changes.

First dish was smoked eel which we have never had, actually tastes a lot like smoked oysters (which we do like), it had a caramelised apple top. I think this was probably my favourite dish of the day.

After having this dish I thought that perhaps this menu won’t be so bad after all. My positive thinking soon vanished when confronted with the next dish. “Squid soup, creamy squid ink ravioli served with squid crouton” Now for someone who doesn’t eat or like squid the word “squid” was mentioned far too many times in the title. As the dish was placed down, it looked like a thin bowl of semi clear liquid with a round ball in the middle. When the plates were placed the waiter explained that we must keep our mouths shut when eating the squid ink ball and to eat it in one go.

As I had conquered the smoked eel with great success I was feeling rather confident, I was also trying not to think about the ink ball. Nat was the first to try and…well…we now know why the waiter explained to us that you must keep your mouth closed. The black ink was everywhere, her wine glass, plate and the very white tablecloth (I’m pretty sure I saw some on the back window). It was pretty funny actually, especially with her frozen ink face look she had when it happened. I believe her next statement was “I don’t like things exploding in my mouth!” (I will leave that one alone….but damn its hard…..not to)

A small portion of the ink, the rest was on her chin

After Els finished her ball it was my turn and I think my face was as white as the ravioli ink ball itself. Probably the worst thing I have ever eaten. It really didn’t taste all that bad but the texture was all wrong. Felt like we were drinking the ink…..i really had to concentrate as my gag reflexes were in full swing. The good news was ,how can it get any worse than this!!

Another highlight was Els dropping her camera into her soup, we put it down to the alcohol, we were all pretty drunk by the end of the meal (which took about 2.5 hours) and were the loudest in the room by far. There were probably about 16 guests in the room and about the same number of waiters and staff.

Nat enjoying her sweets

For those interested the dishes were:

1)      Smoked eel, foi-gras, spring onion and green apple

2)      Squid soup and squid ink ravioli

3)      Hake with stuff

4)      Sauteed black garlic with beet ceviche, ice radish and raifort cream

5)      Raw fennel and risotto

6)      Foie-gras with seaweed

7)      Corrotxategi egg on herb liquid salad

8)      Veggi salad with seafood

9)      Red mullet with edible scale crystals, soybean sprouts

10)   Roast pigeon

11)   Desert of apple lemon, celery, cucumber, gin and mint

12)   Mist of coffee and cocao over banana with whiskey sorbet and slush (Nat had chocolate souffle’)

I still don’t know what half of it was but most were pretty tasty.

 The great man, thought he'd be taller

After our cab ride home we cracked open the champagne which gave us all a headache the next day.

On day four, we went into town again. This time we ate some of the food which they present on the top of the counters in the bars. It all looks very good but you can’t help think about the germs and bacteria getting breathed on it.

 Day five was raining and cold so we just hung around the campsite again.

The view that made us get a move on

 16^th November - Bilbao, Mums holiday inn carpark

Left early for Bilbao. Tried to find the camper place first but the roads have changed a lot and brenda hasn’t been updated recently so after several attempts we decided to drive to the hotel and look for a plan B. We parked BB at the hotel, had lunch and then caught the bus into town to visit the Guggenheim. The building is very unique with a brass like colour and all curved edges. Its set along a river and has the rest of the city in the background. It was pretty nice even with the overcast sky. (pictures don't really do it justice)

The so called 'modern art' that was on display was the funniest ever for all the wrong reasons! We each received an audio guide which spoke about each of the pieces and if you didn’t know any better it could have been a comedy act. Some of the explanations for the art work were absolutely bizarre and hilarious.

The first display were large paintings of women’s faces on all four walls. This was a unique room because the painting were large and of a passport type photo (um ok if you say so).

The next room had the “The Matter of Time” sculpture which you could walk through, the spaces shrank and grew and kind of had a cool effect. Although I wouldn't go this far “..these sculptures create a dizzying, unforgettable sensation of space in motion” ha! Hilarious.

The funniest of them all which had the two dutch ladies cracking up the most was the collective works of Antoni Tapies which included the following:

·        Chair with clothes thrown on it

·        A wardrobe with messy clothes

·        A pile of plates

·        Old couch

·        Rolled up mattress

The discussion on the plie of plates was pretty funny too, “why that many plates stacked in that way” “these objects mark the birth of a language of three dimensional objects”. Looks like a pile of plates to me.  In fact the whole thing looked like something from a very poor bachelor’s house.

Another 'art' piece was a collection of photos a lady took of her computer screen which was dusty with fingerprints. Each photo had an image on the screen of a different photo of a museum.

Another crack up was photos of empty billboards taken in the US. Maybe we are not open minded and appreciative enough of 'modern art' but this stuff is surely pushing the “art” category.

At one point I was looking at some fabulous art which involved cutting people out of magazines and separating their arms, legs and head from the body and sticking them into the grid, next to the visual illusions that we have seen via emails 10 years ago. “you get the sense that they are trapped behind the grid” Ha! Funny! But at one point I turned to leave and the camera bag knocked one of the stands (there were about 6 of them lined up), luckily Nat was there and stopped it from falling to the next one creating a domino effect for the rest of them. THERE’S YOUR ART!!!! A big pile of rubbish, should fit right in!!

After the comedy we had dinner at the hotel, bid mum farewell and slept in the car park. No one even noticed!

17^th to 18^th November - Salamanca, Spain

Driving from Bilbao to Salamanca took us about 5 hours and there really wasn’t much to see. The first part was through mountains, rain, fog etc and then into a sort of desert area. We stopped along the side of the road at a petrol station for lunch and it felt a bit like we were in a place on the movie 'the hills have eyes'. We were happy to finally get to Salamanca and checked out the camper places but they were empty so we opted for the camping which was only 16 euro with pretty good WIFI.

The site

First lesson (Still no better)

The next day it was actually dry and we rode into Salamanca which was a nice town with lots of churches.

They are expecting -1 degrees tomorrow so we shall continue west in chase of the warmth

19^th November - Aveiro, Portugal

After food shopping and a quick petrol top up we headed West for the sun. The landscape from here reminded me of Aus in the desert. Quite dry with the odd bush or tree. Then we headed into the mountains and soon over the Portugal border. You can see the difference almost immediately with lots more shrubbery/bushes everywhere.

After a couple hours through the mountains we came to Aviero near the coast. The parking place is next to a canal and in front of an overpass - not overly peaceful. Especially when the local choir group decide to practise under the overpass at midnight, at one point we didn’t know if they were some young hooligans that like to sing, but apparently it is common.

20^th November – Coimbra, Portugal

So it was a lazy wake up this morning, quick chat with the swiss next to us who said Lisbon was nice to visit so we ditched Porto and decided to go further south towards Lisbon. The swiss couple had been travelling for 2 1/2 years. They looked like real easy going hippy types living the life. They told us about their travels to Morocco two years ago where they were unfortunate enough to be attached by 3 youths while the streets were empty because of a football match. They held them at knife point for their money which they wouldn’t give. They screamed and two ran away but the other one smashed the guy in the face with a broken bottle. Not good! They also had a more entertaining story of a Moroccan climbing into his trailer to try and get onto the ferry to Portugal. He found him sitting on his scooter!

Moving onto our drive, we went along the coast which had some nice spots but there was no one around so we didn’t want to risk it.

 

 

Continued to try find another spot but got caught on shitty roads which turned to dirt so we ditched that idea and headed for Coimbra instead. Coimbra camping spot is along the river near some sports halls. We think that the owner of one of the sports halls was dealing in campers that he had parked there as well, kind of weird.

We set up and took it easy.

The Site

View from the site (well almost)

21^st November - Batalha, Portugal

Headed into Coimbra for a walk around this morning. Nice town set up on a hill with the river running through it. 

 

 

Afterwards it was time to find another place to camp out which ended up being Batalha, also in the hills. There was a cathedral which they were cleaning and not much else to see but we camped out for the night.

The site

22^nd to 24 November –  Nazare, Portugal

Finally back to the coast again after a short drive. The camping spot is in the town only 250m from the beach. The spot itself is not very nice, just a car park on the side of the road with a large dirt car park behind it but the esplanade of the town is nice. Rained a little today but still not as cold as it has been.

We walked to the esplanade the next day and enjoyed some beers to the setting sun. Not much else you can do really.

(Jake, this is where we spoke to you on Ella's B'day)

Day three was another walk on the beach, some relaxing teas by the harbour (4 teas for 4.4!) and then towards the square for lunch. Mid arvo we headed back to BB to find the pack of Portuguese neighbours sitting out in the sun. Girls to the left of BB all sitting around knitting and boys to the right of bb playing cards. We sat in the middle of them for a read and headed in when the sun started to set.

"stuck in the middle with you"

 25^th to 26^th November - Cascais, Portugal

Visited Obidos today. Small village on yet another hill with a castle wall surrounding it. According to the “1000 places to visit before you die” book it wasn’t meant to have cars driving through it but they were everywhere. In any case it was a very picturesque village with cobble stoned streets, small alleyways and different coloured buildings. We tried some Ginja which is a cherry liqueur. Pretty nice so we bought a bottle with some chocolate shot cups. When you have it together it tastes like an alcoholic cherry ripe – don’t mind if I do!

Arrived at camping in Cascais which was a sandy place with trees everywhere. Trying to find a place with some sun Nat reversed into a branch and snapped a piece of the bike rack. Another thing on Nat’s list.

The Next day I had this amazing idea of walking along the coast into the town. After two hours, 12 kms and a disgruntled wife we arrived. We had lunch and then due to the many blisters on Nats feet caught a cab back to BB. Lunch was 6 tapas dishes for 15 Euros, but then they put bread, butter and cheese on the table which you assume is free just like anywhere else... but not here. 5 euros for the cheese thing and 2 Euros for the bread and butter, they saw us coming but at least we know now.

27^th to 28^th November - Lisboa, Portugal

Today we visited Sintra, also known as the village of queens. Again on a hillside or maybe even a mountain. Pretty town with all princess style houses around. Walked up a road all the way to the castle. Or should I say I dragged Nat up the road who on several occasions wanted to turn back (perhaps the 12km walk the other day had a part to play) but “benny being stubborn” wanted to continue on and to my delight (and Nat's!) we made it to the entrance of the castle, after an hour. Castle number 3,204,830 i think this is. Anyhow, the castle was cool with amazing views so the walk was well worth it. (and those were Nat's words!!)

We then discovered there was in fact a waking trail between the castle and the town so the walk back was much easier.

We headed onto Lisbon for the night and the journey reminded us of home with gum trees everywhere : (

The next day we headed into Lisbon which was a nice city. We only went in for one day and ended up doing mostly shopping. We took advantage of the hot showers and got ready to head further south which was hopefully away from the cold and the wind.

29^th to 3^rd December - Albufeira, Portugal

After lunch, and some skype sessions with the family, we left for the south coast. We found the camper park which is just outside of Albufeira. Pretty nice actually for 6.5 Euros with wifi, power and service facilities. Its nice because its only for campers, not just a car park like we have been on in the past.

Our first spot

Our final spot

First morning they had aerobics which we joined and I killed it! Despite the 3 months with minimal exercise I was leading the pack and showing the way……..then I realised that everyone else was 30 years older. “ohh I can’t get back up” “this is going to hurt in the morning” were just some of the comments coming from the elderly group. Actually the whole thing was more of a laugh then anything, very little movement required.

That night an English lady that Nat had met invited us to watch the end of a wales vs aus rugby match. We had a few drinks with them in their camper which was nice. Peter and Leslie have been travelling for 2 years and plan to go another 6 months.

The camping place was nice so we stayed longer than expected. We rode many hills into Albufeira one day and another day rode towards another town along boardwalks. This was our 8 year anniversary so we splurged on some tasty massive pork satays and marinated chicken for the BBQ. Pretty good night listening to music and drinking wine. Good way to start our 9th year!

Lunch time on our anniversary

 

Our neighbour, been doing this for many dog years

 

The BBQ I am forced to use whilst on this trip, doesn't look like much but does the trick

 Our anniversary dinner

 With the thought of entering the 9^th year with Nat I tried to end my life by slicing a corner of my thumb off, or was I trying to get the milk open, I can’t remember. Obviously I used the sharpest knife we have which actually sliced through the carton of milk and continued through my thumb.

The funny thing was the knife was so sharp it didn’t actually hurt. While nurse Nat was stopping the bleeding I said “is that my thumb in the sink?” “yes Ben, it is” Nat even picked it up and dropped kicked it along the floor, I wanted to keep it but Nat wouldn’t let me.

That night Nat said to take the bandaid off but I knew better and wanted to leave it on…. wrong move.

4^th to 11^th December –  Portimao, Portugal

Arrived in Portimao after a short drive. Parked BB in the Dutchies and english group. They have a bus pub here which gives it a bit of atmosphere and everyone is sitting outside enjoying the very good weather. Also less wind here which is good.

 

My thumb had the band aid stuck to it and I couldn’t rip it off, Nat couldn’t either because it sounded like she was chopping my head off. It was fused to my wound and hurt like hell. Bandaid pulling off a fresh wound…makes my legs go like jelly just thinking about it.

So we went to the doctors and was able to go straight in. The doctors visit was pretty entertaining for Nat. I ended up seeing a young Portugese nurse who could speak pretty good English. I sat down and asked her if I had to remove the bandaid or if we could leave it and it would magically get better.

She said “no I have to remove now”

“but can you numb my thumb or something it really hurts”

“no”

“but cant we…….”  Rrrriiiiiiip

Oh my god it hurt like hell and I had the sweats going. I received no sympathy from the nurse. “yeah, I know, you are a man, it must hurt” Nat was loving it.

The blood just started pouring out again which wasn’t good. After making fun of me she bandaged it up in a massively oversized wrap and sent us on our way with appointments to come back a 2nd and a 3rd time for new dressings. Nat took me to maccas for a treat after this ordeal.

 

Don't know why everyone kept stopping to ask  if I wanted a lift

My reward

Neighbours across the way, massive dog sleeps in the garage of the camper

Nice spot along the beach for dinner one night

We are kind of just relaxing here in Portimao, talking a bit to our neighbours who know Kees and Rinnie where we bought the camper. Walked along the beach boardwalk one morning which is very nice and into town another day. We had an Aussie/nz couple approach us because of our flags who invited us for a drink and a chat over at their place. Nice people who have been traveling for 5 years on and off and are now on their 3rd camper.

One day we drove into Lagos for the day to recharge BB and see something different. Although it was Sunday and all the shops were shut, the town wasn’t overly interesting and the camper place wasn’t the nicest so glad we are hanging in Portimao for now. 

 

12^th to 14^th December - Silves

Arrived in Silves to find a large parking place full of campers. Walked around to find Kees and Rinnie. By chance its Rinnies birthday today! They said the camper place with power we were looking for was just up the road so we made our way to find the Aussie/Kiwi couple we had met who invited us over again tonight.

 The site

We went to visit Kees and Rinnie and ended up staying there late. There were some gay dutchies there also and the night was entertaining.

Nat in her element with other cheese heads

We stumbled to the Aussie/Kiwi couple and watched a DVD about the pilgrimage in the north of Spain. Nice movie but a little odd watching it in the camper with them…

 15^th December – Back to Portimao

We headed back to Portimao which is only about 25min drive. I wanted to go back to the restaurant we ate at along the beach for my birthday dinner tonight. This was after a very competitive game of pool against Nat who won best of 5 because I potted the 8 ball. I have learnt to play sober against her now.

 

 

Tomorrow we will head to Spain and will probably be there for a couple of months so its goodbye to Portugal for now.