Friday 14 February 2014

6 months gone, 6 to go!

 

Thumb Update 

 
 
 Better
 
 
 

16th December – El Rocio, Spain


We left Portimao for good this time and headed towards El Rocio which is a village within the city area of Almonte.

We decided to check into a campsite for the night and check out the village tomorrow, so we relaxed and enjoyed the warm showers.

17th to 19th December – Seville, Spain


Today we checked out the village which did look like something out of a western film.  To travellers like us this is what it’s famous for. On weekends it’s packed with horse and carts and quite lively. Good thing we were there on a Tuesday.
 
 
 
 
 
 
As it turns out, it’s more well known due to the Hermitage that is located in the village. Which is, very quickly, “commonly used to mean a settlement where a person or a group of people lived religiously, in seclusion”.

Apparently within this building lies the Virgin of El Rocio which is a small, carved wood statue, and is one of the destinations on an annual procession/pilgrimage.  The specific name for the visit to the Hermitage is, I think, the Romeria de El Rocio. Anyway, this pilgrimage has brought together roughly a million pilgrims each year.
 
The Hermitage
So although we didn’t realize it at the time, we actually went inside the Hermitage (the open bits anyway) and I think saw this statue. We weren’t allowed to take photos but I did manage to take a couple.
 
 
 
 
 
Haven't seen electronic ones in a church before
 
We then headed to Seville. The camping was about 25min bus ride from Seville in a small harbour/wharf. Not flash but good enough for what we needed. We arrived, set up and headed into Seville.
 
 
Nat and I both liked it as soon as we got off the bus and decided to scope the place out and see what we needed to do tomorrow as we only got in at about 2pm. Had a drink before catching the bus back home.

 


 
 
 
The next day I visited the Cathedral (Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See), which I think is the largest gothic cathedral (by area) and the third largest church in the world. Nats Cathedral days are over so she went and had a coffee while I explored.

It was awesome! I have seen a few but this was huge. The cathedral is also the burial site of Christopher Columbus.

 







Throughout the day we enjoyed many Tapas, including some ox tail which really tasted like beef stew. We continued bar hopping and by the end of the day had some further tapas for dinner although opted for less rich options, still very tasty.  


 



 

 
 
 
 
 

20th to 21st December – Granada, Spain


We left Seville and drove to Granada, more of a stopover before our final destination for the year as it was about 350km. The campsite was up in the mountains with snow on the mountain next to us. With a limited bus service and no parking for BB in town, we had to stay there an extra night and visit the town the next day.
 
 
 
As always it was a nice little town with old cathedrals and squares with shopping and cafes, as it was a Saturday it was pretty busy.
 
 
After lunch we went on to find the Alhambra which again involved us walking the long way and only on the way back realising we had indeed walked past the direct path. We were a little confused as to what it actually was but we walked around and took in the sights….and an ice cream. It turns out it was a Moorish citadel and palace and was actually quite nice.
 

 
 

This was the last night of our fast past portion of the holiday as tomorrow we would arrive at the Marjal camping in Catral and that will be it until the new year. 
 
 
 

22nd December – Marjal Costa Blanca, Spain


 
 
We arrived at the camping and were surprised as they did not have our reservation, even more surprising was that we were in fact at the wrong camp ground which has the same name.
 
 
 
Home for a few weeks
 
So we finally arrived at the correct camp ground, which was 20min down the road, checked in and went to set up. We were glad it was this camp ground because it looked a lot nicer and from speaking to people over the last few weeks most agree.

We decided to hang both Aussie flags to attract other Aussies and make it clear that we were not German. Which seemed to work pretty well as we were on the main drag where a lot of people had to drive or walk past.
 
Our first site
 
The plot we had was on the corner so we only had neighbours on one side and we had the full day’s sun on our “outdoor” area, but the WIFI was shite which was a shame during the festive season.

23rd December  – Marjal Costa Blanca, Spain


Decided to check out the gym for the first time in 5 months, pretty good facilities and both Nat and I soon learnt how un-fit we were. We booked to use the indoor spa facilities for the following day. The only real downside to this camp ground, due to the 1500 plots (yes you read correctly), you have to book for the indoor spa because it’s too small for 2000 people and the outdoor pool is far too cold. We also learnt that you have to pay for the gym on the weekends and holidays.

After lunch we then headed to the basketball courts, shot some hoops and completed the days exercise.

later we met a Scottish guy, Alex, who was funny and outgoing and lived just down the road a little bit. Nat got to talking with him and he mentioned that they were organising a new year’s eve party at a restaurant in Catral which is a 25min walk from here.

As we had already booked in the restaurant here and weren’t sure what to do but the “warnings” from Alex about not having any English speaking people at the party made us think about it and said we would let him know tomorrow.

24th December


We found out that the 24th is a holiday here in Spain so the facilities were closed, so it was a day of relaxing.

We let Alex know that we would join his group for the party and cancelled our booking at the camping restaurant.

The Aussie flag worked again as a loud English man by the name of Jeff stopped his car and shouted through the window “so you’re proud to be Australian are ya?”

He ended up staying and chatting for about an hour and invited us over for drinks that night with his wife Maria. It turns out they are moving to Perth in the new year. They have been on this site since it opened 2.5 years ago and know everyone and anything there is to know.

Jeff was a character who liked to joke around and the whole camp ground knew him. His “Italian wife” Maria, as Jeff liked to call her (who is more English than a cream tea but had Italian parents), was the grounded one of the two. We soon learnt to refer to her when Jeff was storytelling to gauge which parts were true and which were “jeffisms”.  But a super couple whom we had many laughs.

They showed us the suckling pig they are having for Christmas lunch the following day, needless to say the sounds of “aawwhh he’s so cute” could be heard from Nat.
 

Their plot consisted of a caravan with the side awning attached, a “shed”, clothes line and driveway for the car. This was pretty typical for the long term guys.

They invited us to come over for drinks after our Christmas lunch as they would have the outdoor fire going.

25th December


Christmas Day!!!! Yeah!!!! Exciting!!!!! …………..and ended about 10min from when I got out of bed.

Insert Sad Face

As we had been buying ourselves things throughout the trip we did not give any presents so the Christmas tree was looking rather bare. There was one present for Nat which she bought herself (some glitter eye liner or something) so the gift giving was short.

 
To add to that it rained, all day. It was sunny a week before today and a week after.

 
We headed to the Christmas lunch in the restaurant in the camp ground and enjoyed some pretty good food and a bottle of wine. The oldies to the table next to us were loving it.

 
My sexy date for lunch
 
We joined Jeff and Maria and their friends in their awning and continued the festivities. Their neighbours, Barry and Sharon were there and Nick and Karen. Karen being Maria’s sister. Nick and Jeff were pretty funny together giving each other grief. A funny night with various levels of conversation from politics, to personal body parts which I won’t go into. We stumbled home at about 1am.
 

Boxing Day


We woke up a little “dry mouthed” and headed to the boxing day buffet that we also booked in the restaurant.  Ok food and opted for no booze this time.

We were pretty shattered and opted for comfort of BB for the rest of the day.

We decided that we would extend our stay a little further as leaving on the 2nd January seemed too early to fully take advantage of the camp ground. In order to stay on we would have to move site which didn’t really bother us as we could then get a site with better WIFI. As it turns out we moved to the same street as Jeff and Maria and just a little further down the road.
 
Our second site
 
 

Days leading up to New Years


We took to the gym and pool when we could, played some tennis and enjoyed the camping site. Being so close to Jeff and Maria and Sharon and Barry there was always someone to talk to when you walk to the shower block or to the other facilities, it really was like a little community. We also heard that there would be a big Marque with music at the camping ground as another option for New Years. Having committed ourselves with Alex we decided that we would go to the dinner and get a taxi back at about 10:30 to join in the party here.

31st December


Relaxing.

The dinner was at Café Uno with Alex and his wife and some of their friends also from the camping ground. There was good food, beer and just as we left Karaoke. Actually before the real karaoke started our table started their own sing along which also included waltzing matilda just for us.
 
Dinner in town
 
We arrived at the other party at about 10:45 to a very drunk Jeff and the rest of the night is as you would expect, more drink, fireworks, met new people, Jeff dancing with an 80 year old and doing the reach around…you know the usual stuff.

 
 
 
Doesn't really capture what they were like
 
 
 
 
 
Take 1
 
 
Take 2
 
 
Not sure...
 
All in all it was a good night and we are glad that we stuck to our plan and went to both events. I also surprised Nat with a Massage for her birthday at the spa facility.

New Year’s Day


Watched movies and ate chocolate all day. The Sound of Music was on!!!! Ben loved every minute

2nd January


Not much different to the previous day, headed to Jeff and Maria’s place and helped them plan their Dubai stop over (on their way to Perth). Nat also helped Maria get on Facebook, she’s like a kid with a new toy now.

3rd January


Jeff and Maria invited us to a restaurant in the hills called Rancho Blanco, it was off the beaten track and in a very obscure location. Jeff and I had the largest T-bone I have seen and Nat had the good old chicken shnitty, was a good night. Nick and Karen were also there but were at the other end of the table so didn’t get to spend much time with them. Jeff and Tanya were there who we had met from New Year’s eve.

 
Nat and some kid
 
 
 
Natty
 
 

4th January to 16th January


Can’t remember, probably relaxing for most of it.

On Sunday we headed over to Jeff and Maria's for a few drinks with their Dutch friends. Again enjoyed Jeff’s beers once mine were finished and again the conversation was below the waist for most of the night. One of those nights that gets away from ya and we ended up getting home after midnight.

We had dinner with the “gang” on Monday night at an Indian place in the town before Jeff drove back to England the next morning. Maria to follow at the end of the week. We have their details and might catch up with them if we make it back to Adelaide at some stage.

 
My Second Student
 
Els arrived on the 7th from Amsterdam, we booked a taxi through a guy who lives in the camping site (25 euros both ways instead of 60 euros one way), we waited at the airport but realised her plane had been diverted to Valencia due to the fog. I saw the fog as we drove into the airport but thought nothing of it.  It was quite low and didn’t look like anything bad. A new announcement on the board said that her flight would be arriving from Valencia at 10pm (instead of 8pm). Of course at 10 o’clock the flight was cancelled and they were to bus them all to the airport (about 1.5 hours). So Dave and I went back to the camping and Els took a taxi when she finally arrived, which was at about 2am.

It turns out that her plane was about to land and was only 60m from the ground when all of a sudden the pilot couldn’t see a thing and had to immediately pull up. As Nat was telling me this I realised that I think I saw that same plane as we drove in.

On the bus ride to Alicante they drove past a semi-trailer which was on fire, Els could feel the heat from her seat!

Although the weather was meant to be good. I think Els has jinxed us again because now its overcast and cold with rain forecast for the next couple days. Anyhow, we are just hanging out in the cabin eating, drinking and watching daytime tv.

17th to 19th January - Guardamar (Marjal Camping), Spain


Finally left our posting at Marjal for a 10 day round trip down to Almeria. First stop was Guardamar at another Marjal camping site to visit Nick and Karen. Unfortunately the camping stuffed up our booking so we only had one night on the camping. Spent the first night with them after they invited us over for lasagne dinner. Couldn’t say no to that!!

 
 
Had a really good night with them until nearly 2am. We talked about all the weirdo's in the camping, mainly old grumpy farts. Some of them have actually labelled there street within the camp site as “Lilly pod lane – Private Road” and question people when they walk down it, they have their own committee for the street. They have been there far too long.

Next day we parked BB just outside the grounds and walked to the beach, not much around really. That night we joined Nick and Karen for a korean wok dinner at some restaurant they had heard of from other campers. It was a buffet but also had a cooking station and was pretty good for 8 euro each. Again, nice to be around people more our age.

 
 
The next day was overcast so we hung around BB and used the free wifi in the restaurant for much of the day, we are already missing the daily showers.

20th to 21st January - La Manga Mar


Left Guardamar for Torrevieja after Nat managed to get a booking for a haircut that afternoon. Drove through the town to where we had a camper place listed but it wasn’t really suitable to park. Then we drove to where the hairdresser was and parked up there. I hung in the camper while Nat got pampered. We then drove towards La Manga Mar caravan park for 2 nights. The caravan park wasn’t very good when you compare it to Marjal but had a nice view down the end. Still 16 Euros per night with smaller pitches which were awkward to get into and the showers were crap. Not hot enough at all!
 
 
 
We rode into town along the beach front and then down the strip of land with water on each side. From a distance it looked like the stem of a palm and similar to the gold coast but once in there it didn’t look all that great. All the buildings were shut up for winter and some weren’t occupied at all. After we got back we headed to the caravan park cafe on the beach with the nice view. They also had line dancing for the oldies which was entertaining to watch.
  
 

22nd January - La Azohia, Spain


Arrived here after only an hour drive through a ‘B’ type road, although the road was pretty good and gave us a great view as we headed down towards the coast.
 
 
 
 
 Yet another shot of BB
We found the camper place which was just opposite the beach next to a restaurant. The parking area went up the hill and the top part was all used up so we tried for something more on the flat. Trying not to impair anyone’s view we stopped lower down kind of in the middle hoping not to upset anyone. Lots of campers kept coming in so we assumed it might fill up around us. Just as we had lunch ready a grumpy old German guy who obviously thought we were German came to tell us that we couldn’t park there because we were in his view and we should move. Then there was another guy parked up the hill a bit and shaking his head. So I went up to him to ask what the issue was and he said we shouldn’t park there because the police might tell us all to leave. I think it was bullshit but at least a better sob story than 'you're in my view'. It was an illegal parking area anyway so perhaps the cops (in the low season) don’t mind few around as long as we are not in the lower, easy accessible, car park bit.
 

 
Our first option - Grumpy was in one of the campers in the background on the left
 
So we moved up alongside the other campers who were parked along the side and even still the grumpy German came down, walked past our camper shaking his head. I asked him in a slightly more aggressive tone (as now I was starting to get pissed off) what the issue was and he just waved us away. If we were still blocking his few then he would have to move the 4 other campers between us and him first anyway.
 
 
Our second place - picture taken across road beach side
 
 
 
 
At the end of the day we moved into what was the best spot in the whole area and watched the sun go down over the water.

 
Grumpy didn't get this
 
 

23rd January - Cabo de Gato, Spain


We took a leisurely drive down the coast towards Almeria. Stopped off at Aguilas for some lunch which was a small town along the coast and then continued on. We plan to stay in Cabo de Gato just to the east of Almeria after Nick and Karen said it was nice.
Aguilas
 
Camping is ok but most importantly the showers are nice and hot. We walked down to the beach to earn some ‘points’ for a beer. We got talking to our English neighbours (Steve and Lorraine) for a bit before heading in for dinner. Nice couple who hate what England has become… Interesting conversation.

24th to 25th January - Garrucha, Spain


We drove down to Almeria and parked up along the esplanade. We were meant to stay here for three days but after walking up and down the esplanade and back a few streets into town it didn’t look overly interesting so we headed off after lunch towards some spots we have listed for wild camping.

 
Almeria - BB on the right 
 
 
We ended up in Gurracha at the harbour. A small town with a bit happening so we stayed for two nights. Lots of campers here in the “no camping” car park as well which was nice. We walked to a cafe up the road and had some g & t's. They must have been doubles cause little Natty was pretty tipsy and it snow balled….in a good way. We got back to BB and continued in which Natty got happier and louder with each sip. We went out to dinner after we had realised we'd just passed the halfway mark of the trip.
 

The next day we just hung out in the area and relaxed.
 
 
 

26th January -  Mojacar, Spain


It was only a short drive down the coast to the town of Mojacar. Drove through town to camper place which was on the beach. Had a small waddle in our crocs, (I got some nice blisters) and then soaked up the sun at BB for the day and you guessed it…relaxed.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BB shining bright
 
 
 
Didn't get it right - first attempt
 

27th January to 2nd February -  Marjal, Spain


Arrived back at the main Marjal camping site. Didn’t really do a hell of a lot. Used the gym, played some tennis and once again relaxed. Our goal is to stay here until some sites are open towards Barcelona. Then we can commence our trip north along the coast through France and into northern Italy.

3rd – 9th February – Marjal, Spain


We went over to Dave and Carolines (taxi man) to see if he could take Nat to the airport and back for her trip to Amsterdam. We told them they had met Nat’s Dad when he was here last year which started us talking. Although we had the best intentions of going to the gym that day we ended up on a 12 hour drinking binge.
 

Fun day/night with them. Caroline has a terrible degenerative blood disease which is slowly attacking all her internal organs and basically doesn’t have long to live, hence she is living large now!  Devastating being only 52 years old but she seems to be in very good spirits even with the pain. Dave had been working on a car years ago which fell on him and crushed his pelvis. First they thought he would die but after pulling through they said he would never walk again. Luckily after 6 months of rehab he was back on his feet. They are lovely people and despite all the shit life has handed them they are very positive and enjoying themselves. You can’t sweat the small shit and just be grateful for every day you have.

10th to 14th February – Marjal, Spain


Our last week here and with Nat visiting her mum in Amsterdam it was just me with BB. Nothing really to report. Used the gym, watched the 6 nations rugby and the winter Olympics and that was about it.

The Marjal camping site has been great for our purpose of hibernating until we progress north. However it’s time to move one and start seeing new things.




 
Nat planning
 If I have to engage in any more small talk or listen to other older couples tell us what to see or what we should have seen in our previous travels or tell us how to do certain things with the camper I will take their walking frame and oxygen tanks away.



I think this sums it up very well