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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.
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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.
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
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