Southern Spain, Gibraltar and Portugal

Hello everyone

The Costa del Sol was a pleasant drive through Malaga and Fuengirola, where we stayed on a free stopover with many other ‘vans. It was lovely and warm here, so we were back in our shorts and T-shirts. We continued through Marbella before parking up at La Linea de la Conception at the border with Gibraltar.

 

After passport control, we walked across the runway to Europa Point at the southern end where you can see Morocco across the Strait of Gibraltar. Unfortunately, the cable car to the summit is closed for repair during January, so we then walked up to the Ape Den to see the resident tail-less Barbary macaques. The weather was glorious – very sunny and warm.

 

 

From here, we headed south to Tarifa and the most southerly point on mainland Europe. It’s so windy here, especially on the causeway where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean.

 

 

We then headed north to Seville – a lovely and compact town with an old bullfighting ring, huge cathedral and beautiful palace in the Parque Maria Luisa. At Plaza de España, there is a huge semi-circle of decorated ceramic tiles depicting regional scenes – beautiful.

 

 

 

 

We travelled north-eastwards into Portugal to visit Capo da Roca – the most westerly point on mainland Europe ; it's a pretty spot with a lighthouse and small museum.

 

  

The landscape has become more agricultural with rolling hills, and large areas of cork trees looking bare where the trunks have been stripped of their bark. We’ve also had rain today – our first encounter since mid-December!

Will post again next week - love to all

The Alhambra and a few days skiing

Hello everyone

 

We headed south along the coast through Benidorm (a blot of high rises on the landscape), through Alicante before heading inland to Murcia. South of here, we stayed on a free stopover at Huércal-Overa where the locals were preparing for a festival. Epiphany is celebrated on 6^th January as The Festival of the 3 Kings with a nightime procession through town the night before with local children and the kings on small floats – quite a spectacle!

 

 

On our way to Granada, we passed Texas Hollywood and Fort Bravo which have been used as film sets for shooting spaghetti westerns films.

 

 

The Alhambra in Granada is spectacular. It’s a huge complex of buildings, with the Nasrid Palaces being the star attraction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inside here are the most exquisite plasterwork decorations covering whole walls and archways – they look like ivory fretwork and are simply beautiful. The ceilings are very ornate too – either sculptured plasterwork, or carved wood with inlays. There is 1 remaining leaded lights lantern roof window which has been restored.

 

 

 

Due to the mountainous sierras and typical to this area are these curious houses built into the hillside with their chimneys peeking out.

 

 

 

 

Up the road a short distance away, we went skiing in the Sierra Nevada Mountains – it was fantastic! The ski centre sits at 8612 feet where there’s plenty snow on the pistes, but surrounding areas are clearing and the village was completely snow-free. The views of Granada below were amazing from such a height. The weather continues to be clear skies and very sunny.

 

 

We’re going to continue southwards along the Costa del Sol.

 Will post again next week - love to all

New Year in Barcelona

Hello everyone

 

Wow 2015 already - hope you all had a merry Christmas.

 
We had a great time – cooking Christmas lunch in the van was a success and it was lovely being in the sunshine, although by mid-afternoon it’s getting chilly now.


After a couple of days relaxing, we hit the sights again. We visited the Olympic Stadium built for the 1992 games – it’s a large complex set on Montjuic Hill, and with only a handful of other visitors it was pretty quiet.

 

 

 

 

 

Montjuic Castle is nearby, and the views over the city and of the port are great. Following a huge buffet lunch with sangria, Peter visited the Motorcycle Museum, whilst I wandered through the Christmas markets in front of the cathedral.

 

 

 We walked over to Park Güell - designed by Gaudí with his characteristic curved walls and columns which look very fragile in places.

 

 

 

 

Many of the walls, roofs and chimneys here along with a large salamander lizard on the main staircase are decorated with shards of broken tiles - it’s a beautiful coloured sight, especially with the sun shining on the tiles. 

 

 

 

 

 

From here, we ambled down Las Ramblas to browse the outdoor Boqueria Market.

The New Year tradition here in Catalunya is to eat 1 white grape for each of the clock strikes at midnight, so last night we went down to the camp bar armed with our plastic wine glass filled with 12 grapes to join in the celebrations which lasted til dawn break. Needless to say we’ve had a lazy day today!

 

We’re off on our travels again tomorrow heading south for the warmer sun.

Wishing you all a very happy, healthy and peaceful New Year, and best wishes for 2015

Will post again next week - love to all

Andorra and Barcelona - Happy Christmas!

Hello everyone

 

Our time in Andorra was short and sweet, and although there was snow on the mountains, there wasn’t enough to ski on. A busy road winds its way through the valley floor, with small towns clinging to the mountain sides. The capital Andorra le Vell was extremely busy with shoppers taking advantage of the tax-free prices. We were stopped by the police on exiting (as anticipated), and waved through once they had established we didn’t have boxes of cigarettes stashed aboard!

 

Our first impression of Spain was its vastness and colour- the earth ranges from pale ochre to deep brick red. Although there was snow on the high ground, everywhere looked dry and there were still some leaves on the trees. The weather has been cool especially at night, which is a problem as our blown-air heating has just stopped working!

 

We made our way southwards along the Costa Brava and are now on a large campsite a bus ride away from Barcelona along with many other British folk spending their winters here.

 

 

 

We’ve been into Barcelona (on the leisurely bus) to visit the Sagrada Familia – a most spectacular place although it’s still under construction – only the Nativity façade is complete – and the interior is bathed in light from the stained glass windows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took a look at Gaudi's work at Casa Batilo and Casa Mila 'La Pedera'.  We plan to visit the remaining sights over the coming week or so.

 

 

 

 

Our Christmas decorations are now up in the van, and we’ve done our shopping with enough food to last us a month. The weather is beautiful – sunny skies and daytime temperatures of 20°C!

 

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year

 Will post again in 2015 - love to all

Southern France

Hello everyone

 

Pont du Gard is a beautiful Roman aqueduct built in 90AD and is remarkably intact. The water channel at the top is still covered in places, and at 49m tall it is believed to be the highest aqueduct the Romans built.

 

 

From here we headed south to Arles with its Roman amphitheatre – still in use today as a bull fighting ring.

Next, we drove south to the Camargue which is a huge wetland area renowned for its wildlife.

We were richly rewarded; black bulls with huge horns raised here for the local bullfighting, the white horses used to herd them, cattle egrets, herons, beavers in the roadside dykes and the beautiful pink flamingos feeding in the brackish shallows.

We travelled through Montpellier and northwards via the Dourbie Gorge – the deepest gorge in France and a beautiful drive - to go and have a look at the Millau viaduct. It’s an impressive sight and looks quite delicate high above the Tarn valley. We had the Visitor’s Centre to ourselves as we learned about its 400 million € construction.

 

From here we drove through Grand Causses and over the Mountains of Lacaune with recent snow throughout, before dropping down into Carcassonne. The citadel, set in the old medieval town La Cité, is a magical sight. We arrived late afternoon, and again had the place pretty much to ourselves as we mooched around.

 

We’ve just crossed the border into Andorra and filled up with diesel at 82 pence a litre!

Will post again next week - love to all

Pisa, Monaco, and a few days in Provence

Hello everyone

We arrived in Pisa to warm sunshine after a night of torrential rain and a tremendous thunderstorm. The Leaning Tower of Pisa stands next to the Cathedral within a green quadrangle with the Baptistery at the opposite end. The Cemetery building makes up the foursome.

 

The leaning tower really does look as though it could topple over – the top section leans a lot less than the lower section, and the marble carvings are beautiful. The large cathedral has a gold mosaic fresco above the altar and an intricately carved marble pulpit. The baptistery is vast inside with a similar, but smaller pulpit – there’s no visible font though.

 

Leaving Pisa, we took the motorway along the Bay of Genoa towards France. On leaving the motorway, we were stopped by French police, who asked to see inside our van – we reckon business was slow, and they were keen for a chat about our travels!

Monaco is a tiny place, and Monte Carlo was very busy with people, fast super cars and huge super yachts. There was no opportunity to park the van though, so after a leisurely drive through, we continued towards Nice where we enjoyed the sunset from the promenade.

 

We drove through Provence – a scenic drive through rolling green hills and we’re now in Avignon. The town is surrounded by medieval walls with ramparts, and the Palais des Papes is huge.

Part-way across the River Rhone is the Pont St-Benezet – only 4 arches of the original 22 still remain and it has a small church on the bridge. Avignon’s Christmas markets give the place a festive feel.

Our next port of call is the Pont du Gard just north from here.

Our door map is filling nicely with the 23 countries we’ve visited so far (no stickers for San Marino and Monaco unfortunately as they are so small), and our mileage so far is 18,824.

Will post again next week - love to all