From Honfleur to Portugal, Spain and back to the UK

From Honfleur to Spain and Portugal and back to the UK - 10th Sept to 26th October 

A big thank-you to Robert for accommodation (basically moving out of his apartment) for our extended stay!

France, Spain, Portugal, Spain and the UK by ferry

We had always planned to end up in Spain towards the end of Summer. Our final destination was Murcia in the South East of Spain where we have stayed several times before with Robert an old friend of Willy's from Averoya. 

What we hadn't planned on was that by this time we would have been together 24/7 for the past 9 weeks much of it spent on the road in La Skoda! But as there was much we both wanted to see so off we go.

The only other definite destination besides Murcia was Coimbra (Portugal) where we had booked into a B&B for three nights.

The urge to go South was quite strong because of the miserable weather. For the past weeks there had been little sunshine, quite a lot of rain and rather cool for summer so hopefully if we headed south somewhere along the way the sun would shine.

Mont Saint-Michel

Saturday 10th September - have to be out of the cottage by 11.00 so up early,  did the cleaning and packed up La Skoda ready for the great southern trek. We didn't have any particular route in mind but as we had done Rouen we decided to make for Renne.  I think in our desperation to get as far south as quickly as possible we forgot about the sight seeing. Fortunately on the way we passed signs to Mont Saint-Michel and decided to go visit.

Mont Saint-Michel

As you get closer  the spectre is quite magical, I have seen many pictures of the place but absolutely nothing can do it justice.  It's rather like a fairytale castle perched on the top of an island surrounded by sand and a causeway that at certain times of the year is underwater. It is truly a magical sight and unfortunately must be one of the busiest tourist destinations.

Mont Saint-Michel

Anyway in spite of the throngs, most of whom seemed to be Japanese, we crossed the causeway and entered the town which has many narrow and very steep paths some of which lead up to the monastery. Over the centuries the place has been used as both a prison and place of worship so there are many different aspect to explore including the inevitable 'torture chamber' which we gave a miss.

We walked up to the monastery which is extremely well signposted and documented. This was just as well  as they had run out of the audio guides which are so useful in these places.  Normally I don't bother with them but after this trip have realised how useful they are if you want to get the most out a place of interest - to hell with the expense!

The sands that surround
Mont Saint Michel

Here's a bit of history thanks to Wikipedia

"Before the construction of the first monastic establishment in the 8th century, the island was called "monte tombe". According to legend, the Archangel Michael appeared to St. Aubert, bishop of Avranches in 708 and instructed him to build a church on the rocky islet. Aubert repeatedly ignored the angel's instruction, until Michael burned a hole in the bishop's skull with his finger."   So it's quite old and well worth a visit.

 Magical

So after the sightseeing, which took several hours plus the photographic shoot, we made for Rennes. The weather was such that camping was out of the question so found a reasonable hotel in the centre of the city unfortunately it was too late and too wet do  any serious sightseeing so had dinner  and off to bed.

Sunday 11th September - The weather had improved a little so we decided to make for the coast and ended up in Pornic. The weather had even improved enough to consider camping so we looked for a suitable camp site.

The great thing about travelling at time of year, late summer is that there's no children as all the schools have gone back and so it's easy to get good sites at reasonable prices. the only competition are the grey nomads in their mobile homes. But we have a tent so we're in a different league.

The camp sight we selected was some way out of town on the end of a cliff overlooking the sea. It was a really top spot and we basically had the place to ourselves. Everything on site with the exception of the reception and a small shop was now closed for the season.  Woke in the middle of the night to high winds and rain, however WRK had managed to pitch the tent securely and we woke up to a rather nice day still nice and dry inside the tent.

Oh - I forgot to mention, by this time we had a much bigger tent kindly lent by Willy's brother. This one had a small vestibule and much more room inside. Still not a mansion but much more suitable. So we now had 2 tents should we need to get away from each other.

The Causeway 

Monday 12th September - Decided to head down toward La Rochelle using the coastal roads a much as possible. The French road system is excellent but once you get off the major roads don't expect to go anywhere very quickly. We passed through an area that was very flat and marsh like, these are the Marais Poitevin.

On the Causeway
Note the Rescue Poles!

As you pass through the area you eventually come to a town Beauvoir-sur-Mer, the name is a bit of a give away as the town is not always on the coast sometimes it's in the marshes. In the town there are several very large multi-lingual (strange for France) signpost that have a "danger of death" ring about them. The signpost show the way to an area just off the coast that has two access roads. One, the safe one, is via a bridge, the other is via the causeway which at high tide is completely submerged. The sign posts basically warn drivers only to use the causeway 2 hours either side of low tide. The causeway is about 2 kilometre long.

The Causeway

 We were in luck as it was low tide when we were there.  You can actually leave the causeway and park on the sand and go collecting various types of shell fish. Its all quite eerie, every so often there are structures rather like lamp posts but with ledges, obviously there should you get caught and need something to hang on to.  We actually left La Skoda on the sand and went for a bit of a wander, on our return, and this is the first time it had happened she was very reluctant to start - not the best of places to suddenly start to play up. Anyway eventually she did start  and we got off the sand and parked at the end of the causeway on high ground. This time when we tried to start, she completely refused and we had to push start. Oh dear is this the start of something seriously wrong?

Still raining so carry on down the coast and stay the night in Les Sables d'Olonne. Seems to be a rather unremarkable place but found a good hotel by the  Harbour and had a good evening meal with lots of red wine.

Bordeaux

Tuesday 13th September - Still raining so keep heading south this time for Bordeaux. As we get closer to Bordeaux the sun comes out and it starts to warm up, lets face it we are almost in Spain so should be getting some decent weather by now.

Weather is good enough for camping so go to the city camping ground which is near the exhibition centre and on a metro line. Set up the tent and eat at a very nice restaurant at the camping site. Not too many campers but lots of grey nomads with their homes away from home. All of them seem to have satellite TV and some have a small family car in tow as well as the camper van - so much for the Euro crisis, mind you most of them were from Germany and Northern Europe - not too many Greeks around.

Bordeaux

Wednesday 14th September - good night sleep, croissants and coffee from the camp shop for breakfast and then off to the tram station.  The public transport system is incredible, park the car all day plus return fares for 2 to the city and back €8. Now that's a bargin and just the encouragement needed to leave the car at the station.
Bordeaux is a beautiful city with many world heritage listed buildings. Most of the place is pedestrianised which makes walking a pleasure. It's seems to have been really well preserved but the infrastructure is modern and works well.
As usual the cathedral was a must also the museum of contemporary art which was a great space - an old  warehouse but almost totally devoid of exhibits -  they were between exhibitions on several of the floors but what was there was interesting.

Bordeaux MoCA

We also bought a guide book, believe it or not we had so far done this whole trip without a decent guide book and once we got across the channel it was too late to buy an English language one.  We had downloaded various bits of guides but there nothing like having the real thing. So in this fabulous city we found a bookshop selling English guide books and bought the Lonely Planet for both Spain and France - a word of advice never leave home without a guide book.... Also tried to get one for Portugal but that was only available in French - a bridge too far I think.

Cement Mixer with Bling

Late afternoon back to the camp site for a siesta and then back into the city for some photographs and dinner at L'entrcote which was highly recommended in the Lonely Planet. Unfortunately as so often happens it was closed for renovations. Anyway the place is stuffed full of restaurants and ended up having another delicious French meal - fish soup and steak. There are many local delicacies most seem to involve duck body parts! I really should be more adventurous.

Thursday 15th September - off into Bordeaux again for some shopping - went to the bontanical gardens which are rather uninteresting and not a word or English. My French is not up to names of trees and shrubs etc. As they say in the brochures - afternoon at leisure and then another siesta and a great dinner. This time I had d'agneu brochette, WRK had fois gras (so cruel) and duck, followed by creme brulee and a poire sorbet with real poire liquor.

Bordeaux

This was our last night in Bordeaux and looking back I think it turned out to be my favourite city of the whole trip. It was easy to get around, the architecture was great, the food was fabulous and apart from one very arrogant Frenchman in the Vodafone shop, it was perfect.

Friday 16^th September - Off on the road again still heading south, we spent most of the day on the  beach on the way and ended up staying at a camp site in Capbreton which is about 50Kms from the Spanish border. Went out to diner to a place called Le Deck, obviously some local English Expat's idea of what the Brits want from a restaurant in France. Perhaps he's right,  it was busy but the differnce between this and the average France restraunt is amazing. The waitresses/waiters were sloppy and looked rather unkept in cut-ff denim shorts, the chefs/cooks all had dirty uniforms on and the food was very ordinary. 

Saturday 17^th  September - Raining again so took of for  San Sebastian. Had a look round Bayonne (where the bayonet was invented), bought du pain, fromage and jambon for lunch  and headed off to the jet set spot of Biarittz. Sat on the cliffs over looking the sea and watched the surfing dudes and then off to San Sebastian. Still raining and lo and behold the International San Sebastian Film Festival is under way.  As you can imagine this does nothing to help with the availability of reasonably priced accommodation - still too wet to camp.  Anyway we eventually find a room a short bus ride into town.

San Sebastian besides being the centre of the Basque country is also the Tapas centre of the Universe. The bars counters are just heaving with the most amazing combination of food piled high on pieces of bread. I am not a great Tapas fan but this place is amazing. Obviously the idea is to wander from bar to bar grazing as you go, the problem in San Sebastian is that all the bars have such an amazing variety that you don't make it out of the first bar. I went home for an early night and left WRK to wander some more, he eventually got back about 02.00,  

Sunday 17^th September -  One of us, and it wasn't me woke up feeling definitely the worse for wear so decided that we would stay another night, the hotel wasn't too bad.  I had to go out to the car to fetch something and as I walk out of the reception hear a voice calling 'John', look around and there is Willy's sister Inger and husband Erik who apparently had been in the room next to us and were now on their way to Bilbao. What a small world we live in.....

As we were planning to go to Bilbao the next day we arranged to meet up for dinner somewhere there the next day. I went into town and did the sights, San Sebastian is a very beautiful city built around three headlands with really nice sandy beaches between the headlands, unfortunately it was raining and rather too cold to take advantage of the beaches. There is also a really well preserved old town and of course the inevitable Cathedral.  Eventually Willy does his Laszrus act and we meet up in town for tapas and walk around the headland in the pouring rain.

Bilboa

Monday 19th September - off to Bilboa - still raining cats and dogs - but by the time we arrived in Bilbao the sun was out and the weather was looking great. We headed straight for the Guggenhiem - and what would you know - closed on Mondays - still at least the sun was shining. We had booked ahead for a hotel which turnout to be a really nice boutique place (Sircotel) right in the centre of town.

Plant Cat Guggenhiem

I went for a wander around and found some pretty seedy parts (as well as some nice parts)  - before the Guggenhiem came to town the pace was definitely on the way down, it has partially recovered but some of the areas I managed to wander into were not very salubrious and I got out pretty quick.  Of course the impending recession could really make matters much worse.

Caught up with Willy's sister and husband for a really nice Tapas dinner sitting in a very lovely square on what was now a nice warm night under clear skies.

Outside the Guggenhiem

Tuesday 20th Sept - got up reasonabaly early to do the 'Gug' - disaster the car, which was parked in the hotel car park wouldn't start. What to do find a garage or go to museum? Managed to push start the car and went to the museum taking care to park in spot with good pushing possibilities. At the same time we looked for a Skoda garage in Bilbao.

Inside the Guggenhiem

The museum is great, not too many exhibits but those that are there are on a really grand scale and the building both inside and outside is outstanding.

After the museum visit we decided to push on West along the North coast of Spain and see what happened with the car. Although it was easy to push start,  the nightmare was stalling in some heavy traffic and not being able to get going again, especially surrounded by impatient Spanish drivers - nightmare.

Santillana del Mar

We had Santiago de Compostela  as a target destination so were sort of already on the pilgrims trail if not actually on foot. We stopped off at the village of Santillana del Mar, this is a medieval village developed around the “Santa Juliana” collegiate church between the 14th and 18th Centuries. The place is totally preserved as was, but people still live and work in the village - not as historical figures but as 21st century people which makes the place all the more interesting.

The church has the most beautiful and serene cloisters. Nearby, and we didn't visit them for some reason, are the Altamira Cave. Discovered in 1879 they are a UNESCO cultural heritage site. The cave, about 300 meters long, has 150 engraved figures made by the Palaeolithic man.

Santillana del Mar

After the sightseeing we pushed on through Santander which looked like an ugly industrial city (turned out not to be so)  toward Cudillero which is described in the guide book as being one of the prettiest town in this part of Spain. It's on the coast built on a mountain side with very narrow twisting road leading down from the headland into the town and harbour.

Santillana del Mar

The weather wasn't too bad, but the finances weren't great so we decided that camping was the way to. We found a rather nice camp site on the top of the headland and again as it was fairly late in the season we had our pick of spots.  Pitched the tent and decided to walk, via the road down into the town which was further than we realised with no footpath most of the way. No footpaths and Spanish drivers are not a good mixture particularly late at night!

Cudillero

The guide book wasn't wrong about the town, it was really pretty with a small water front area and a backdrop of very steep terraces supporting quite a population.  We walked around for a while including out to the harbour and then picked a place to eat in the town square.  One of the problems with Spain is that people eat very late, so you are never too sure if you are too early to eat or you have missed the action and places are closing. Normally you're too early. The restaurant we chose did an excellent paella. That's another thing about Spain - it's really hard to get a good paella! Most of the restaurants seem to serve the same instant paella - just add water and seafood this makes for a very poor substitute for the real thing.

Cudillero

However this restaurant served a perfect paella obviously cooked with much love and care. We  then decided rather rashly to find our way back to the campsite via the lanes that lead up from the town and on to the escarpment, this took rather longer than expected and seemed to be particularly dark in places but we made it back.

Wednesday 21st Sept -  weather crap again so decided to push on west towards Fisterra, if you're going to have bad weather you might as well go to one of the wettest and windiest places in Western Europe. Besides the weather it is supposed to be quite stunningly beautify - or at least that's what the guide book says. Our plans were soon derailed when the car refused to start, the battery was absolutely flat! So we push started again and managed to find a garage in the village. Really weren't expecting too much but they were brilliant. The receptionist was incredibly helpful even though she spoke very little English and our Spanish is non-existent. She typed everything into Google translator, this gave some fairly strange results but we managed.

An obvious issue was the flat battery but even when this was replaced La Skoda still refused to start, this was obviously the same problem we encountered on the tidal flats in France. After a couple of hours still no progress although we could see petrol and sparks.  It was obviously some clever bit of electronics that was stopping the engine firing.

Cudillero - The Harbour

It was eventually diagnosed as being a broken sensor, we were both a bit doubtful about this diagnosis but as it was only going to cost  €34 for the sensor that was OK. The wonderful receptionist booked us into a hotel recommended in the Lonely Plant in the town and then actually took us bags and all to the hotel.

Spent what was left of the day in Cudillero looking around wondering what mañana would bring, our fear was that it was something really complex and therefore expensive. Anyway went out to dinner - Fish soup again really nice but very different from the Fish soup in Northern France - more fish fewer accompaniments.

Thursday 22^nd Sept - Tried to communicate with the hotel owner that we may need another night depending on the situation with the car. He totally misunderstood me and proceeded to phone the garage - brilliant the car is fixed and ready to go. Grab a taxi to the garage, pay €150 which included the new battery and off went.

Catedral de Santiago de Compostela

Due to the extra night in Cudillero we decided to give Fisterra a miss and make directly for Santiago de Compostela. We arrived about about 15.00 to find out that the town is a driving nightmare as it has almost been totally pedestrianised. Willy was driving so it was up to me to find accommodation. Our preference was an old  monestry - Hospedería San Martín Pinario which was built in 1494 by a group of Italian Benedictine monks in order to "watch over the mortal remains of the apostle and to pray" - no luck for us though  it's full but what a great place.

Santiago De C.

Eventually I find a very quirky boutique hotel all hard surfaces and washed pine get the price down and get breakfast included (it's probably now only twice the regular price!) Turns  really nice and what's more you can lie in the bathtub and look out over the city.... it's great being a pilgrim.

The  city is wonderful, everywhere you look there are architectural marvels and the place seems to have a very peaceful feel about it. Maybe it's all the pilgrims but for some reason it has none of the, what can best be described as, "Spanish Exuberance" which sometimes is really quite wearing.....

Santiago De C - early AM

Friday 23^rd -September - In spite of the mist and cool weather, WRK is up early for some more photography. I have a good look around taking in the magnificent cathedral. The problem with the cathedral is that there are services on almost  continuously so it hard to have a good poke around.

Santiago De C - early AM

In this cathedral you can actually walk behind the high alter up some stairs and look through the upper part of the Alter structure through various cut-out sections where the statues are placed. Here you are standing immediately behind and above the priests and can look at the congregation who are facing the alter. Never seen this before.

On the Way to Portugal
Galicia

Today we are due to arrive at the B&B at Coimbra which is about 350 kms South. The route cuts through some fairly wild countryside on the Atlantic coast and takes you past the place where Leslie Howard's plane was shot down in 1943 (bit of trivia). The area is rather mystical with lots of wild horses and because of the altitude rather cloudy.
Unfortunately by this time an engine warning light had re-appeared but this didn't seem to make any difference we were still going OK and the car was performing as wonderfully as ever. This light was on when we bought it and Lucy had lived with it for many years before that. It briefly went off after the work done in Cudillero.

Up in the clouds
with the wild horses

Crossed into Portugal and found the B&B with some difficulty - instructions for finding the place were not great. The place itself is rather nice - we are the only customers so basically have the place to ourselves. The owners Leon and Arthur offer an evening meal which we decided to take rather than try and venture out on the roads. This is a very rural part of Portugal with narrow roads, not too many street lights and a few widows dressed in black - a recipe for night time driving disasters.

Leonard is a an expert in Clarice Cliff pottery, has quite and extensive collection and has written several books on Clarice Cliff pottery. He and Willy has several mutual acquaintances in Sydney.
The region is probably quite backward as far as tourism and infrastructure is concerned, it's inland up in the mountains and a rather dry climate makes for  not terribly pretty countryside.

B&B Coimbra

The area where we stayed is about 25 kms from Coimbra which today is famous for it's university but was the capital of Portugal in the middle ages. There are many xisto houses which are houses built of slate and currently there is a big push for the renovation and population of these xisto villages which date back several centuries. In fact an xisto house can be bought quite cheaply, but will need massive renovation to make it liveable.

B&B Coimbra

Saturday 24th September - weather started off not good but eventually cleared and sat by the pool in brilliant, warm sunshine. The place is really nice, it's well off the beaten track with plenty of space and privacy and just 3 rooms. We went out to a local restaurant for dinner and had the local speciality - Chanfana which is goat cooked in red wine, it's OK. William had grilled  bacalau which smelled very fishy to me but he said it was OK.  This place is really rural with absolutely no pretentions whatsoever.

Sunday 25^th September - Weather fantastic again so sat around the pool. This is almost the first opportunity since we have been away to just relax by a pool. Either we have been sight seeing or the weather has been so bad that relaxing in the sun was out of the question.

After a lazy day decide to try another restaurant for dinner - this time the food is much better. We both have Pork and Beef cooked on a slate with roast potatoes and vegetables - it's really nice and tasty.

Palace of Bussaco

Monday 26th September -  We went to Convent and Palace of Bussaco. It is now a 5 star hotel set in lovely grounds. The buildings were originally  part of a Discalced Carmelite convent established in 1628. The monks not only built a convent but also created a luxurious garden with many species of trees. The garden was supposed to represent Mount Carmel (where the order was founded) and the Earthly Paradise (thanks to wikipedia).

Palace of Bussaco

There are some great walks including a "way of the Cross" inside the walled forest. Along the way at each of the stations of the cross is some monument or place to rest .The monks planted the  extensive forests with both native and imported varietes. This includes some redwoods which are able to survive because of the regular mist at this altitude.

Back to the B&B where we actually cooked dinner for the owners - Bacalau a la Portugese.

Tuesday 27^th September - off to Lisbon which is a steady 2 hour drive away. We arrived about 15:00 settled in to our pre-booked hotel and went for lunch. The hotel was very cheap and we find out why, at the rear is an extensive building site complete with pile driving. Fortunately it starts at 09.00 and finishes at 16.00 so not too bad if you're out and about during the day.

Lisbon -  Comercio Square

Lisbon does have a serious problem with tourists being attacked and robbed so no wallets or anything else - just the absolute bare essentials.

Lisbon - Barrio Alto

Took the Elevador da Glória which is a wonderful old fenicular railway that climbs up to the  Bairro Alto which is a rather trendy spot with lots of restaurants and bars.  Unfortunately selected a Portuguese buffet place for dinner which was a terrible let down, food was bad the only authentic thing about it was the mamasan chain smoking in the restaurant.  Afterwards went looking for some of the bars, but Lisbon is an absolute maze of narrow passageways and our map wasn't particularly good so no luck. 

Wednesday 28^th September -  Most cities have 'hop on hop off' tourist buses, In Lisbon they have 'hop on hop off" tourist trams. These are trams that use the standard passenger network but take in all the most interesting tourist spots. The tramways are incredible, most being built in the late 1880's when they were horse drawn and then electrified in about 1910.

On the Tram

Some of the routes followed by the trams are very narrow, just wide enough for the tram and a pedestrian on one side, there's no foot path and in some cases pedestrians have to duck into doorways to avoid the tram. I think in most cities they would be considered to be a health and safety disaster waiting to happen but they they are great, climbing some incredible inclines and navigating some nasty curves.

A Lisbon cat

Late in the afternoon we tried to do some shopping for our Spanish trip over the next few weeks but the shops are full of winter cloths ready for the impending cold months ahead.

Later that day met up with a friend who knew the city and got taken in the evening to  the old port which had  been redeveloped for the 1998 World Expo. Great spot so unlike the Sydney Darling Harbour development! this one is actually part of the city.

Portuguese Grafitti

Thursday 29^th  September - Off to the Algave - no idea what to expect as we still have not been able to buy a guide book. Set the Satnav  for Albufieria and see what happens. We arrive and the  place is like something out of the TV series 'Bennidorm'.

A sea lion in the Zoo
Fish and chip shops and English bars everywhere.  Find the Tourist Info for maps of camping sites and check the internet. Decide to stay at a site in Albufieria but away from the town, it's a good site plenty of space and good facilities.  Go to Black Sand beach in the late afternoon and watch the sun setting over the Atlantic - it's  a really nice spot, then back to the site for dinner, Decide to eat at the on-site restaurant - great food but terrible customers - loud, coarse and from the UK.

Friday 30^th September  - Decide to move to a camp site near the black sand beach it in a town called Quarertier. This gets us away from the traffic noise and also is a much more sedate and more Portuguese and less English town. Like all seaside places out of season it looks slightly tired but just what we wanted - no 'kiss me quick' hats or Fish & Chip shops. Booked into the camp site, pitched the tent and spent the afternoon on the beach. Walked into the town in the evening.

Sunset on a beach in Algarve

William had the best grilled bacalau he had ever had - to me it was horrible, really tasted like dried fish and not very well cooked at that. Tried some of the local firewater on the way home - I couldn't drink it but WRK managed just fine. Good nights sleep except for some bloody dogs barking all night, I ended up wearing ear plugs.

Same Sunset - Same beach

Saturday 1^st October - back down to the beach - incredibly windy. I managed to find an umbrella sun shade that had been discarded so took that along. The beach was just right almost deserted with some nice bits shaded from the wind. The sea was too rough to get in - if you tried you got dragged in and then dumped out again - well this is the north atlantic nothing between here and America.

The Algrave is nice!

Had lunch at he beach restaruant - seafood kebab for me - mainly squid but very nice WRK had sardines also very nice. Think it's a shame the Portugese don't gut their sardines would enhance the experience I always think. Back to the beach then back to the camp site for a beer and a sleep and off out for a bite to eat. Walk into town Quarertier again and walk most of the seafront but go back to the first place we saw which was  very Portuguese. We had Portugese Seafood Rice which is the same dish that WRK makes at home. Now we know what it should look like - very sloppy. Must admit Willy's version is very close to the real thing. He thinks his is better, but then he would wouldn't he!

Seville Cathedral 

Sunday 2^nd October - Enjoying the place so much we decide to stay another day. As we will be driving to Murcia later in the week we're keen to stay away from La Skoda as much as possible and here we don't have to drive anywhere, the town and beach are just minutes away on foot. . Spent the day on the beach enjoying the sights. Walked into town in the evening and had steak on a slate which was much nicer than we expected. Back to the camping site for a good nights sleep.

Monday 3^rd October - Book a hotel in Seville and off to we go. Arrived at the hotel which was very much like the reviews but will do for 2 nights. The receptionist from the Basil Fawlty hospitality school adds a bit of zip to the check-in process.

Seville has the largest Gothic Cathederal in the world and an Alcazar to rival Granada - at least that what the book says. Searched for a restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet,  managed to find the street but by then had forgotten the name of the restaurant. Made a bad mistake and ended up having quasi Italian stuff. Did a couple of bars which were fun.

The Alcazar - Seville

Tuesday 4^th October - did the Cathederal and Alcazar. The cathederal is massive, climbed up to the top for a great view of Seville, then did the Alcazar which is enormous, not as impressive as Granada but still in the great muslim tradition of beautifully laid out areas with lots of running water, trees and shade.

Banos de Dona Maria
de Padilla (Alcazar)

Unfortunately most of it was destroyed by the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 and was then replanted in a different (non-moorish) style. There's even an English Garden...which is  still very pleasant despite the non-moorishness.  Had a coffee in the cafe bar in the Alcazar which seemed to be staffed entirely with a cast from "Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown" - travel is wonderful. By the time you get through the process of ordering and buying food you've lost your appetite, doubting your own sanity and verging on paranoia.

More of the Alcazar

Wednesday 5^th October  - checked out from the hotel with Basil Fawlty and took off to Las Alpujarras which is between Granada and the Coast about 40kms in land . It's a region of mountains and valleys which is greatly underestimated. The scenery is quite dramatic complete with Hippie colony from the 70's. We stay in a camping site in Orgivy in the very west of the area.

Great site, the owners couldn't do enough to make your stay easy and there was a great on-site restrauant where many of the local ate. It also had a resident mad English woman in a campervan with 2 big dogs and countless cats who were going to spend the winter there.

On the way to Las Alpujarras  

Drove into the village for dinner - back to Raciones (big Tapas) had deep fried Baccalau and a plate of Spanish Meat complete with soggy chips - very healthy.

 Las Alpujarras at dusk

Thursday 6^th October - Great breakfast at the camp site - Toasties of Bacon and Tomatoes. Did one of the many walks available in the area and, not having a decent map, true to form managed to get lost yet again. Eventually found our way back to the town. Did some sunset photographs then back to the camp site for dinner which was surprising good - broad beans and jamon for me with pork steaks for WRK. Highly recommend the camp site - really nice people and good facilities.

Cooling off after getting
lost again!

Friday - 7^th October - last leg of the Journey to our final destination to meet up with Robert in Murcia. Drive goes better than expected and arrive about 15:00. Out for a Tapas snack, siesta and then Tapas for dinner followed by a relatively early night. Leave the car in the local free carpark - the man asking for money wasn't there so couldn't give him the usual €1 protection money. Should be OK, everything but everything has been taken out - could still lose the hubcaps but then....

The guys in the car park are basically illegal immigrants from North Africa who eek out a living by 'helping' people park.  One guy who saw our GB plates said that his ambition in life was to get to the UK. We have a charrned life compared to many.

Las Alpujarras at dusk

Saturday 8^th October - Friday 28th OctoberAll this time we were based in Murcia - Robert moves out of his apartment so we have the run of the place which is right by the Cathedral

Al Azohia

We have been to Murcia many times before so there no great pressure for sight seeing etc. Most of the time is spent relaxing and going out with Robert and Tasio in the evening to various Tapas restaurants also visiting the local gentleman bar where we won a couple of sun hats in a National Day lottery. The prize was awarded by a very glamorous drag artiste. Must admit we both were hoping and praying that the ground would open up and we would be spared the presentation but that was not to be. Once the Spanish get going there is no stopping them!

We did a day trip to Al Azohia which is about one hour drive from Murcia on the coast. There is the most amazing fortifications further along the coast. It's an amazing drive to reach these, very steep single track roads with great views looking along the coast and to Cartegena to the West and Mazarron in the East.  Go into Al Azohia for lunch which is rather nice village. 

A very big Gun

We make a couple of trip Bolnuevo which again is about 1hours from Murcia, we have been here many times before. The village is small but a bit further along the coast is the most amazing natural park area which is accessible by a rather rough unpaved track. The whole area is a naturalist area and really deserted with some great beaches.

National Park near Bolnuevo

We actually moved down to Bolnuevo and stayed at a camping site for several nights, it was really nice being able to walk into the village at night for a meal and drinks in a nice quiet village atmosphere. Would highly recommend this as a spot to stay. We hired a wooden hut which is a basic hut with 2 beds and a outside area where you can sit and have drinks and watch the sun go down.

As it was out of season there was only about three restaurants open in the village. An English one, a German one and a Spanish one.  We tried the English one and the Fish and Chips were so good we actually went back the next day for breakfast and dinner. What was I saying about Bennidorm!!

Still going - on the beach at Bolnueve

At the end of October the weather in Murcia was still nice but no longer beach weather so we decided it was time to make a move back north for the winter. As it had now been 4 months since we left Sydney and had been on the road for the majority of that time we both needed some time without travelling  

Friday 28^th October - Sunday 30th October - Madrid. The plan was to end the holiday with 3 nights in Madrid then catch the ferry from Santander to Portsmouth - this avoided the drive back through France which together with the drive through Spain and the channel crossing would probably have taken about the same time and cost about the same amount of money.

Picasso's Guernica 

We leave Murcia at about 10:00 which is really good for us. Rather a nice drive that makes you realise  Madrid is almost in the middle of a dessert. Spent the time in Madrid (Friday - Sunday) mainly bar hopping and eating. I did the Riene Sophia gallery - again, it's worth the visit just to see Guernica which never fails to fascinate me - I think it's the worlds greatest picture!  You will see that there's only one picture of Madrid - there was a lot of bar hopping done!

Santander harbour

Monday 31st October -  We are booked on the Ferry at 20:00 on Wednesday night from Santander so have 2 days before we sail. However I think we are both a bit jaded so we decide to go straight to Santander and relax there for a couple of days before we leave for the UK. Decide to stay at the Bahia hotel which is right opposite the ferry terminal which happens to be right in the central  part of town.

On the way through we go through the Pico de Europe which are some of the most beautiful moutain ranges in Spain before dropping down to the the Coast and Santander.

A sea lion in the Zoo

The Bahia is bit expensive but so good, again being off-season rates are reasonable and the room is large and airy  with good views. We spend the next two days wandering around Santander which turns out to be rather a nice city.  On the Tuesday which is a holiday we go for a long walk along the water to a big park which happens to have a zoo complete with some of the most unhappy looking penguins in the world. 

Wednesday 2nd November - On the ferry for the 24 hour journey, settle into the cabin, gin and tonics and food - UK next stop.