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Love this song, such happy memories,
do you still have this record mom? |
Barcelona, Alicante,
Granada, Seville
19th July –
27th July
Camping
Barcelona was like a miniature holiday camp, daily activities for kids,
entertainment every night and a great big non-boring pool!! The first day was
spent at the pool, we also needed to get the laptop fixed, Neil took it into
the local repair shop but unfortunately it would take about a week to get the
part needed and we were only there for 3 nights, this could be a problem.
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| Non boring pool at Camping Barcelona. |
The
compulsory trip to Barcelona was next, after only just visiting Rome we were
not really up for this. Public transport had proved a good choice, more
relaxing and the boys enjoy the train rides but here it was not going to be as
kind to our pocket, the train tickets were 16 Euro each and the boys paid full
price - shocking!! With the day out slightly tainted by the cost of getting
there (with hind sight maybe we should have taken the car) we set off. A train
and metro journey took us to Le Rambles, nice here, lovely architecture and as
many souvenirs stalls as flower stalls, not quite as colourful and spectacular
as you would probably imagine, we had high expectations too as the last time we
visited it was on the evening for Tapas and we were told ‘oooh you should have
gone during the day’…
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| Feeding the birds... Or waiting for a bus?! |
Heading on
foot to the cathedral we stopped to feed the birds and top ourselves up with an
extremely tasty traditional lunch complete with Sangria at a super restaurant.
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| Sangria, lush!!! |
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| Lunch at restaurant Qu Qu. |
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| Scaffolding. |
The
Cathedral was still scaffolded (it was when we first visited 11 yrs ago) I am
guessing there is a reason for this but it does somewhat spoil the overall effect
of this magnificent piece of work, we didn’t go in due to budget limitations. For
Neil and I this was our second visit to Barcelona and the boys were not at all
interested so it seemed to all just pass us by really, almost felt like we had
to do this day out as we were so close it would be rude not to.
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| Colour, light and music = MAGIC!!! |
From here
it was slow as Ryan fell from a climbing frame and hurt his ankle, we cut the
sightseeing down and had an ice cream by which time it was almost time to be
heading to the Magic Fountains, Neil thought this would make us really late
getting back and was not keen to do it, the kids by now were showing signs of
exhaustion and really needed a few early nights but boy were we glad we made
the effort. From a distance it was superb and we got right up close which was
even better, the music, the lights, the spray, it was truly amazing, the best
part of the day!
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| Looking back from the fountain. |
As we walked back to the Metro we came across a street
dance/hip hop crew who were very impressive and put on a great little show
which mesmerised the boys. It was late but luckily the connections between
Metro and train were pretty much spot on and we were sleeping soundly in no
time at all.
Another day
at the pool before what was going to be a very long drive to stay with Lorraine
and David near Alicante an early start would be beneficial, we don’t usually
drive much more than five hours mainly as the boys can’t cope in the car for
that amount of time, to get to our next stop could easily be eight so we
decided to see how the drive went.
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| Beach breakfast. |
The early
start didn’t happen, it rarely does, so we set of mid morning and it was soon
clear that we needed to stop half way, Camping Didota was on the beach in
Oropesa De Mar with a great pool and great food, we only needed to eat, swim
and sleep, it was ideal and we really had a lovely relaxing time, Neil took the
boys go karting nearby before tea so I had a couple of quiet hours - bliss!!
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| Oropesa De Mar. |
A relaxing breakfast
of croissants on the lovely beach and we were on the road again. We stopped for
Ice cream and the loo and Neil noticed that the caravan was splattered with oil
which could only mean one thing; an oil leak, out came the overalls and under
the car he went, it was the transfer gear box and we had no idea how long it
had been leaking or how much oil was lost, the only thing we did know was that
if its actually leaking there was still oil in which was a good sign, Neil
topped everything up and we were heading for a house! With a bedroom! And... a
bathroom!!
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| Overalls on!! |
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| The stunning view from the pool and garden. |
Arriving at
Lorraine and David’s was joyous, what a lovely welcome, what a lovely home in
stunning surrounding. A few guests had come and gone to say the least and I
know how tired you can be after having visitors back to back so for me it was
important to make this as simple as possible for our lovely hosts. We had a
real bed for a few nights and a shower we didn’t have to walk to, what more
could we ask for, oh yeah the TV and a sofa which the boys were glued to for
the rest of the afternoon, usually they would have made a dash for the pool but
they hadn’t sat on a sofa in front of the TV for a few weeks now so the pool
was taking second place.
Beer, good
food and good company made for a relaxed evening in the village, a few hours
chatting and back home to bed. I know Lorraine was keen for us to shower but
this was not to happen as quickly as we had hoped - the water went off, the
other thing Lorraine wanted us to do was our washing which was quite a heap by
now and this also had to wait.
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| After dinner entertainment. |
The lack of water made things a little tricky
but my love of a Sunday lunch and David’s willingness to find a place for us to
get one meant that we ate out, it was just what I needed (the boys too, this
was evident as they ate the most they had in days without complaint, veggies
and all). The boys had a quick kick around while Lorraine and I had a good catch up, its been a few years to say the least, it was great to get up to speed and hear all about the expanding family. The water did come back on before we left, we got that shower and also got through the washing, all five loads of it, not bad going at all.
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| Breakfast in the summer kitchen. |
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| The final leg... |
Almost time
to set off again, another relaxed and enjoyable breakfast and we were soon
hooked up and ready for the off, with a teary goodbye (from me) and a promise
to meet up sooner rather than later, we left with still quite a way to go and
two overnights stops at least.
This stop did me the world of good, I for sure
had been a little up and down emotionally for a few days at least and these few
days helped me regain some positivity and confidence, its normal not to always
be on top of the world so to say and when on such a journey many emotions and
feelings come and go, (not all I like or want) but it’s a fact that we can’t experience
joy without sadness, sitting around and chatting with familiar faces made me
feel grounded again and helped bring back a little normality, its odd thinking
you are not going home!!
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| Living trees are helpful and two steps or a ramp just in case :) |
First was Camping
Granada, this was going to be longest drive so far, it went quite well really
which I can only say was a residual effect of a very comfortable stay at
Lorraine and David’s lovely home. The site was on the top of a hill just
outside the city, we found it along a single lane track approaching between
fields of grapevines coming from totally the wrong way thanks again to the GPS,
the pitch was slightly sloped and we felt a couple of tips regarding choosing a
good spot for your caravan or camper would be helpful right now (see photo), the pool overlooked the city and was surrounded by grass which was heavenly to
walk on. Unfortunately, we really didn’t have the motivation or enthusiasm to
sightsee on foot so we had a cheeky drive around instead, I have never before
smelt perfume floating in the breeze from a department store when driving by. A
lovely city I must say, and to be honest somewhere an enjoyable few days and
nights could be had.
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| Pool side essentials. |
Our next
stop was Seville, the journey was the worst so far in the way of temperate, it
had to be 40 degrees plus and the wind coming into the car felt like it was
from a blow torch, we were all dripping in sweat so the thought of the pine
forest location that we choose for our last stop could not come soon enough. We
passed by Seville which was massive, initially I was really keen to spend a
little time here but what was in my minds eye was not what we saw, I was
thinking small traditional town, well village actually, filled with fans and
flamenco, I have no idea why I thought this as you can usually tell how big a
place is by the size of the writing on the map and this was in CAPITALS!!
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| Pine forest camping. |
Leaving the
city limits to get to the pine forest campsite Dehesa Nueva we spotted signs
for Portugal, Neil and I looked at each other with a twinkle in our eye, should
we push on? We ask the boys who shouted ‘yes’ in unison but after quite a
discussion we thought we were too hot, way too hot to carry on not knowing
where we would be stopping for the night once across the border and it would be
dark by then, pine forest still winning.
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| More Sangria!! |
This site had a lovely big pool, to be
honest thats the best thing we could say about it and even this was not as
inviting as it could have been with dozens of dead bugs floating in it, the whole
area had Dragonfly’s swarming around, some yellow and some red, they were
stunning and more luscious grass, we got our towels on the ground and headed to
take a cool drink from the bar, it didn’t register but the bar area was
enclosed with netting, it soon became clear why – mosquitos, loads on them, we
were slapping ourselves and the boys silly and heading back to the sundrenched ‘mosquito
free’ poolside before we could take our change from the barmaid. A swim and a
cool off and time for food and a cool evening in the pine trees, yeah right!!
Within minutes of getting back to the caravan we were surrounded by not only mosquitos
but flys too, I had a teeny beetle bite my neck so hard I let out a scream,
knocked it off only to find out seconds after it had fallen into the back of my
top, a crazy little dance and a few curses later I got the sucker out… This
really was too much,
we gathered up our tea and sat on our bed in the caravan,
it was going to be an early night.
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| Caravan graveyard. |
The site
was pretty full and loads of caravans had gazebos or awnings (all netted!!)
but very few people, it was quite like a caravan graveyard. It turns out
Seville is way too hot in the Summer and its likely that this site is busier in
the cooler seasons, personally I could not stand the biting things whatever
time of year it was. We were almost ready to get to sleep and we heard a car
turn up, without making it obvious we peeked out to see a couple of young guys
pulling out tents, Neil and I didn’t envy them at all with the amount of
mosquitoes around getting those tents up, well, they didn’t, they tried, in the
dark, for pretty much two hours then packed them up and put the seats down in
the car to settle for the night, I can only imagine the car too was full of the
biting little buggers as it wasn’t too long before we could see them winding
the seats back up to leave… NOTE put your tent up in the daylight at least once
before heading off on a camping trip, seriously though it really came across as
though they had pitched up straight from Decathalon.
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| Playing in the dirt with ants and the girl next door. |
I have to
say really I enjoyed Spain, it holds a lot of wonderful happy childhood
memories for me, toy donkeys my size (back then), water slides, medieval
nights, cheese toasties and cold chocolate milk stand out, some of which are still
popular now. I really underestimated the distance we had to cover for this leg
of our journey and the long drives and short stays meant we could not make the
most of it. However, the terrain we crossed was stunning, I never tired of the
golds, greens, reds and browns of the plains, mountains, rocks and fields and
the never ending rows of olive trees were a sight to behold, E Viva Espana!! I would
definitely recommend touring the inner landscapes of Spain, there are for sure
some treasures to be found, just do not do it during July or August you will
BAKE!!!
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| Spain! |
Morning arrived
and instead of a day sweating in Seville we headed straight to
Portugal, we just could not wait any longer...
