Author: whereismat

18th of may to 21st of may

We slowly have to make our way back to Germany and finish the first part of our travels. Our first stop back in Spain is a surprisingly pretty Ciudad Rodrigo and Mathias seriously thinks about buying an appartment in this obviously up and coming village in the middle of nowhere.

Via beautiful Salamanca we make our way to Segovia. Unfortunately Sputnik somehow hurt his paw and is now limping quite a lot. I actually assume he is just tired of walking around cities all day so he is only pretending. Anyway, since he is not a fan of our plan to put him instead of Eva in the stroller to continue the sight seeing, we continue without seeing Segovia.

The next must stop is Peñafiel which has Europe’s or even the world’s(?) thinnest Castle. In the end we don’t even go there but only see the 20m wide Castle from afar.

By coincidence we pass by good old Burgos as Eva wakes up from her morning nap, so we stop there for the day. This time the weather is even better than last time and so we spend a beautiful sommerday in the town.

Through the wine town of Laguardia, where tourist busses drop their well-off passengers we continue to tomato- throwing and bull- running Pamplona. Besides seeing the pretty old town we have our probably best Spanish lunch experience: about 15 people sitting around a table, drinking wine and everybody plays his own instrument, reaching from violin, to piano, Spanish guitar and a trumpet.

After Pamplona it’s a 1800 km journey back to Germany. By driving a few hours at night after Eva’s bedtime, we manage to do this in just 3 days. In Germany we have a week of rest, which turns into a busy time cleaning the van, buying stuff, getting baby and dog vaccinated and getting a kindergarten place. Phew, first phase of the trip done!

3rd of June we start the next part of our trip.

12th of May to 17th of May

Since we are running out of time we unfortunately have to cut Portugal slightly short. Due to time zone issues we arrive in Tomar at about midnight at an obsolete campground that seems like the last hideout of the survivors of the zombie apocalypse. Behind the former walls of the campground nature slowly claims back its territory and in between some 50 campers have found their place. Funny enough, at 9 am a bread truck arrives honking and the last survivors, now themselves looking like the undead, shuffle their way out of their campers towards the breakfast bread.

The city itself is small and the biggest draw card is an old temple knight castle and convent. Lucky for me dogs are not allowed so me and Sputnik have a nice rest under a chestnut tree while Eva has to look at the convent with daddy. I heard she fell asleep after 5 minutes, so I don’t think I missed out on anything.

From Tomar Mathias secretely takes us to a ceramic outlet (“because Portugal is so famous for it’s ceramics”) where, after 2,5 hours he finally sorted through all the plates and found us a new plate and bowl set for a ridiculous cheap price. I in the meantime try to keep crawling Eva and bored Sputnik away from all sorts of things that could possibly break. So now we have another box of stuff that has to somehow be stored in the Womo. This time Eva’s bed which she doesn’t use yet gets repurposed into a shelf.

We continue to Nazaré, which is home to the World biggest waves. So while driving there i expect surfers riding skyscraper waves. With a bit of research one might have found out beforehand that the season for these sort of waves is november to february so all we see is snail house high waves.

In the afternoon we arrive in the university town of Coimbra, where we once again wait in the park until the temperature drops to a more bearable 26 degrees. Today is student initiation day, and all the freshmen dress up and collect money while heading from the university to the river where they get baptized by the senior students. Afterwards they have to pay the dinner of the seniors, hence the money collecting.

As the next day is our wedding day we plan for a fancy late lunch at one of the vinyards in the Dão valley. As we arrive there we find out it’s fully booked for some sort of event. There is not really any alternative nearby so we continue to Viseu where our fancy anniversary dinner is replaced by take away pizza.

From Viseu we make our way into the pretty Douro Valley. Here we walk along the Douro River, stroll through vinyards and stay at one of the small wineries, called a “quinta”. We stay until late the next day because Mathias joins the wine tasting rather intensely.

10th of May until 11th of May

To escape the heat we plan to move north towards picos de europa. On our way up we stop at Merida where once more gets his will for more old stones. According to our guide book it’s home to the most impressive roman ruins in all of Spain. So on our evening walk we have to look at ALL of them. The most interesting for me and Eva is the old viaduct that is now home to a bazillion storch nests.

The next day we continue to Trujillo, which is home to – have a guess – one of the best preserved medieval city centers in all of Spain.

Mathias, having some time to read the guide book, changes plans once again. So now we are up for heading back into Portugal. Why we dismissed the idea of driving to picos de europa I don’t even know anymore. But whatever, Portugal, here we come.

2nd of May to 9th of May

Via a sand dune that somehow moved itself on top of a street (or the street was put through the dune?) we drive from La Tarifa to Los Caños de Meca. Here is a walking trail to the cliffs which are supposed to “rival the cliffs of cabo de gata in their beauty”. So now we have to go there. Out trail leads us through the second dune today. Whether they’re natural or man made to prevent forest fires we don’t know, all we know ist that they make our way to the cliffs a lot more arduous than expected. Finally we arrive at the “real” walking trail that leads through a pretty pine forest and a lot less sand.

Next is Cadiz, where we will stay an incredible amount of 3 nights. In Cadiz we meet a former colleague from Poland, Joaquin, who shows us around and also gives recommendations for the best cafés and restaurants. Besides the cruise ships that drop off some tourist from time to time, outsite the harbour area, Cadiz is surprisingly untouristy, which is a huge surprise for us because the city is framed by one beach which is as wide as the island is long. Furthermore it has tons of small plazas, cafés, bars and everything else you need.

After having decided to look for a retirement home in Cadiz, we leave the city behind and head for Ronda with a small stop at Zahara de la Sierra in between. Ronda is a city which is build on cliffs over a gorge. The two sides of the town are connected by 3 bridges, the “new bridge” on the highest point being the newest but still hundreds of years old!

From Ronda we continue to Sentenil de las Bodegas. Another white washed village where houses didn’t get build on top of, but into the cliffs. So now people live in some sort of cave houses.

Next stop is the stone park in Antequera. We arrive early to get one of the parking spots at the park so we don’t have to manoeuvre a kid and a dog up by bus. We are lucky enough to get a spot and start walking through the odd stone landscape. The area was actually once the ground of an ocean but got pushed up by earth movement stuff. Over time the stone got eroded by water and wind and now it just looks funny. The night we spend in a camp ground in Doña Mencia, where Mathias, while I am like always doing everything, is busy making friends with our british neighbours. They at least tell him about the flower festival in the village so on our evening stroll we can have a look at this.

By now the heat wave strikes, so at 30 degree we try to enjoy the stroll along the old railway line towards Zuheros. Because of the heat we don’t even make it up to the city. We high five the stations city sign and call it a day.

Through 32 degree we drive to Cordoba. At 5 pm it’s still too hot but we try to explore the city. Even though being complety done we enjoy the beauty of Cordoba with its Mosque-Cathedral, flower filled courtyards and small lanes.

19th of april to 1st of may

Our trip into andalusia starts with a time travel. After having visited the White washed village of Mojacar we drive to Los Molinos del Rio Aguas. Here, 10 years ago I worked as a volunteer in the eco project of Sunseed. Surprisingly little has changed in 10 years and so I get drawn back into good old Sunseed times while Mathias has to listen to how compost toilets and solar cookers work.

In Sorbas, which is the next village which has a super market (1,5h walk), Mathias finally sees his chance for souvenir shopping. The recurring “but you need a sorbas-memory” is succeeding in one small and one huge water jug, which now moves from bed to child seat every morning and evening, respectively.

The next stop on the way is the Elisabeth II dam, which we reach by a rather adventurous dirt track leading through the ridiculous amounts of green houses that lie in front of us like an ocean of white plastic. The dam itself is a huge fail construction because where there used to be water there is none nowadays, so now the dam separates two green dry areas.

On the next stop Mathias got me hooked by telling me it’s an old meteor crater where one can still find gem stones. WOW…gem stones from out of space. After arriving there and a bit more research it turns out that the the meteor crater is an old volcanic crater and the gem stones inside are garnets which are worth…. absolutely nothing because they get washed up again from the ground every time it rains. Who cares. Mathias is on an Indiana Jones mission and I can only get him out of the crater because it gets dark. The yield is unfortunately also not as impressive as the Google search pictures might imply.

In Nijar we visit the cactus farm because besides being a stonee mathias is apparently also a plantee, although I’ve never seen him watering the plants at home but hence the cacti I guess. Anyway because our camper garden lavender didn’t make it we now have a new cacti garden. He also bought a new flower pott which now shares it’s space with the water jug in the bed and the child seat. We continue further on and overnight at windy Cabo de Gata.

Next stop: a surprisingly pretty Almeria. We didn’t expect much by what the guide book said but are really surprised about the pretty little plazas all around town and the beautiful Alcazaba. Because dogs can’t enter we split up so Mathias goes alone while I take care of Eva and Sputnik in the camper. The next day I go with Eva while Mathias has breakfast at a café with Sputnik. Doesn’t feel like I made a particularly good deal here.

Leaving Almeria behind we stop at the only official desert in europe: desierto de tabernas. Beside the “Desert Hollywood theme park” attractions one can actually have a walk in zhe desert. We decide on one along the old river bed which actually even has water after all the rain during the last months. We make it all the way to the oasis of Lawrence of arabia (never seen the movie) before we turn back. Other cinematic highlights of this desert include Indiana jones, Game of thrones, Conan and many more.

Unfortunately Eva caught a cold so the next day we take it a bit slower and stay on a camp site in Roquetas de mar. Eva being Eva she makes new friends and even gets a recovery fox.

Now the cold also caught me which means me, Eva and Sputnik stay in the camper while Mathias has his private -what else- rum tour. Afters he’s done we try to put Eva to sleep and somehow get overlooked by the factory’s when they closed the gate for their siesta. So now we are locked in on the premises of a rum factory, well, could be worse. Luckily the siesta only takes another hour so soon we’re free to roll on to Nerja and Torrox.

Since our guide book mentions the white village Frigilantes as “not yet on the tour bus route” we give it a go. Unfortunately we have to realize that our guide book is outdated once again. As we arrive the tour busses have already dropped their load. We climb the stairs through town and the higher we get the viewer tourists we see. Down the stairs runs a continuous triggle of water which we later find out is because they still clean the villages from the sahara sand from the storm one month ago. From the news we learn that the amounts of water they use now for cleaning will probably result in water shortages later in the year. Despite all the tourists we are surprised about all the different shops in the village, not just the same souvenir shops over and over again. There are ceramic shops, home accessories shops, local food stores, art shops and many more.

Another surprising stop in the route is Málaga. Perrots in the park, a cool soho quarter, a really nice old town and the most impressive cathedral we’ve seen so far. Yes, even after having seen Santiago de Compostela.

Next on the list is the beach resort town of Torremolinos where we are looking for the yacht of Antonio Banderas which is supposed to be docked here. Since we didn’t meet him we guess he’s out for some sailing. The rest of Torremolinos ist just a forever ongoing beach promenade with restaurants and bars. Don’t really know why that was mentioned as a trip highlight.

Continuing along the coast we reach Marbella. The upperclass Torremolinos. And yes the tourists seem to look a bit more well dressed and the restaurant prices are higher too. Since me and Mathias had a misunderstanding this morning, (while I was sure we only go out for a 2 hour stroll, Mathias planned a whole day trip) I didn’t pack any lunch for little Eva. To safe the day Mathias runs into the mercato central to buy some fruits. Exactly, the smallest banana ever seen for 47 cents and a cherimoya for 4 euro. I can still hear the vendor lady laughing. Just as loud as the spanish people who walk by while I am maltreating the poor cherimoya with a wooden knife that we found in the backpack.

Today we are going to cross the country border into good old Great Britain, because we are going to Gibraltar. And I am saying it from the start. No, we didn’t do the stupid rock. Not because of the rock itself, it’s probably quiet a good rock but I remember the stupid macaque monkeys from asia and I do really hate them. They are mean, aggressive and not even cute. They rip open your backpack in search for food so you’re not even allowed to bring up backbacks. So since we carry Eva around in a carrying system my worst fear is that they mistake her for a backpack. Furthermore dogs and monkeys are apparently not the best friends either. For some reason the monkeys attack dogs. So that’s it for the rock. The guy in the tourist office is slightly startled and then tells us that there is actually not a lot more to see in Gibraltar if you don’t do the rock. So what’s left is the high street as well as the europa point, which is on the tip of Gibraltar from where you can see africa. Normal people take the bus. People with dogs take the foot-bus, because they are not allowed on busses. Not a particularly dog friendly city. Anyway we walk 2 hours there and back and just make it for high tea at the harbour, where we meet a nice local couple that gives us more insights on living in tiny Gibraltar, which only has 33.000 inhabitants.

Last stop on the mediterranean coast is La Tarifa. Here the mediterranean sea meets the atlantic ocean. The day goes by marvelling at the beautiful waters and waving at africa.

11th of april to 18th of april

There is a heat wave in Sevilla, which means 30+ degrees. We are afraid that in May, when, according to plans, we would   hit the south of Spain, the weather will be like that everywhere. So what do they say: plans are made to be changed. So we drive back to where we changed plans the first time…south east of Spain. 10 driving hours later we arrive where we were 1 month ago: Albacete.  Not completely by coincidence I am afraid. I am not even sure if the direct route would have taken us through Albacete. Whatever, some of you might remember the knife incident. So after all the yelling and screaming (by Mathias, not the baby) Mathias finally gets his manchego knife, made in Albacete.

He also takes Eva with him into the knife shop, because sometimes when you bring a baby you get something for free. That apparently doesn’t work for knife shops, only restaurants and cafes. Here Eva usually gets offered cookies and bread which I deny because she’s too young for sugar, and by the way doesn’t have any teeth either. Mathias of course would have taken the cookie anyway since “he could have eaten it “.

Via Villena and Elche we continue to the Salinas de San Pedro where Mathias is enjoying a nice mud bath in the not too warm Salinas. Unfortunately Sputnik is convinced that Mathias is drowning so now I have a dirty husband and a wet, smelly dog.  After Mathias detects tons of red worms in his mud suit we don’t wait the recommended two hours of mud drying time and he “jumps” again in the opposite bay. The water is pretty shallow so you can imagine what it looked like seeing mathias rolling around in the not even knee deep water to get rid off the mud.

In the evening we plan to see the Easter festivities in Cartagena. Unfortunately little Eva is having two rather bad days by not being able to fall asleep so after having slept 1 hour in total during the day we were sure she would just sleep through the procession at 9pm. BUT… of course after half an hour somebody is awake again. It takes exactly 5 minutes into the procession and Eva explodes into a crying wreck. So we leave as fast as possible.

So now it took exactly one bad sunburn (from the time at the salinas), half a mental breakdown from me and 5 minutes of an Easter procession to realize….we have to take it slower. So next stop is a campsite 10 km out of town where we will spend the next day. Chilling, grilling, nothing more.

The next day we give Cartagena a new try. Besides being ripped off by 21€ for 4 Tapas and 2 drinks it’s been a nice sunny day.

We follow the mediterranean coast further south to Aguilas where we spend another relaxed day before heading into Andalusia.

4th of april to 10th of april

Our Atlantic coast trip starts in A Guarda where we just as we park the car at the harbour run into our 2 favorite pilgrims. Especially lucky for me since that means I don’t have to cook and I can finally have my tapas.

We follow the coast upwards and pass by many sweet little fishing port cities, like Baiona. On our hike out to Cabo de Home we have two rather rare animal encounters. First we find a mole, which somehow managed to dig his way up onto the beaten dirt track we are walking on. As we watch him for a while it gets clear that he won’t manage his way back so we think we saved him by putting him into the nearby forest. Maybe he just wanted a sunbath, then I am terribly sorry my friend. Further on it goes to the light houses. And there they are. Dolphins jumping out of the water. Mathias even somehow managed to take a picture. What a day!

Further on we continue to Pontevedra where Mathias makes a steal in getting my so desired pasta-ladle. Because the vendor doesn’t take credit cards he gives us the 10€ ladle for what we have cash in our pockets which is 4€. So this guy gets a good review.

After a quick stop in Combarro where Mathias orders one of the famous seafood dishes the area is known for…. spaghetti Bolognese (Not much to say about that) we continue to Cabo Finisterra. Although the weather is rather sh**** and wind and rain are shaking the camper during the whole night, so nobody actually sleeps that night, the views where totally worth it. I am saying that now. Back in time I probably thought differently.

We continue via A Coruña and Betanzos to Cabo Ortegal. Also here dolphins and whales are supposed to show up sometimes but unfortunately not today. Everywhere we go we are impressed by how the Atlantic waves crush onto land. A spectacle you could watch all day.

On our way back we hit Cedeira which is known for its rich percebes. A type of seafood which is picked up at night from between the stones on the beach and looks like a alien dragon claw, from which you then suck the inside.  Well the budget was for that or ice cream…so we went for the latter.

Our final goal in Galicia is Santiago de compostela. And yes the cathedral is rather impressive. What’s rather not impressive are the tonnes of tourist and first of all pilgrims we suddenly hit. Although the old town is pretty in itself there is probably not a lot of religious self-discovery left between all the souvenir shops, restaurants and pilgrim accessories stores.

1st of April to 3rd of April

After arriving in Portugal and spending the night at a wonderful little restaurant /Park establishment, we wake up and head to the beach for a morning walk. The area is more or less empty, with just a few early surfers out in the waves. It looks very cold…..

We hang around the restaurant and park for a bit longer, giving Eva the chance to crawl around and interact with the staff who are all very friendly. I manage a shower which goes from boiling hot to ice cold every 30 seconds. Then we drive down to Povoa de Varzim, where we meet up with some lovely friends from Germany, who are currently hiking to Santiago de Compostela.

After a cheap and filling dinner of “Francesinha” (filled baguette covered with cheese and some sauce, with French fries on the side), we drive down to Porto to spend the night. Tomorrow morning we will go south of Porto to meet a colleague of mine. Its a nice break from our regular travelling, to get to see some familiar faces

We park up in a suburb of Porto, visit the nice garden of my colleague, get giftet as many lemons as we want (we just take one) and get treated to a lovely morning with coffee and snacks and good company. Afterwards we take the train into Porto for a day of exploring.

Coming back in the evening, it’s a 14 min walk from the train station to where we parked the van, as we are almost “home”, we realise that Eva dropped one of her socks… So, back towards the station I walk, checking the ground along the way, unfortunately the sock is all the way back at the train station, so the 14min walk to the car ends up taking over 30 minutes. We then reposition our camper to be closer to the ocean for the night.

Next morning we have a beach walk before wanting to catch the hourly train into Porto at 11:18. With time to spare, we arrive at the station at 10:50, and wait, and wait, and wait. At 11:40, we are still waiting.. At 12:18 the next train is supposed to come, so we wait… And wait… And at 12:36, a train comes. So a bit more than 90 minutes delayed, we get into Porto! We try to see a few other sights than the day before, but somehow we are not very effective and don’t get as much ground covered as we want to. Oh well, this leaves a future visit a possibility!

Tomorrow we will grab a quick coffee with our friends before heading back towards Spain to visit Galicia and start planning our next moves.

29th of March to 31st of March

Next stop, León, old, pretty and once the capital and center for the re-conquest f Spain from the Moorish. We start by walking through the city taking in the grand cathedral, a few statues, having a break and then going out again to see the city by night.

Today we are visiting Las Médulas, the site of an old roman gold mine, apparently the most important in the roman empire! On the way we are forced to make a stop in Ponferrada because Eva doesn’t want to drive anymore! This gives us a chance to visit the local dog park where sputnik barks at the other dogs until they leave…. We have lunch in the camper, Eva and Anja have a nap and I finally get to put up some of the decorations we bought.

As we get to Las Médulas, it is rather deserted, which is good for us, but makes you wonder if it isn’t advertised enough, or if we are just so out of season, because the place is very nice. The mining of the Romans has definitely left some amazing landscapes behind. After our walk, we drive to a nearby viewpoint and cook. Dinner before going up to enjoy the sunset over the mountains.

Since a full day of rain is promised tomorrow, we decide to try to cover sind ground on our way to Portugal by driving a bit in the evening. So after the delightful sunset, we plan to drive down the mountain and 2 hours west. This turns out to be more of a plan than reality. Driving down the mountain in darkness isn’t too much of an issue, just take it slow and everything will be fine. The problem comes as the navigation sends us on a different route through the tiny village on the mountainside. The roads are steep, narrow and not at all made for a van, which becomes abundantly clear as I have to give up making a 90 degree turn on a narrow lane. The issue? It was very difficult getting up here, with a 2m drop to one side, and rocks on the other, now I have to do it in reverse to get back to the last junction and hopefully find another way out, or a lot more of reversing. 30 minutes lots of twists, turns and reversals, and one very steep, crooked road which I wasn’t sure we could make later, and we are back on the main road. In the end we drive 1 additional hour and end up in Monforte de Lemos at 23:21, ready to sleep and continue in the rain tomorrow

Today we drive to Portugal, mostly rushing through the rain, pulling over when Eva doesn’t want to drive anymore, and somehow catching 25 minutes of good weather. In the end we arrive at a small restaurant near the beach, but otherwise very secluded, here we can spend the night after enjoying dinner in the restaurant. A small evening walk takes us to the endless and completely empty beach.

26th of March to 28th of March

After originally not planning to visit Santander, we end up going to the Magdalena Peninsula, which is at the Eastern edge of the city. Here we have a nice lunch, a walk around and visit the tiny, but free, sea lion and penguin area.

We spend the night in a small town canned Puente San Miguel, where a small statue is dedicated to a dog who did something?

In the morning we start our drive to Gijón. In Gijón we can park directly at a beach promenade, however it’s a long walk into town from here. With the weather being good we spend and time relaxing at the beachfront before walking into town. Eva attracts lots of attention playing on our blanket, she makes a lot of new friends who stop to chat and wave.

Next morning we catch some breakfast outside in the still chilly morning air, and then it’s off to Oviedo. In Oviedo we do a quick tour of the town without spending too much time. After Burgos, this is also our first real encounter with the Camino de Santiago, and the pilgrims which we start to see a lot more references to.

And now we continue to León!