Van Trip Part 4 - South Spain

19/8 Seville

The next day was a long day of travel to Seville. It was a little disappointing and very hot (47 degrees one thermometer said!) It was disappointing because the only thing we really wanted to look at was the cathedral but when we got there we were told we were too late even though the Lonely Planet book said we had heaps of time. We couldn't have gotten there any earlier because the buses didn't run in the middle of the day. So we looked around the outside of the cathedral and then looked at the Alcamara Palace. It was really really hot so we were pretty slow moving but the palace was nice. It was built in the Moorish style with nice gardens and a fountain. It was certainly good to be inside in the shade. We then continued on a walk around the shopping area of town, the river and the tower (which is the only part remaining of the old city walls). We stopped in the Maria Luisa gardens to get rehydrated with agua. In those sorts of temperatures even sitting down was a sweaty affair. After a short rest we moved on to the Plaza de Espana which was built for the world fair in 1929. It is a massive half square building with a lot of tiled details respresenting the different major cities and regions of Spain. Our stomachs were empty and we thought by now it might be a reasonable time to have tapas so we headed along to Calle Santa Maria la Blanca for tapas and sangria. We enjoyed baby squid, anchovies and some yummy roll thingies and in the sweltering heat the jug of Sangria went down a treat. We got the train back to the campsite. Mmm airconditioning... However we needed to sleep with the doors to the van wide open because despite being night it was still in the high 30s...

20/8 Granada
The following day we drove up and over the Sierra Nevada mountains. Suffice to say in over 40 degree heat the Iceberg was feeling a bit worse for wear by the time we arrived at the campsite. The Sierra Nevada mountains are stunning though. Very bleak and stretching on for miles. Different than the sort of mountains we are used to. After stopping at the campsite we got the bus into Granada. We got slightly lost and took the long way to the Alhambra Palace, which involved climbing up a steep hill in the hot weather, and as a result we arrived 2 people too late to get into the palaces but were still able to look at the gardens. Again according to the guide book we had plenty of time, but they seem to do things however they feel like it in Spain. So we looked around the gardens in the still scorching heat (only 44 degrees today). The gardens were pretty, intricate and large around the 3 palaces which looked pretty interesting from the outside although in the heat we aren't sure. We got the bus back into town and had a wander around and saw a church and bath houses by the river before getting an icecream and heading back to camp. Unfortunately when we got back to camp we could see that pushing the Iceberg in the hot weather hadn't done him any favours and he had preceded to leak the contents of his radiator onto the ground. Luckily Marcus had remembered a thing or two from the days of the Singer Vogue and even more luckily there was an auto parts store across the road from the campsite. We managed to get some Bars Leaks (or the Spanish equivalent) and after running it through the radiator and taking a few drives around the block it was as good as new. Never leaked again.

21/8 Playa Charco
Next we headed to Playa Charco (which is on the Cabo De Gato coast) from where we had a beautiful view of the mountains from the beach. Marcus was unimpressed with some of the beach goers beach attire - not just the topless women which we had become used to but there were both men and women wearing less than that. We went for a swim and the water was much warmer than in Northern Spain. We enjoyed our swim so much we had another one at sunset. We slept in the van on the beach where the mosquitoes enjoyed their dinner - us.

22/8 Campello (near Alicante)
Today we headed for Cato de Gato to a beach near Alicante. We had a few hitches along the way with one of the tyres valves stopped working so Marcus needed to put his manly skills to the test by changing a tyre with a jack which was too short as well as helping a lady who only spoke Spanish fill her tyres with air. The tomtom also decided to play up today but we managed to stay on track and reached the campsite. We chilled out and took a much needed shower before heading to the beach for another warm and this time dumpy wave swim. Jess had to hold on very tightly to her swim suit as she wasn't keen to brave it all like the locals. Paella again for dinner and then some after dinner entertainment as the French children performed a dance for their parents by the pool..

23/8 Valencia
Today we drove to Valencia where we stayed at a campsite near a beach just out of the town. Once we arrived and got set up we caught the bus into town and wandered through the cathedral (Paleta De los Apostoles Miguelete). We enjoyed the audio tour but as usual it had slightly too much information to take it all in. The highlight was seeing the Holy Grail (the only one recognised by the Vatican). Not sure why Indiana Jones went to so much trouble when it was just sitting there in Valencia. We then though t it was time for a gelato and found a place that was in the world records for having 365 flavours of icecream on display. They didn't have that many today but probably about 100. Jess chose pina colada and violet while Marcus enjoyed donuts and mojito. We then walked through to a square Plaza del Ayuntamiento - which was surrounded by large, impressive buildings. It was then time to go back to camp via the super mercado.


24/8 Valencia Day 2
The next morning we set off to check out the a big food market. It was quite impressive and had a lot of interesting seafood - although we didn't buy any as we planned to spend the day out and were concerned it would go off. Instead we had some pastry treats. We also tried Horachetta with fartons. Horachetta is a milky drink made out of tiger nuts and the fartons are sweet bread sticks (as well as being hilarious to ask for...) The drink is famous in the area and what Valenicians drink to cool down on a hot day. It certainly helped with that. We also bought our very own paella pan and picked up some fruit for later in the day. We then headed to the newer part of town where there are many huge aesthetically pleasing buildings surrounded by parks. It was quite a contrast to the old town. The housed museums and events centres and the aquarium but we decided we didn't need to go inside, despite the lure of animatronic robots. As Valencia is the home of paella we thought it was time we tried an authentic one. So we went to Las Arenas (via a rather long walk) which is near the port (and the America's Cup area) as well as the beach. We found a nice restaurant where we had sangria and seafood paella. Very tasty with prawns, mussels and things like prawns with big claws (which we now know to be langostines. It was very nice and relaxing with a seaview. Exhausted by the day we headed back with a tram and a bus.

25/8 Barcelona
Next on our trip was Barcelona so we headed there and found another beachside campsite around 20k outside the city centre. The drive was quite long so we relaxed in the afternoon. Marcus put up the awning to shelter us from the sun and Jess went for a swim at the beach. It was quite warm but a little strange having planes flying over head.

26/8 Barcelona Day 2

Today we decided it would be a Gaudi day. Gaudi is a famous architect from Barcelona who designed buildings inspired by nature. First we got a bus and metro in to the city to see La Sagrada Familia (a huge church). It was a very long line all the way around the block to get in but luckily it moved quite quickly. It was really different than any other church we had seen. It was really cool and impressive.  Construction started in 1882 and is still not finished! There was also an interesting exhibit in the basement all about how it was designed and Gaudi's inspirations. We then went to one of Gaudi's other designed building, Casa Mila, this time an apartment building. It didn't look like much from the outside but the roof top was very cool. It had lots of figures and different shapes similar to the church but still worth seeing as well. We also wandered through an apartment within the building. This was more subdued but you could definitely see that it had flourishes of the nature inspired design in it to. Lots of curves and smooth lines. We checked out some more Gaudi buildings up the road but didn't see the need to go into these ones too. As if that wasn't enough we then headed out on the metro to Park Guell which was planned to be an independent village for the rich but never got completed. Again very cool sculptures and buildings - even a lizard and again all designed by Gaudi. An interesting walk up to the park as there were even escalators on the foot path. Back to the campsite just in time as a storm was brewing. It didn't last long though and we enjoyed a nice walk along the beach after dinner of potato cake, chorizo and salad.

27/8 Barcelona Day 3
We started our next day by heading to a market famous for cheap clothes but it was rather disappointing. They were renovating the building so it was in a temporary area. The food area was ok but not as good as the market in Valencia. The clothing was nothing to get us excited either. Afterwards we got a donut to keep us going before heading to La Rambla - a famous street in Barcelona. It is a long straight boulevard from the harbour to the centre of the city. It was quite busy with lots of stalls. We particularly enjoyed the baby hampsters. We then went to a big food market there. We had empenadas (Spanish pasties), juice and fish ball kebabs. Can't help but enjoy a good food market. We then wandered down the end of La Ramblas and saw the Christopher Colombus statue. We walked along the waterfront but it wasn't very exciting so we made our way into the Bari Gothica which is another area in Barcelona. We wandered through the narrow lanes past the cathedral and had pinxtos and beers at a bar. Not as good as in San Sebastian but still tasty. It was quite windy when we got back to camp so decided to put our feet up and pass on the swimming today.

28/8 Andorra

We headed off from Spain today to a little country called Andorra. Along the way we enjoyed the scenery of mountain hill tops which were much different from the beach scenes we were now used to. When we arrived at our campsite just outside of Ordino we spotted An'Dora'ra the explorer! Andorra is meant to have cheap electronics so we headed into town and got ourselves a net book before going back to camp and having a short walk. It was much colder in Andorra and in the morning we could even see our breath. It was only 12 degrees. This was very cold compared to the temperatures we had been having. The trees were also starting to loose their leaves. Was summer over and Autumn beginning?
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