Category Archives: posted by Florian

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Day 27 – Lisboa encore

You’d think that with not much packing required (staying put and not even chairs to be used) we’d be quick as to get going. Well, no is the answer. Maybe it is the missing drive of a travel day. We did a bunch of things in the morning, though. Breakfast no.1, some more blogging preparation and the attempt of a shower. I say attempt, since the solar heated water reservoir had been thoroughly emptied by party goers last night.

That was not the only thing going a bit off script. We had a late start to begin with, since Number 3 had another bad night – at least he extended official rest time till 8 am to compensate. Long story short, it was maybe 11 am by the time we hit the bus. Good thing we were not going as far today.

We arrived at Belém only 20 minutes later. The main draw here is a 15^th century monastery, build on the riches of Portugal’s Indian trade routes. It was actually officially commissioned in honour of Vasco da Gama’s discovery of a route to said India. Interesting parallels to our last trip come to mind, where we saw multiple times the other end of that golden age in Timor Leste and Oman.

Before we would do any of that, though, a spirit boost was in order. The lines in front of the monastery made us anxious. We wandered a brief while considering our options and decided on 2^nd breakfast and a later lunch in town. There was another line in Belém full of tourists – the one in front of the famous pastry shop that claims to have invented the Pastel de Nata, here called Pastel de Belém. But we skipped the line for the much better option of sitting down inside the labyrinthine place and getting served our pastel and coffee like proper people. They were good – but a place that churns out maybe 10,000 of them in a day can only do so much. It was worth it for the crazy atmosphere.

With enough sugar and caffeine in our bellies, we were ready for the lines – and they were gone. Somehow we managed to slip into the adjourning church as the very last two people before it was closed to the public for a wedding. We saw Vasco da Gama’s grave while the choir already warmed up.

Out again, we bit our pride and got in line for tickets for the monastery proper. It was rather late, but we managed to push lunch out. As we stood in line we got tapped by two ladies telling us that people with little kids can skip the line and go to the special service counter. We could not yet quite believe it when the security guy saw us and pulled us out. It was true! In our cheerful mood, we even thought of looking out for another set of parents in the now much longer line and made one couple out in the bright noon sun very happy indeed.

The monastery was impressive, but most is probably told in the pictures. Once we felt we had taken in the place, it was time for lunch. Something that could best be come by back in central Lisbon. There would be time on the tram to figure out the details. After a bit of deliberation, and ruling out a bunch of places too far out of where we wanted to go, we decided on Indian food. Hey! First of all, big cities are food free for all, and secondly Portugal has a colonial history in India. I even ended up going for the Goan speciality (lamb in tamarind sauce) – it was great!

After that, we had only one more item on our list: Ginjinha shots! I had seen it yesterday but felt like this might be not the best idea before gaming, so today it was on. The drink, apparently first served in the joint we picked (A Ginjinha) is a super sweet cherry liqueur served with or without a soaked cherry. For some reason, I managed to talk Nina into a round of 3 pm shots in 28° C heat. It was decided afterwards that the best next step would be coffee and another bite to eat. We managed to get offered weed three separate times on the same square in the space of a minute. Do we look that much in need of a fix?

Coffee was excellent, but it was time to head home. Days with the little one in the carrier are tough. Plus, the bus ride is still almost an hour and we had some blogging to catch up on. All of it worked out surprisingly well.

Belém has retained a very small town feel
Guard in front of the presidential palace
Yeah, nah …
… much better
Authentic twist is cinnamon on top – not a fan
Some real money went into this …
super detailed stonework
much better preserved than most we have seen
obligatory church shot
little one impressively quiet
Grave of the great navigator … for a european 😉
Portuguese coat of arms
Number one and three on the loose
They had their meals here …
… under the watchful eyes of Hieronimus
inward perfection, hm?
two stories
this wing houses a museum, nowadays
they can do pompous in 17th century style as well
Asleep just before lunch … hmmm …
The elevator had a line like the cable car during cruise ship visits … all it does is skipping the hill
SHOTS!
COOOFFEEEE!!!
they managed a solid flat white!
I had no appetite left, but apparently Number 3’s was fine …

Day 25 – Tango to Évora

Still raining … hm. Ah well. Four weeks are long, but not that long. We have to get going. The seven stork families and their clattering are still very enjoyable background sound to our packing up. Évora is next on our little itinerary. Known for a very well persevered roman temple and a lovely medieval walled old town. It is actually part of the Unesco heritage list.

preserved by being turned into a medival storage bnuilding

We found a parking spot near the university within the wall – a good spot to explore on foot – strapped into our gear and faced the ongoing drizzle. It still turned out a pretty good location. Yet, there was a constant battle going for our moods between the grey wet drizzle from above and the picturesque sights right in front of us. We held on, mood wise, and Évora started to evoke other medieval old towns we have seen in the past. For me, it reminded me most of Avignon. Recent Carcassonne came to mind as well, although this was bigger and had a much more lived in feeling compared to the open air tourist attraction vibe of back then.

Lunch was a brilliant experience at an all vegetarian place trying to reinvent local traditional tastes in a vegetarian way. It was buffet style pay-by-weight and we both overstuffed our plate to make sure we can get a taste of everything.

On our way here, we passed a tantalising window display of an arrangement of pastries. All kinds of tarts, including the mandatory pastel de nata as well as a local treat. The time on our parking ticket ran out, and so we split up. I went to renew the ticket and Nina did some window shopping with Number 3. Once reunited, it was time to tackle the treats! We had one of everything as well and sat down in this barn of a café. It was clear that looks were not what they were going for, but the vibe (and the pastry) were great. We sat right next to grandpa in his break, sipping a coffee and getting a quick round of candy crush in.

It was still raining when we got on our way to Lisbon. After half an hour, we decided that arriving was more important than saving some money and we hopped on the toll motorway. Some tolls we wanted to pay anyway, to get a chance to cross into town over one of the two colossal bridges connecting the south shore with Lisbon proper.

Earlier today, we finally abandoned the idea to switch up accommodation from campground to cheap room. So we arrived at the dreaded Lisboa Camping & Bungalows – and the grey sky amplified everything that seems horrible about this place. Overpriced, under maintained and horribly noisy due to two motorways surrounding it. The things you can get away with for being the only camp in striking distance of the city centre. A white whale could opt for one of the camper parkings, but we cannot.

Town really has to make up for this … at least tomorrow should be the last of this weather.

Wroooommmm …. woooooosssshhhh … wrooooooommmmm ….

farewell Mr. Donkey
Separation of labour
no respect for history
cool aqueduct, although this one is from the 16th century
preserved by being turned into a medival storage bnuilding
a lot of the towers have been integrated into other buildings
central square of Évora
never spare an oppertunity for an “i was here”, even in a chapel
tiles all around, even in the churches. Odd reminder of Iran
A lot of austentatious main altars all around
that stopped Nina in her tracks
Local variity, with cocoa
weather bad!
guy in a park
random free roaming peacocks
jup, up there he is
walking off our lunch …
… to make space for more
we take … all of them, please
this was when Number 3 called quits
110m Jesus in Lisbon. Build as thanks for no WW2
Ponte de 25th Abril over the River Tejo
Flo unnerved by driver over noisy grates
one more motorway intersection and we are here ….

Day 23 – Go with the flow

We said we would only stay one night. Unfortunately, and at no fault of the campground, the night was not the most refreshing one. Number 3 cried through the witching hour. Molars come easy, most of our friends say – apparently, Number 3 begs to differ.

Everybody a bit cranky, not in the most efficient of spirits, packing went slowly. It was also a bit overcast, so the (desperately needed) washing from the night before took its right time to dry. Instead of literally watching our clothes dry, we decided to break it up and let the little one explore the camp ground.

First, he cautiously waved at the young Dutch family I had a good chat with last night. Then he set his eyes on the big price: The only age appropriate playmate around. Once again, the camper population is almost exclusively divided between (mostly Dutch) retirees and young German parents on their parental leave trips. His playmate was part of the second group.

Jonna, it turned out, was almost exactly the same age as Number 3 – and almost uncannily alike in development. In contrast to our grasshopper, this one came with an elder sibling. So it happed that we first stopped, then chatted and in the end “occupied” the spot of this German family. The elder sister was called Rahel. Number 3 took an immediate liking, and she was very good with the little ones. Or maybe it was her flash red Pucky pushbike that captured his interests.

In a bit of a playground conversation situation we ended up all on a blanket and in a very pleasant chat. Pia (Jan took the opportunity of 3 supervising adults to the same number of kids to socialise himself J) shared a bit of their travel story so far, and time went by. Decision time came and as the sun came out a bit, it was just too good a moment and place to be interrupted by departure. So we will stay another night. With that off our shoulders, things took a turn to the bright side.

We moved the whole cabal over to our camp when the obligatory 12 noon Dutch campground lawnmower brigade had bugged us long enough. I had a chance to show off our mobile “cave” to Rahel and we got some tips on what to do with the afternoon.

After a great lunch finding a creative use for the odd Portuguese cheese I bought the other day, and a long nap by the sleepers of the clan, we buckled up for a bit of walking. There was a loop walk following the little river Mira right next to the camp and through the surrounding hills. 5 km seemed just our thing.

The start of the track was the best part, following the riverbank for two kilometres. It was very much our thing, with a few rugged bits and beautiful views of the valley. We took our good time and had a break half way for some fresh fruit and a chance for Number 3 to stretch his legs.

All in all we were out for a bit more than two hours. All the washing was dry now, of course. A quick bread and spreads dinner and a little romp around our camp gave us enough time to let the evening fade out with a bit more good company. I still had most of a bottle of red wine lying about – I needed just a swig for cooking. So we kind of invited ourselves to Pia, Jan, Rahel and Jonna’s dinner baring gifts.

It turned into a lovely warm evening sitting and chatting. Dinner was even vegetarian, hence Nina could tuck in for a second meal as well. When we came back to our campsite about half an hour past bed time for the little one, everyone was in a good spirit. It was the right decision to hang around – I think we have learned from our last stop in Spain!

tough night, time to explore
Late spring has every patch in full bloom
Right in front of our camp
time to get some activity in
Î think I got something in my eye …
following the steam
better!
the valley widened at the end a bit
sometimes the track was almost overgrown
good mood
exercise makes happy
time to strech his legs
gimme, gimme, gimme!
colourful pastures
The way back to the camp
the grass is almost taller than him
anyone any idea what this is? about pinky sized
Late night blogging

Day 21 – what‘ up, beaches?

Time to leave. Even though this place invites a much slower pace, as do some of our fellow travellers. This is just what we do. Besides, to get around we pretty much need to break camp – and once we do so, we feel we might as well be moving on. Coming back to the same places, no matter how nice they are, often feels like treading water.

So we pack, slowly – say our goodbyes and are off again. Distances are still minute – thus we took the scenic route via smaller winding mountain roads. Near Monchique, we saw widespread tracks marked by the aftermath of the regular wildfires that hit this region, to the frustrations of the locals. Tragic it is, but as in Australia, I must say that a post-fire cork oak growth looks pretty spectacular. Especially one year after, the contrast between the charcoal black tree trunks and the fresh green leaves and grass is a striking sight.

Not much in the mood for lingering, we decided to move on to our first destination. Today was set aside for beaches. Several of them, actually. The first one, Praia Dona Ana, was in a bit of a doubtful area to begin with. Nearby Lagos is a fully “developed” tourist destination, still mildly less dreadful than most of the Costa del Sol. The beach was pretty much in line with that. Dramatic sandstone formations all around, sure. But we have seen this before. Even with relatively few “rotisserie chickens” as we call the usual beach goers, there was this lingering air of high season over crowdedness. Our travel elitism did not help either – we have seen probably 100 beaches by now. Some of them so near perfect that it is hard to compete.

We let Number 3 enjoy the sand for a while – took a couple of photos and decide to try our luck elsewhere. The little one found quite the liking to smooth sand and seashells. He was definitively more apprehensive when it came to the sudden cold rush of a wave flowing past his calves.

Next stop would be the fort of Sagres. It’s situated on a sandstone spit where generations of sailors said farewell to the homeland one last time before journeying across the Atlantic. Given our continued bad luck with Lonely Planet food recommendations (permanently closed, once again), we chose the cliff as our lunch spot. A pretty great one in my mind, but even 10 meters from the drop and with Number 3 properly secured on my lap, Nina could never quite relax to take in the scene fully.

We even enjoyed the change in weather, reminding us a lot of New Zealand and the many changes throughout the day back home in Wellington. We like the sun, but often times a lot for the shade that comes with it. Beaches and cliffs in direct midday sun can be surprisingly unwelcoming to pasty white central Europeans.

The final stop for the day was the highlight as well, for sure. The rougher Atlantic west coast makes for more dramatic scenes and also keeps the touristy types to an acceptable level. Instead, we moved into dude (as in Surfer Dudes) country. Much more overlap, I would say. The very first stop at Praia Da Bordeira landed us at the unofficial camp spot of the beach. It seems most of them have one of these around here. This time of year, they are almost exclusively the domain of surfers and more rugged parental leave families (with some overlap of the two groups). We are still happy with our set up, but places like these bring out the longing for a self-contained vehicle. Then again, they would also not have been any good on the bike, so where is the loss?

We wandered around a bit from here first and found that we were still far in the dunes, at the river meandering its way to the ocean. Great place for Number 3, since there are no waves here – so he got a lot braver with the water here, and his diaper paid the price 😉

We hopped in the car one more time to go on a little further to a set of viewpoints on the cliff and the actual beach access. The views were beautiful, and even the sun showed her face a couple of times cheekily through the clouds. We could have lingered a bit longer, but it was time to find a camp and cook dinner.

With no great options around (confirmed by the lot of Elternzeit families we met) we chose close and cheap. The camp was actually pretty cool. A grove of Eucalyptus big enough for 120 lots with only maybe 20 stays at the moment. Plenty of safe space for Number 3 to roam around while I took exceptionally long to prepare spaghetti al arrabiata for us.

As I wandered around a bit after the little one was brought to bed, I stumbled into the camp of some known faces: Johannes, Maike and their two kids made it here as well – having secured a quiet corner far off from a lot of hassle to stay a bit and explore from here. They send me off with a tip to check out the local beach, which was not on our radar yet. We took note and will probably give it a try tomorrow.

blackend trees green again
Blue George playing ralley car again
everything is green and flowering
a beach
a bit sheltered, but this is the Atlantic. He was having none of it
sand, much better
Sandstone in the foreground, city in the back
‘edgy’ lunch spot …
… I am a dad now, dad jokes are ok!
minimum allowed distance from the edge
Two cars far away from home
“oh, this water is fun now?”
“Up!” “you can walk” “Up!”
Look, there are sticks here, too!
there is a lot less slack in the new pair of these pants …
what a place to camp!
nose into the wind
wwwrooosh!
prime seats
something is off with these new dry pants …
whole beach with the river in the back
the dudes
properly teaching wreckless behaviour

Day 19 – Sweet little nothing

This feels like holiday to us. The weather is just perfect: 26°C and blue skies. We have shade, we have food – and we made some company. The long talked about full on rest day is here.

We got the blog in order. More importantly, we also spent some time planning the next steps. We had to look a bit further ahead, since we still have the broken front clasp of the roof tent, we needed to find a place to receive shipped parts. We found another great place via rustiek kamperen, which is turning into a bit of an insider tip to all the other German families on parental leave we meet.

Speaking of those: We got to talk to a German family also on their parental leave trip. Johannes and Maike taking a bit more time for their second boy Kaya. Traveling with a 3 year and a 5 month old, they definitively mark the “one up” occasion to our Blue George compact car setup. They travel with an even smaller slightly older VW Polo – with only the trunk space and a roof box for luggage. Although with their traditional tent, they definitively scored the jackpot regarding the spot. A little bit further away from everyone, in between shady trees hugging a small stream. It looks like an ad for free camping, but with hot showers and cold beer available within 50m.

In the afternoon we shared a beer or two, swapped travel stories. We returned to our camp just in time for a tortilla dinner. Only my second try at a Spanish tortilla, and with the added difficulty of the camping stove, it came out pretty decent. Nina and Baby enjoyed it.

And so, our day of sweet little nothing ended with a fine sunset and a final (real cold) non-alcoholic beer after Number 3 went to bed.

good morning campside
Still a weird kind of picky eater: Never enough, but alwas brave. Spanish ham, this time
too much nothing, sleep needed
Everyone in their zone
Found a stone!
Slightly jealous – but the mossies are even more anoying there
A view down the valley
Blue George enjoying the sunshine
final shot

Day 17 – Hasta luego España, bom dia Portugal

It was quite the hard decision to leave this place today. In the end, the lure of our “destination” and the distinct lack of connectivity made the call for us. We took our time. Enough to share breakfast drinks with Lu and Eike, whom we had a great wine filled chat with last night.

We took aim for the very first thing on the Portuguese side recommended in our guidebook: The seaside town of Tavira. The scale has to change now, almost by an order of magnitude. If we do travel by the 100 kilometers, we will rush past most there is to see. Portugal is, ultimately, a small country.

We knew in advance the Algarve coast will be touristy. After the huge pre-season crowds in Andalucia, we did not mind much. Tavira was touristy, but right now still retained this elusive air of authenticity. There are still locals mingling about, out on the streets and the whole affair, though freshly painted and dressed up for the guests, stayed well this side of the Rüdesheim point. We felt good sampling our first custard-hbased bit of pastry and Portuguese coffee. Just enough of a stop gap to bridge the one hour time difference and help us to hold out to lunch.

Another thing was inconveniencing us more as we strolled along the sides of the river: The Lonely Planet for Portugal is from early 2017 vs the 2019 edition Spain guide we carry. In hot spots like this, the “cool places” change at quite the pace, it seems. None of the three food recommendation we steered for were even still in business. After about half an hour of wandering and not wanting to risk it with one of the riverside touts, we headed back for the Pastelaria Tavirense. There we loaded up on savoury pastries and headed off to find a picnic spot on our way to the campground.

Right away, the short distances tripped us up. We skipped the first beach sign only to realise that the next stop will already be the designated campground. Then, Baby dutifully fell asleep in the car, unaware that his nap would have to be cut woefully short. We checked in and had lunch with a sleepy and cranky Linus on our towel sized emplacement.

The mood started to turn. Why did we leave the amazing camp yesterday instead of enjoying it for a while? What are we doing on this 250 emplacement supercamp hell filled with permanent campers? At least the emplacements around us were unoccupied – oh never mind. Noisy ones, with beer, music and impolite kids walking right through our camp to get to the bathrooms. A fence and a rail line separate us from the beach, almost 20 minutes to walk. This is not at all what we were looking for. Shade and the cheapest price of our trip was all that this camp had going for it.

To add to all of this, sleep deprived Number 3 went into a bit of a downward spiral as well. Mozzie bites, two molars breaking through and lack of sleep made him insufferable. He would not sleep, would not eat. We tried to make plans but could all but manage to hold on from resignation.

Dinner was a quick affair, chomping through the worst spaghetti carbonara I ever served. Something needs to change tomorrow.

Bridge into Portugal
Our “destination”
Little roads
A bit of riverfront music
Shoulder ride for Number 3
River in Tavira
Going all in with the touristy things
Tavira
Sleepy but still having fun
Too tired to walk
Campsite hell
Campground pool
New fashion…
…for Number 3

Day 15 – Sights worth seeing

This morning went just too smooth. We got everything packed up and ready before 10 am, without even rushing. That meant we could have a second breakfast courtesy of the campground just to get us right and ready for Córdoba. We ate, paid and were off to be in town by about 11 am. It was also time to test out my botch job for the tent latch. For now, we will still use the ratchet strap as a backup, but I am confident in my roadside repair skills!

It might be decadent, but we gotten used to going for the parking garage closed to the main attraction we want to see and pay for the safety and general ease rather than hunting for a spot in crowded cities or facing longer walks. Sue me, but I have to carry Number 3. It also means the car is nice and cool when we come back.

The white-and-terracotta striped arches are impressive

This time the parking garage was a bit of a mini attraction on its own. It was tucked in behind the old city wall, and the entrance was an old gate. Very much in style. Our number one item for today was the Mezquita, or Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba. This time, for what felt like the first time, tickets were come by the old fashioned way: Wait in line for 20 minutes, then get in.

This place turned out a definite highlight on our trip so far. The mosque was so enormous that “converting” it after the Reconquista did for once not mean taking away the original character. Instead, over time the Christians build several cathedrals inside. Plus what felt like 50 chapels. Still it felt like a mosque, first and foremost to us. Memories of Iran and Oman came back. Even the mihrab was left intact. What an odd and wonderful place.

We have been slowly pushing our lunch time back. That means we were not the first to line up for lunch for once J – after the indulgences lately, we opted for the hip-and-cheap kind this time. A student juice bar called Bicicleta served us food even with the slight difficulties we had in crossing the language barrier.

On our way from lunch, we had a little photo stop at the old bridge which featured as the Long Bridge of Volantis in Game of Thrones.

We finished the sightseeing off with a little stroll through the old Jewish quarter. Narrow lanes and cute courtyards take the edge of the coming afternoon heat. Looping back to our car park right next to it, we felt sufficiently tired to head for our next camp in Seville. Best to go for close range for the big hits.

The city camp ground ended up to be of the could-be-a-lot-worse kind, and Number 3 even made friends with some kids nearby. Enough to be invited to a private pool party. The fellow Germans were on a similar two month parental leave trip, although with their second child already. Once again, we learned that Number 3 and cool water have an ambivalent relationship. Our hosts were real nice and had some travel experience under their belt. It was almost a shame that we would be rushing of the next morning already. But Portugal awaits.

Only one of the towers was completed so it’s nicknamed the “one-armed lady”
Queuing for tickets
The white-and-terracotta striped arches are impressive
Mezquita detail 1
Mezquita detail 2
Mezquita detail 3
“Could you go out of the picture?” German old lady to Flo because the carrier backback was in her picture
The choir
In the courtyard
Through the Jewish quarter
Little plaza (with orange tree)
Parking garage
Mosque-Cahedral side facing west
The first of the two full churches build within the mosque
Mihrab
Mihrab detail
Super strange seing depictions of saints before a muslim backdrop
muslim foreground, church above …
doors at the south side
narrow street of the old town
Toasties lunch
Puente Romano which featuered as the Long Bridge of Volantis in GoT
In the Jewish quarter

Day 13 – Fusion delight

Almost … we are so close to this not being enjoyable anymore that we seriously considered taking the off day right here. But then, it was more of a cheap stopover than a place to linger. More importantly, we found a place that seem just right to relax. The timing would be perfect, too. It makes everything that much easier when you both know that it is going to be just a short day on the road and where exactly you are going.

Three things to do: Go see Málaga, get groceries to get us over the Sunday and go just 170 km north to our designated camp. Spoilers: It worked out pretty smoothly, too.

Málaga had a great vibe. We meandered about for a while before going into the Alcazaba. Another fortress palace from the Muslim era. We took a liking, even more so when we tried to stop treating it as the Alhambra consolation prise. We just had enough time for a brief meander around the cathedral before heading for a place to have lunch. I must confess, a little more time would have been nice. The Cathedral felt mountainous from the outside and I would have loved to get a feel for it from the interior.

Lucky for us, our alternative program held up to any attraction. Following the Lonely Planet advice we opted for fusion tapas this time and oh my, was that delicious. Once again, we were pretty much the first lunch guests at Uvedoble Taberna (even though 12:30 am is already way past our usual). There are no pictures for once, but believe me – the food was amazing. Number 3 had all eyes on him when he happily shared my tapa of black noodles with baby squid and aioli with me. Nina squirmed a bit – they were delicious. Bonus point for me – a lot of the places we go to have a non-alcoholic craft beer on the menu, perfect for me without spoiling the great meal by lack of appropriate beverage.

Shopping was hindered a bit by everyone but me conveniently falling asleep in the car on our way. So I had to herd my sleep drunken family through the ridiculously enormous Carrefour. The ham section remains an attraction for me in every supermarket. Even though we have been on the road only two weeks, we are back at the point were huge walmart like box stores seem like a spaceship from outer space to us. We live on a different scale while on the road.

The campground, once again chosen from Rustiek Kamperen turned out 100% to spec. Super quiet, out in the sticks nested in between olive groves with great hosts to boot. The weather was perfect, too. Sunny but at reasonable temperatures. Another pool will surely tempt us tomorrow. For now, it was time to sample the spoils of our supermarket visit (non-alcoholic beers and ham for me) and soak in the places atmosphere.

Roman theatre in Málaga
Walkway on the outside of Alcazaba
Over the roofs
Staircase detail
“Well…we have those two columns…why not chuck them in here? Nobody will notice.” 😛
Inside Alcazaba
View into the city
Happy baby
Mosaic detail
Giuess who was also tghere
Another detail
Part of the cathedral
Colourful building
Too many hams for my taste…
“First you take a peg”
“Then, you put a string through here”
“And now, put the peg in the ground and attach the string. All done!”

Day 11 – Drizzle, dragons and disappointment

Wow – I think we have to seriously slow down our pace. There is a certain flow while traveling that seems like it can be maintained, but in fact slowly drains your reserves. Even though we already had two double stays – that is still only about half of the rest days we did on Home to Home. We were not really resting either, but packing these extra days full of sightseeing. Within a week, we need a proper rest day – just hanging around the camp and doing not much of anything. Or more likely, doing whatever we feel like. But not today …

Today started great, with a solid breakfast and a kind fellow camper offering to pick up a fresh bread for us from the bakery. But catastrophe is never far away. In this case, it came with the very last touch of breaking camp for us: the last clasp of the roof tent. It is sort of a normal leaver lock thingy, with a latch affixed to the base hooking into the lock and then leveraged shut to keep it all good and tight. Too tight this time, as it appeared. We had issues with closing the tent before, but we thought were past it. Right when the lock shut, the latch, which is a riveted band of steel, broke at the point where it is was attached to the base plate. One lock is not enough for safe travel, obviously. One again, the kindness of strangers helped to soften the blow immensely. The Dutch travellers next to us had his motorbike with him and carried a bunch of spare tie downs. With a colour matched botch job in place of a front lock. We called the distributor in Germany and they promised to find out what they can do for us, but in the meantime ensured us the tie down will do.

It did not really quite show yesterday, but the village and the national park surrounding us was absolutely stunning. Sierra Espuña is the first of a bunch of these alpine national parks that seem almost too inviting to just pass through. On a longer trip, we would definitively want to spend 2-4 days on some hikes in the area. But not this time. It would immediately go against the bare bones of a plan that we have started to formulate.

Our idea now is to travel just slow enough to get a taste of southern Spain but fast enough to be in Portugal before May. That should give us four weeks to really take our time and do exactly these things we are now skimping on a bit and leave us with two weeks to get back via the Netherlands at a reasonable pace.

That meant skipping a whole bunch of national parks now, and even just cruising past the Sierra Nevada in a single day. We did, for the most part. Even though, we still managed to have a great lunch break in a romantically drizzly national park called Sierra de Baza.

We had a very specific goal in mind: We needed a camp ground within striking distance of Granada with good WiFi and at a reasonable price. We managed the first, but the mobile data speeds were at least good enough to save our plan a bit. The thing is: We are not as untethered as on our last trip. We did not want to leave our weekly gaming group hanging, so we agreed to try out playing online via web and skype. It actually worked out reasonably well, with some minor hiccups that were to be expected.

The only thing that we did not fully take into consideration for the choice of camp was altitude. And so we ended up at almost 1000 m, with a cold evening turning into an even colder, since cleare night. The thermometer dropped all the way down to 1° C for the second time on out trip …

I wonder how those pebbles feel on my hair …
… or how they sound
improvised tent lock … grumble
Views from the …
… Sierra Espuna
the road down the hill
first look
of more mountains
park road where …
… we stopped for lunch
excited, but very cold
first glimps at the snowy Sierra Nevada peaks
all sorts of dramatic views
even in the rain, a monster appeared
another shortcut to a campoground
and a final quick foto stop
road ahead, far on the right is Granada
note the professional tent power line …
continued obsession with gravel
There is always another level, as with this french couple on a fiat panda
beautifully set up, they are starting a 6 month trip … maybe

Day 9 – Orange Sky

Even though we still suffered a bit through a little fatigue from the day before, we managed to get a quick shower in and wrap everything up by 10:30 am. Number 3 agreed and keeled over almost right away. That made for a good progress.

I hopped into a supermarket along the way to sort out the essentials for lunch. You would think there is not much to surprise us in a European supermarket, but the in-store stall with 50 or so hams (still on the leg) and a professional ham-slicer to serve you straight from the leg were definitively unusual 😉

We briefly debated going for the mountains to hop by a couple of monasteries recommended by the Lonely Planet but the weather was still a bit dreary. No point putting Number 3 through an extra hour of driving to go on curvy roads in the rain. Instead, we decided to keep our eyes on the campground selected and spend an hour or two catching up on things.

That also left plenty of time to look a bit about for a lunch spot. We chose a beach 10 minutes from the highway. That way, Number 3 got his first picnic on the beach. He was a bit undecided about the sand situation, but we all enjoyed the sun finally breaking through.

As it turned out going for an early camp, that was an excellent choice. Even avoiding the motorway, we made excellent time. In most places the road was a perfectly good motorway right next to the toll road.

The campground was the first one we picked from a site recommended by Dutch traveller friends of ours. https://www.rustiekkamperen.com/ It roughly translates to rustic, or better romantic campsites and focuses a lot on things that we like in our stops. This time, we went for a larger one on there – a converted Orange Orchard a bit off in the hills. It was an amazing choice! Perfect, clean facilities, super quiet and cheap to boot. The pool looked like something out of a travel magazine – we had to try, but it was waaaay to bloody cold. After almost freezing Number 3 in the kiddie pool, he got to have a hot bath instead!

We topped it all off with another great dinner and got to see a beautifully lit sky for sunset. All was quiet, except for the bunches of overly excitable birds all around in the old and gnarly olive trees.