24/08/2020
..........AND BREATHE! Sorry this is another long one!
Apologies to you all for the lack of news since we were in Puerto Banus but we've had a busy timetable, constantly moving along the Costas (that's del Sol & Brava not Costa Coffee!!), sightseeing & sunbathing, even on the beach days we have been too tired (or little too drunk) to post. We are in Xabia now, a lovely seaside town on the Costa Brava.
So here's a brief catch up of the itinerary & an updated copy of the map showing our route travelled so far, more posts with pictures of specific places or events will follow.
Our second day in Puerto Banus started with a catamaran trip across the bay to Marbella where we explored the old town, thanks for the recommendation Julie Leake. It was well worth the visit & as a bonus we stumbled on an Irish gypsy wedding, all very colourful and garish. The evening was spent in a few bars & then dinner, Julie looking very Spanish in her new dress.
After breakfast the next day we returned by bus to the campsite near Estepona where we had left the motorhome, collected it & travelled back through Puerto Banus & Marbella to a beach just past Mijas. After a relaxing afternoon we left for the town of Benalmadena which was listed as having three Aires (for the uninitiated an Aire is a free place that motorhomes & campers can stay over night, they are usually glorified car parks with a water tap & somewhere to empty waste water, most towns have them to encourage travellers to visit the town & spend money in the shops). All three of these were full by the time we arrived so, as it was getting late we went in search of a quiet residential street, having found an ideal spot we settled down for the night. It was a peaceful night with no interruptions from the neighbours, we found out why in the morning.... we were parked outside of the town's cemetery!!
That morning we then pushed further east past Malaga to a beach called Calla del Pinas that was advertised as a lovely quiet beach with clear waters. Having arrived at the top of the cliff above the beach we noticed that motorhomes were wild camping
so after a day on the beach we stayed there overnight with a beautiful sunset & dozed off to the sound of the sea rolling in against the rocks.
Being beached out now it was time for a spot more sight seeing so we headed inland to Granada & visited Alhambra, the site of fortresses & palaces through the ages from Roman times. We were one of only 5 visitors at the campsite which would have normally been full at this time of year, this is an indication of the devastating effect that Covid 19 is having on the Spanish tourist market, the queues at Alhambra were however much more bearable, but having said that, this is the only place that we have been where we have thought we might be at risk of catching Covid 19, although everyone was wearing masks the volume of people & lack of social distancing was worrying.
We then moved East again through the stunning & dramatic Sierra Nevada & hit the coast at a town called Vera, we decided to spend the rest of the day on the beach and headed for a beachside car park, what we didn't realise was that we had driven into a naturist colony, men dressed in silky sarongs was the first indication that something was different & then Julie spotted it, a fully naked man waiting in the queue for a restaurant. (I hope he didn't have soup & spilled it in his lap!!) Having noticed this we then saw more & more less than attractive nakedness so decided to move along the coast to another beach. That evening we moved on to Bolnuevo where my good friends Eddie & Sue Fry used to live & where I spent some happy family times. Eddie & Sue were not aware that we were travelling so were surprised when we sent them a selfie outside of their old house & Eddie's favourite bar! After a couple of days here we moved on to Benidorm to see if it lived up to it's reputation.
Fish & Chips, Full English Breakfast, Sunday Roasts, English Pubs & retired ex pats in mobility scooters, yep, Benidorm is everything you think it will be. What surprised us both the most though was the high rise buildings, everywhere we had been so far had relatively low rise buildings with the major cities maybe having one or two six or seven storey buildings. Benidorm's towers were extending to to 20-25 storeys and spread all through the town, it was all a bit surreal.
With nothing much to interest us we left Benidorm yesterday & found a beach at Altea & resided there for the day, we had to spend a lot of the time in the sea though as we found out later that the temperature had risen to 38 degrees! We then arrived last night here in Xabia.
It's been a blast so far but with the one bit of bad news that the UK GOV has included France on the list of countries that returnees will need to self isolate, this has disrupted our plans for Julie's son & his girlfriend to meet us in France at the end of the month as they are no longer able to travel. Millie & her boyfriend are also due in the middle of next month but if nothing changes that will have to be cancelled too 😞. Fingers crossed 🤞🤞 that that things do change.
So, our plans for the next week or so involve travelling up the coast to Valencia then heading inland NE back to the La Rioja region to complete the circuit & then through the Basque Country via San Sebastian into France. Although it has been a whistle stop tour & without spending too much time in the cities because of Covid 19 (Madrid & Barcelona will have to wait for now but we will return), we have seen so many aspects of Spain, it has been a country that has pleasantly surprised me as my impression was that it was all like a larger version of the Costas. We have seen so many variations in countryside, people, food & traditions across the regions. We will definately return but there are places that we now know not to return to.
We'll update again before we leave Spain & then it's onto France for the next part of the adventure!
P&J xx
