Saturday 31 October - Malaga

[Photos: Alcazaba views and detail, Boquerone lunch, Malaga streetscene]

Sandy and Lynette’s trip to Morocco ended this morning in Malaga, and we drove on down to pick them up. The roads were mostly 120km/h, and it was only some 40 minutes away. We thought we’d go down early, and spend the day there before they got in between 4 and 8pm. Put our Peugeot in an underground carpark and started off with the Alcazar.

This was a lovely Moorish defensive castle rising up above Malaga. We had an enjoyable hour plus working our way through it, then followed it up with a visit to the castle further up the hill. On our way up the hill, a thick sea fog rolled in, half obscuring the Alcazar at times. Quite a pity as the view would have been great. Malaga wasn’t what we expected at all. We had a picture in our mind’s eye of huge white holiday tower blocks lining a white sand beach, and while there are places like that along the coast, the actual city of Malaga is remarkably ordinary, with an ordinary port and ordinary buildings.

Had a delicious menu del dia with in my case, whole sardines in a very light batter. Very tasty.

There were some nice boulevards, lined with the normal flash shops selling flash stuff we weren’t likely to want to pay for. One place we did try to find was the market building. After a few wrong turns and some smelly urine-soaked lanes, we did find it, but it was all wrapped in mesh and under renovation. Like much of Spain, there are many buildings here consisting of an old façade and a new interior going in behind it. The conservation ethic is very strong, even if it is achieved by force of legislation rather than developer’s choice as we suspect.

We got a text just before 5pm from Sandy, and our trusty gadget guided us outside the door of the agreed meeting place. Loaded up and back to Frigiliana for an unpacking, and a swim. Unbelievably, I have been enjoying doing lengths here in the pool. I think it is the environment that makes it pleasant compared to Riverside, where I find lengths very little fun. We both brought our goggles with us, and they have been a good thing to have.

Friday 30 October - Drive to Frigiliana

[Photos: Pepe & Ana from Mojacar, Cabo de Gata views and buildings]

We managed to get ourselves all packed and organised, the washing on, the dishes all done and the house clean by 10am, when Pepe and Ana turned up. Enjoyed half an hour telling them about what we had done, discussing NZ a little as they intend to visit early next year, and just chatting. It turns out that they not only do house exchanges, but host Couchsurfers like we do. Quite a joke. They appear to be quite similar to us. Finally away close to 11am, with offers of accommodation for our last two European nights in Madrid, and an invitation to return any time we like to Mojacar. It was such a nice spot, we might well do so at some time.

Heading south we had decided to follow the coast as much as possible, and found the route most attractive and enjoyable. From Carboneras south it was all new territory for us. We dipped down into a number of small towns on the coast starting with Agua Amarga. This is a lovely little town, with some superb low level houses overlooking it, and quite strangely, the beach full of French people. Everyone on the beach that we could hear was French. Then to Las Negras, where we had a coffee. Some gorgeous new big houses surrounding the town, it had a very different feel to Mojacar, being much more upmarket, and probably more Spanish.

Back to the main road (Las Negras was a bit of a detour) and then inland cutting across the Cabo de Gata peninsula. Stopped at one lovely viewpoint, among red volcanic rock, with excellent views up and down the coast. At the most inland point, the landscape was very dry and barren, with many old tumbledown buildings. The final stop was San Jose, quite a large town around a lovely horseshoe bay with a harbour. Yet again we had trouble finding something for lunch, as there are very few pasticeria compared to France or Italy. We finally found one and got 6 turnovers with fillings of tomato, spinach and meat, which we ate sitting up overlooking the bay. It was onto the motorways from there, with an unbelievable number of greenhouses from Almeria right through to our destination, Frigiliana.

The GPS did its job well, though we were stymied by the expected roadworks near our exchange still being very much a work in progress, so we had to park a few metres away and lug our gear down. The exchange house is pretty good, but the pool that goes with it is something else again! It is massive – five metres wide, and sixteen or seventeen long, complete with a twice a week pool guy. It has 4 underwater lights, and an optic fibre ring light that changes colour every few seconds. We chose a room downstairs looking out onto the pool, and settled in, feeling we had made another good choice of exchange home.

Thursday 29 October - Mojacar

[Photo: Our restaurant host]

Our last day in Mojacar. We will be sad to leave as we have enjoyed it here. It's been an interesting place, weather has been pretty good, pool has been lovely and we have relaxed after getting the book tucked away to bed.

Started the day with a bit of tidying up, mopping the floors and another load of washing. Diego turned up with his mate at 9:30 and started on vacuuming the pool. We took the car into town to pick up email and see what it had brought in. Lots of acceptances for our party, and an email from Ana (owner here in Mojacar) saying they are heading to Mojacar this afternoon. It will be nice to meet them, as judging from the house they seem quite similar to us – reasonably casual and informal.

Walked along the waterfront looking for a gift for Sandy for his birthday (while we are in Frigiliana). Hot day today, glad we are not here in the heat of summer. As we head further from the older part of Mojacar Playa, it gets more and more British. Even the shopkeepers are often British, and virtually all the people on the street are British. Karen found a place to book a haircut (fully British-staffed). Quite amusing, as the owner struggled to understand our Kiwi accents. Would have been easier trying to make ourselves understood by a Spaniard! With half an hour to spare we sat down to a coffee and a potato tortilla – what we would call an omelette. The owner couldn't quite believe we wanted two café solos. I think he was rather taken with us ordering real coffees, and in Spanish, as he later delivered a second plate each on the house. He was a delight. It is the little things like this that make a real difference to a place. Most Poms don't try at all. They immediately order in plain straight English, with not even a hola of greeting when they arrive. We had a bit of a chat to the owner before we left, in Spanish, some of which we understood. I tried to explain that in NZ we don't all have café con leche which is what the Poms have.

The haircut was fine, thankfully. The last one Karen had in Europe, in Cannes in 1982, was a vicious shocker that lasted her a good three months, it was so short. By now it was lunchtime, so we went back to our bar from before the haircut, and chose a couple of tapas dishes to go with a beer each. Very pleasant, as was the bill – 5.50€ for the lot. We should have got into tapas earlier, as it is both good value and tasty.

On our way back to our car we stopped off to say goodbye to Jo in her shop. Not necessarily a good move, as Karen ended up buying a rather nice jacket from her. We had received an email from our Mojacar hosts who had offered us accommodation in Madrid many months ago, saying they were coming to Mojacar tomorrow afternoon (i.e. today), so thought we should finish off our tidying up. They were going to ring us, but maybe there is an issue with the phones as we had not heard from them by evening. We are not convinced how good Vodafone's roaming is, as there have been times when we have not been able to send texts at all. Also, the two times we have talked to Sandy on his phone, the reception was dreadful.

Having sorted the house, we had time for a last laze by the pool, and even a swim. At 8pm there was a "ding-dong", which we took to be our hosts arriving at the gates below, as indeed it was. I rushed down the drive in the dark to fire off the remote for the gates, and they came zipping up the drive in a little Citroen Pluriel. They were just delightful. Full of good cheer. They had come off the motorway just to say hello before they headed further on to stay with Ana's sister in Almeria, another 40 minutes south. We had a good chat until they headed off in the dark, aiming to return before we left around 10:30 in the morning.

Wednesday 28 October - Mojacar

Being the last full day we will have here without Diego working around the house, today was set aside for sunbathing. Unfortunately we woke to a solid grey blanket of clouds, so it didn’t look good. We found our way up to the village through the back streets this time. The southern end of the town must be relatively old, as the streets are steep, winding and narrow. Today was market day again, and we needed some fruit and veges, not to mention a top-up of nuts. Got these sorted OK.

The nut sellers are a good tag team. They consist of a father and son. The father professes to have no English at all, and when people start pointing at one of the dozens of varieties of nuts on offer, he immediately starts filling a bag up for them, whether they want to or not. The son does much the same, offering taster nuts and then filling a bag. And of course all done with great cheer.

Stopped for a while on the way back out of the town in a shop selling a whole lot of Indonesian furniture and gifts. We really do like the style – dark solid timber, unfussy detailing, some decoration, and a casualness about it. If we can’t rebuild in Southern Europe, we would still like to do some building or rebuilding back home in NZ. We haven’t exhausted our house-building – we so enjoyed building Walters Bluff that we’d like to have another round. The biggest issue would be finding a suitable section with all the advantages of our current one. We are not at all convinced it is possible. For our next house, we’d like to do a straw-bale house, as it offers good insulation, lovely deep reveals, plastered walls and the ability for us to do a fair part of the work ourselves. Perhaps we should have gone to Morocco with Sandy and Lynette, as the Moroccan style and decoration really appeals too.

As we left the pueblo, the sun finally broke through, and by the time we had worked our way through the maze of streets and home, there was barely a cloud in the sky. And so to a profitable afternoon’s sunbathing. Given it is now the equivalent of the end of April, there isn’t a lot of heat left in the sun, and our tans, while clearly ahead of anything we’d achieve in NZ in September/October, are not as deep as we might have hoped.

Had a bit more fun in the evening trying to find a suitable film to watch. The best ones were either empty boxes, or turned out not to have English language dialog or subtitles. We enjoyed Malena last night, and The Door in the Floor tonight, also something called The Spanish Prisoner which was an good story spoilt by wooden acting and dialog.

Tuesday 27 October - Mojacar

Went for a swim in the Mediterranean today! It wasn’t what you would think of as warm, but it had to be done as a point of principle. We had a fast walk down to the coast, and parked ourselves up on a beach close to the wireless access point we are using. Everyone on the beach was British bar us, and some gruesome sights, though thankfully well-clothed. We enjoyed our swim, and there is something about being on a beach that beats a pool. Perhaps the sound of the waves?

We treated ourselves to a good lunch at Aku Aku, one of the places recommended by our hosts in their email. It certainly was good. We ordered a mixed paella, which arrived on a giant (50cm?) hot black iron dish which was stood on a stool beside our table. Topped by four big prawns, and full of lumps of fish and chicken, with delicious red salty rice.

Had a brutally fast walk back to our house, trying to burn off a few calories and restore a tiny amount of the good level of fitness we had before we left NZ. Arrived back at 3pm, hoping to get a bit of time in the sun, but the length of the days is changing very fast, and the sun was gone in just quarter of an hour. Daylight saving hasn’t helped of course, but we have noticed that each day has less sun than the one before. It will be nice when we are back in NZ to see the opposite happening.

We spent some time on the netbook composing an invitation for our 50^th party not long after we get back, so we can send that in the morning. It is exactly a month away.

Monday 26 October - Inland

[Photos: Our house from the village, Sorbas, Typical countryside and a lovely ruin, Almerian coast]

 

We thought we would have good walk around the pueblo this morning, followed by some serious sunbathing, with trips out in the next few days. However today was the gardener's day, so we decided to visit the pueblo then take an interesting little loop inland to look at the villages and landscape. Enjoyed our wanderings through town, though there is really very little to see. It is hard to know how old the pueblo is, but judging from an old photo here at home, most of it is fairly recent.

 

We managed to head off in the car quite early, first driving through Garrucha to our north. It is the town where the local fishing boats leave from each morning – we can hear the throbbing diesels and see the smooth trails they leave in the sea. We headed inland through Los Gallardos to Bedar, a little town perched on the edge of a hill. It is surrounded by large houses rather like those around Mahana. We had a bit of fun threading our way through and up and down the little streets. The GPS doesn't always know how narrow streets can be.

 

From Bedar through Lubrin to Sorbas, where we hoped to get lunch. However it wasn't really much of a town, and only had a couple of bars open. This is karst country, but not as spectacular as ours. Again the info place was shut up tight, so we couldn't find information on walks in the karst. There is some massive quarrying around this area. On our way to the next stop of Carboneras, we passed a really nice little hamlet – Los Molinos – where a few lovely old buildings were clustered. It looks rather hippyish, with lots of solar electric and solar water panels, mini wind turbines.

 

By now getting rather late for lunch, and we were glad to get to Carboneras as we expected to be able to find something suitable there. Again like many other places we found to hard to find somewhere suitable. We have often struggled to find lunch food. There are heaps of bars, but a lot of restaurants are now closed, and places to find bocadillos are few and far between now we are out of the big cities. We must be missing something – obviously there must be lunch places about but we don't recognise them. After a loop down to the foreshore, and rejection of the waterfront bars, we ended up at a bar for beer and tapas. For 2€ each we got a beer and a decent size plate of a tapas dish – paella and squid in this case. Maybe we need to do this more often rather than trying for bocadillos.

Sunday 25 October - Mojacar

Had a total day off today, reading swimming and sunbathing. Had to take a trip to town for email, and bread of course. Like elsewhere, the Spanish bread does not survive overnight. Of all the bread we have had we would clearly rank the French bread first. It has more flavour and a thinner crust. The Italian bread had quite a thick dry crust – not as easy to eat, and the Spanish version is somewhere in the middle. There is a bit of choice here. You can buy more or less crusty loaves.

 

Daylight saving had disappeared overnight, so the sun was up at around 7:30 and leaves the pool now about 4pm. Sunbathing was pretty good, though at one point Karen noticed that a man was walking along the path up behind us, slightly disturbing the solitude and her quest for that all over tan. It has been a very nice place to stay at, though the village is even less “villagy” than we expected.

 

There was a bit of excitement while we watched a movie this evening (our first). There’s quite a good range of movies here, but the DVD remote doesn’t work so we can’t choose English language versions, hence we watched it in bed using the laptop. Partway through Karen felt a nasty sensation under her back. She sat up violently to find a 6cm centipede happily crawling about the sheets. John to the rescue, bundling it into some clothes and tossing it outside. Not the right thing to aid sleep.

Saturday 24 October - Almeria

[Photos: Square in Almeria, The Alcazaba, Greenhouses, Relaxing]

Sandy & Lynette had a bus booked for Malaga and thence Morocco, leaving at 9:30am from Almeria, so it meant a genuinely early morning for a change. All of us ready in good time, so we were able to get away before 8am for the motorway south. The GPS had us off the motorway just 85m before the bus terminal, so that made the trip very easy.

After dropping the others off, we headed for the city centre, finding a good park early. I was in need of a haircut, and there was one right there near the car, so I took the plunge. What a business. Scissors, razor, more scissors, different scissors, eau de cologne spray, more scissoring, neck razoring. All up it must have taken half an hour for a good Spanish haircut. Must say it feels a lot better with less on top.

After the early start, we felt we need some sustenance, so popped into a bar for a chocolate and churros. Good choice. The chocolate was good, though not up to the superb one from Cartagena, and the churros were excellent. The bar was very small, and our food and drink was consumed at the counter beside another group of Spaniards having much the same. The churro mix was made fresh, loaded into a giant syringe and then squeezed in loops into a big vessel of very hot oil.

There didn’t appear to be a great deal to see in Almeria, but we started by visiting the unusual defended cathedral. Frustrating. The main doors had just shut when we headed for our chocolate, and they were still shut when we returned. There was a sign pointing round the corner for the “proper” entrance, but on getting there, closed doors again despite the time being after opening hours. We have found the various opening and closing hours frustrating. At this end of the season, it may be that the hours are not as rigidly kept to, but there have been many occasions when places should have been open, but haven’t. The other opening/closing frustration has been shop hours. The siesta is still very much in force, and even big supermarkets can close from 12:30 to 4:00pm. It hasn’t helped those among us who are inclined to shop, as almost all ordinary shops observe the break.

From the cathedral we went through a couple of squares, including one very pleasant one completely surrounded by buildings, with the entrances being under the buildings, then went up to the Alcazaba, said to be one of the very best Moorish defenses still standing.

It consists of a big fort, with inner and outer walls, and further out a city wall now largely gone, but still visible on the hills and as a couple of remnants towards the port. Our lucky day today, entry was free for some reason. Very much enjoyed the visit. The space inside had been restored as Moorish gardens, similar to what we will see again at Granada at the Generalife. Quite a big complex, so it took us quite some time to walk up to the top and, exploring as we went, then back down again. For some reason, there is an area below full of desert antelopes.

Almeria didn’t have the nice feel of some of the other big Spanish cities we have been to – this region has been left behind compared with further north or south and it shows. We headed back south using the motorway for a bit, then exiting to the coast road, with the aim of doing a bit of sunbathing on arrival. The coast road is quite attractive. Some very big complexes being built, some also clearly sitting there waiting for money or demand.

Unfortunately, the day had clouded over and despite our staying out by the pool, the sun didn’t cooperate and we had to knock off.

Friday 23 October - Mojacar

A bit of work to be done today, and blog to catch up on, so we stayed at home while Sandy and Lynette walked into town, a 3km trip. Managed to catch up OK and walked in ourselves to use the Learning Centre’s free internet again. It’s been very helpful!

 

Having got things sorted, we walked the extra distance to Jo’s shop where we collected Sandy & Lynette and came back along the road. It still surprises us how the Poms act here. The dress some of the women wear has no relation to an Almerian summer – boots, leggings, high heels and so on. There are many more Poms about than there are Spaniards – it’s an odd society. We suspect that you could live here perfectly well for ever without speaking a word of Spanish, and we also suspect that a fair number of the import residents do just that.

 

Stopped at one of the beachside bars, Aku Aku, for a pleasant coffee before walking back up the hill to home, while Sandy and Lynette went up by bus to the pueblo to buy a coffee set they had their eye on from our visit a few days ago. Lunch by the pool, then a session cleaning the cover of all the detritus that had blown onto it over the previous two days of strong winds. Still windy but just ok for sunbathing.

 

We had Jo round for a delicious dinner of local sausages and salad. The sausages leave our NZ versions for dead – they are so much more tasty. We’ll have to look around Nelson and see if anyone does European sausages.

Thursday 22 October - Cartegena

[Photos: Plastic houses, Theatre, Lunch, Castillo lift, Waterfront Sculpture]

 

Woke up to a very windy day, with a lot of cloud about. We were going to avoide the toll roads, but got onto one by mistake (following the road signs rather than relying on the GPS) and discovered that it was 70km and one hour shorter, so stuck with the fast highway. They will never pay back this road. We passed two cars and a couple of trucks, and had two cars pass us on 100km of road. It felt deserted. Passed through countless hectares of plastic and shade houses, growing veges no doubt. Unbelievable areas of them, who knows where the water comes from as the mountains are miles and miles away.

 

Passed through a little rain as we got close to Cartagena, so after dropping the car in a parking building we took our raincoats into town with us, though as it turned out they weren't required. First stop was for a hot drink, Karen and I having the Spanish breakfast staple of chocolate and churros. The former was deliciously dark and thick, the latter are extruded loops of dough deep-fried and there to be dunked in the sticky chocolate. Very tasty.

 

Made the mistake of going down a shopping street, where Karen and Lynette each bought some clothes, then Karen finally found the black handbag she has been looking for all trip. I tried on some nice Rockport shoes, but my big feet were too wide for them.

 

We had some brochures from Jo with places in Cartagena, and headed for the first of them. This was a Roman theatre that was only rediscovered last decade, as it had been completely built over with first a Roman market, then later housing and a very large church. A remarkable find. There was an excellent interpretation building, then a tunnel through the crypt of the church which led to the theatre itself. Some excellent examples of the way later people pillaged old buildings – walls of sliced columns, capitals and blocks. Altogether a very well arranged sight.

 

By now well into lunchtime (2pm) so we must be adjusting to Spanish time. Stopped at a restaurant on the edge of the main square where Sandy and I had menu del dia and the women a plate from the menu, which together with a drink cost the same as our beer, salad, paella, and sweet for 9€. The value of the menus is very clear. Both waiters were really nice, joking and fussing over us.

 

Our next stop was to be the interpretation centre on top of the tallest hill of Cartagena. The Spaniards were determined to stop us getting there. Fist the standalone lift and bridge were closed, then we worked our way around to the front of the site to find that closed too. Back to the lift which had by now opened. More site works making it difficult to get in, but finally made to, only to be very disappointed by the limited displays and single roomed castello. Nevertheless the walk to and from was pleasant – lots of nice new architecture on the waterfront, and a massive sculpture reminiscent of Rodin's The Thinker.

 

An uneventful trip home on the tollway, and a bread and cheese supper before, for once, an earlyish night.

Wednesday 21 October - Mojacar

[Photos: Mojacar from our House, Fire-ravaged Landscape]

 

We were going to go to Cartagena today, but the weather looked like it would be good for sunbathing, so we thought we would try to take advantage of that. Unfortunately the sun came and went all day, never really hanging around for long.

 

We went into the pueblo before lunch to have a look about. Again, the whole village was surrounded by fire on three sides. A couple of places were destroyed, but many more are untouched, but with their trees and grounds burnt. It would have been a scary time for all, and no surprise that it was evacuated. Wednesday is Markey day here, so we enjoyed looking through the stalls before settling down on a huge wide terrace for a pastry and coffee. Coffees are consistently only 1.20-1.40 for a short or long black. We still haven't found any as tasty as New Zealand coffees, they must roast the coffee harder or something as the richness just isn't there.

 

On the way to dinner tonight, we parked outside the ELC for internet, as we are making the last decisions on covers and need to keep in touch. Our hosts had left a note of some of the best places to go, but we didn't have any luck with them. Some we simply couldn't find, others were closed, and we ended up at a restaurant along the beach a bit, having the special. Absurdly cheap – 12€ for half a large chicken, drink, bread, salad, dessert. We thought that was per each person, but it turned out to be for 2 people. Watched an odd-looking Frenchman get more and more drunk until he had to be supported out to his Porsche (fortunately driven by his girlfriend) by the charming waiter.

 

The entire coastline appears to be built up, mainly with low scale structures. Plenty of bars, restaurants, service shops, supermarkets and mid-size hotels, with houses a row inland of the coast road. It is nice enough, but we have no thoughts of living here.

Tuesday 20 October - Mojacar

[Photos: Our Exchange home, Dinner with Jo Dryden]

 

Up gently this morning, then into town to collect Sandy & Lynette from Jo’s shop Gatsby on Mojacar beach. We found that the English Learning Centre down at Mojacar Beach has free wi-fi, so we caught up on sending and receiving emails. The weather was OK, though not clear and hot, so on getting back to our house, we set up a table near the pool and lunched on our normal fare of bread, cheeses and so on. We think the owner here is a medical man of some type, and we wonder if he is a dermatologist, as there is just the one pool lounger (maybe he is anti sunbathing?). The furniture is nice and casual, and an eclectic mix of old Spanish, African and some Indonesian we think, plus some more modern items. It is all very well-equipped, and we fell very comfortable here.

 

We had the afternoon off, doing very little other than catch up on free time. Looking across at the village, it is clear that there is very little left of the original village – most of what we see would be no older than 50 years, and much is pretty recent. It very much has the white Spanish hilltown look, but the reality is a bit different. We were surprised at the countryside about here. There are lots of random buildings – commercial or large tourist developments - in the middle of nowhere. We suspect somebody had slipped somebody else some graft to enable them to build where they shouldn’t be. It is not unpleasant, just a bit scruffy. Had a good look around the grounds here. The fire that went through Mojacar some months ago must have been very scary. It surrounded this house on three sides, burning and singing a lot of trees. Poor Diego has got his work cut out for the next few months making good the damage, replanting, tidying up and sorting out the mess. There has been a huge amount of planting done around the house, and many large terraces, unfortunately many affected by the fire.

 

Jo had invited us up to her house for dinner, so we drove down to the beach, stopping off at her shop to follow her up there. She had gone to quite a bit of trouble with chicken and pork on the barbecue, and we had a very nice dinner before the four of us began to fall asleep at about 10:30.

Monday 19 October - Travel to Mojacar

Dani and Ana had left by the time we got up, and we took our time getting sorted, doing book work and packing up. I headed off to find the car, some 20 minutes away. Had a few moments concern when it wasn't in the street I had made a mental note of, but soon spotted the distinctive red number plate just off the noted street. Had a real hassle getting back to our house. The GPS tried to send me up some streets which were not really streets at all, and one which must have been changed to one-way since the GPS map was done. I went round and round, before deciding to ignore it and get well south of the main road our street came off, so the GPS could have a clean run. Success! Did pass through the prostitutes corner at one point, to have a number of them head purposefully towards me. Presumably most cars which go though that corner are not just half-lost tourists, but men with other requirements.

 

Nice to be back on the road again heading south. We wanted to stop at the Palmeral of Elche, the largest palm plantation in Europe and possibly the world. It looked like it would be interesting, but as we got close there were loads of major roadworks and deviations which meant we completely circumscribed it, but some distance away. It didn't look possible to get in to see it, not that we really knew what we were looking for, so we gave it all away and went to a huge Carrefour supermarket instead. We were just going to have a coffee break, but ended up spending an hour and a half doing a full shop for our next fortnight stay-put. The giant Carrefours have everything. We were tempted to buy another netbook at an absurd 199€ (400 NZD) but it wasn't any better than what we have, so gave it away.

 

Found our way easily into Mojacar, stopped at the petrol station as suggested and rang our host's odd-job man Diego, using French as he can't speak English, and we can't speak Spanish. I couldn't remember the word for petrol station, and Diego didn't understand essence which I believe is the word for petrol, but we got it sorted out and he turned up in 5 minutes. We followed him up to the house, and got a few basic instructions. We found a nice note, qnd a bottle each of red, white and olive oil on the table for us. It is a lovely place, full of all sorts of interesting objects and art, much of it African. We feel very much at home here as the house has a lot of the flavour f our own. The pool was smaller than we had expected, but the views nicer. Also, the pool was lovely and warm, so we stripped off and jumped in as soon as we had dragged out gear inside.

 

We texted Sandy and Lynette, who had arrived here a day or two previously, and they came up for a drink with Jo Dryden, Lynette's cousin who has lived here for 25 years. Off to bed for a comfy night's sleep in a room with a lovely views.

Sunday 18 October - Valencia

[Photos: Cannon-pocked Tower, Valencia Railway Station]

 

Slept sort of OK, but the book going round in both our heads, and the airbed a bit noisy against the parquet floor, which we have fixed for tonight by putting a carpet under it. Couldn’t afford to catch up with a sleep-in after last night’s 2am, as the replies and fixed book files needed checking and responding to. It has been a mammoth effort, and very little fun towards the end. Karen worked on it all morning until 1pm, when she finally set the last emails back to New Zealand, while I chatted with Dani & Ana.

 

We headed out around 1:30pm for some lunch and a look around Valencia. As we left we felt some drizzle, so I went back for an umbrella, but after a few metres it started raining properly, so we went back for our jackets this time. Rather grey and cool, and a bit gloomy in the rain. Wandered about to the cannonball-pocked tower to our north, then into the centre, all the while looking for a place with bocadillos (rolls with ham & cheese). Because of the rain, many of the café-bars were full, and most full of smoke, which we are not prepared to tolerate any more. We though the EU would have mandated EU-wide against it, but clearly not yet.

 

After a lot of walking, finally found a place where we picked up some food, then sat under a big awning to eat it. We decided we were not prepared to walk for ages in the rain to look at old buildings, so headed for a café where we had a superb thick chocolate, and back home past the gauntlet of black, short prostitutes at the far end of our street. Not much of a life for them in this weather, or any weather I suppose. By now 3:30, and Karen has the good sense to be tucked up on our bed, catching up on a bit of sleep. We are looking forward to being in Mojacar where we can sit in the sun and do absolutely nothing, in the knowledge that the book has to look after itself from then on.

 

In the evening, the rain had stopped and the temperature warmed up, so we headed out again for a look about. This time got out to the edge of the old city, where the city had blocked off the river and turned it into walks, parks and other facilities. We tried heading to a big white centre (?science exhibition) which looked most impressive from a distance, but we never seemed to get any closer so gave it away. We managed to see quite a lot of the central city, before heading back to our Asian restaurant of the previous night, only to find despite the advertised hours that it was closed up solid. Very hard to find restaurants here. There are dozens of tapas bars, but at 8:15 they empty out swiftly and close up shop, leaving only more formal restaurangts, but remarkably few. Tried a buffet place, but after getting our plates found the food looked just awful, so eventually after far too much walking, had another good Asian meal at a place near the railway station. You can always count on getting good, reasonable food close to a railway station.

Saturday 17 October - To Valencia

[Photos: Oil press, Museo del Vida Rural (spot the miniatures), Valencia]

 

Up to a nice day again. Looked at a very old and massive olive oil press in the grounds of our hotel on the way out. There was a museum of rural life (http://www.museuvidarural.com/) in l'Espluga de Francoli that Karen had noticed yesterday, and although we were a bit late, we thought we would give it a look. What a good decision. It was superb. Well-laid out, good explanations in 4 languages, very detailed mini dioramas (so good that they look real in the photos), replica rooms, models and great videos. We put it on a par with the Deutschesmuseum in Munich, though a lot smaller. We enjoyed a good hour and a half going through the 8 floors spread between two buildings.

 

Gicen the extra time, and the horrible thought of nearly 300km to go, we set the GPS onto toll roads and aimed ourselves south. As we got onto the toll motorway, the GPS came up with the welcome "After 223 kilometres, keep left". It was really nice to sit back and enjoy the views, only having to steer while the cruise control looked after our 120kmh speed (that is after I had managed to sort it out – I had it on a speed limiter setting to start with). It is impressive how quickly the kilometres tick off at that speed.

 

Arrived in Valencia around 6pm, about when we expected to be there, but with a nasty, but worth-it, 21€ road toll. The GPS had us right outside Dani & Ana's front door, so we rang the bell and got a cheery hello from a balcony. Good to see them again, the previous time having been when we hosted them as Couchsurfers exactly two years ago. Had a quick chat, then off towards the old centre with Ana & Dani before they headed another direction. Again, Valencia is a very attractive city. Looked around the shops for a bit, but the area was a bit too upmarket, and not really what Karen was after. We were both tired after late nights and the driving, so tried to find somewhere to eat. The trouble is that at 8pm, the Spanish are just heading out to have a drink and some tapas, perhaps the equivalent of afternoon tea, with dinner to come at 10pm. Very few restaurants are even open until 9 or later. However, we found Fantasia which had for 7.50€ an excellent 4-dish asian meal complete with beer and dessert. The flat smokey noodles were easily the best we have had outside Thailand, so we may head back there tomorrow night.

 

Came back, for Karen to work until 2am for the zillionth time, and me to watch a bit of Valencia vs. Barcelona, then Air Force One (in English).

Friday 16 October - Montserrat & Poblet Monasteries

[Photos: Montserrat Monastery, Poblet Monastery]

 

Left Barcelona rather late, heading for Montserrat Monastery which is inland some 50km in a stunning location in steep hills. The drive out was really nice – the hills becoming more steep as we got inland further. It sits in a little valley below peaks of grey stone like fingers – really quite like Turkey’s Cappadoccia, complete with loose-looking topknots on a few of the “fingers”.

 

The monastery was at the end of a winding road, with huge car parks for cars and buses. It is an interesting place, not a ruin or an historic monument, but a working monastery we think. Some of the windows, paintings and sculptures inside are quite recent. It has a massive food hall for visitors, then large admin buildings, and a big open courtyard off which is the main church. The latter is pretty ornate, and there was a walk around the side and behind the apse. Not a stunning set of buildings, but the location is special perched up on the hillside.

 

I had Poblet Monastery on my list of places to go. I couldn’t remember why, and we were in two minds on whether it was worth the effort, as it was quite a detour off the route south to Valencia. However, we did have half a day to spare, so thought we might as well see why I had picked it.

 

It turned out to be an excellent find. It is a huge working monastery near a couple of small towns. The scale is remarkable. The buildings are in a lovely honey-coloured stone, and massive. You don’t have to pay to get in (nor did we at Montserrat) but if you want to see any more than just the church interior, you need to take a tour, and in this case it was very good. We worked our way round the cloisters, visiting refectories, meeting rooms, library, warming room, winery and right up in the apse of the cathedral. In the latter are the bodies of 12 kings and queens of Catalonia and Aragon, plus assorted children, all in behind life-size marble replicas. It really brings a place alive (so to speak) when there is a real link with life, as against just stone and mortar.

 

Leaving the monastery, we need to find somewhere to stay so drove about a bit until we came across the Hostal del Sangler (The Wild Boar Inn) which was a sort of themed medieval hunting inn. It was a bit tired, but a lovely big room. L’Espluga del Vilafranca is a very odd town. We tried to find a shop for milk for the morning, but despite a dozen bars being open, there was nowhere for a simple thing like milk. The streets are all very narrow and go every which way, so in our hunt for a restaurant later we seemed to crisscross the village many times. Despite all the bars, there appeared to be only one proper restaurant in town. Having arrived at the ridiculously early hour of 8:30pm, we had to sit with a beer until the chef started up at 9pm. A nice enough meal, but a bit Cobb & Co-ish again. We have had trouble in Spain finding small family-style restaurants. Hopefully Mojacar will be OK.