We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Marbella - ish

Marbella was only 30 km away so we decided that we would make the drive but if we found parking for the night on the way we would stop. We drove about 3 km when I made a wrong turn in a roundabout (GPS error) and we ended up in a semi residential area which had parking alongside the road. Tired, we decided we should just rest here for the night before we made our drive into Marbella to find our second campsite. Our second campsite choice was more expensive than Julie had remembered (from internet research) and we quickly turned away before we even entered. Our last choice was on the other side of the road so we needed to find a place to turn around which turned out to be more problematic then we expected. Because of the way the road system is designed along the N340, every second exit brings you to a roundabout that leads you to a bridge – we didn’t learn this at first though, now we are experts (it just takes one mistake). So we turned around and got off twice before getting to the right exit, the campsite is located at the 192.8 km marker. The guy behind the desk told us he wasn’t even sure we could spend an entire month at the campsite due to prior reservations. So Julie and I needed to drive around the campsite and mark down the #’s to all the sites that had no residents. We gathered up a few before heading back, when another guy just came in for his shift and seemed to know more about what was going on than the first guy. As it turned out we had a choice of 3 plots on a stretch that we had figured would be our best chance as there were so many vacant spots. I chose the one closest to the water outlet and the electricity. We promptly parked and started to set up for our long stay. First order of business was to clean the inside of the van and wash the dishes that had been piling up for the past few days. We set up the patio table and camping chairs when we were done cleaning so we could sit back and relax. The downside of us showing up on the day we did, was that everything was closed so we couldn’t buy groceries (a slight oversight). On the upside, we found 5 wireless connections available, one of which was the campsites. The campsite one required a password and the other 4 required payment, 55 euros for the month. We decided to check with the campsite reception to learn about the internet and find out about mail and what not. It turns out we get free internet (or the internet is included in our cost of the campsite) but they were experiencing technical difficulties at the moment (something we learnt happens a lot). They told us to try back tomorrow. While we were cleaning the van, a guy across from us was cleaning his yellow VW van listening to music. Julie and I determined that we had not heard one song we didn’t like the entire time he played his music, everything from oldies to new stuff. It was great to hear while cleaning, and eventually relaxing. Julie made a late lunch while I tried to get caught up on the blog writing when I remembered our Canadian flag. I mentioned to Julie that I had wanted to put it up when we parked, probably on the antenna. I didn’t even have the chance to get up before Julie was fastening it up. That’s when the guy across the road walked half way across and said, “Are you from Toronto or Vancouver?”
We ended up talking to Freddy for most of the night before calling it quits. It turns out that he is from the east side of London, England but had been living in the states for the past 14 years. He also spends most of his time traveling, finding work as a radio host. It was his first time traveling in a camper van (used a bike before) and he was converted in the way of life. Freddy hung around until Wednesday and we spent the time talking to him or listening to his music while we continued with our list of chores – we’re resting so we put very little on our plate each day.

Malaga

Parking was impossible. We ended up finding a spot on the corner of a roundabout. The walk into town didn’t encourage me to think the van was safe either. We made our way into the more tourist visited area and it cleaned up nicely. The major square was really nice, filled with many tourists all of which were taking photos of the huge Christmas ornaments. The lady in the tourist office was the least helpful yet. She did provide us with a list of campsites in the area and suggested we try the internet to learn about them. We found an internet café not too far away and researched what we could. We narrowed our list of campsites down to 3 campsites, but decided on going with our instincts and to head to the one that didn’t have a website. We arrived in Fuengriola late in the evening. The campsite (mentioned in our camping guide) that we had chosen way back in France turned out to be closed when we arrived at the gates. The sign said it had closed in 2005 and our camping book was published, apparently just before it shut down. This is the second time this camping book has led us to a non-existent campsite. The first time was in Bruges, Belgium where it turned into a movie theater.

Cordoba

It was a really long drive and we can tell the van is getting tired of the long halls, especially when they are back to back. When we arrived in Cordoba we stopped at a McDonald's for a bite to eat, figure out where we wanted to park and see if they had internet. They didn’t have internet, so we left looking for a parking spot and ended up finding one alongside a road. The spot was pretty level, the tourist office was within 2 km and it seemed like a pretty safe place. The only downside of us choosing this particular spot, was that it was near a roundabout that led to a highway and it also led to the hospital. We heard sirens from about the time we parked until 2 -3 am and then they started up again at 6am. The traffic was on the same schedule it seemed. It was a rough night, but we were optimistic, as we would be heading to Fuengirola or near there to find a camping spot for the month. So around 10 am we headed into town. The address we had for the tourist office was a dud and we had to walk much further to an alternate address. There were so many stores trying to sell to tourists, it was rather ugly. The tourist kiosk was located in a large shopping square and the lady was rather unhelpful besides providing us with a town map. Our intention was to see if the tourist office could help us decide on a campsite based on the criteria Julie and I had come up with. We know that they make phone calls like this for a nominal fee and we both decided it would be worth it. However, we were told to try a local travel agency instead. Knowing we wanted to know where we were heading later that day, we stopped into 3 travel agencies before giving up. None of them spoke any English. So we made our way to the reason we came here, the Mezquita. This was pretty disappointing as it was around 18 euros to get in and was nothing more than a church. We did see some church treasures (this would be why the people have no money but the church does) before we left and made our way back to the van. We decided to try the tourist office in Malaga for campsite information since it was the first major city we would enter before heading towards a campsite.

Seville

Yes we are back in Spain again and will be for the next 6-7 weeks. Seville is a large city that sees many tourists and for good reason. It has one of the oldest bull fighting rings, the third largest church in the world (St Peters in London and the Vatican in Rome are larger) and has plenty of entertainment and nightlife to offer. The previous night we parked outside an Ikea and made use of their cheap food and washrooms. We thought we had parked near a bus stop and planned to take it into town, but upon further investigation we learnt that it was a taxi stop, not a bus stop. So with that we had to make the drive into Seville. This was a stressful time. There are so many motorists, pedestrians and cars that seem to be parked just about anywhere and everywhere. We had some difficulty locating a spot for our large van. If we had a smaller vehicle, it would’ve been slightly easier. We found a spot that was “just” large enough for us but was difficult to parallel park into easily. Thankfully, the woman who owned the car in front of us was heading out. This made it much easier. I noticed then that we were almost covering a driveway entrance (the lady’s car was blocking it before). We were right along the river and could see the round bull fighting ring from where we parked. The tourist office was also within 2 km from us. The spot we had was pay parking and only allowed up to 2 hours of parking so we had to hustle. Up until now, Julie has been navigating when we drive and when we are on foot, but lately she has been having some difficulty reading the map or the GPS. So I gave her the camera and told her I would navigate if she took the pictures. Like every tourist office in Spain and Portugal, the employees were once again fast and efficient (which isn’t always a good thing). We made our way to the bull ring, where I tried to convince Julie to take a tour but we ended up taking some photos of it instead. She was protesting because she believes that the sport is cruel and does not wish to promote it at all. I don’t blame her for this view, it is a cruel sport, but it’s also a cultural thing for Spain. I did want to tour the ring itself, but didn’t push my luck (and was glad I didn’t, especially when Julie learnt that we would have seen a show during the tour). We then made our way towards the church. The church was huge and impressive. I wanted to head up the bell tower to view the city from there, but with a price tag of 8.50 each we moved on (8.50 to visit a church, neither one of us wants to promote that!). From here we wandered briefly through the old Jewish quarter past many small shops and into a park. From here we proceeded to the Spanish Square. When we read up on this square, we did not expect to see what we did. It was a huge semicircle square with a fountain in the middle. Walking along the half circle you can see tile work with pictures depicting the many popular cities and towns in Spain. Each one was unique. It was pretty awesome to see, plus it was free. Julie assured me that we could see a Flamenco show when we are in the Costa Del Sol and that it isn’t just Seville that has the shows. So we moved on to Cordoba.

Tavira

Another small town along the Algarve; it had over 30 churches, one fortress and a roman bridge. The fortress and the town itself were the draw for us. The roman bridge looked like any old bridge and connected the newer town area with the old. In the main square they had spent quite a lot of money to spruce it up as there were marble sections throughout, the old square seemed new. They were also setting up for Christmas, a little slower than other towns we have visited. Once we learnt where the fortress was we were off exploring the alleyways that led to the fortress. The fortress was almost completely ruined, but they did keep a lovely garden in the center. During our walks we also saw that they were excavating much of the fortress near by. The section of the fortress that was accessible to us provided great views over the city. Just outside the entrance was an old church with a huge clock on the bell tower. We wandered a bit more and sat for a moment on a bench near the river before we made our final drive for the day towards Seville, Spain. We both felt we could have skipped this town, but didn’t regret visiting it.

Silves

The main attraction here, a fairy tale castle, was a huge disappointment. The entire site was under construction and there wasn’t anything to see. It was a complete waste of time. Luckily, that was the last thing we did before heading back to the van. The lady at the tourist office was extremely nice and was completely aware that her town had barely anything to offer, though she was sure we would love it. She suggested that we walk to the small town square, have a cup of coffee from the old coffee shop and have a look at the roman tower in the square before making it past the two churches which lead to the castle. We took her advice, but weren’t sure about the “stopping for a coffee” as we have a schedule to keep. When we arrived in the square; there was some debate if we were in the right spot at first, but climbing a flight of stairs proved that we were indeed in the right spot, so we had to walk back down. Here we learnt that the town provides free WiFi so we sat on a bench and used the internet. The square was so small, probably the size of my parents backyard, that we were sitting right next to the old coffee shop patio. Since we were no longer in a rush we tucked ourselves into a bistro table and I proceeded to enjoy two lovely cups of coffee. Julie had lost her sunglasses at some point and realized it during the second cup. Frantically she retraced her steps and eventually made her way to the bench we were previously sitting at. It turns out that an older gentlemen sitting on the bench had them and was cleaning them off and waiting for the owner to return. All in all, despite the castle being a dud, the town was extremely lovely.