It's been a long time since you had those

 Granada

Weather:  In Sierra Nevada mountains days are hot but not too and nights are lovely and cool giving rise to goose pimples which as David commented I haven’t had for a long time.

 As we drove across to Granada we kept catching sight of the Sierra Nevada mountains which still have snow on them - fantastic views.

Another campsite, another load of Dutch people.  Is there anyone under 50 left in Holland?

And then we met the camp dog.  Turns out he is a street dog but he made himself very at home at the campsite and after we left there were moments when I thought David was going to turn round and kidnap him.



We arrived on a Sat and there was no bus from the campsite to Granada on Sun so we decided to drive into the local Nature Park for a walk on the Sunday.  We went to the visitors centre and they showed us a walk, we asked if it was well signposted and stressed that we always get lost.  They lied to our faces and said we couldn't get lost.  20 minutes later when we returned to say we couldn't find where the walk started they lied again and said that once we started we'd just have to follow the signs.  After 2 hours the signs ran out.  After 4.5 hours we got back to the van.

The Alhambra - fabulous.  We spent 4 hours looking round the wonderful gardens and palaces.  The one place we missed was the Moorish baths and because we'd been goody 2 shoes and eaten a low cal Solero each instead of a good old Magnum I just didn't have the calorific energy to go back and find them.   Washington Irving wrote some tales of the Alhambra when he spent time here so I'm going to try and down load some and hope I can remember the setting well enough to take me back there whilst I read them.

After lunch we wandered round the Alcaiceria district which was very hilly so we topped up with ice-cream and cake.  Silvia had also recommended a good area for tapas but we had to catch the bus back for the hair appointment I'd booked through the campsite.  Disappointed to miss that opportunity.

The arrangements were very sketchy, neither the hairdresser nor I knew each others names and she was going to meet me off the bus because she was going to cut my hair in her house.  But it all worked out in the end and for 10 euros for a shampoo, cut blow dry and lift home I'm happy.

Only issue is that David insisted on singing the Abba song "aleandro?" all the way round and it's now very hard to remember to call it the Alhambra

Snap,carckle and POP

Ronda and Humillerado
Weather: Well we've found scorchio and it's more a case of sweatio

We had 4 very peaceful nights down on the Costa de la Luz and little did we realise at the time that the sufer dude beach at El Palmer was one of the Times 20 secret Spanish beaches. It was good but not that good.
But it was getting hot so we decided to move on after 1 last night.  Should have left earlier.  First the lone ranger mozzie who seems to be living in a secret place in our van started his night time sortie.  Then just after I'd fallen asleep through exhaustion after fighting the mozzie off and resigning myself to sweltering away in hiding under the covers, David woke me up searching the van for the source of a noise which he said was electricity arcing.  Turns out it was the big pylon over the fence in the natural park and it had a red light flashing on top.  But puzzle was over so we fell asleep for a little longer until the snapping and crackling got really loud and woke us up.  Then there was an almighty bang and the power went off.  That would have been OK but the pylon carried on snapping and crackling and popping.  So we left our lovely little campsite before we popped too.

On to Ronda, which I remembered as a lovely little town from my visit 20 plus years ago with my friends Nicola and Wendy.  But then all I really remembered, apart from the bridge, was crying with laughter as Wendy drove us up the windy roads without changing out of 4th gear.  Not fair really to laugh at her as I couldn't drive because I'd broken a toe running out of the sea to avoid a jelly fish, which turned ot to be a carrier bag!  Anyway, Ronda now seems huge but still has its charms.

The campsite we stayed in was so full of rules eg no TV, no radio, no music, no ball games and if you don't want peace and quiet go to another site, that we couldn't relax, so we moved on after 1 night.

Humillerado  According to everything any tourist reviews, or tourist info and even the camp reception info said there were lost of cycle rides and walks near this campsite.  But we could only find 1 map:

so we took a photo and had a nice little wander but moved on again after 1 night.  With our track record we don't take risks.

The only thing I will remember is the receptionist at the campsite.  He was almost cartoonishly handsome with quite a big head and large almond shaped eyes that even David remarked on.  He was quite small and when we first saw him he was sitting in a chair with a huge pointed back to it that made him look like a little boy.  I was instantly reminded of the prince from Shrek!

"Go on, let me in"

"OK I'll have a scratch instead"

Visiting with the Visigoths

Zahora
Weather: Mainly sunshine with heavy morning shower giving way to morning and evening showers to remove suncream.

Forgot to say that the very helpful Spanish man in the tourist info at Vejer, who confusing spoke English with a German accent, gave us a great little notebook with info about birds and  good walking routes to spot them.  A bit wasted on us as we still haven't progressed much beyond storks, sparrows and house-martens.  But apparently this is a really good area for birdwatching as it is a key migration route between Africa and Europe.  So I will hang on to this book to pass on to anyone else who comes this way and hasn't forgotten to pack their binoculars!

The birds have great names like "the Zitting Cisticola" and "the Short-toed Snake Eagle".








Did a 20 mile bike ride yesterday trying to spot the sights we'd passed cycling in the other direction before.  Might not sound very far but half of it was through the Natural Park along a bone shaking route which seems to have shaken my gears out of place.

This was meant to show all the beautiful wild flowers along the way but making the shot big enough to fit me in lost the flowers!!

On the way we made a point of visiting another site we gaily cycled straight past before, the Hermitage of San Ambrosio which was built by the Visigoths on top of a Roman villa, but on Mr and Mrs Stork were at home.  And David made sure that he took a photo of the Trafalgar lighthouse, we were too hot and bothered to cycle out to it so he had to zoom in on it.

So today was a lazy day.  Took a little ride into the next village with surfer dude beach.  Not alot of waves so not particularly exciting surfing to watch..more action on the beach than in the sea.

Then we came back to Zahora for a very big and very tasty long lunch.  3 each of those prawn cocktail crip things plus chips because we only expected 1 crisp between 2 and a fantastic beef tagine.  All washed down with a jug of Sangria. I think tea will be half an orange each.  It was delicious but the fact the bill came in a little carved box was a warning that it wasn't a cheap meal!

Even the cacti are flowering

On to the Pueblos Blancos tomorrow, enough of this relaxing thing!

England expects...

Zahora
Weather: Mucho sol but not too much, however Atlantic still not warm enough to go beyond ankle depth

Was just going to post a smug this...

But then this happened...

We sprung a leak but fortunately there was a repair place nearby.  David was proud that when they emptied our waste water (from sinks not toilet!) it was very "fragrant"!  I felt proud too when he told me.  We were once told off with gusto on a French aire in our old 'van when the stench from our leaky pipe upset our neighbour and we couldn't explain that we hadn't just let it drain out of laziness.

So once we had had to drive off our campsite we made the most of it and had a nice trip out to a pretty town called Vejer where we had lunch and on reading up about the town I realised that the sign to "Trafalgar" that we had cycled past the day before wasn't just for a local bar but was for the part of the coast where Nelson fought his last battle!!  Duh.

After lunch we returned to base for a little siesta and a bit more beach where we gazed across the sea to Morroco.  Busy day :-)

Puzzling parades

Seville tapas revisited
Weather: Warm with thunderstorms scattering parades

Limited ourselves to 2 bits of sightseeing based on their closing time in relation to the bus getting into Seville about 4.30 and the need for tapas by around 8.30pm (v early compared to locals).
Started off with a tour of the bullring.  It was interesting but a relief to get out.  Felt like I needed fresh air because I kept imagining the smell of blood.  I'm sure its a thrilling spectacle but can't get past the thought of the poor old bulls being taunted and bewildered before they die.  They lose every time.  Unlike the bullfighters who can earn upto €100,000 a fight.

Next up was the Museum of Fine Arts but I'm afraid we got more pleasure from the architecture of the building than from the pics.  There was very little info and none in English so we just enjoyed a bit of a cruise round with a couple of stops in the cool courtyards.

When we were looking for the Museum we spotted a group of young men in a park with what looked like towel rolls.  Centre of the city seemed stange place for a swim club to meet but it turned out that they were carrying rolls of padding to protect their heads and shoulders so they could carry what was obviously a very heavy religious ...can't think how to describe it but this is what it looked like..

There was a marching band behind this thing which was great except that the casque was obviously so heavy that every 50 meters they had to stop whilst a couple of the bearers swapped over and water was poured into little silver mugs held out by those still underneath.  Then with a big bang of the drum they were off again.  Friday night seemed to be the night for parades so we went from finding them intriguing to trying to find a street that wasn't full of them.  But we eventually found our favourite tapas bar just before the heavens opened and the paraders all scattered.  Glad we saw it but would have liked to know what it was about.  We even bought a little blue ribbon each from the flamenco girls but not sure what they were collecing for.

It's not the oranges in Seville it’s the tapas

Seville

Weather: finally had a morning shower without the water seeming to burn my white, dead with cold, fingers!  Memories of motherly warnings about catching chilbains.  AND David’s hair no longer standing on end with cold.

Seville: gracious avenidas, enough attractions to have several sight-seeing bus companies fighting for your euros and plenty of parks and nightlife to satisfy every age.

Decided this is our last Cathedral.  Impressive but none match my all-time favourite in Amiens, even taking out the bias that I had the biggest and best ever macaroons in Amiens.  However the Real Alcazar was fabioso.  We only had 40 mins which was nowhere near long enough to wander through all the courtyards and tiled rooms.  If we’d planned better we could have spent a few hours and had a picnic in the gardens.  Made me look forward to visiting the Alhambra in Granada.

But then we had another Silvia recommendation to look forward to.  Exploring the tapas bars near La Giralda, the bell tower of the Cathedral.  Last night’s selection was venison stew, shrimps in batter (like a huge prawn cocktail crisp) and mushrooms with ham and garlic.  The mushrooms also seemed to have added prawns and enough chilli to require a paper serviette to mop away the tears.  All delicious enough to make us alter our plans so we can repeat the experience (with a different selection).  We didn't stay out late enough to check out the hubba bubba bar!

And a boast to my teacher Fabiola.  I managed to explain in Spanish to a receptionist in a garage that our campervan had 3 faults.  1, the corner of the pipe for the grey water was broken, 2, the warning light for the chemical wc wasn’t coming on when it was full, 3 – well that was a pointing at a picture job.  The crunch was that when I asked if there was public  transport to Seville the answer was “no” so we didn’t book the van in and maybe fortunately I didn’t have to repeat it all to a mechanic.

We wandered into a place called the British Institute to see what our taxex were paying for but I think it was an English Language College.  Beautiful tho.

 Staircase as modelled by my lovely assistant post bar crawl.

The wild wild west

El Rocio

Weather:  David said that if I put any more layers on the bed to keep warm I'll be like a pressed flower in the morning.  Felt crush and deflated arf arf

El Rocio: has to be seen to be believed.  Like a town from Mexico 100 years ago slap bang in the middle of a national park.  There are no tarmac roads only sand with rails outside the houses to tie up the horses.
They were getting ready for the annual pilgramage when 1 mill people make their way on horseback, by horse and carraige etc from all over Spain to celebrate the Virgen del Rocio.  It must be amazing but we will have to rely on youtube to experience it

All over town there are these little rooms - 1 for each "brotherhood" which relates to where the pilgrims are from
I think its where they prepare their statues to take in the procession to be blessed by the Virgin del Rocio

We had a cycle round parts of the Donana park but we're duds really cos we forgot to pack our binoculars so it was a waste of time us tip toeing into the hides to look a birds.  They all looked the same to us from a distance.  But I think we would have spotted the lynx that are meant to roam the park!

OOps battery about to die so I'll have to leave out our bus trip to the coast.  1.25 hour wait at bus stop but lovely seafood lunch :-)