2025 – RV Travels in Europe and North America

November 6, 2025 Amsterdam NE

Our fall trip ended as they all do when we dropped François off at the storage. We had plenty of time in the morning to wrap up a few things to prepare François. The place we stayed in Stein was nice, a lot of farmers in the Netherlands seem to have set up side businesses as campgrounds. This one is nice and very new. It made for a good place to spend the last few days.

The one issue with the small campgrounds is that in all three we have stayed at the final kilometer or two to get there are on dike roads. Netherlands is rightfully famous for its systems of pumps and dikes that have allowed it to reclaim a lot of land. This land makes for great farm land. The dikes are pretty tall and narrow and usually there is water on one side. The single lane on top is two way and there are pull outs to allow vehicles to pass. People manage to get around each other using the pull outs and driveways of the farms and homes .

As we were leaving google routed us on a dike road for about 7 kilometers. We were doing fine until I came to a point where there were road signs saying restricted to vehicles less than 2.2 meters wide. François is about 2.4 meters wide. I sat there contemplating what to do. The narrow road did get a slight bit narrower but I thought we would make it. At that point luck intervened and a tractor pulling farm equipment went by me that was wider than François. I took off after him figuring if he could make it we certainly could and I had the added benefit of having him clear other traffic out of the way as long as I stayed close.

Things were going well until I saw a line of cars going the same direction as us stopped on the dike ahead. After a few minutes of idling I saw the farmer get out of the tractor and go ahead to see what was going on. He came back in a few minutes and asked me to follow him into a drive way to get out of the road. We both had to back across a narrow bridge into someones driveway.

The source of our adventure today, a semi-truck on a one way dike road.

He then set off to help direct traffic while Ton and I talked to the owner of the home whose driveway we had occupied. After 20 minutes or so the farmer came back and asked if I could move further down the road to another farm. When we got to the farm we had to get a couple of cars to move so we could go back by the barn and turn around. With the help of the owner of the farm we turned François around and when we were pointed in the right direction the semi-truck had gone by and it was smooth sailing. This whole event took about an hour, and I was impressed about how nonchalant everyone was about the whole thing, the homeowner and farmer were totally nonplussed to have us show up on their property. I guess it happens enough that they are used to it.

The rest of the day was uneventful.

November 5, 2025 Stein NE

This is always my least favorite day of the trip. Ton spends most of the day packing our bags. I try to help where I can but am mostly useless except to occasionally lift something heavy. Tonight we will be our last night in François for this trip.

One unexpected complication for this trip that I realized today is the fact that we left the Schengen zone when we were in Morocco. This means our 180 day clock restarted when we reentered Spain on October 20, not when we arrived in Amsterdam on September 7. This means our spring trip will have to start later or be shorter than normal. I will be spending more time than normal over the winter using Schengen travel calculators to decide on flight dates. That is a bit of a bummer.

November 4, 2025 Stein NE

Well after procrastinating as long as we could we finally turned north and are now near Amsterdam. The two places we normally stay at around Amsterdam have both shortened their season and are closed, so I picked a place open year round at random. It is a nice small campground on a farm-and it turns out a historical site.

Nice field of flowers as we were leaving Belgium.

At the site of the campground there used to be a monastery that for a few years was the home of the philosopher and scholar Erasmus. In the mid-1400’s he was a leading philosopher within the Catholic Church. Before he got to that point he spent several years in Stein as a poor monk in a monastery that used to occupy the site our campground is on. He is a big enough deal in Europe that the program within the EU that allows students to attend any University in the EU no matter their nationality is called the Erasmus project.

If you are in the Netherlands you have to include a picture of a canal. This one is about 400 yards from our campground.

We arrived early and Ton spent a couple of hours sorting thru what is going to stay and what is going to get packed tomorrow. I contributed little except to explore the campground and the immediate surrounding areas where I learned about Erasmus.

The village of Stein. The building in the center was here when Erasmuss was here. It is now a restaurant.

After Ton had everything sorted we set off to find an ATM as we need some Euros to pay for François’ storage for next year. After accomplishing that we returned to François for a big supper. We have a lot of food to eat in the next day and a half before we head to the hotel at the airport.

November 3, 2025 Ypres BE

The trip is winding down but neither one of us is in a hurry to declare it over. This morning the conversation was about whether to head north today or tomorrow. Today is Monday and the tourist season is winding down in Belgium so most of the places we wanted to visit are closed. I offered Ton the opportunity to wrap things up and head to Amsterdam, but after a lot of searching she found a nice pub that was open in Ypres so around 11am we were off to Ypres.

The city of Ypres was literally on the front lines in WWI and was effectively leveled. So all of the nice old buildings you see on the square were built in the 1920’s and 30’s.

While Ton was researching what to do today, I took a quick walk to a British Military Cemetery about 500 yards from our campground. The Dozinghem Military Cemetery has the remains of over 3000 British and Commonwealth soldiers in it from WWI and 77 British soldiers from WWII buried in it. It is another sobering reminder that this beautiful countryside was a killing ground from 1914-1918.

Grave markers with some of the names of over 3000 soldiers buried here during WWI and WWII.

It was a quick drive into Ypres. We passed thru a couple of villages on the way and Ton was struck by how few businesses were open, and how few people were moving about. It’s a dreary day, but part of the dreariness comes from the lack of people about.

The main square in Ypres had a lot of cars, but very few people.

But today we were not looking at cities or architecture, we were out to sample good Belgian beer. We love Belgian beer and advocate for it in all of our travels over the more famous German beer. Belgian beer just feels more creative than German beer to us. The tastes are more pronounced and the varieties have more character in our opinion.

Trying to join the happy guys in the painting.

We found a very nice, modern pub near the main square and though it was around noon we were the first customers. We ordered two local beers and a light lunch and sat down to enjoy a quiet afternoon.

The pub was named after St. Arnoldus who is the patron saint of brewers.

After a few minutes we were joined by 9 British gentlemen who were touring the battlefields of WWI. We had a nice conversation with them once we figured out they were speaking English, it took our ears a couple of minutes to adjust to their accents. Some British accents are still difficult for us to decipher even after a couple of months of hearing much more British English than American English.

The Christmas beer is out, Ton sampled it and liked it.

We just hung out in the pub for about 2 hours stretching our beers and snacks out as long as we could. It was another fun but uneventful day. It’s days like this when we don’t feel so much like tourists, but someone who is living over here in a home that happens to move. I think it is a good thing.

24 very good beers on tap. It’s too bad I was driving.

After a while we headed back to the campground and spent the rest of the afternoon being lazy and trying to stay warm as the weather has definitely took a turn. The heater will be on tonight.

This region is famous for its hop production. This sculpture was a homage to hop farmers.

Tomorrow we have no choice, we will be on the road to Amsterdam to wrap things up for 2025.

November 2, 2025 Poperinge BE

Today was a laid back day that we really enjoyed. The morning was spent doing laundry including our sheets. Laundry day is always an important event and near the end of the trip we have to find a place to do our bedding. So getting that done made this a good day already.

The main treat for the day was a visit to the In de Vrede near our campground. It is a pub next to one of our favorite beers in the world Westvleteren Brewery. It is a Trappist Brewery, and unlike the bigger Belgian Trappist Breweries the beer is not intended for export.

I am happy contemplating the three beers brewed by the Monks at the St. Sixtus Abby in Westvlerteren.

We had discovered these beers on our first visit to Belgium in 2018 and had visited the In de Vrede then to sample the beers. At the time the strongest of the beers from Westvlerteren had been declared the best beer in the world by someone important in the beer world and the demand was through the roof.

We shared this fish stew between us. I liked it better than Ton did.

When we arrived at the Inn which sits in the middle of a lot of farms we were surprised to find the parking lot packed. But the restaurant is quite large and we were able to find a table right away. We immediately ordered a bottle of each of the three beers to get us started. The beer was as good as we remembered it and the blonde beer was better than we remembered it.

The road to the inn was a single track lane with pull outs.

Over the course of the meal we began a conversation with two young men about our sons age next to us. They began telling us about other breweries we should visit when we were in Belgium. They were quite proud of the beer heritage here and gave us some good tips for tomorrow and future trips.

Returning to the campground after a good afternoon at the In de Vrede.

Eventually the wife of one of the guys joined them with a cute Jack Russel Terrier who was used to being the center of attention. We ended up chatting with them for over an hour, and really enjoyed their company. We talked about travel, beer, jobs and life.

The goats thought Ton was going to feed them.

Today we didn’t visit anything “cultural” or “historical” but these three young people taught us more about Belgium and its people and culture than hours in a museum will. We also left with an arm full of Westvleteren Beer to take with us. It was an afternoon well spent and a very productive day and we only traveled 10 kilometers round trip to accomplish it.

November 1, 2025 Poperinge BE

Today we traveled another 350 kilometers north into Belgium. The last couple of days had been about setting us up to head to this part of Belgium. The area we are in is famous for Trappist beers, and good beer in general whether it is produced by monks or not. We originally visited this area in 2019 and are excited to give it another go.

A hop farm, the reason we are in Poperinge.

To get here though we had to navigate the traffic in Paris in a heavy downpour. It went remarkably well though it was a little intense for me. Just as we departed Paris the rain also lifted for most of the drive so most of the last 200 kilometers were relatively relaxing.

Cows in the field near our final destination.

Near the end of the drive we pulled into a grocery store in the last major town in France to get a few critical items such as paper towels, dish soap and wine. Then a few kilometers later we were in Belgium.

The campground we are staying at has a nice bar that is well stocked with local beers.

The last few kilometers to the campground were on very narrow country roads. They are one lane roads with pull outs every couple of hundred yards. Luckily the one time we came upon on coming traffic we were right at a handy pull out. Once we were set up in the campground we went into the on site bar and tried a small sample of the local beers. We are planning on being here a couple of days to do more sampling.

October 31, 2025 Grez-sur-Loing FR

Another day focused on driving. Today we covered about 380 kilometers in 6 hours. We made a couple of stops at rest areas. The first stop was to by some LP gas as we will be running the heater over the next few nights as temperatures are going to drop into the low 40’s.

The vines are turning yellow in Burgundy.

I had to go inside and pay for the fuel and all of the staff in the large restaurant/ shop had on really creative and well done costumes for Halloween. I gave a cute witch my credit card to activate the pump. When I got out there a guy in a Dodge Ram pickup with New York plates on the front had pulled up behind me. I asked if he was from New York he looked confused and answered me in French. I pointed at the plates and he responded in very heavily accented English that it was a decoration.

The pump wouldn’t come on so I went back in and asked the Zombie behind the counter to activate the pump, she said she would. I went back out and the pump still wouldn’t come on. New York and I did some troubleshooting together but still couldn’t get the pump to come on. I was going to go back in when he volunteered to go in and explain the problem in French. After a few minutes the witch came back out with him and in about 10 seconds jiggled a couple of things on the pump and it started working.

Both New York and I looked ashamed-she gave us a look of pity which was reinforced by her witches costume as she headed back into the store. Ton wanted to know what all of the fuss was about and I told her, but I also explained about how good the costumes the staff were wearing were, so she was curious and wanted to go in. I parked François and we headed back into the store.

A pretty duck on the river near our campground.

Ton was impressed by the costumes, but she was more impressed by the regional products on sale. After years of driving thru France and seeing regional products displayed, along with all of the other services like fuel, food, and rest rooms you expect in a rest area. She had never been inside to see what was on display in the stores. We ended up with a couple of regional candies and some socks she liked. Later on the drive we saw another rest area with regional products displayed and I asked if she wanted to stop and take a look, she said sure, and then laughed because she knew I didn’t expect her to say yes. This time we ended up with some mustard from the area.

The French like to plant trees on either side of roads so that eventually they form a canopy over the road. It is pretty spectacular in the fall.

We finally got to our campground around 2pm. I went for a reconnaissance to check on the best way to leave in the morning. The route we took in had a big do not enter sign on it, so I wanted to see where to go. I didn’t expect much and then I came around a corner and immediately turned back and got Ton.

France is full of these small riverside villages with stone bridges. It is what makes France special to me.

France is full of picturesque villages. Grez-sur-Loing is one of them. It has a 19th century stone bridge, a 12th century fortified tower, and a 16th century church along side the Loing River. The setting is amazing and exudes calm and history.

The 19th century bridge is still in use today.

When you add in fall colors and evening light it was a magical walk. What added to the magic was we had no idea it was less than 200 yards from where we were parked.

The Loing River from the bridge. The fall colors are at their peak to add to the beauty of the place.

Experiences like this is what makes France magical for me. You never know when out of the blue you will fall into a place of calm and peace that makes you consider moving to some obscure place in a country where you can’t speak the language.

October 30, 2025 Issoire FR

Our plan is to pass thru France quickly and get to Flanders in Belgium to do a little beer tasting. We want to be in Amsterdam on November 4 so we can prep for our departure on November 7. So today we drove 468 kilometers north to the municipal campground in Issoire France.

Ton liked the art on the back of this cattle truck.

Before leaving Spain we made one last stop in a grocery to stock up on some of our favorites. I got some Tortillas, Ton bought a bunch of fruit and vegetables, you can tell who has the healthy diet, Spanish Tortillas are made from potatoes, cheese, egg, and onions. It is a very delicious hash brown.

The fall colors were coming out as we gained altitude and headed north.

Most of the drive today was thru an area of France that is called the Central Massif mountains. It is a part of France we have not explored much. Every time we pass thru we say we need to spend more time here. Hopefully we will one day.

The campground in Issoire is closing for the winter in two days as are a lot of the campgrounds in France and Spain so we have to be careful when picking places to spend the night. Tomorrow will be another big driving day to spend the night just south of Paris.

October 29, 2025 Roses SP

Roses was the first city we visited in Spain and we have had two of our favorite meals in Europe there so we decided to spend the night in Roses before heading into France. We also wanted to visit the Dali Museum which is in the nearby town of Figueres.

François hit a major milestone today on our drive when his odometer hit 100,000 kilometers. We think he had about 18,000 kilometers on him when we bought him used in 2017.

Dali was born in Figueres and died there. In the 1960’s he oversaw the construction of a museum dedicated to himself in a burned out theater in Figueres. It is now an extremely popular place to visit and tickets must be purchased in advance.

A large painting where the screen for the theater used to be.

Neither Ton or I knew much about Dali beyond he was a flamboyant practitioner of surrealism. Whenever his name came up I would always picture in my eye the paintings of the melting clocks that were one of his famous pieces.

There was more variety to his work than we both imagined.

As we were driving across Barcelona Ton read me a bit of his biography. The most controversial thing is that Dali was a supporter of the Fascist dictator Francisco Franco. This cost him his friendship with the other great Spanish artist of the 20th century- Picasso, and caused him to be estranged from his father for many years.

He spent several years in the US during WWII. He moved back to Spain after the war and spent the last years in Figueres. The theater in Figueres had burned down in the Spanish Civil War so in 1960 he began the process of remaking the theater as a museum of his works.

This is one of Dali’s favorite works originally displayed in New York.

The theater was quite crowded, but the number of pieces on display and the diversity of the work was what surprised and delighted us. It was not a museum of paintings of melting clocks, but it contained works from his lifetime including periods when he worked in cubism and surrealism style as well as many three dimensional pieces that were fascinating.

The most fascinating piece to me was a portrait of Lincoln that was holographic. When you look at the painting up close you cannot tell that it is a painting of Lincoln, but when you look at it thru a camera lense, or from a distance you can see it quite clearly.

The same picture from a distance shows Lincolns face.

I cannot even fathom how you envision the concept and have the technical skill to pull it off. Ton and I were truly amazed by this piece of art.

Dali standing in the theater before it was restored.

We spent a couple of hours in the museum before heading to Roses to find a campground. In the spring we had a fantastic sea food meal that remains one of Tons favorite meals in Europe. So we decided to visit the restaurant again for dinner.

Not sure what this painting is about, but I like it.

We headed to town for what for us was a very late dinner, but for the Spanish was an early dinner at 7pm. We replicated the meal but added some appetizers. A couple of hours later we walked out stuffed and glad we had about a mile to walk to try to burn off some of the food. This is the reason this post is a day late.

October 28, 2025 Altafulla SP

It is time to start heading north so today we jumped up the coast about 400 kilometers to a place near Tarragona. The day started with a visit to Lidl to stock up on some Spanish goodies and wine for the long driving days ahead. The wine is for post driving recovery.

After that we got on the AP-7 pointed François north and cruised for about 5 hours. The AP-7 used to be a toll road, but in Spain after the cost of the road is covered by tolls the road becomes a freeway. The AP-7 is now free and we appreciated saving what would have been a €20 or 25 toll in the past.

We had picked out a campground near Tarragona that we had stayed at twice in the spring and enjoyed. To my surprise when we arrived it had already closed for the season. After some quick research I told Ton there was another campground nearby and someone had reviewed it yesterday on Park4Night so it is open. After a 15 minute drive we arrived at the very upscale entryway to Tamarit Beach Resort. By accident we had found the “Best Large Campground in Europe” for 2025 as decreed by our European campground discount card ACSI. It is huge with three restaurants, a giant pool, tennis courts, and about a mile of beachfront.

But none of this impressed Ton as much as the big commercial washer and dryers in the bathroom building. So after getting settled in we spent the rest of the day washing clothes at the best large campground in Europe.

October 27, 2025 Denia SP

The grey weather blew thru overnight and we woke up to a cool morning with very blue skies. We headed down to the bus stop about 10:30 and joined three other couples from the campground at the bus stop. The bus ride to town was uneventful.

The castle in Denia dating to the 12th century.

Our first stop for the day was the castle. Like almost all towns here and in much of Europe Denia started out as a Roman settlement and then changed hands many times in its history. The castle was built by Moors, but in this case Denia came under two different Moorish rulers during its history.

We entered the castle after passing thru this relatively modern tunnel under the castle.

One of the most interesting things about the castle was a tunnel built under the castle in 1936 and 1937. Denia was a Republican town in the Spanish Civil War and an important port and manufacturing site. It was bombed several times by Italian bombers under command of the Fascist forces. It was also bombarded by a Fascist naval cruiser. To protect the citizens from the bombings and the naval bombardments the city constructed several shelters including the tunnel under the old castle. After Denia was captured by the Fascists the entrances to the tunnels were sealed. As the town expanded in the 1960’s the tunnel was reopened to give the citizens of the town a short cut from the old town to the new town.

Looking towards the new town from the castle.

We enjoyed climbing the walls of the castle, and taking in the panoramic view of the town and the surrounding countryside. There were a couple of small museums on the ground that we also spent some time in.

Ton was most excited to visit the central market; she had read that it had a good selection of goods and we were hoping to get a couple of gourmet items. The market was nice but Ton was disappointed with the selection and we ended up leaving with nothing.

After the market we embarked on what we had really come to Denia for which was lunch. One local guide said that you could eat out every single day of the year in Denia and never repeat a restaurant. I can’t confirm that, but for a relatively small town it does have a tremendous amount of restaurants and bars.

Our first stop of the day on our unplanned pub crawl.

The town is known for the number of bars that specialize in vermouth which Ton likes and I love so she had identified a bar for us to try vermouth. Casa Benjamin has been in business since 1906 and their vermouth was outstanding.

This area is a food hall with about 15 different restaurants.

She had picked out three restaurants for me to select from for lunch, but unfortunately they were all closed on Mondays. Instead we went to an area called the Magazinos that had 2 big restaurants and many small restaurants. We walked thru and surveyed our options before selecting the major restaurant. We ordered a local rice specialty which is a kind of poor mans Paella. This time we had beer with our meal.

For once a Spanish lunch hadn’t filled us completely so after spending some more time walking the town we headed to a wine bar. In the wine bar we ordered a tapa with some local wine to wash it down. We hadn’t planned on an afternoon of drinking but a combination of good weather, a nice town, and a little bit of remorse about the trip coming to an end encouraged us to get our moneys worth out of the day.

It is sometimes a small world. When we turned up at the bus stop to head back to the campground one of the couples from the morning was also there. They came up to me and asked about the bus. We began conversing and they were a couple of Dutch sisters. They asked where we were from and I told them. As the conversation continued all three of us began to feel some Deja vu. When Ton joined we all remembered that we had run into them in the spring waiting for the bus back to the campground in Zaragoza on good Friday. We spent the rest of the wait catching each other up on our activities since our last meeting, like old friends do. It is indeed a small world at times.

October 26, 2025 Denia SP

We decided to take advantage of Sunday to cover some miles towards Amsterdam. In Europe commercial trucks require a special (and expensive) permit to operate on Sundays so there are almost no trucks on the freeways. It makes for a good day to cover distance as we are one of the slowest vehicles on the road and I can run on cruise control for long stretches of the drive.

Another reason was the weather was kind of gray, and for the first time in 6 weeks we ran into a couple of rain showers. We selected the town of Denia to travel towards for no other reason than it was about the right distance north and had a good campground.

Part of the plastic corridor along the A-7.

Most of our trip was on the A-7 which follows the Mediterranean coast. As we were driving there was about a 100 kilometer stretch where the fields on both sides of the freeway as far as you can see are covered in white plastic. The plastic covers hydroponic farms. This is the source of most of the tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers for Europe. Before the advent of the hydroponic farms this area was considered too dry for agriculture. It is one of the man made objects that can be seen clearly from space, and is referred to by NASA as the sea of plastic.

Benidorm a city of skyscrapers neither of us had heard of.

As we were driving we saw signs for a city called Benidorm. Neither of us had heard of it and didn’t expect much. To our surprise it turned out to be a city of skyscrapers. It is a major vacation destination for Europeans and caters to a middle class consumer with all inclusive stays and other affordable options. Some of the skyscrapers were quite interesting. We are constantly learning how little we know.

As we were driving Ton did some research on Denia and it turns out it is a UNESCO Cultural site for its cuisine. So it is our kind of town. It is also renown for its hiking and bird watching. We still have a little slack in our schedule so we decided after some discussion to stay another day here.

I had to talk Ton into a walk along the beach today as it was a little chilly. But once she got to the beach she enjoyed our walk along a nice promenade. There were a lot of good photo opportunities and she extended the walk far beyond what I intended.

This house was full of different cactus and has an incredible ocean view.

While the town did not make a good first impression on us, the beach front near the campground is giving us hope that the center of town will be nicer than the suburbs we drove thru to get here.

October 25, 2025 Nerja SP

We were up early to look at the sunrise in the mountains. In this case early is relative as sunrise is a little after 8 am. Tomorrow the clock changes here so we will lose an hours sleep.

The sunrise was disappointing as the sky was absolutely clear so basically the sky just got brighter. Since we were up we headed towards the coast to a sea side resort called Nerja.

After setting up François we headed into town along the beach. The beaches are wide and the ocean was dead flat, almost like a pond. We enjoyed people watching and comparing the prices of our favorite dishes in the beach bars as we strolled along.

It was a beautiful day and the high was around 80. The water must have been on the chilly side as few people were venturing out.

The main town of Nerja was prosperous leaning towards posh. A lot of restaurants and bars catering to a slightly younger crowd than us. It wasn’t kids but 30 and 40 year olds who seemed to be doing well.

The church was doing great business and during our turn around town staged one wedding, and was preparing for a second on our way out of town. It is a pretty spot for a wedding.

We spent our time just wandering the streets window shopping and people watching. We had a light seafood lunch, but found ourselves fondly remembering our lunch in Setinel. We have decided that Setinel is our most memorable Spanish meal.

Our walk back to the campground was along this beach.

After lunch we headed back to François to make the important decision about how to head north. After a lot of debate and research we have decided to head north towards Catalonia and exit Spain on the eastern side. We still have a little time to play with but pretty soon going to cool places will be replaced by going to places that are closer to Amsterdam. We hate this part of our trips. The good news is that the next few days the miles north will be alongside the Mediterranean Sea so the views will be good.

October 24, 2025 Antequera SP

Antequera is another ancient city in Andalusia that was a key site in the wars that led to the reconquest of Spain. Like most of the cities it gained prominence as a Roman city, stayed prominent when the Visigoth’s displaced the Romans and then when the Moors came over from North Africa and conquered Andalusia it was an important fortified city that withstood several sieges by the Spanish.

Part of the fortifications built by the Moors.

Conquering Antequera was an important step in the reconquest by the Christians, and the general who led the successful siege eventually became King Ferdinand I of Spain. He was referred to as Ferdinand of Antequerra in recognition for the importance of the conquest of the city to the Spanish.

The castle of Antequera dominates the surrounding countryside for miles.

The city is a prosperous looking place built across several hill tops which we criss crossed walking thru the city. It also has a striking rock formation outside of town called the Pena de los Enamorados which looks remarkably like a face looking towards the sky.

Looking from the castle towards the Pena de los Enamorados.

The town also includes two neolithic burial sites that are called the Antequera Dolmens site. It was a pretty good walk to get there and I debated asking Ton whether it was worth the walk, but in the end we went for it. After a 30 minute walk we arrived at the museum.

We were both pretty tired from the walk and were looking to buy some water, but they didn’t have any. So we were off to see the dolmens. They are two burial mounds with an opening to place the bodies. As burial mounds go they are very important, but for us they were holes in the ground.

The exterior of one of the burial sites.

Ton asked how far to François and I was afraid to tell her that google estimated it would take 45 minutes. Two things about googles estimates, first it is not based on the pace of two senior citizens, but someone much younger and fitter. Second, it does not seem to account for elevation change. Heading back we had to climb two significant hills.

On the way down the second hill we came across this restaurant located in the Bull ring.

About 40 minutes into our walk we both needed a break and fluid so we agreed that we would stop at the next restaurant we saw. We were rewarded for our perseverance by having the next restaurant be inside the Bullfighting Ring.

Neither of us are fans of bullfighting but we have been curious to see the interior of one as they are an important part of Spanish culture. So in this case by having a light meal at the restaurant in the arena we got access to the interior of what is considered to be one of the nicest arenas in Spain. Antequerra’s ring is still used for bullfighting which is unusual as it is estimated that only about 280 of the 1700 rings in Spain are still used.

The safety zone where the supporting cast wait during the fight, and where the matador can flee to if things go bad.

We ended our day by driving a short while to a nice agritourismo in the mountains above Antequera. The agritourismo is run by a nice Belgian couple who made us feel welcome. There are four guests here tonight, one group are a Belgian couple who came over and said they are very confused. We of course are Americans in a French Motorhome, another guest were English in a Spanish Motorhome, and the last guests were Germans in a Spanish car. So besides them no one was driving a vehicle that accurately reflected their nationality.

The view from our agritourismo. A mixture of olive and almond trees as far as the eye can see.

October 23, 2025 Setenil De Las Bodegas SP

Today was the shortest drive of the trip at 26 kilometers to the city of Setenil De Las Bodegas. It is famous for its homes constructed out of caves.

Walking up to the town it looks like a pretty but unremarkable Spanish town.

Setinel has probably been occupied for quite a long time, but there is no evidence of habitation before the 1200’s when it was founded by the Moors. The name is a corruption of the Castillian for seven times nothing. It took the Castillians eight attempts to capture the town from the Moors.

The town is built in close proximity to the Rio Trajo.

The standout feature is the number of buildings that are built into rock faces throughout the town. For about 1500 meters along the river different homes, restaurants, and businesses have a facade covering rooms carved into the rocks.

This is the shady road as the rocks formed a natural arch that allowed buildings to be carved in the rock faces on both sides.

What looked like a run of the mill Spanish town turned into a really interesting place to explore. The whole town is not carved into rock, but a substantial portion is.

The Sunny Road on the right and the Shady Road on the left. The river is in the middle.

Some of the town climbs the cliff faces on either side of the river so for a lot of the town you are either climbing stairs or descending stairs. But it was worth it for the views, and also to get away from the heavily touristed river walk.

The upper town with the castle and the church in the center.

Setinel along with Ronda are part of the day trips out of Seville and Malaga so the river walk was really crowded for a good part of the time we were in the town. But once we started to climb stairs the crowds thinned out considerably.

Looking at the castle and the church from the hill top on the other side of the river.

We spent a couple of hours walking the town and Ton was having a wonderful time with pictures. It was not too stressful for me as the town was small enough that we could just wander aimlessly so I could keep my phone in my pocket and enjoy the town rather than navigate.

This is a new tourist attraction called the kissing rock.

After a couple of hours of climbing and descending we were both hungry and thirsty. Ton recommended a restaurant and we were able to get a table after only a few minutes wait. We both love Spanish food and today was another great meal. We went for the barbecue platter for 2. It was listed as €20 but we weren’t sure if it was per person or in total. When the plate arrived it was heaping with meat and we assumed it was €20 each. We were wrong, our total bill including the food and 3 glasses of wine (I was thirsty) was €27. We love Spain.

Our €20 barbecue plate with Sangria and Vermouth.

We ended the day with a slow walk back to the campground that was located about a mile and half from the center of town. We thought about a taxi but decided we needed to burn off some barbecue.

October 22, 2025 Ronda SP

Ronda is considered one of the most beautiful and romantic cities in Spain. Both Hemingway and Orson Welles were struck by this city and left memorable quotes about its beauty to be printed on walls and t-shirts in the city. Welles liked the city so much that he asked to have his ashes disposed of here after his death.

The Guadelivin River running thru the El Tajo Gorge.

Our day turned into a bit of an impromptu food tour of the city in addition to an exploration of the El Tajo Gorge. We weren’t in a particular hurry to go to the city center so we hung around François until about 10am before heading out. I spent the time unproductively watching “Slow Horses” on the computer, while Ton was much more productive researching places to go in the city.

I think this building is the Artists Society of Rondo located on one of the main squares in the new town.

It is a little over a mile to the center from the campground, but much of the walk is along a pedestrian mall full of interesting shops and little cafes. As Ton was not quite happy with the sky when we were walking we stopped in one of the cafes for a Churro and coffee.

Spanish Churros are quite different than the Churros we are used to in North America. We like them better.

Spanish Churros don’t come with the sugar and cinnamon we are used to in North America. Instead, they come with a thick glass of hot chocolate for dunking the Churro. Ton and I both prefer the Spanish style.

As we were enjoying our Churros the sun started to break thru so we were rewarded for our patience with better skies for photography. We headed to the old town which dates to the period when Ronda was part of the Moorish Kingdom of Nasrid based in Granada. The town was located on one side of the gorge and built with the typical fortified Medina that we saw many examples of in Morocco.

Part of the fortified walls of the old Medina.

We found a trail down into the gorge from the old town and followed it to the Roman Bridge which was the original bridge across the river. They have a beautiful trail system that you can take thru the gorge, but unfortunately (or fortunately) for us was closed for maintenance.

You can see some of the trail system thru the gorge on the right side of the picture.

Instead we had to take a wider and higher trail that traveled across the top of the gorge. It was still quite a climb but wide and well guarded by high walls.

The town from the old bridge which crosses the gorge towards its center.

We spent about an hour walking along the side of the gorge. When we got back to the new bridge we had visited yesterday we were glad we had spent the time down in the gorge.

The crowds in the center of town were double or triple what we experienced yesterday evening. Ronda is a day trip destination from both Seville and Malaga so at mid-day when we returned to the bridge all of the day trips had arrived.

Ton had picked out a wine bar that was supposed to have a good selection of local wines and a good view. It opened at 1pm and we happened to be the first customers so we got the best seat in the house looking out over the gorge. We had a couple of Tapas and two glasses of red wine from Ronda. Both the tapas and the wine were excellent. We had picked a good place because by 1:20 there was not a seat available in the restaurant.

Most mountain cities in Andalusia are painted white. Partly to reflect the heat, and partly because tourists like it.

After finishing our wine and tapas we decided it was time for lunch. We didn’t rush right out for lunch as we have adapted to the Spanish and Moroccan lunch which is eaten between 1 and 3 pm. We first walked to a nice park and having walked off our wine and tapas we now headed to a nice restaurant for a proper lunch.

We passed Ronda’s bull ring on the way to our lunch. It is supposed to be the oldest and largest bull ring in Spain.

Lunch was delicious and again featured excellent wines from the region. Ton surprised me by ordering a hamburger, but she must have had some inside information because it was spectacular.

By the time we finished lunch it was after 3 pm so we slowly made our way back to François. Ton spent a lot of time window shopping and we moved at a leisurely paces as the return trip is up hill. In total for today we walked over 7 miles with a lot of climbing and descending. We took it easy for the rest of the day.

October 21, Ronda SP

We were both up early due to the change of time zone, so we were off to the mountains of Andalusia before 9am. The drive to Ronda involved climbing over 3000 feet in altitude. We were both impressed with the quality of the road. Despite the many switchbacks we still made good time and enjoyed the drive.

Nice murals on a block of apartments near our campground.

We arrived at Rondo about 11 am and went shopping at Lidl. Our refrigerator was pretty empty and we were out of meat. It took us about an hour to complete the rounds of Lidl but we are now well stocked for the rest of the trip, and pork has returned to our diet.

When we arrived at our campground Ton noticed a large washer and dryer so the afternoon was spent taking care of laundry. It was nearly 3pm when we were done with laundry and lunch. The town was well into the three hour siesta so we decided to join them.

The town was just starting to wake up from siesta when we walked to the center at 5pm.

At 5 we decided to scout the center of town. It was about a 30 minute walk to the center, but a lot of it was on a pedestrian only street, and the part that wasn’t still had the wide sidewalks that we love in Spanish cities. Spain is for us the most pedestrian friendly country we have visited.

Ronda is famous for its location on a gorge of the Guadelevin River. Our plan is to explore the gorge in depth tomorrow, but we got a glimpse of it today and we understand the attraction.

The Guadelevin River splits Ronda in half.

The gorge is over 400 feet deep but is pretty narrow. It makes for a spectacular setting.

The “New Bridge” started in 1751 and completed in 1793.

The gorge and the construction around it will be the center of our day tomorrow so I will only include a couple of pictures from today. Also, the photographer in the family is unhappy with the light and is hoping for better pictures tomorrow.

Looking back at Ronda and the surrounding countryside.

October 20, 2025 La Linea SP

Today was purely about travel. We were up early because we wanted to make a couple of stops on the way to the ferry. Our biggest concern was to try to knock 45 days worth of road dirt off of François. The gas stations in Morocco all feature a big bay marked Lavage. Since we had some Dirhams to spend we decided to treat François to a Lavage. The first three gas stations waved us off, so when we saw a Shell I told Ton this would be the last attempt before we headed on to the port. The fourth time was a charm and François looks much better.

The port at Tangier-Med is very new and the infrastructure is first class if a little under utilized. Since they have all of these new buildings and roads they send you on quite a circuit But in the end we were parked and waiting for the ferry an hour early.

Fortunately we did not need to use this boat.

The ride on the ferry was uneventful, but strangely full of Moroccan families traveling with school aged children. Ton and I figured it must be a school holiday this week in Morocco.

Morocco was a fun time for us. It is a beautiful country full of a wide variety of climates. The coastal areas remind you of southern California. The high mountains across the center are spectacular, and the lower but rugged mountains of the Rif make you understand why it was so hard to conquer the Berbers. The Sahara was an experience we will not forget soon. The cities didn’t knock us out with their architecture, but did have an energy to them that was new to us. Part modern and part ancient, and with a happy chaos that was charming.

The cities in Morocco had an energy that was part 21st century and part 14th century.

We were once again one of the last vehicles off of the ferry so we took our place at the end of the line for customs and immigration. Fortunately for us they opened a couple of more lines so we were thru in less than 30 minutes.

We forgot that it was one hour later in Spain than Morocco so by the time we left the port it was after 6pm. On the drive I was worried because the campground we wanted to stay in is pretty small and it was later than I planned to arrive. I was right to be worried as they only had one spot left and they made me go look at it to make sure we would fit in it as “it is quite small.” Fortunately we did fit so our long but drama free day ended with a small bit of good fortune.

October 19, 2025 Chefchaouen MA

Tomorrow we are reentering the Euro zone so our goal for today was to spend most of our Dhirams on gifts for ourselves and friends. After a lazy morning we headed down the path to the center of Chefchaouen.

The merchants of Chefchaouen were ready to take our Dhirams.

In addition to being a beautiful city, Chefchaouen is full of cute cats. Today Ton focused on some of the cats as well as the scenes in the town.

This picture of a mom and her kittens was being well documented as we walked by.

Our tactic was to make one pass thru the market to scope out what we were going to buy, head for lunch to discuss what we should buy, and then after being well fortified by food head out to get the goods.

In the end we successfully spent our Dhirams at a couple of merchants. At this point Ton was beginning to get the hang of bartering so we felt better about the prices we paid here than what we paid in Fez or Marrakech.

This kitten had found a comfortable place to sleep.

We headed over to the Taxi stand with a couple of big bags of clothes. I even got into the hang of things when the Taxi driver quoted us 30 Dhiram’s for the ride up the hill, I countered with 20, and he insisted on 30 so I walked away, when I was a few feet from the cab I heard him say ok 20, a small victory.

These two cats were having a stare down.

We returned to the campground just as about 15 Land Rovers with Netherlands plates had arrived. The campground has gotten a little more crowded each night we have been here. It was a little chaotic but they managed to fit them all in.

This is the entrance near the drop off point for the tour vans, so the stuff is more commercial. Further into the market the stuff becomes more crafty.

October 18, 2025 Chefchaouen MA

We are going to return to Spain on Monday so Chefcaouen is going to be our last stop in Morocco, but it is a good place. We spent most of the morning talking with our Irish neighbors about traveling and life. I’m afraid we may have contributed to their very late departure for Fez.

I raved about the beauty of Chefchaouen yesterday. And today it was just as beautiful. On top of that we have had some of our favorite meals in all of Morocco here. Alas, if they had good wine or beer, it would be a perfect city for us.

I like the contrast of the blue in the shadows with the bright yellow building in the sun.

We spent the afternoon re-exploring the town. Once again we just enjoyed walking thru the town and seeing what was around the next corner.

We have not done any shopping yet, but tomorrow we are setting off to deplete our Dhiram stock.

Ton had picked a restaurant for lunch and when we got there it looked familiar. We had taken a coffee break there yesterday. Once again the food was outstanding and we were able to try some different dishes that we had not experienced before.

Tons Shakshuka, eggs poached in a sauce of tomato, peppers, and a spice called ras el hanout. The name in Arabic means mixed up.

After lunch another turn around town was in order to burn off some of our lunch. For the first time we wandered into the new town to the central market. Unfortunately we were a little late and things were winding down.

This fellow popped into Tons picture at the perfect time.

Once again the climb back to the camp is a chore so we are opting for a taxi. The ride is only 20 Dhiram, and if I was a better bargainer it might be cheaper. But given the climb it is worth every Dhiram. The problem is we didn’t have any change or small bills.

These hats are commonly worn by Berber women, and foreign tourists.

So we headed back to Bilmos for a desert called a ZigZog, which is mixed fruit with cream and avocado blended together. They were happy to see us back for a third time, and when we left one of the boys shouted see you tomorrow.

This area was the tannery for the town until the 1970’s. Now it is a rug merchant.

With change in hand we headed over to the very busy taxi stand near the old fort. The place is a zoo with vans and taxis swooping in to deposit and retrieve tourists, and the occasional Moroccan. The place is well supervised by 3 Moroccan cops who start blowing their whistles at anyone who lingers beyond the time they think it should take to exit or enter the van.

We returned to the campground just in time to watch a parade of 9 huge expeditionary vehicles arrive. We stood with our German neighbors and watched as these behemoths settled themselves into place in the campground before calling it a night.