Another trip has come to an end. We have a pretty good routine down for the last day. We put away the last few things that we need to get the day started. Have a cup of coffee and relax until 11:00. Then we head to a truck wash near our storage place to give François a good bath before putting him into storage. We then go to a grocery for one last shop to pick up any essentials we want to take back with us. Around 1 pm we head over to our storage lot and leave François with the owner. It is a quick Uber to the airport hotel we stay at the last night. The day ends with a McDonalds meal as the hotel restaurant is both expensive and not very good.
This trip was the first one with no new countries or regions involved. The highlights for me were the week we spent in western Belgium enjoying the laid back lifestyle, small towns, and beer there. The other region that I really enjoyed was Rioja/LaMancha another rural and small town area. Ton does a fantastic job finding interesting places in these less traveled areas. In both cases we found ourselves extending our stays beyond what we planned.
Again (knocking on wood) the trip was smooth and there were no unpleasant surprises. François has been a sturdy companion on our travels.
Today was spent in the campground finishing preparations for our departure. Ton spent the morning packing and cleaning. I did a little work outside of François and watched the coming and going of other campers while waiting for assignments from Ton. As we have gained experience we have gotten the final days down to a routine. We used to allocate 2 full days for final clean up, but now can get most things done in one.
The trip is drawing to a close. Today we had a short drive to the campground that we use at the beginning and end of trips. Before we left I was wandering around the campground when I heard the distinctive honking of geese, and looked up in a tree and two geese were standing on the limb of a tree. I did a double take as I have never seen a goose perched in a tree before, never mind two. They weren’t Canadian geese, but a European species, but never the less it was a first for me.
We made one last pass through a grocery store on the way to the campground to pick up a couple of last gifts. After we settled in Ton began the hard work of preparing for the flight home while I stood by in case she needed something moved. The last two days of a trip are hard work for Ton, but not so much for me.
We were off early in the morning. We both woke up early and since it was too cold out to relax much we decided to get an early start on our drive. Just as we pulled on to the autobahn near Aachen I noticed a police car driving slowly in the middle lane with his lights on. Behind the police was a long line of cars slowly following him. The car just in front of us got on in front of the police and took off at normal speed. But I merged in right behind the police and was first in line traveling slowly.
The police car and two officers conducting a search along the autobahn.
We followed along at a little more than walking pace for a couple of hundred yards when the police car stopped and two officers got out and began walking beside the car checking out the vegetation in the median and along the side of the road. They were obviously looking for someone. We then noticed that there was a police car with two officers on the other side of the autobahn approaching us doing the same thing. We also noticed there were about 15 police cars on a country toad that passed under the autobahn. So someone had gotten the attention of a large number of police officers on a Saturday morning. Eventually the search party on both sides of the autobahn met each other without flushing out anything. The six officers had a little conference and then reopened the autobahn.
The conference right before the police decided to reopen the autobahn.
We will never know what happened, but it was an interesting way to start the day. The rest of our drive to Utrecht was uneventful and we arrived at the campground a couple of hours later only to a see a sign in 4 languages saying they were full.
The main canal in Utrecht.
Since it was early in the day I decided to stick my head into the office and see if they meant it. The guy asked if I was picky about my spot and I said not today. He explained that they had had very heavy rain last weekend and the grass spots were kind of muddy, but if I was comfortable with one I could use it.
It was hopping in Utrecht despite the mostly foggy and cold day.
I grabbed Ton and we walked in to take a look at the spots on the grass. The road in was a little rutted up but pretty dry and the spots on the grass felt pretty firm so we decided it was ok. I did spin the wheels once backing into the spot but didn’t dig in too bad.
Canal boat tours are a big industry in the Netherlands.
Utrecht is the third largest city in the Netherlands and the home to a famous university. Like every city here it is clean, and full of solidly built homes. As we were walking Ton and I were talking about our impressions of the cities in the Netherlands. The cities are very nice, they look like they would be a great place to live, but they are all very similar. Our conclusion is that Dutch cities are probably a great place to live, but are fairly monotonous to visit. For our Dutch friends that is said with the emphasis on a great place to live.
The main canal here has two levels from the days when the lower levels were used as storage and work boats came up the canal and dropped off items to be placed in storage. Now the storage areas are mostly restaurants.
The day was foggy and we kept wishing the fog would burn off, but it never completely did. But, despite the damp and the chill the center of Utrecht was hopping. We had one destination in mind after we spent some time taking in the sites.
This church tower is free standing, but used to be connected to the church. A tornado knocked down the knave of the church and it was never rebuilt leaving the tower orphaned.
We noticed that most of the churches in Utrecht have been converted to museums. Our destination was one of those converted churches but this one has been converted into a beer hall.
Gabriel’s beer hall is in a converted church.
The setting of the beer hall was very nice and it was packed. We were lucky that a couple had just gotten up when we walked in and we were able to snag their table. They specialize in Belgian beer so we were able to revisit a couple of our favorite beers from earlier in the trip. It was a nice way to end an interesting, but ultimately uneventful day.
Ton keeps coming up with places she wants to visit. It’s interesting one of us is less willing to face the end of the trip than the other on every trip. Sometimes it’s me, and sometimes its’s Ton. This time it is very much Ton. I was ready to head to Amsterdam today. I am glad Ton is keeping us in traveling mode instead of end of trip mode. Especially as she does most of the work at the end of the trip.
Fall colors, a beautiful mountain stream and half timbered houses. Monschau had everything.
Monschau comes up on nearly every list of most beautiful villages in Germany. It was only 40 minutes from Aachen. The drive was on a two lane road, and at one point along a stretch in the woods there was a sign that said Belgium. We then spent the next ten minutes wondering if we had crossed into Belgium and could we have been mistaken and Monschau was in Belgium? After a while I noticed that all the cars on the road had German license plates so we decided that Monschau was indeed in Germany. But we were right, the road we were on had crossed into Belgium for a few kilometers, but since no houses or towns were on that stretch of the road the Germans maintain the road.
The market square in Monschau.
Monschau was once a thriving textile town in the 1600’s and 1700’s until the industrial revolution kicked in. Then the textiles there were not competitive. It kind of hung on as a backwater and as a backwater all the wars for a couple of hundred years passed it by.
The other side of the market square with a block of half timbered homes.
It is located in a valley in the Eifel mountains and now thrives on tourism. For a small village it attracts over 2 million tourists per year. Which given its size is a lot of people.
The red house built out over the Rur river.
Today there were a decent amount of people around, probably about the right amount to have it feel active, but not too many to make it uncomfortable. The town is built in a narrow valley formed by the Rur River which used to be used to power the mills that produced textiles. Today it makes for a beautiful background as you are walking.
The fort in the upper right corner that used to guard the town has been converted into a hotel.
We spent a nice afternoon strolling thought the town. For the second day in a row we struck out on food. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t at all memorable.
The Rur River is the thread that holds the town together.
It is a beautiful setting and we caught it on a beautiful day. The trees were probably close to peak fall colors, the sun was shining while not providing much heat, and the people in the town were relaxed and having a good time.
This was a private bridge that led to the house on the right.
Monschau is mostly a day trip destination from one of the multiple larger cities nearby in Germany and Belgium and that made sense to me, you can walk through the whole town in 30 minutes from end to end and back. It really is a beautiful place that time has passed by and definitely worth a days drive for.
An old water wheel for a textile factory.
For the last few nights we have had to turn the heater on in François. Tonight we may have to have it on most of the night as the temperatures are supposed to fall to the mid 30’s.
The plan was to visit the spa town of Aachen. We had tried to visit it at the end of our spring trip, but ran into the equivalent of memorial day weekend and ended up staying in a hotel as every campground withing 20 kilometers of Aachen was booked. We hoped for better luck this time.
Driving through the countryside in Luxemburg.
It was about 150 miles from Metz to Aachen and we crossed though 4 countries. We started in France and after about 45 minutes passed into Luxemburg. Google routed us so we saw a great deal of the Grand Duchy. We spent all most 90 minutes driving through Luxemburg on back roads, we were both startled that you could drive 90 minutes without leaving Luxemburg. We were also surprised that most of Luxemburg was farm land, it was not the impression of Luxemburg that we had from our previous trip.
One of the small farm villages tucked in a valley in Luxemburg.
We wound up the trip with about 40 minutes in Belgium and 25 minutes in Germany on freeways. We arrived to find the campground that was full last time was quieter. We also found they had a good German washer and dryer available for the cheapest price we have ever seen in Europe. So our plan changed and we took advantage to wash all the bedding and our clothes. Tomorrow we will head into Aachen
We picked Metz because it is close to Nancy which is a city we really enjoyed visiting in a previous trip. Metz is famous for being the city that claims the invention of Quiche Lorraine. Metz was a fortress town defending the Moselle River and was fought over extensively in WWI, and twice in WWII, once between the French and the Germans at the beginning of the war, and near the end it was fought over again by the Germans and the Americans.
Two great food items, Quiche Lorraine and, Picon beer.
Our first stop was the market to try some Quiche Lorraine. The mixed heritage of the region, it has changed hands between the Germans and the French at least 4 times in the last 150 years showed up in the meal. The Quiche Lorrain was very French, but it was served with Sauerkraut. They also had a Picon beer on the menu, we had read about it but never tried it. We enjoyed the food, we really enjoyed the beer. It is a mixture of a local beer and a liquor we discovered in Belgium earlier on the trip called Picon which is made from oranges.
The simply named Covered Market, though like most names it sounds much better in French.
The Cathedral in Metz is referred to as Gods Lantern as it has the most stained glass in the world. Along the side it has three stories of stained glass.
The way the glass is framed by the organ is beautiful.
It also has the highest ceiling of all the Cathedrals in France to allow for the abundance of glass. Many different styles of art are represented in the glass, not just from the medieval times, modern artists also have contributed glass windows such as the cubist artist Jacques Villon, and the modern artist Chagall.
The tallest ceiling for a Cathedral in France.
The Cathedral is not only used for religious services, but it occasionally hosts plays. There was a video playing showing what looked like a historical drama that used the Cathedral as a play house in an intriguing looking way.
The exterior of the Cathedral.
The other must see site in Metz is the train station. The train station was built by the Germans during the late 19th century after they had annexed Alsace and Lorrain following their victory in the Franco-Prussian war. It is reputed to be the most beautiful train station in France.
The German built train station.
If this is the most beautiful station in France, then the French somehow missed out on train station architecture in the 19th century. We have seen many better looking train stations in our travels in Europe.
The buildings on the right were built in an arc that made me think they were part of a defensive wall in the past. Now they are full of restaurants.
We had wandered quite far from home at this point and with the shorter days were running out of day light. So we began heading back to François for the night. But on the way we saw a nice corner bar and thought that one more Picon beer was in order. We enjoyed our beer while watching the regulars in the bar go through their evening socializing.
The river bank after sunset.
Our stop at the bar had accomplished something we rarely do. We saw a bit of Metz after dark. The campground here is located close enough to the city center where we didn’t feel the need to scramble back to François before dark.
The church of the garrison.
We really liked Metz, over our last few trips to France we have really enjoyed our stops in the north. We had a great time in Nancy when we stopped there a couple of years ago, and in Strasbourg. The north is quickly turning into one of my favorite parts of France.
A two story carousel already decorated for Christmas.
We had bigger plans for today than we achieved. The plan was to drive to Dijon, arrive around 2 pm when the office for the campground reopened after lunch. Check in and re-visit a town we first visited on our very first trip to France.
What happened is we were so relaxed thinking we had plenty of time in the morning that we were a little tardy leaving. We needed gas and there was a big Carrefour that was too tempting to pass. The Carrefour was larger than most grocery stores in the US with a lot of interesting things to look at. We didn’t buy much but somehow spent over an hour wandering around.
When we finally got going we ran into the word I fear most in French-“Deviation”. It means detour. This detour sent us on a 20 kilometer drive through the hills around Issoires on narrow country lanes. Google then decided to send us into a little village and all my instincts told me to ignore it and stay on the bigger road we were on.
My instincts were right – about halfway through the village google told me to make a sharp left turn that was barely possible as there were two stone buildings right to the edge of the lane. François would fit once I made the turn, the question was I short enough to make the turn. After much backing and froing and almost hitting one of the walls someone from the village came over and suggested I keep going straight for 200 meters and then turn left. I thanked her and sure enough 200 meters later there was a much easier left turn that led us right back to the road we were on when we “self-deviated” into the village.
The rest of the day was fine though Dijon was a bit further than I thought and it took us a while to get there. About two kilometers from the end of the drive we ran into another “deviation”, the only thing worst than a “deviation” in the country is one in a city. However, this time we were lucky, though the road for the deviation was narrower than I would have liked we made it through ok.
By the time we arrived at the campground it was 3:45, cold, and raining. So instead of heading into town we just laid low. There are no pictures because the drive today was not photogenic, and neither was the weather.
There is not much to say about today. We were up a little early helped by Europe changing the time and falling back a week earlier than the US. Getting out of the campground became a team effort as we were surrounded by trees and large RV’s that made turning out interesting. At one point I had three spotters helping me with directions being shouted in three languages simultaneously. After a few minutes we managed to extricate François and head down the road.
Part of the drive took us over the Milau Aqueduct which is a 2.5 kilometer bridge suspended 1100 feet over a valley.
The drive was just short of 500 kilometers which was about 1/3 of the way to Amsterdam. It was a no truck Sunday, though Spain does not seem to take that prohibition as seriously as other countries. To make up for the lower number of trucks it rained a good part of the day.
Right before we arrived at the campground for the night we drove out of the rain and had a rainbow greet us.
When we arrived at the campground there were three other motorhomes lined up at the entrance so I was waiting on the road. As we were sitting I felt a slight bump in the back and noticed a car had backed into us. The young lady came and apologized and we went back to look at the damage. Fortunately there was none on either vehicle so I told her no problem and she left looking relieved.
The campground was hosting a dog show.
The campground was busier than I anticipated as it was hosting a dog show. So after we settled in we went down to watch the medal ceremony. It may be a little louder tonight than we anticipated.
We had a very short agenda for today, lunch at our favorite restaurant in Roses. We have eaten at La Gallaga de Roses four times in our various visits here and each meal has been fantastic. We could think of no better way to end this visit to Spain than with a meal there.
The board walk was a lot quieter than last night. The house is displaying the Catalan flag, and the three roses of the flag of Roses.
Our reservation was not until 1 pm so we slept in and then relaxed around the campground enjoying our morning coffee. We headed into town and just kind of window shopped for about an hour before showing up for our meal.
The main course, three types of fish, octopus, razor clams, and two kinds of prawns.
The meal was fantastic, and the portions were huge. In addition to the main course we received two starters, a plate of anchovies, and a plate of calamari. The main course was the sea food platter above, and it was finished off with desert. We were the first ones to arrive, but within 30 minutes the place was full. Ton had dish envy as she looked at what the people around us ordered, the variety of seafood on offer is fantastic. La Gallaga did not let us down again.
The palm trees were full of parakeets, something we had not noticed before.
We took our time on the way back as we wanted to walk off our lunch as we were stuffed. When we returned to François we both decided an afternoon siesta was in order. The rest of the day was spent goofing off before our big drive north tomorrow.
Our time in Spain is coming to a close so we reluctantly left Cadaques behind and headed over the hill to Roses. Today’s primary purpose was to prepare ourselves for the drive back to Amsterdam by filling the refrigerator with cheap Spanish food, filling François with cheap (relatively) Spanish fuel, and getting a couple of things at a hardware store.
Grape vines in the hills between Cadaques and Roses.
We weren’t in a big hurry to get moving in the morning and lingered in Cadaques until near our checkout time. The drive over the hills was again slow but uneventful. We arrived in Roses around 11:30 and took care of our chores.
The promenade in Roses, one of our favorites.
After topping François off we headed over to Mercadona to pick up some staples for the drive north. Ton loves the vegetables in Spain; everywhere else we shop (except France) she is lamenting that vegetables are not as fresh as Spain. I managed to track down a couple more bottles of a Spanish red wine that I think is the best value I have ever drank, I picked up a bottle last week for €1.35 on a lark, when I opened it with low expectations I found an easy drinking wine that put a lot of very expensive bottles of wine to shame.
People lining up to take pictures of sunset.
Having knocked out our chores we checked into the campground and took a couple of hours to relax. Our plan was to head out to the waterfront promenade for an evening walk right before sunset.
A little after sunset.
The promenade in Roses is a couple of kilometers long. The view to sea is beautiful. The town is less charming especially after Cadaques. But what Roses has are some excellent restaurants and that is why it is memorable to us.
Sunset swimmer.
The first meal we ever had in Spain was in Roses and we still talk about it today. The best meal we have ever had in Spain is also in Roses. The real reason we came to Roses is that we have a reservation at the La Gallega de Roses tomorrow. It is going to be our farewell meal before leaving.
Lining up to watch sunset.
The Spanish have a marvelous tradition of an evening family walk. We always enjoy participating in the tradition. The waterfront promenade in Roses is always a good walk, particularly on a day with perfect weather. The sunset was beautiful.
Cadaques is not a large town and we had seen most of it yesterday. But it is a picturesque town and Ton was looking forward to spending the day walking the streets and waterfront with her camera.
Looking down on the waterfront from the church.
Our first stop of the day was the church. It was supposed to occupy the highest point in the town, but like a lot of things it depends on how you define highest. Our campground was definitely higher than the church but maybe we weren’t considered part of the town.
The road up to the church was definitely up hill.
After the church we decided to head into the commercial part of town to a family run bakery. We split a nice cream filled pastry and coffee. As we were sitting there the school let out for lunch and the owners two daughters came running in looking for food. They were very cute.
Looking down from the church.
The next couple of hours were spent slowly walking the waterfront enjoying the views. Ton was in heaven as there were lots of great spots for photos, though the light was not quite right.
Looking back at the church on the highest point in town.
Most of the time the tourists we see in towns are retirees like us. Today was nice as the majority of tourists were younger families with kids. Today the families were mostly French as it also a school holiday there, and Cadaques is located quite close to the French border so we were not perplexed like we were in Tarragona with all of the German kids.
A group of 10 to 12 year old kids fishing without direct supervision.
In our travels we have noticed that European kids are given a lot more room to roam by their parents than American kids. It is not unusual to see kids playing along the waterfront or walking through the town unescorted by parents. Ton and I like this independence and believe it is healthy.
The water was quite clear on this side of the harbor.
We debated lunch but couldn’t come to agreement on a place to eat so we finally compromised by stopping at a beach front bar and having a glass of wine. We spent some of our time talking to the German couple at the next table. When we first asked where he was from he said I like to think I am European. He had an interesting life as he had grown up in Catalonia and worked for over 20 years in France. He is now wrapping up his career in Germany and is thinking he will split his time in retirement between Germany and Mauritius.
Our beach front lunch.
Before we knew it, it was 4pm and we definitely needed something to eat so we climbed the hill to François. Ton prepared a nice Spaghetti dinner and we watched a beautiful sunset from inside François.
A nice street on our climb to the campground.
We have learned that some of our most memorable days are the days when we do the least.
Cadaques has been on our list to visit for a long time. We like this part of Spain and have visited the neighboring city of Roses four times. We go out of our way to stop there whenever we come to Spain.
Cadaques is tucked up against the Mediterranean at the base of some fairly steep mountains.
To get to Cadaques we had to transit Barcelona. Like everyone driving a RV transiting cities is never fun. Today went smoothly in our direction, though at one point there was a truck about the size of François on its side with fire trucks and ambulances in the lanes going the opposite direction. This was a reminder of how things can go bad.
The hills above Cadaques had some interesting terracing that didn’t seem to be in use anymore.
The last 20 kilometers were on steep and winding mountain roads. It was a pretty drive though Ton enjoyed the view much more than I did as the road had my full attention.
The waterfront at Cadaques is one of the most beautiful in Spain.
Our campground is only about 400 yards from the waterfront, but it is also about 400 feet higher. The trail/road down was steep and mostly straight. The walk down was hard on the knees, and the walk up was hard on the lungs.
Looking down on the town from our walk in.
Since we are staying tomorrow today was more of a reconnaissance to see what the town had to offer. Tourism is king here and has been for decades. The waterfront was full of restaurants and cute shops. We took a look at a couple of places for tomorrow.
Waterside dining.
Last year we visited the Dali museum in nearby Figueres. Dali had a home here that he stayed at for much of the year. It has now been turned into a museum. We had thoughts of going to it, but there are no tickets available on Thursday and Saturday, and only one on Friday. Since there are two of us we had to pass on the Dali museum.
Ton said that this statue captured the arrogance of Dali perfectly.
We covered about half of the U shape harbor walk today and really enjoyed ourselves. Tomorrow we will spend more time in the town and try to fully explore the waterfront and the narrow streets in the hills above town.
Cadaques used to be a fishing village, now the only boats you see are related to tourism.
The weather was bad yesterday, but it was worst today. The region we are in is in the process of getting over 1″ of rain in 12 hours and the rain is coming with strong winds. But being intrepid and optimistic travelers we decided to head into town anyway. Our plan was to go to a restaurant for lunch and head into town when the rain let up.
The weather when we arrived. Not quite a tropical storm.
When we arrived downtown the rain was sheeting down and the wind was blowing a gale. We hustled the 200 meters to the restaurant and still arrived dripping wet.
We really miss Mediterranean anchovies when we go home.
The restaurant Ton chose was called El Hogar del Jubilado which roughly translates as “The Pensioners Restaurant”. It is the type of place with plastic chairs, formica topped tables and very simple food made from fresh ingredients. The kind of food your grandmother would make if she was Spanish. You went to the counter, pointed at what you wanted from what was on display and they prepared it for you. We pointed at Anchovies, Squid, a piece of cod, and a potato dish. We were looking at some more stuff as it all looked good, the lady behind the counter saw us contemplating some more stuff when she held up her hand and indicated that we had already ordered a lot of food. When it came it was absolutely delicious and the portions were huge. This didn’t stop Ton from ordering one more dish of egg plant and fried peppers. Our neighbors were getting a kick out of the amount of food we ordered. We had plenty of time to eat as the weather was showing no signs of letting up. We shared the restaurant for about 2 hours with a bunch of Dutch pensioners, nibbling at our food and looking for signs the weather was going to break.
The weather actually got a little worst while we were waiting. This is a color photo.
We finally threw in the towel and headed back to the campground. We may be intrepid travelers, but age has made us wiser- we will try again tomorrow.
Suddenly our decisions are being decided by time, on every trip there comes a point where the logistics of wrapping up the trip start to weigh on our plans. Two days ago we took a day off because we were tired and the normal rainy days that serve as rest days had not happened on this trip. Today our first serious storm of the trip is on us. On top of that we are in a town we really like. Earlier in the trip we would have just hunkered down for a rain day. But we are pretty far south of Amsterdam, so instead of resting we decided to take advantage of light traffic Sunday and head north about 4 hours to Peniscola.
No beautiful vistas today, just clouds and a wet windshield.
The drive went smoothly and we only hit one really wet stretch for about 30 minutes. The rest of the way was light showers. Traffic was light and we by-passed Valencia so all in all a good drive. We arrived in Peniscola and set up in a slightly underwhelming campground for the day. The bad weather is supposed to continue tomorrow so we will have another decision to make.
Before we went to sleep last night we decided to take today off. So today was a day without a plan except to stay put in the campground.
Our campground is located on this beach in the Costa Blanca region.
We took advantage of our day off to sleep in until almost 9am which is not something we do often. After making coffee I took a little stroll along the beach while Ton prepared breakfast.
The views from the beach are fantastic.
After breakfast we took another short walk to check out the local grocery. We purchased nothing because as we expected everything was quite expensive compared to the big groceries.
The beach looks beautiful, but it is made up of small stones and not sand.
When we came back Ton told me to go find the washers as it would be a good day to knock out some laundry. When I went to buy the tokens it took to activate the washer I was told that you had to make a reservation to do laundry. The next reservation was at 4pm.
We love how much Spain cares about pedestrians. This walkway along the beach is beautiful, and typical of what you find throughout Spain.
We relaxed all afternoon in our very full campground. Interestingly this campground is probably 85% Dutch. The Dutch are big travelers, but this is probably the highest number of Dutch we have seen in one campground. They seem to be enjoying themselves and have organized line dancing nights, an evening Petanque league, and a knitting club. They seem to mostly be here for long term stays and have formed friendships.
Our evening stroll.
After laundry was done we headed out for another evening stroll and the beach front restaurants were starting to open up. It is interesting here because the restaurants have to cater to two different supper schedules. The British and Dutch eat around 6 pm, and the Spanish around 8 pm. I think from a restaurant perspective if you can attract both crowds you get two good seatings for dinner. It just means longer hours.
Beach chairs neatly stacked for the evening.
We usually count on the rain to force us to take down days. This trip we have not had any rain induced down days so I am happy that we finally decided to do it on our own, while nothing particularly interesting happened we had a nice relaxing day in a beautiful place.
Altea had a lot of hype to live up to, one of Tons sources of places to visit in Spain called it the Santorini of Spain, National Geographic called it the most beautiful village in Spain.
The old town is all white, with splashes of other colors depending on the whims of the owner.
The drive down from Valencia was uneventful and we checked into a beach front campground that we thought would be expensive, we were happy to be told it was only €25. A good start for Altea. After settling in we decided to head into the old town but it was further than we thought. We decided to splurge on an Uber, that was also very reasonable.
The Renaissance church with two blue tile domes dominates the center of town.
We were waiting for our Uber in front of a Thai Massage shop. Thai Massage places are very common in Europe, but not as common in Spain as Northern and Central Europe. While we were waiting a lady stuck her head out and asked if I wanted a massage. Ton struck up a conversation with her in Thai and she had a nice chat until the Uber came.
A racy bronze statue overlooking the Mediterranean.
We did a quick walk through town and then headed to a restaurant for lunch. The entrance was off a street and we had to descend to the dining area which turned out to be a beautiful terrace overlooking the town and ocean. We took the menu of the day. We received three appetizers, a giant salad, two nice sausages, and two beef curry empanadas. The appetizers would have been a filling lunch. I ordered salmon and Ton ordered steak. My salmon was the largest piece of fish I have ever been served in a restaurant. It was also perfectly cooked. Tons steak was also good. We weren’t done because our deserts were also huge.
Trying to walk off our immense lunch.
The food was excellent, the service was friendly, and the views were spectacular. After a couple of tough days in Valencia, the Spain we know and love is back.
Walking down towards the beach.
We headed down towards the ocean with a thought of walking along the beach, but a food coma set in, we decided we would save the beach for later. The Uber driver explained that this part of the “Costa Brava” is the most beautiful because unlike the towns surrounding Altea it has not been overdeveloped with high rise condos and restaurants. We can see some of them off on the horizon north of us, and according to our driver it gets worst south.
The main shopping street in Altea, full of cute boutiques and art stores, all closed during siesta.
Is Altea the Santorini of Spain, truthfully we don’t know because we haven’t been to Santorini. Is it the most beautiful village in Spain, well that is a matter of taste, it is a beautiful town, but Spain is blessed with beautiful towns. To our taste it is not the most beautiful place we have visited in Spain but it would be near the top of a list of beautiful places.
The beach was kind of quiet, but I guess it is mid-October.
We have visited Valencia three times now, and for some reason we do not enjoy ourselves here. I even googled to see what its reputation was among Spaniards, and it turns out it is pretty positive. So Ton and I are scratching our heads about why we have never enjoyed our visits here.
The fountain on the main square.
Our first stop today was the market as Ton wanted to look for some spices, and a local nougat based candy, and Horchata. We succeeded in finding all three. The market is enormous and the highlight of our visit. But the interactions with the shop owners were brusque, usually the shop owners we deal with are friendly and happy to explain things. Here it was tell me what you want and hand over your card.
We found our nougat here.
Ton went to get a picture of the interior of the market, and one shop owner who she wasn’t even pointing the camera at shouted at her-no photos! It wasn’t the warm Spain we are used to.
This lady almost saved the day by being nice. Aqua de Valencia isn’t water but a liquor.
After an hour in the market we headed to the central square to see what was happening. There was another tent city set up in front of the city hall that occupied about 1/3 of the square. Both the protestors and the police looked very bored.
The center spire of the town hall with the bat symbol of Valencia.
We had tried a couple of pastries in the market, but went for a Pinxtos lunch in a very well decorated but mostly empty Basque restaurant. Without the happy crowd of Basques it wasn’t quite the same experience, though the Pinxtos were excellent.
The area around the main square has some very nice early 20th century buildings.
About 2 we ran out of ideas so decided to head back to our garage. The bus was packed when we got on, but we managed to acquire seats. Yesterday, I didn’t hit the stop button and we missed our stop. I kept waiting for the crowd to thin on the bus but if anything it got denser. When we came to our stop and I stood up the way to the door was packed, but usually people will make some effort to get out of the way. In this case nobody did and the people near us who knew we were not Spanish speakers made no effort to help. So once again we missed our stop. I was very frustrated at one guy who smirked and gave me a shrug like-too bad gringo. But I held my tongue.
The tent city downtown.
So during the extra 500 meters we had to walk back to the campground Ton and I came to the conclusion that any further adventures in Spain would not include Valencia. For whatever reason Valencia and the Corbin’s are not made for each other.
A couple of days ago we began talking about Valencia as a destination. We have visited twice before and it is the third largest city in Spain. Despite that it has not made much of an impression on us.
Street scene in the historic district.
But Ton was excited to visit the market as she did remember it fondly, and we wanted to try some Paella as Valencia is famous for it. Ton did some research on why Valencia Paella is the best and told me that it is because the rice here is perfect for Paella. It is not starchy and it absorbs three time the liquid of normal rice so it can really absorb the sauce of the Paella.
The weather was perfect today.
I struggled with the public transport all day and after a slight deviation we found ourselves at one of the best Paella restaurants in town. You are supposed to make a reservation a day in advance, but we decided to see what would happen if we just showed up. When we asked for two the waiter asked if we had reservations, when I said no, there was a pause and I expected to be turned away. Instead he said ok 3 minutes. The Paella was delicious and the rice was different than what we have seen in other Paellas in Spain.
Some nice street art.
We’ve seen most of the tourist sites here so Ton just kind of wandered the streets afterward taking pictures of street art and street scenes. We just strolled around in the center for 90 minutes or so.
This women was being photographed by a professional in front of one of the prominent landmarks. The dress was beautiful. I’m not sure from what era it is but the embroidery was really elaborate.
When it was time to go home I again blew it with the bus and didn’t hit the stop button for our stop. We ended up riding to the next stop which was in front of a Mercadona. Ton decided to take advantage of my carelessness by getting a little shopping in.
This small house is for cats. The residents weren’t home when we were there.
Our campsite tonight is unique. We are parked inside a building in an industrial area. The building is used to store RV’s long term, but they also rent space on a daily basis as Valencia lacks campgrounds. The people are really nice and it has all the facilities you would find in a campground-just inside a warehouse.
The cat house, unfortunately someone decided to tag the wall it is built into. Some people have no class.
The route we picked for the day involved about 150 kilometers of mountain driving in the Sierra de Menara and the Sierra de Albarracin mountains. I was a little hesitant at first because I was worried about the quality of the roads. So before setting off I did some quick research and found out that the route we were preparing to do from Cuenca to Albarracin was supposed to be one of the most scenic drives in Spain.
Waterfalls on our scenic mountain drive.
We had planned on stopping at Cuenca for a walk around the city as its old quarter was supposed to be interesting. But after spending about 20 minutes trying to find a place to park François we gave up and decided to pass on Cuenca.
The Giant Tolma in the Enchanted City.
Our first stop was the Ciudad Enchanta. The Enchanted City in English is a series of Limestone rocks in a small area that have been shaped by water and wind erosion into interesting shapes.
Some of the rocks that make up the Enchanted City.
It is part of the Cuenca Mountains National Park. It reminded us of a US national park with nicely marked trails guiding you through the different rock formations. To keep up with the Enchanted City motif the rocks have been given creative names like the “Elephant and Alligator fight”, and the “Two Lovers of Tereul” which if you were Spanish you would know the story (think of Romeo and Juliet).
The “Man’s Face.”
The walk was an easy 3 kilometers and there were a lot of very interesting rock formations, though we were not sold on all the names. We enjoyed ourselves and there was a pretty good crowd on hand as it turns out today is a national holiday.
A nice walkway between two sheer rock walls.
We finished with the Enchanted Forest and left on our 2 hour scenic drive through the mountains. On the map it is listed as two separate mountain ranges, but to me it seems like one large mountain range. Our concern about the quality of the road was wasted as the roads were well paved and comfortably wide. The roads were windy as mountain roads are, but the views were superb. Ton and I don’t think we have driven a prettier mountain road in Europe.
The trees were starting to change color which added to the beauty of the drive.
Our destination today is a mountain town called Albarracin which has been lately touted as the most beautiful town in Spain. We were impressed driving in as you follow a beautiful river gorge to the entrance to town. After a short rest to recover from the drive we headed into town.
The town is perched on cliffs overlooking the Guadalaviar River.
The rocks in the area are red sandstone so the town has a red hue to it that makes it stand out from typical Spanish towns. It is dramatically perched on rocks and cliffs overlooking the valley. The streets are quite steep and narrow.
The towns construction is quite vertical.
We enjoyed the meander through town. It is not a large town so you can cover all the must see sites in less than an hour. Things were quite quiet today as all the bars and restaurants were closed. We had planned on getting a glass of wine and enjoying the views but were unable to.
Some of the buildings had quite interesting shapes as they conformed with the hill and the surrounding buildings and roads.
The town has been in place at its current location since about 1050. There were Roman and Visigothic settlements in the area before, but the current town was founded by Berbers who had migrated to Spain with the Moslem Invasion. After about 200 years it was conquered by Christian forces and lost its strategic significance though it retained much of its city walls.
The city walls dominate portions of the city.
It changed hands several times in the Spanish Civil War though there does not seem to have been extensive damage to the town. The town retains many of its medieval buildings.
The Cathedral in the background.
The town is interesting and beautiful, but to me it felt more like a museum than a living breathing town. It appears that most of the residents of town live in modern apartments in the fields at the base of the town. The town itself was kind of dead outside the tourists walking the street. Most of the buildings were closed up and appeared to be either hotels or bed and breakfasts. There wasn’t that spark of daily activity caused by residents that makes a town feel complete.
A beautiful town in a beautiful location.
Having said that the region we were introduced today was one of the most visually spectacular places we have been to in Europe. We really enjoyed the day.
