Spain – RV Travels in Europe and North America

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.

September 24, 2025 La Linea SP

We had a busy morning, and a slower afternoon. The day began by us heading off to see the mysterious Carlos for our ferry tickets. He does exist, and as reported on line gave us a really steep discount on our ferry tickets. We also got our first Moroccan Dirham so we are prepared with currency for our trip. Morocco is a more cash economy so we will see how often we will be going to banks to get more Dirhams.

We made a pass thru a Carrefour Grocery to get some bread and wine, and then headed out to get LP gas. We failed at the LP gas, so after some more research at the campground tonight we will try a couple of places on the way to the ferry tomorrow. I think we have about 5 weeks of LP on board but would like to have a reserve as it is not possible to fill tanks in Morocco.

The last chore for the day was laundry. We also “had” to drink a bottle of wine to get us down to our legal limit of wine we can import to Morocco.

September 23, 2025 La Linea SP

We made it to the Mediterranean today. It’s been a long haul and not much fun. Today we covered about 400 kilometers but are now sitting a few kilometers from Gibraltar.

Enroute we found time to swing thru the Seville Costco to stock up on some dry goods to cover us the next 4 weeks in Morocco. We didn’t get any vegetables or meat because food is supposed to be especially inexpensive in Morocco. We were concerned about space and had a discussion about nearly everything we put into the cart. In the end we were probably a little too conservative and could have bought more.

Someone had arranged these shells on the beach.

Tomorrow we are off to buy our ferry ticket from the mysterious Carlos that everyone says is the man when it comes to ferries. We have three chores to complete tomorrow and then we will be off to Africa.

September 22, 2025 Merida SP

Our primary target for this trip is Morocco, but before we departed Oregon Ton also handed me a list of Spanish cities she wanted to visit if we have time. Merida is one of those cities and luckily it was right at the distance and direction I wanted to drive today, so we were able to kill two birds with one drive.

Merida is one of the best preserved Roman cities in Europe.

Leaving the campground I hit a pretty big pothole that rattled François pretty strongly. About 10 minutes later the alarm on our refrigerator that tells us the door is open went off. I thought the jostling from the pothole may have caused something in the refrigerator to push on the door. So we pulled over and rearranged the contents of the fridge, but a few minutes later the alarm happened again. Ton went back again to make sure there was no pressure on the door. For the next two hours we fought a battle with the door alarm. It would go 5 or 10 minutes without alarming, and then alarm for a few minutes and then go silent again. It was annoying and I had visions of another day wasted on maintenance. I finally pulled over and took a look at the latch to make sure nothing was broken and everything seemed ok. Finally out of desperation we did the old turn it off for a few minutes and then turn it back on and see if the problem goes away. Sure enough for the next hour we had no alarms. Just as we pulled into the parking area in Merida the alarm went off once. Since the door was closed and the refrigerator was good we decided to go on with our visit of the city, the beeping wouldn’t bother anyone if we weren’t there.

One of the entrances to the amphitheater in Merida.

The Merida Roman sites consist of an amphitheater, a theater, a circus, a temple to the godess Diana, the longest Roman bridge still in use, and as a bonus a Moslem Alcazar built over a former Roman fort.

Entering the amphitheater they had an interesting display showing the four different types of gladiators that were trained for fighting in the arena. They each had different weapons and different armor. Each type had advantages and disadvantages that were supposed to make the fights more interesting.

The amphitheater was where the gladiatorial games were held as well as other events. It held 3000 people. It was buried during the Moslem era and middle ages. It is very well preserved and most of the interior rooms and the floor of the arena are as they were during Roman times.

The amphitheater, the hole in the arena space was covered with wood during games..

The theater next to the amphitheater is even more impressive. it was built to hold 15,000 people and has now been restored to use. The facade of the stage is still largely intact which is rare in these buildings. The only other one we have seen with the facade was in Orange France.

A view of the theater from the cheap seats where the slaves and foreigners would sit.

After the theater we visited a temple dedicated to Diana. The temple had changed purposes many times after the Romans and in the middle ages was converted to a palace for one of the richest families of the area. In the 1960’s the building was purchased and restored as best as possible to its Roman state.

The temple of Diana with the 17th century home in the background.

We headed to the river to visit the Alcazar and Roman bridge. The Alcazar was a fort built at the entrance to the town from the bridge. There was an original Roman fort on site, but the Moslems who ruled Spain rebuilt it to their standard using the material from the city walls and Roman fort.

A view of the Roman bridge of from the walls of the Alcazar. This is the longest Roman bridge in use at over 2000 feet. Today usage is limited to foot traffic.

There were several more sites to visit in town, but we were a little tired and the refrigerator was bothering me. While we were walking I had googled a motorhome service center in town and they were getting ready to reopen from siesta so I proposed we head there.

One of the main streets of the old town.

As we walked back to François around 4pm the town seemed oddly quiet to us until we realized that siesta is later in this part of Spain because it is hotter. Everything shuts down from 2 to 5 pm.

Some of the columns and statuary at the theater.

We drove across town and waited about 15 minutes at the service center. The entire time the alarm for the door didn’t go off of course. A technician gave the fridge a once over and declared that everything seemed normal, nothing was broken and the electrical connection for the alarm seemed ok. So we shrugged and headed off to the local campground for the evening, hoping not to get an alarm in the middle of the night.

When we settled in for the evening Ton and I regretted that we didn’t have more time as Merida definitely deserves more of it. We missed the circus maximus which is considered one of the best preserved, as well as the museum of Roman art, and we rushed our visits to the alcazar and the bridge, this is what happens when timetable drives your visiting.

September 21, 2025 Tordesillas SP

We were happy when I noticed that Tordesillas was the perfect distance to cover towards Morocco. It was about 360 kilometers south from Orio, and we have set a target of 350 to 400 kilometers per day to travel, so it was a no brainer to stop here.

Windshield shot of the plains of Spain. The light brown squares are wheat, the darker fields are sunflowers.

The drive was again uneventful, starting in rain in Orio and ending in mostly blue skies in Tordisillas. The freeways started out tolled in Basque country, but by the time we got to Castilla they were free so we again were happy.

Our asado for 3 people. 4 types of grilled meat, nicely fried potatoes and grilled peppers. We have enough meat left for at least one more meal.

This is the third time we have stayed at the family run El Astral campground in Tordisillas. We think this is the best campground restaurant we have eaten at and we enjoy the food and the service. We had originally planned to walk to town for a wine tasting, but I pointed out that a half carafe of the excellent house wine was only €3.30- so we decided to save the walk, and enjoy the sun and another carafe of wine on the sunny patio of the restaurant. An uneventful, but good day for us.

September 20, 2025 Orio SP

Our charge down the atlantic coast to southern Spain continued with a 480 kilometer drive. The drive was nice and uneventful if. It was uneventful enough that we decided to tack an extra 150 kilometers on the plan to go to Orio in Spain because we like the campground here.

Rain starting to move in over the beach at Orio.

We started in rain in Poitiers, then after about an hour the rain stopped and we had blue skies for most of the trip until we arrived at the campground in northern Spain when the rain began again.

Looking back towards town with rain in the hills.

We are a little tired from the driving as we usually don’t travel this way in Europe. But we are feeling pressure to get to Morocco so we have a couple of more days of long trips. Lets hope Morocco rewards our effort.

May 19, 2025 Tarragona SP

We were up early to see Kit and Stephen off on their trip home. We hope they enjoyed their taste of RV’ing in Europe. It was fun having traveling companions for part of the trip, and is a very different way to see places than just with the two of us.

Since we were up early we decided to get our laundry taken care of. The campground here had nice commercial washers and dryers so it was done with quickly. One thing Ton and I have noticed on this trip is in Spain most of the campgrounds have now invested in commercial washers and dryers which is a big improvement over our first trip thru Spain nearly 7 years ago. Washing clothes is not nearly the chore it was back then.

Ships waiting to enter the port of Tarragona.

The rest of the day was spent giving François a thorough scrub down, and finding a place for all of the food we inherited from Kit and Stephen. It was mid-afternoon before we finished. The afternoon was spent lazing around a much quieter campground as all of the Spanish had returned to work. We had planned an evening walk on the beach, but about 5pm a big thunderstorm was forming inland and it hit in force about 6. By the time it ended Ton was comfortably under the covers so no romantic walk on the Mediterranean tonight.

May 18, 2025 Tarragona SP

Today was Stephen and Kits last day with their motorhome, so our primary goal was to get near Barcelona so they could clean up and pack for their trip home. We left Valencia early and headed up the coast to the campground we had stayed at early in the trip. After a 3 hour drive on a pretty quiet Autovia we arrived at a very full campground. We got two spots together and they began cleaning while Ton and I stayed out of the way.

Our last meal in Spain was a greatest hits of everyones favorite food.

After they finished packing we went out for a farewell to Spain lunch. We enjoyed another great seafood meal and a final pitcher of Sangria. We later sat around and talked until the sun went down.

May 18, 2025 Valencia SP

Today we visited the third largest city in Spain. Valencia didn’t make a big impression on Ton or me during our first visit. It wasn’t bad it just wasn’t that memorable. So for me at least it felt like a first visit as I could only vaguely recall what we had seen here last time. For Ton, she had more complete memories of the town, it just had not made a strong impression on her. Of course, for Stephen and Kit it was their first visit.

The entrance way to the Cathedral, our starting point for the day.

Our campground feels like it is quite a way out of town, so I was surprised when I punched in the city center on google that the ride into town was only about 20 minutes. So the day got off to a good start as we arrived quickly in the Plaza of the Virgins.

The virgins of the Plaza of the Virgins.

We debated whether to join a free tour, but after some thought we decided to tackle the city on our own. So of course we headed off to the Cathedral first. It was impressive of course, but not particularly memorable. We were more impressed with some of the towers we passed in route to the Cathedral.

One of the towers we passed in route to the Cathedral.

We next went to the city hall which is located on a monumental square surrounded by 8 and 9 story buildings. The city hall is an impressive building, but what struck me was that the square was constructed in the 1880’s when most of the city walls were torn down. So the square is relatively new construction which explains why the buildings are a little taller than those that usually surround these major squares.

The main square with its buildings dating from the late 1800’s.

Ton was joking as we walked today that we have a pattern down for visiting cities, first the Cathedral, then the main square, and then the market. So we headed off to the central market.

The interior of the Central Market with the impressive dome in the center.

The market was the highlight of the day. It is quite large, and like Murcia still focuses on selling unprepared food. There was a dizzying array of fish, meat, spices, alcohol, vegetables, and fruit to look at. Ton was in heaven. I tried a Horchata which is a famous drink from Valencia made from almonds. It was better than I expected, and Ton really liked it.

A recipe and the ingredients to make a Horchata.

The next hour was spent going from stall to stall looking at what was on offer. Valencia claims the invention of Paella. In our time we have eaten a great deal of Paella in Spain, and Ton had made it clear that whatever we had for lunch it was not going to be Paella. So while we saw a lot of Paella being produced to take home, we were not tempted.

Different Paellas on sale at the market.

After the market Ton wanted to look at a section of town that is famous for street art. We never quite found the center of it, but did see a few buildings with nice art on them.

The security door for an ice cream shop with a nice painting.

After our quest for street art, we stumbled onto a nice tapas place. Stephens one question to the waitress was did they have Sangria, she replied of course so we sat down. Sangria was Stephens number 1 priority for lunch as he realized we had not had any on the trip and he could not return to the US from Spain without tasting Sangria. It was delicious.

Street art/architecture. This is a house for a cat.

After lunch we were on our way to the Serranos towers, when we noticed a museum that had an interesting courtyard. We poked our head in and a lady informed us that it was free today. The museum was located in a Gothic era convent, so without the art the building was fascinating.

The art was very modern, and some was done digitally which is not something I have experienced before. I found it fascinating and really enjoyed it. I was happy that we had wandered across it in our walk.

Our final stop for the day was at the Serrano Towers which was the old main entrance to the old town when it was walled. Today the various gates from the walls are all that remain as the walls were removed over the years to make for better flow within the city. The Serrano Towers are impressive.

The Serrano Towers, part of the old walled fortifications of Valencia.

Stephen and Kit decided they wanted to climb the tower which is about 200 steps. Ton and I volunteered to watch their packs so they could be unencumbered for their climb. So while they did the climb Ton and I sat in the shade on a nice bench.

After the tower we headed back towards the bus to the campground. While the distance to the bus stop was relatively short, it took a while as there was Gelato to be eaten as well as some last minute gifts to be bought. We finished our day off with another game of Portuguese Rummy.

An archway looking out at a graffiti covered construction site.

I think we did Valencia a disservice after our first visit. After today Ton and I wished we had another day or two to visit so we could continue exploring Valencia. There is more to the city than we realized after our first visit.

May 16, 2025 Valencia SP

We operated on a laid back schedule today. Wake up when we were ready, drive 200 kilometers to Valencia and find a place to settle in for the day. We arrived around 1pm and settled into the campground which is in a national park

Sunset over the National Park near Seville.

After a shared lunch everyone spontaneously declared it would be a good time for a siesta. So after a good siesta that lasted until about 6pm we all reconvened for dinner.

The beach near the campground with Seville and the cranes from the port in the background.

After dinner we walked to the beach to view sunset. The beach was really wide and long, but empty. Stephen had walked down during the siesta and said there were a few people on the beach earlier, but they had all left by the time we got there. All in all a quiet relaxed day that is pretty boring to write about.

May 15, 2025 Murcia SP

Murcia is not on any tourist hot list for Spain. It is a good sized city in an agricultural area, but has a reputation as a place that you go to for business, but not for fun. So we were looking forward to seeing the city.

Murcia is celebrating the 1200th anniversary of its founding this year.

We started at the cathedral as we do in many cities. The cathedral was large and imposing as intended, but not particularly interesting on the outside. We entered and I hesitated because a mass was going on. But the mass occupied a small part of the cathedral, and the rest appeared to be open to visitors. I enjoyed walking thru the cathedral and appreciated it more because the sound of the mass was in the background. It tied the spiritual part of the cathedral to the architectural part in a way I didn’t expect.

The main hall of the Royal Casino of Murcia.

Our next stop was the old casino in the center of the city. It is still known by its original name of Real Casino de Murcia (Royal Casino of Murcia). But it is now a social club whose membership costs €2000 per year. They allow tours of the club and it is an interesting building.

One of the rooms in the casino, we were encouraged to use the furniture as it is not a museum.

There are many rooms and each is decorated differently. The style is classical casino, without the games, so it is not subtle. Each room had a theme and was decorated to reflect that theme.

A vase in the entryway to the casino decorated in a style to match the Alhambra.

After the casino we walked the streets of the town and enjoyed the afternoon ambiance. There were a few fellow tourists around, but most of the people were locals going about their business.

A local Murcia pastry on display in the old town.

When a town center has not been turned into a tourist theater we notice that the makeup of the shops on the streets change. The stores are more geared to meet the needs of the people who live there, so you see shops selling hardware, and vegetables, and electronics. It is a subtle difference but we like the feel better than rows of t-shirt shops, and authentic “name your country/city” goods. For us the stores are more interesting and since we are traveling on longer trips often more useful to us.

The decoration over the street is dried vegetables. Murcia is located in a famous region for vegetables and rice cultivation.

Our lunch was again excellent, the main dish was called a cauldron. It is a local dish of rice and seafood, but prepared quite differently than Paella which is THE Spanish rice and seafood dish. I think I liked the Cauldron better as the spices were more interesting. .

Our last stop for the day was the “Puente de Los Peligros”. The English translation would be “The Dangerous Bridge.” It didn’t look particularly dangerous, but the river walk leading up to it was nice and because there has been a lot of rain in the mountains the color of the water was particularly interesting.

The Dangerous Bridge, not looking particularly dangerous.

The day had started with rain, but for most of the time we had been walking we had clear skies. But as we approached the bridge the skies turned ominous and just as we left the bridge a real downpour began and drove us undercover. At that point we decided to hail a taxi and head back to the campground.

We spent the next couple of hours huddled up in François listening to the rain and in my case sleeping. After the rain let up we had another nice meal prepared by Kit with Tons help. The evening ended with another round of Portuguese rummy before we called it a night.

An interesting interpretation of Icarus from the casino.

Murcia is not a city catering to tourists. It does have some tourist infrastructure but it is not overrun with tourists which is why I think I found it more interesting than some of the more famous cities we have visited in Spain.