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.
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.
A view from inside the gorge.
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 New Bridge.
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.
The view from our wine break.
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.
Another view of the gorge.
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.
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.
The town hall in Ronda.
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.
The exterior of the bull ring in town.
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.
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.
This is a site that we will not forget.
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.
The Rock is still there.
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.
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.
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.
On the beach near the campground.
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.
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.
More ruins and a nice modern garden.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A pretty point near our campground.
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.
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.
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 interior of the art museum.
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.
Some street art from Valencia.
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.
The City Hall of Valencia.
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.
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.
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 seafood cauldron.
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.
The main square in Murcia.
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.
A short blog entry to accompany a long drive. Kit and Stephen are coming to the end of their trip so as always happens on these trips the last few days feel like a rush to cover kilometers back to the drop off point. Today we covered a little over 400 kilometers to Murcia. The plan is to go into the town tomorrow and check it out.
Playing Portuguese Rummy.
The drive went smoothly the only hitch being the aire we had picked for the day was not open when we arrived. It is one of the highest rated places I have ever seen on Park4night, including a 5 star review from today. But, when we arrived it looked empty, a bit forlorn and the gate was locked; a little weird. Luckily Murcia had another well reviewed aire and we shifted there and it is also very nice. We settled in had an excellent Thai meal, a game of Portuguese Rummy and called it a night.
It was a relaxing start to the day. We headed over to the train station about 10am. I had done a recon earlier and discovered how to buy the tickets after many failed attempts, so we were armed with tickets. The aire here while secure is located in a pretty iffy part of town. The good news it was a short walk to the train station. Three stops later we were in the center of the city.
The stained glass decorating the exterior of the market in Malaga. One of our favorites in Spain.
We started out in the market. Ton had a great time walking the aisles in the large market that featured all of the staples; Meat, Fish, Vegetables, and Spices. There was a mix of locals shopping for staples, and tourists looking at the locals shopping for staples. Fortunately, this one has not converted to a glorified food hall like many of the markets in Spain we have visited. Ton bought some pickled egg plants that we are looking forward to trying. The lady at the shop even showed her what parts to remove before eating which we wouldn’t have known.
This flat iron building was right outside of the market.
We had visited Malaga on our first trip and it was raining. We enjoyed the visit then, but I remembered the town as not being that crowded with tourists. Unlike that first visit the weather was perfect today, and the crowds were out in force. We suspect there was a cruise ship in town, but we never went down to the waterfront to confirm it.
Stephen and me waiting.
We visited the Cathedral and the Roman Theater, but a lot of today was spent popping into little shops to buy gifts and souvenirs. A lot of the buildings look like they were built in the 1880’s and 1890’s as they had cast iron frames and pillars that were prominent in those days.
The Cathedral with a long line to enter.
We came across a fancy restaurant, and Ton immediately recognized it as the one we had eaten in on our first visit. It was on Kit’s list of places to eat so lunch was decided. Ton and I split a skillet of Black Seafood Rice, Stephen and Kit tried a variety of Tapas like dishes. Our dish is made with squid ink which gives it its color. It is one of my favorite dishes.
The wall in the restaurant had a wall of famous people. Most of them were famous Spaniards so we had not heard of them, but we did no this fella and his girlfriend at that time. Antonio Banderas began his acting career in Malaga.
After lunch which was on a Spanish time schedule, so we were done with it about 2:30 we did some more shopping. Ton and I wanted to revisit one of the most memorable drinking experiences we have had. There is a Sherry bar in Malaga that has been in business since the 1840’s, it was atmospheric on our first visit so we wanted to see if it was as good as we remembered it. It was more crowded, but once we managed to push our way up to the bar, we got a sherry and a vermouth. They still wrote our tab in chalk on the bar in front of us. It was as good as we remembered it and we took a liter of vermouth back to François for future consumption.
We purchased a liter of the vermouth at the end. They poured directly from the giant wooden cask and hammered a cork into the bottle. You can see the price for a liter written in chalk on the cask.
The sherry place was our last stop for the day. I was concerned that I might have messed up the ticket purchase in the morning for the return trip and my concerns were correct. When our tickets didn’t work I asked an employee if I could correct the problem for the card we had, he asked what I had done, and after I explained it he said follow me and led us to a gate that he unlocked and told us “have a good trip” as he released us into the train station. Another nice gesture that will keep Malaga on my favorite city in Spain list.
When I think of majestic, in nature I think of the Grand Canyon. If it is man made I think of the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba. We visited Cordoba a few years ago on our second trip thru Spain and I was blown away by the majesty of the interior of this building originally built as a Mosque, and then converted to a Cathedral after the re-conquest of Spain.
Near the entrance, the columns of arches seeming to stretch off in all directions.
Like the Grand Canyon it is hard to capture the majesty of the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba in photos. It is best appreciated in person with all of your senses engaged.
Another view with the columns dominating the view. It gives a different perspective to the space.
The interior space feels more Islamic than Christian with large spaces in the Cathedral just devoted to space filled with columns and arches that encourage you to contemplate. The lighting is mostly natural and it enhances the architecture.
There is beautiful Christian art in the Cathedral, along the outer walls and in the center where the sacristy is placed.
When the Mosque was captured the Christian conquerors made a conscious decision to retain a lot of the Mosque as it stood. In fact when the sacristy was placed in the center of the Cathedral in the 1700’s it was controversial and criticized by senior church leaders for disrupting the flow of the building.
Arabic calligraphy on display inside the Cathedral.
Ton and I were both nervous about revisiting a place that had made such a big impression on us as second visits sometimes reduce the good first impression. In the case of the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba, we were more impressed. We entered at the opening so the crowd was less at first and we could really enjoy the size and austere grandeur of the place.
This image combines the Islamic and Christian influence of the Mosque-Cathedral.
Unfortunately, we thought we had to get moving towards Granada. From the beginning we had told Kit and Stephen that the Alhambra in Granada was the one place they must see in Spain. Right after they arrived we had them look at available dates to tour the Alhambra, and tomorrow was the only day available.
Kit hiding from a horse on a narrow street in Cordoba.
They had booked with a reputable tour company, but their booking had a funny addendum. It said the time of the tour would not be assigned until 12-48 hours before the scheduled date. They had received an email a few days ago confirming their reservation, but still not specifying their time.
The interior of a courtyard of a private residence opened to the public this week as part of a festival in Cordoba.
We were in the process of packing, an aire had been selected to stay in at Granada, and all of the data had been plugged into GPS devices. Stephen came over and I thought he was going to tell me they were ready to leave. Instead he told me that the travel company had cancelled the tour. What a bummer, we felt sorry for them as it was a place they were excited to see, and we had planned our entire trip around this tour.
Street in Cordoba.
A quick meeting was held and options were considered. After looking at the logistics of things it was decided that Malaga would be the alternative to Granada. An Aire was found close to the city center, GPS coordinates were updated and about 1pm we were off for Malaga.
The drive from Cordoba to Malaga featured miles and miles of olive orchards.
We were up early as we had one of the longest drives we have ever taken in Europe in front of us. We need to be in Granada by May 12 as Kit and Stephen have a tour of the Alhambra scheduled for May 13. It is nearly 800 kilometers from Lisbon to Granada and we need to cover it in two days. Looking at our options Cordoba was the best mid-point but it was not mid-way but 500 kilometers from Lisbon.
Wild flowers at our first pit stop in Portugal.
If you are going to do a too long drive in Europe the best day is Sunday as the semi’s are more or less banned from driving. This means we are the slowest thing on the road in most cases so you can set the cruise control and settle in the right lane and let the other cars zoom past. The drive took over 6 hours and with the additional hour we gained we didn’t park up at Cordoba until after 4 pm.
Cordoba is having a flower festival and the streets and many of the private courtyards are decorated with flowers.
We settled in quickly as we are in the municipal aire in Cordoba which is a new experience for Kit and Stephen. No power, no water, no toilets, just the facilities you carry in your van. We decided that food was in order so we headed into Cordoba to find some. On Sundays a lot of the bars and cafes that serve informal food close down in the evening. We settled on a pizza place across from the famous Cathedral/Mosque which is why we are here and will visit tomorrow.
The gate to the Roman Bridge in Cordoba.
After we finished our meal we strolled down to the Roman bridge over the Guadalquivir River. It is another impressive piece of engineering though Stephen and I suspect it has been rebuilt a few times since the Romans.
The long Roman bridge over the Guadalquivir River in Cordoba.
After the bridge Stephen and I were feeling the effects of our drive, so we headed back to the aire for a well deserved rest.
It has been raining hard on and off for the last couple of days. Over night it rained really hard again and the ground and roads in the campground were muddy. Today we had planned on a long drive to Porto, but in the morning Ton mentioned that her and Kit were hoping to visit Salamanca on the way to Porto. As we told Kit and Stephen before they came out part of the beauty of traveling in RV’s was to have flexibility in your schedule. So instead of a long drive to Porto we had a 90 minute drive to Salamanca. It was a win-win for everyone.
Street art as we entered Salamanca.
We headed into town at 12:45 after finding out there was only one bus per hour because it was a Saturday schedule. We arrived in the center of the city, and headed over to the Plaza Mayor. It was originally built to provide housing and to act as a bull fighting ring on occasion. It is a large square with four major entries on each side of the square. Now it is full of restaurants and cafes and looked like a good place to hang out.
One side of the Plaza Mayor.
Before we got to the Plaza Mayor we had diverted to the market. It is another market built of cast iron from the 1870’s. The windows are stained glass and add a nice touch to the building.
The interior of the market with the stained glass windows.
Ton window shopped, but Kit picked up some cilantro and other vegetables for dinner. Ton has been fascinated by the many types of shrimp available in Spain. Today she was happy to see a shrimp with a very large claw like one we had eaten back in Roses.
Ton was fascinated with these shrimp with a single claw.
Just as we were leaving the Plaza Mayor the wind started to pick up and the rain began. I told Ton that we should find a cafe or bar to pop into until the rain let up. She said that the forecast was rain all afternoon. But we did go into a bar and order a round of beers. Luckily after we were done with our beers the rain had stopped and we had blue skies for the rest of the day.
The conch house at the University of Salamanca.
The University of Salamanca is the third oldest university in continuous operation in the world, and is the preeminent University in the Spanish speaking world. It occupies a large part of the center of Salamanca. Cervantes the writer of Don Quixote was a student here and many quotes from the novel are on the walls of the University.
One of the entrance doors to the old Cathedral.
Salamanca has two cathedrals that are for some reason located next to each other. They are called the old and new cathedral, though they are both quite old. We spent some time near one of the entrances looking at the stone work. Ton called me over and asked me to look at the figures by the door. A couple of them stood out, but the one that looked out of place was an astronaut carved by one of the doors during a recent reconstruction. I guess it shows that these are living buildings.
An astronaut carved in stone near the entrance of the Cathedral.
Salamanca is a joy to visit as everything is very close together. My job is navigator and every time I was given a new point to go to it turned out to be only 4 or 5 minutes walk away from where we were. This would come back to haunt me later in the day.
Part of the interior of the old Cathedral.
Our last stop was the Roman bridge across the Tormes River. The bridge itself is of mixed construction with about 2/3rds of the arches of the bridge of Roman origin and the other 1/3 of medieval origin. The bridge has been rebuilt multiple times in history but is still an impressive site.
Part of the Roman bridge with the old and new Cathedrals in the background.
After we crossed the bridge we decided it was time to head back to the campground. The problem is that for some reason the transit system for Salamanca is not loaded into google maps. In most cases all I do is press where we want to go into the maps and push the transit Icon. I didn’t have that today, so I was not sure where the nearest bus stop was or what time the next bus was coming.
The walkway of the Roman bridge.
I new we were looking for Bus 20, but I didn’t know where the nearest stop for Bus 20 was. I had a hunch and after walking for about 15 minutes we came to a bus stop, but it was not the right one. Some more staring at google maps convinced me that we needed to go to another road about 15 minutes from where we were. So off we went, but this time there was not even a bus stop. We were right by a bridge I knew we had crossed into the old city so I headed across it to a bus stop at the base of the old town. I was sure it was a stop for 20, there were about 15 different bus lines listed as stopping there but none were 20. So now truly flummoxed I told everyone we should find a taxi. So we started down the road, and just as we were about 150 meters from the bus stop we had just investigated here comes bus 20 headed for it. The bus stopped at a red light and Stephen begged him to let us on. I decided to run for the bus stop and see if I could beat him there. I don’t run like I used to and the bus beat me to the stop by quite a bit so I was sure we were going to miss it. Luckily for me a nice lady saw me lumbering towards the stop, and actually put one leg in the door of the bus so the driver could not leave until I arrived. I got on and to by time for the rest of the crew to catch up I gave him a €20 bill so he had to make a lot of change.
The old Cathedral.
I felt bad because we had walked more looking for the bus stop than we had visiting the old town of Salamanca. But everyone else took it with good humor. Just as we got back to the campground the wind picked up again, the temperature dropped by several degrees, and it began raining hard. So our luck held out for the day.
It rained cats and dogs last night with occasional thunder. The finale came at 7am when lightning struck close to the campground. I took that as a sign that an early start was not in the cards and rolled over to sleep in. When Stephen and I got out to check on the state of things Stephen found two rubber mats placed in front of his front tires. The campground was worried about us getting stuck getting out and had placed the mats there to allow us to get traction. We felt bad about driving over the brand new mats and it turned out we probably didn’t need them.
Tordisillas. The bridge was built around 1300 and still carries a major highway including semi-trucks.
Our stop for the day was Tordisillas which was only about 2 hours down the road towards Porto. Ideally we would have found a stopping point a little further down the road but there didn’t seem to be any. I had fond memories of Tordisillas from our very first trip to Spain in 2018 so I was looking forward to an easy day of driving.
The church in Tordisillas.
Before leaving town we had planned to visit a Mercador Grocery nearby to stock up on food. But when we arrived we found the dreaded height barrier over the parking entrance restricting access to vehicles under 2.5 meters. Luckily there was an Aldi up the street without barriers so they got our money instead.
Tordisillas is famous for the story of Joanna the Mad. She was the queen of Castille who was wrongly declared insane and exiled to Tordisillas.
The drive over to Tordisillas was quiet. We were routed on a local road for about half the trip and it was relaxing and much more intimate. While traveling this way is much slower, the reward in seeing sites is much higher.
Our Asada plate for two. A meat lovers dream, and the potatoes were also fantastic.
The other reason I picked Tordisillas was that Ton and I had one of our most memorable meals at the campground here. We would often reminisce about the grilled meats we had at the campground in Tordisillas. We also find that going back to a place that generates fond memories can be a risk as the second try does not live up to the memory. In this case the second try was just as good as the first with the added pleasure of sharing it with friends. After our very hearty lunch we decided a siesta was in order so we were back to the RV’s for a nap. We are starting to adjust to Spanish hours, so about 6:45 we walked into town to join the evening promenade in Tortillas.
