2018 – Page 2 – RV Travels in Europe and North America

October 17, 2018 Gibraltar UK

Today is a day of three currencies. Last night Ton thought that we should take care of our laundry on the Navy Base at Rota. We had a fair amount of laundry and the sheets and stuff in the van could do with a washing. The Navy Base has big American washers and dryers, they take US currency so we dug around in our wallets and came up with a few dollars. They were a great bargain compared to what we usually pay for European washers. After we finished our laundry we drove over to Gibraltar which was our destination for the day. When we arrived we used Euros to pay for our aire which is on the Spanish side of the border. Since we were in a hurry to get here we were famished when we got thru customs, so we went right to a proper British Pub for lunch, and paid our bill in Pounds. So to sum up today we used three different currencies in their native environments, (US Bases overseas always do all transactions in dollars).

The Rock of Gibraltar from the Spanish side.

Today was also Ron’s first visit to the United Kingdom. Gibraltar is an interesting British enclave in Spain. It has been British since 1704 when it was ceded to them after some complicated and boring negotiations between Spain, Britain, France, and Austria. While you hear more Spanish being spoken than English, it does feel quite English.

After our proper British lunch of Fish and Chips for Ron and a Steak and Ale Pie for Ton. We decided to head to the top of the Rock. They have a cable car that takes you up there, but when we got to the office the line was quite long and we were running out of time. Luckily for us we ran into a tour guide who was looking for two people to fill out his group for a van ride to the top. This allowed us to cover a great deal more than we would have been able to cover once we got to the top on foot, with a knowledgeable and professional guide, and in the end it only cost us €2 more than if we had done the trip on our own.

The first stop was St. Michaels cave a natural cave that has been in use back to the Roman times. As the rock is mostly limestone, the cave was full of stalactites, and stalagmites. It was really unexpected for us. During WWII the cave was expanded to serve as a military hospital, but was never used. After the war it was converted to a concert hall.

The next stop was near the top of the rock, where we met the Macaque Monkeys. There are about 250 of these monkeys on the rock, and they are allowed to run free, though they are fed and periodically given shots by the government. Adrian the guide was very familiar with them, and was able to get them to pose for photos.

Ron and Ton and two Macaques. A second or two after this photo the one behind Ron jumped the one in front. The mountain across the water in the background is in Africa.

The last stop were some man made caves facing Spain. These were military emplacements, though they have not been in action since 1760.

One of the caves drilled during WWII by Canadian engineers.

Our last experience was watching the restaurants all closing up for the night around 7pm in Gibraltar. This is about the time the Spanish restaurants one mile away are opening their doors for dinner.

While we were on top this plane took off, they only get about 5 flights a day, and it is considered one of the most difficult commercial airports in the world to fly into.

Sometimes François spends the night in a storage yard under a train track, and sometimes in a beautiful marina with the Rock of Gibraltar behind him.

October 16, 2018 Rota SP

Last night we had to do some soul searching about what direction to go next. When we arrived 6 weeks seemed like a long time, but as we have progressed thru the trip we find we have to keep making hard decisions about next steps. After some discussion we decided to head back almost to Seville to hit some of the coast line and to visit Gibraltar. We picked a place called Rota to pick up the coast because Ron knew of it from the US Navy base located there.

We woke up to a pretty steady rain, but by the time we got organized to leave the rain had let up. The freeway system in Spain is quite good, and unlike France largely free. It was mostly developed in the 90’s and 00’s. As a consequence the old national roads which are two lanes and generally of good quality are almost empty except for local traffic. The gps for reasons unclear decided to route us most of the day on one of the national roads instead of the Autovia (freeway). We actually enjoyed it as we were able to see more of the countryside, and some of the White Pueblos of Andalusia.

One of the white pueblos of Andalusia with the Cathedral in the center, and an Arab fort in the mist on the right side. We are going to be tempted to double back into this area.

We arrived in Rota and swung by the Naval Base to do some shopping. After that we headed to an aire located 100 yards from the beach. Ton whipped up a late lunch early supper. After we were done Ton declared siesta time for a couple of hours.

In the evening we walked down the beach towards town. It was a nice beach, and in addition to the ocean we could see the port of Cadiz in the distance with a cruise ship and a large ferry entering. The most interesting thing were several large man made rock walls that went into the ocean. They were obviously quite old, Ron guessed they were used for fishing and he was right. They are the fish corrals of Rota, and are a National Monument in Spain. They date back to the Roman times and were used until the 1950’s. They are designed so that they trap fish at low tide making it easier to catch them.

Our first Atlantic sunset in over 30 years.

October 15, 2018 Granada SP

Today was a day we really looked forward to when we headed to Spain. The Alhambra is one of the biggest attractions in Spain, and getting here threw our plans off a bit when we realized there were only tickets available one day this month.

We were both pretty excited so we woke a little earlier than we needed to. Since we were up we decided to head into town. We grabbed the bus to the cathedral, and from there transferred to a mini-bus that goes to the Alhambra. The bus system in Granada is really exceptional.

When we arrived at the Cathedral we took some time to explore the area. In addition to the Cathedral which was another beautiful building that was different in that only one of the walls was exposed, there was also a restored market from the Arab era. During the Arab era it was a silk market, and has been serving as a market since then. There was a large fire that destroyed much of it in the 1840’s, it has been rebuilt but remains the same character.

The old Arab silk market in Granada, now devoted to tourist stuff.

We were not quite sure how things worked when we arrived we knew we had a time for a tour of the Nasrid Palace so we assumed that we could not get access to the grounds until 1pm. But it turns out your ticket gets you on the grounds all day, the only space that is controlled is the Nasrid Palace. So we were glad we arrived a couple hours before hand.

We used the early time to explore the gardens of the palace which are extensive and really beautiful. Ton was thrilled with all of the plants and flowers, as well as the views from the gardens. It was a nice introduction to the place, and we began to sense it was quite special.

There were quite a few feral cats in the gardens.

By the time we poked around in the gardens for a while it was time to head down to the Palace for our tour. The palace lived up to its billing and I see why it is one of the most visited places in Spain. In the last few years they have had to limit the number of visitors to 8300 per day, and almost every day of the year sells out. The palace is a work of art with incredible tile, plaster, and wooden walls. The calligraphy and the art work in the plaster is beautiful, the wood carvings in the ceilings and doors are masterful. The town must have been an interesting place as the number of high quality artisans and artists here must have made for some wild characters. The flow from room to courtyards with beautiful fountains is a joy to behold.

The detail of the ceramic walls is really great.

A reflecting pool leading into the throne room.

Windows with inscriptions from the Koran below them.

Each of these Lions is unique, and three different groups of artist were commissioned to do them when the fountain was built to add to the variety.

It is rare for human figures to be shown in Islamic Art, this is one of only three examples in the palace. Apparently it is a story about a Christian Knight and a Moslem Knight competing for the same woman, the Moslem Knight won the girl.

We were among the last from our group to leave as around every turn was a wow moment for us. Our next stop was the fort which was impressive but had an impossible act to follow. The view of the city from the top of the watch tower though was worth the climb.

This tile was among a set imbedded in a stair case. We are not sure if it is original or a replica.

We finished with a tour of another building which was a smaller version of the palace, it was the pleasure palace of the sultan. It was a great way to wrap up the day.

The final thrill for us was the bus ride back into town. We boarded the same bus 32 we had rode down on. But going back we took back roads and alleys that were incredibly narrow. The mini-bus is a 24 ft Sprinter Van. On multiple occasions we had maybe an inch or two of clearance on both sides of the bus, and some of the turns were incredibly tight. Thru out the drive the bus driver kept up a spirited conversation with one of the passengers. These guys are good.

October 14, 2018 Granada SP

This will be a very short update. We woke up to pounding rain and a little wind. It caught us off guard as it had been beautiful when we went to bed. The remnants of an Atlantic Hurricane was passing thru. As we were both awake, we decided to head over to Granada early.

It was still dark when we pulled out of Seville.

We got out of the city early, and had the highway nearly to ourselves most of the way, which was good as the weather was terrible. Despite that we made good time on the freeway and pulled into Granada around 11:15.

Our plan here is to stay in a campground as there are not a lot of good options. Since we were paying for a campground we decided to use today to take care of some laundry. When Ron went in to check in he was told it was impossible to park until 2pm and we needed to come back then. It was raining sideways, and not knowing the town we had no idea what to do for a couple of hours. We ended up driving over to a shopping center and parking there. Since there was nothing else to do, everything was closed on Sunday, we watched a movie.

We returned about 1:30 and the same surly person who did not want anything to do with us was now all smiles and helpful. We pulled into a half empty campground and we are pretty sure all of the empty spots did not clear out in the 2 hours we were in the shopping center. We also got our laundry done.

October 13, 2018 Seville SP

After breakfast we decided to head into town a little early for a coffee, and to use some indoor plumbing. As we were walking into town in the morning it was a little quiet but starting to stir. The sun was shining and there was an air of freshness to things, Ton looked up and said “I like this town”. Seville has been everything we hoped it would be and more. We have really enjoyed ourselves.

Ton’s hometown in Thailand is famous for it’s horse carriages. Ton said the sound of the horses hooves reminded her of home.

The highlight of the day was a guided tour of the Alcazar. It is the royal palace of Seville and dates to the 12th century as a palace. It is claimed to be the oldest royal palace still in use, though the British on our tour thought that Windsor Castle was older. After some discussion between the British and the Spanish guide, they decided it could be both depending on how you counted.

The palace consists of three buildings, two of which were built by Christians after the reconquest and one by the Islamic Caliphate that fortunately was left largely intact . They each have there own unique style, but for us the most impressive building was the one built in the Mudejar style. The palace also has extensive gardens that are also quite beautiful. Ton just about ran the battery out on her camera taking pictures. We ended up spending over three hours on the tour and then retracing our steps to look at places that we really liked.

Blue has a special meaning in Islam associated with being transported to heaven.

The plaster work was incredibly intricate, and covered a huge area in the palace.

In addition to the plaster work, there was intricate tile work on both the walls and floors.

It is hard to capture the scale and detail of the rooms in the palace.

By the time we were done with the Alcazar we were ready for a nice lunch. We went to a place that has been in business for 75 years Bodega Gongora, and we understand why. The street seating and the good seating was all taken, and we were about to leave when we found a small room in back by the bathrooms that we had to ourselves for the meal. We had a grilled seafood plate that consisted of Octopus, Tuna, Anchovies, Sardines, and a white fish we could not identify. The fish was delicious, though we decided that in the future we are going to have our Sardines and Anchovies fried as you can just crunch the bones with the fish.

We spent some time walking around town and people watching. The city is incredibly pedestrian friendly, and the people of Seville seem to really enjoy just going out for a stroll and to eat. It really is a city to love.

October 12, 2018 Seville SP

Seville was always our target for the trip. After a poor nights sleep on the wrong side of the tracks we decided to shift to a parking lot near the city center. Ron was a little worried about driving into the middle of a big city during rush hour. It turned out to be a breeze as it was a holiday. We are now parked next to the Guadalquivir River along with about 40 other RV’s.

François with 40 or 50 friends in Seville.

Seville is a great city with an interesting history. Initially a Roman city, it was conquered and ruled by the Arabs for five hundred years. Many of the major buildings and the city walls were built by the Arabs. The Cathedral is the largest Gothic Cathedral in Europe, and the Alcazar the old Arab palace, are the two main attractions and we intended to go to both of them today. When we went to buy tickets for the Alcazar we were told there were no tickets available until tomorrow. So we are now spending one more night in Seville.

The skyline of Seville, the building in the foreground is the Golden Tower built by the Arabs, the Cathedral is in the background, and the church tower on the left is a converted mosque.

We did get into the Cathedral, and it is very impressive, and large. While the architectural style is similar to the French Cathedrals, the art and the alters are quite different. We spent a couple of hours going thru on our own, and occasionally eavesdropping on the guided tours.

The exterior of the Cathedral, it is hard to capture the size of the building.

During one of our eavesdropping sessions we learned the story of Christopher Columbus’ body. While he is famously Italian, his trip of discovery was funded by the Spanish king and left from Seville. When he died he had asked that his body be buried in what is today the Dominican Republic, but it did not happen and he was originally buried in Seville. After a couple of years his son had half of his body sent to Italy, and the remainder stayed in Seville. A little later the half of his body in Seville was sent to the Dominican Republic. In the late 1700’s the Dominican Republic rebelled against Spain and one of the last things the Spanish did before leaving was to move Christopher’s body to Cuba. When the Cuban’s successfully rebelled against Spain the Spanish again moved Christopher to Seville. A little later everyone got over the rebellions and etc, and Christopher is back in the Dominican Republic. I don’t know if the story is true, but it is a good story.

The cafe scene in Seville was very appealing.

There was also a bull fight today, and we walked by the arena just before the start. There was an incredible energy to the crowd as they entered. While neither one of us would be comfortable watching, it is an important part of the heritage of Spain and Seville. Seville also has a great cafe scene, in fact Ron thinks it is better than Paris. Today is a holiday, and the cafe’s were full, and it was great people watching. We decided to have a meal, and it was ok. But we enjoyed ourselves. So far our best meal on the trip was at the little campground we stayed at in Tordesillas.

The crowd entering the bull fighting arena.

October 11, 2018 Seville SP

Some of our other friends are also touring Europe this month. They are staying in 5 star hotels, and River Cruise Boats. Tonight we are parked in a RV storage yard under a high speed rail line, next to a freeway, and to finish off the ambience the field next door has recently been plowed and apparently well fertilized by the smell. Seville is the 4th largest city in Spain with a metro of over 1.5 million so it is not set up for RV travelers.

Today is the first day we really did no tourism. We woke up late as we are both still battling a bug, particularly Ton. After we got organized we bought just enough gas to get to Seville as the highlight of our day was going to be a visit to one of the two Costco’s in Spain where gas was advertised at 1.15 per liter. The norm in Spain looks to be around 1.28/l.

This was a day to take care of logistics as we also needed propane, so as we drove down the freeway we were keeping an eye out for a gas station with LP gas for cars. After a while we found one and Ron eventually figured out the system We are now probably set for propane for the remainder of the trip.

Just a note on roads, Spain has an extensive system of freeways that are actually free. In France to keep us on back roads all we had to do was turn on the no tolls button on the GPS. In Spain we keep finding ourselves rolling down freeways at 60mph, with cars whizzing by at 80mph. It is in many ways more relaxing (Ron can drink his coffee while driving), but you miss the feel for the countryside. The last two days this served its purpose as with both of us not feeling well and some distance to travel the shorter days paid off.

A view of the plains of Spain, at 95kph.

And some vineyards. Once we are done with Seville, it is time to slow down again.

Having said that the GPS decided to route us the last 10 kilometers to Costco right thru the heart of Seville. Ron got to test his urban driving skills for about 45 minutes until we reached Costco.

Costco in Spain looks exactly like Costco in the US, and a lot of the products come from the US. But there are a lot of different products that make it interesting. Even being conservative in purchases the refrigerator and cupboards in François are stuffed tonight. Interestingly when we got to the pump to buy our fuel our Costco credit card would not work because it does not have a PIN. After some scrambling around we got our cheap diesel, before retiring to our luxury accommodations under the train tracks. Another romantic day in Europe.

October 10, 2018 Casceres SP

Decisions get made for you sometimes. One of our bucket list items for this trip was to visit the Alhambra in Granada. We finally felt close enough to look at buying a ticket as you must buy in advance. So when Ron logged on to the site there was only one day left in the entire month, so now we have to be at the Alhambra on October 15. So all our thoughts of heading to Galicia, or Portugal were over and we had to head south.

That being decided for us we decided to go ahead and get to Seville straight away. It was a bit of stretch for one day so we picked Casceres based on it being about 60% of the way to Seville. We drove for about 4 hours on really good freeways thru some very open plains. We also passed thru a substantial mountain range with passes at 4000 feet called the Sierra de Gredos.

The old city Casceres is a UNESCO world heritage site, due to its well preserved mixture of Romanesque, Gothic, and Baroque buildings. It also has seven towers in place that were put built by the Moors when they conquered Spain.

After checking into the campground we took the city bus to downtown, and eventually found the old town. You can see why it has been a fort since Roman times as it really sits in a commanding position over the surrounding countryside. The area is well preserved, though a modern vibrant city has sprung up around it.

The Plaza right outside the old town. We were tempted by the low prices, but opted for a good nights sleep, as dinner did not start until 830pm.

An example of Romanesque architecture with some Baroque influences.

We enjoyed walking around and taking in the sites for a couple of hours. Both of us are still feeling under the weather so in the end we called it an early night and headed back for hopefully a good sleep.

Pigs being fattened up to make Jamon (ham)under the walls of Carceres.

October 9, 2018 Tordesillas SP

Today we left the land of Pintxo (Basque) and entered the land of Tapas (Spanish). We stopped in two towns today. The first town was a planned stop to see some things we were interested in, and the second was picked based on it being a good distance to drive, with a decent place to sleep.

We spent a noisy night in the parking lot of a Leclerc grocery store in Soria. The store was located in a kind of industrial park, and had a lot of truck traffic going by. Both of us have a bit of a bug so neither one of us slept very well between being sick and the noise of the traffic all night.

Our plan for the day was to head for the town of Aranda de Duero. It is another old fortified town with a bunch of caves under it that were originally for defense of the town, but have recently been converted to wine production. The drive from Soria was easy, in general the roads in Spain are a little wider and a little straighter than France, and this results in quicker and easier trips between towns. We arrived a little before noon, found the aire and headed into town to check it out. After a quick stop at the visitors center we headed off to a Bodega that also had a cave under it that we could tour. We arrived at the Bodega at the same time as a Danish couple so we went on the tour together. When the tour was done we walked around town, and decided we had seen enough of Aranda. As it was still early we decided to drive a couple more hours.

After some research we picked the town of Tordesillas based on it being the distance we wanted to drive with a good place to sleep for the night. Our intention was to get to the campground early, and take it easy for the rest of the night. But as we pulled in the town looked interesting, and the restaurant was offering a great deal on a Asada (meat) platter for two. So we ended up walking into the town to admire the churches, and having probably our best meal so far in Spain. It was a very nice ending to the day. During the meal we ended up talking to a Dutch/English couple who raved about Portugal. We are getting really tempted to visit.

Ton really likes these trees, we think these are Spanish evergreen oaks.

October 8, LaGuardia SP

We had wanted to visit some of the caves under Laguardia, but when we arrived yesterday it was too late to get in. We decided to stay around another day and get in a tour.

With time in the morning we lazed around a bit before heading over to Laguardia. We had a specific winery we were most interested in, but today they were only offering tours in Spanish, we contemplated going along, but they said it would be a waste as they spent a lot of time explaining the process and if we were not fluent it would be boring.

While waiting for the tour we watched the Basque dancers on the clock tower on the town hall.

Instead we went to another winery and booked ourselves on a tour of Bodega Carlos San Pedro. We had a couple of hours to kill so we settled into a coffee shop and watched a replay of the Real Madrid game with the local team Since we did not know the score it was live to us. In the end the local team scored literally at the final whistle, and all of the locals who had kindly not given away the score shared a big high five with us.

Ton liked the Basqueness of this fellow.

When we got to Carlos San Pedro it was packed. In fact the owner was startled about how many English speaking guests he had. Towards the end he began asking people to wait 15 minutes and he would run a second tour. Ton and I decided to join his tour, as he was clearly the owner and winemaker. It was a good decision as Carlos gave an in depth and clear description of the winemaking process in the Rioja region. He showed us the original winemaking facility before admitting that they had moved to a modern facility about 15 years ago. They did have a splendid video of the process using the old equipment including a hand operated press that was still on display.

After the explanation we went down into the caves under the winery to see the cement tanks they use, as well as the barrel and bottle rooms. The caves have been under the town for hundreds of years, and go back to the time when the town was a fortress. There are over 300 caves under the town, and many have been used for winemaking and storage for the last 150 years.

Ron looking into the 6000l tank of Rioja Wine.

It ended with a taste of the wine that was in a 6000 liter tank aging, as well as two from the bottle. The wine was superb, and we have been on a lot of wine tours in our time, but this was one of the best.

It was still pretty early so we decided to move south a little bit to get us positioned for another town tomorrow. Tonight we are in the parking lot of a major grocery store with 6 other motorhomes. We were able to get some supplies. The drive to here was thru the Cebollera National Park, and it was quite beautiful, though the weather was a little sketchy or we may have stopped for the night. It gives us something to aim for in the future.

Some of the Mountains in Cebollera National Park.

October 7, 2018 Elciego SP

We are in Rioja country. The plan for the day was to drive to the fortified town of Laguardia which is famous for its cave bodegas (wine cellars). Ron did his normal research on where to stay for the night and found the location for an aire that he thought was in Laguardia. After punching in the GPS coordinates we had a very pleasant drive of about 1 1/2 hours to the aire. After parking we headed into town to look for a particular bodega (winery). After wandering around the little village (which was quite nice) and some head scratching Ron realized we were one town short and not in Laguardia but Elciego.

In addition to wine the area is famous for peppers. Any area that has good peppers is good with Ton.

We headed back to the aire and drove the 5km to Laguardia. The town was humming with all of the local families coming into town for Sunday. We finally found a place to park on the shoulder of the main road and headed into town. Laguardia is a “puebla bonita” of Spain. It is a hilltop fortified town surrounded by vineyards. There was a concert going on in the main square and people socializing at all of the bars and restaurants. We popped into the tourist office to ask a couple of questions. She gave us the information we were looking for but than told us that as it was Sunday everyone but the restaurants was closing at 2pm for the day. Ton and I took a pass thru town and decided it was worth coming back when everything was open, so we will return tomorrow.

When we pulled into Laguardia Ron thought there must be an event, but it was just a typical Sunday.

In the end we decided to return to the aire in Elciego. The tourist information in Laguardia told us we were welcome to sleep in two of the town parking lots, but they were jammed. Elciego is another wine centered village and has a fantastic hotel, winery, restaurant in it. The Hotel Marques de Riscal is designed by the American architect Frank Gehry. It really is an interesting building though you can debate whether it fits the terroir of the area. At first Ron did not like it but it grew on him after we took a walk down to take a look at it and the surrounding vineyards.

The Hotel Marques De Riscal is quite arresting. Off season rate for rooms was €400.

It is also harvest time here and the town was buzzing with tractors running thru town with grapes loaded on them.

These are wild grapes growing by the road.

October 6, 2018 Pamplona SP

Today was an almost day. We were both very much looking forward to Pamplona. It had a great reputation. Ron is a huge fan of Hemingway who loved Pamplona, and Ton had read a lot of good things about the town, we were both excited.

It’s not that there was anything wrong with Pamplona, it is a very beautiful and interesting city, but our expectations were very high. Yesterday St. Sebastian wowed us because we had no expectations and it was a great city. I think today was the opposite.

The day started with a quick drive over the mountains to Pamplona. We crossed the highest pass we have seen yet in Europe at a little over 2000 ft. The road was good and we were in Pamplona before we knew it. That was the first problem as we had planned to stop at a grocery on the way into town, and we were in town before we knew it, so we missed the grocery stop. It should have been no problem because the aire was supposed to have a grocery next to it. It turned out the grocery was a Carrefour Express which is like a 7-11. The cupboards were bare so we needed a real grocery. Google told us there was another grocery about 1/2 mile a way. Ton is a little under the weather so Ron went on a reconnaissance and it was indeed a real grocery and closer than a 1/2 mile. So the groceries are taken care of for a couple of days.

A cute cartoon showing the highlights of Pamplona.

We then headed into town to see the Citadel, Cathedral, and the old town. The citadel was another fort and quite a large one. It is quite well preserved and we took a quick walk thru, but decided to move on.

The Citadel, impressive and well preserved. Except for the modern apartment building.

We walked thru the old town near the end of Siesta so it was pretty quiet, and while it is the old street layout, it was for us a weird combination of grimy and modern. The streets are quite wide to allow for the running of the bulls which is what Pamplona is known for. The Cathedral was again ok, but we did not see the inside as they wanted €3 to get in. We ended the day with a visit to the Bull Ring to see the statue of Hemingway next to it. We almost visited the ring but they wanted €6 to walk thru.

Outside the bull fighting arena. Did not want to pay the entrance fee as there was no bull fighting, and we would not want to see that either.

We finally decided to have a dinner as the food is supposed to be good. Again the food was ok, the service was ok, and the location was good, with an amateur Basque band playing local music with some interesting wind instruments. All in all not awful, but not a memorable meal or visit.

Some Basque musicians waiting outside a church.

October 5, 2018 Donostia-San Sebastian SP

While François did not move today, we did. Today we did the trip to San Sebastian-Donostia that we had planned for yesterday. After a late start to the day we walked down to the train station in Orio and took the 30 minute ride into downtown San Sebastian. San Sebastian is the Spanish name and Donostia is the Basque name for the town. In the city Donostia is used much more prevalently than San Sebastian.

Donostia is not an old city, everything but a couple of churches dates from no earlier than the mid-1850’s. There are a couple of reasons for this, the first is the British pretty much burned the city to the ground in 1813 after they captured it from the French. The second reason is that the Spanish seem so far, to be a little less enamored with old buildings, and have less of a problem knocking down old buildings and replacing them with new buildings. Our sample size is small on this, but that is our observation so far.

A statue of Jesus overlooking the town from the top of the old fort.

The city has a very prosperous air to it with lots of upscale shops, and very nice pedestrian promenades thru town. It is an easy town to move around on foot. Eventually we made it to the old town, which was the original footprint of the town dating back to the 1200’s and corresponds to the area within the old fort. We climbed the hill above the old town to the remnants of the fort, where we had a very nice view over the town. The climb was probably a couple of hundred feet in elevation gain, but was worth it when we got to the top. From the top of the old fort you have a great panorama of the two harbors that make up San Sebastian-Donostia.

The Urumea River entering the Bay of Biscayne, the beach past the river is the surfing beach.

At one time San Sebastian was a major port and ship building site. Today its main industry is tourism, and it excels at that. We climbed back down to the old town to look for a tapas lunch. We wandered into a tavern where lunch is laid out on the bar, and consists of different miniature sandwiches and tapas. You grab a plate and wander up and down the bar picking the food you want, when you have your plate full you grab a beer from the bartender, and head to a table. At the end you tell the bartender how many pieces you took (they pay attention), and how many beer you had, we had 8 pieces, and 3 beers. Ron was a little dehydrated from the climb.

The food is laid out across the bar, and you wander up there and help yourself.

Close up of a couple of the options at the bar.

After lunch we strolled around town for a while people watching, and having another stop at a local coffee shop. On the way back we stopped at the Cathedral, though we are getting a little jaded with Cathedrals. It was another fun day.

The surf beach up close. It is the same beach as the one above.

When we got back to Orio these guys were practicing, Orio is famous for it’s boat racing.

October 4, 2018 Orio SP

Plans change, sometimes by accident. We had planned to go to the nearby city of San Sebastian to do some sight seeing. Before we left we thought we could knock out a load of clothes. Well that did not work out the way we thought it would. The washer we used was the slowest washer we have run into in 3 continents, with nothing going wrong it took over an hour and half to complete it’s cycle. Then we put the clothes in the only dryer, and inserted our coin expecting it to tell us it would take 40 or 50 minutes to dry the clothes, it said 120 minutes, we thought how nice of them as no dryer could take 2 hours to dry a medium sized load of clothes, we were very wrong. It ran the full 2 hours, and then we hung the clothes out to finish drying. By the time the clothes washing was done it was too late to go to San Sebastian so we just relaxed for the rest of the day. It was a little frustrating, but at the end of the day we probably needed the rest, as we have been on the move constantly for 18 days.

In the early evening we walked into town to get some groceries (i.e. wine). It was a nice evening and we noticed that most of the town was out moving around, groups of children, adults, old men, and old women in groups conversing and enjoying themselves. It was the same last night, and is a nice cultural difference that we envied a little.

This guy was out the last two nights with these two bulls pulling a sled, not sure what the significance of the red mask is.

We came back to a nice conversation with our English neighbors. Ton made dinner and we drank some of our groceries before settling in to watch some Netflix Ron downloaded today in between washing and drying.

Yesterday was the fishing fleet of Orio, today it is the pleasure fleet.

October 3, 2018 Orio SP

After 16 days in France we finally reached Spain. We could have spent the entire trip in France, and enjoyed ourselves, but this trip was supposed to be about Spain. So we finally decided to head south.

Tree lined road found frequently in France, the leaves are starting to turn.

Except for one pit stop to put in just enough fuel to make it safely to Spain, we powered thru about 280km’s of driving. We only put in enough fuel to make it to Spain because France is now the holder of the record for the most expensive fuel in the EU. We have been paying €1.45 per liter, that is around $6.80 per gallon give or take. The first fuel station we saw in Spain had diesel at €1.15 per liter so we had a little celebration.

We had planned a photo op at the border between France and Spain, but it did not happen. The border was invisible, we did not know we had crossed into Spain until Ron noticed the road signs were suddenly in Spanish, and Basque. There was not even a sign welcoming us to Spain.

Ron sitting down at the kitchen table/drivers seat.

We had a nice drive down the coast to a small fishing village called Orio. We are parked a couple hundred yards from a very nice beach, surrounded by very tall hills on both sides. In fact guys parajump from the hills above the beach and circle around for 10 or 15 minutes before landing next to the RV park.

Parachutist coming in for a landing next to the beach.

In the evening we walked into the town proper, and kept looking for the old town, all we saw were modern condo’s and wide new streets. This area has been having a second home boom in the last decade or so, and the construction is very modern, quite different than France. After wandering down to the old fishing port we finally caught a glimpse of the old town, but it is tiny compared to the modern town.

October 2, 2018 Bordeaux FR

Everyone we talked to over the last few days told us we had to go to Bordeaux. Ron was a little intimidated with the idea of driving into a big city, and there are no official aires or campgrounds in the city. After some research our Dutch Parking App listed a parking lot next to a soccer stadium and municipal pool that had good access to the city by bus.

One of the new trams in Bordeaux, there is a lot of work going on to expand the tram lines.

To everyone who told us not to miss Bordeaux thank you we both enjoyed it very much. It is a medium sized city with a very well developed transit system that was easy to use. The waterfront promenade goes on for a couple of kilometers and is wide and pleasant to walk. The promenade has cafes on one side, and river cruise ships, and one very expensive yacht on the other.

These Buildings fronted the river. Bordeaux is one of the larger ports in France.

We visited the World of Wine Museum which is a little pricey, but a very modern multi-media museum, and the entrance did come with a taste of one wine from their world selection. The different multimedia displays included something to taste touch, and many different ways of visually presenting information about wine. It was interesting to see how curators are trying to integrate all of the audio visual stuff that is available now. We also got a small taste of French humor in some of the presentations which was fun.

Most museum stores have books and t-shirts for sale, this one has wine. My kind of museum store.

After cutting ourselves off after over three hours in the museum we headed down town to look at some of the buildings in town. The city center is quite nice, and looks like it was not terribly damaged during WWII despite being a major base for German U-Boats. With a city as tuned into wine as Bordeaux is the cafe scene is quite extensive, and a lot of people were enjoying an afternoon drink, so we decided to join them for a beer. We had a couple of French microbrews and they were quite satisfactory.

October 1, 2018 St. Laurent Medoc FR

We spent the day exploring the wine region on the west side of the Gironde River. This area has some of the most expensive wines in the world. To get there we had two choices, a 100km drive around the Gironde and thru Bordeaux, for the time and gas, or a 20 minute Ferry Ride that would put us right in the middle of the wine area we were aiming towards, for cash money. We opted for the ferry ride because Ron is a sucker for ferries, and does not like driving thru big cities.

François posing in front of a windmill and grape vines.

We really wanted to see the town called Margaux which is the center of the Premier Cru wines. As we were driving there, harvest was in full swing everywhere. This limited our opportunity to visit wineries as the smaller wineries that we tend to visit were closed due to the harvest. When we got to Margaux the town itself did not make much of an impression, besides having a couple of larger than normal homes it could have been any small French village.

Surprisingly to us they harvest a great deal of the grapes in Bordeaux with machines.

We decided to get out to take a quick walk thru town, and were about to head back to François when we saw a winery that was open, in France we have learned that an open sign does not always mean they are open. We were poking around the outside trying to decide when a lady stuck her head out of the door and informed us they were open. We went in with her and found ourselves in the poshest place we have been to in quite a while. She offered us a tour of the winery for €50 each. We decided to splurge for a glass of wine and some desert instead. While we were savoring our small moment of poshness, another American couple came in and joined us. We had a nice conversation with them before heading out. The wine was really good.

Ron enjoying a good wine, and trying to look like he belongs in such a nice place.

On our way out of town we saw the signs for Chateau Margaux whose wines retail for over $1200 per bottle and decided to do a drive by. On arrival we saw that their parking lot was pretty full so we turned into the winery, but were stopped by a security guard and told to turn around. We clearly are not Chateau Margaux customers!

Chateau Margaux where we were not welcome.

We spent the rest of the afternoon driving around looking at the Chateaus, and the harvest process before parking up for the night in a little village in the center of the wine country. The village of St. Laurent Medoc is not nearly as posh as Margaux so we fit in.

September 30, 2018 Blaye FR

We had an early start to the day. The weather continues to be great, highs in the low 70’s and lows in the low 50’s. We headed into Bordeaux which is the home of Cabernet Sauvignon, the area we wanted to visit produces some of the most expensive wines in France.

Our Dutch App that we use to locate places to stay recommended we stay at a winery called the Marquis de Vauban. It was free so we punched it in as we left Rochefort, after a nice relaxing Sunday drive of about 110Km’s we arrived. Our expectation was a spot in a parking lot. We were very pleasantly surprised to find we are parked right in the vineyard of the winery with electricity, and water provided. We went into the tasting room and signed up for the 4pm English tour.

We had a few hours to kill so we walked into the town of Blaye to see the fortifications there which is a UNESCO world heritage site. This is another fort designed by the French designer Vauban, (the same guy our winery is named after). It was designed in 1660 on the site of a medieval fort on the River Gironde. The Gironde is the largest River estuary in Europe and it is about 3 miles wide here. The purpose of the fort was to protect Bordeaux from ships coming up the Gironde. It is an immense fort and was put to the test in 1814 when the British besieged it. The fort withstood the siege and kept the British from getting down the Gironde. It was decommissioned after WWII and turned over to the town.

Looking across the Gironde River towards the town of Paulliac. Goats have taken over one of the outer parts of the fort.

An inland entrance to the fort with a bridge over the dry moat facing the town.

We took our winery tour and tasting with a couple from Wales. After the tour we took a nice horse carriage ride into town to top off the night. While we were relaxing there was a knock on the door of the RV and it was the guide from the horse carriage wanting to know if we wanted an aperitif for the night, of course we did. The aperitif was poured from a used Evian water bottle. After everyone from the campground got their glass he asked what it was, we had no idea, but felt better when none of the other guests knew either. It turned out it was blackberry currant mixed with red wine. It was delicious. After that we returned to the RV to have our dinner, and call home.

This black swan was out looking for dinner outside the RV.

September 29, 2018 Rochefort FR

Today we reluctantly left Brittany and decided to take a big bite out of our trip to Spain. We covered over 350km today to the city of Rochefort. The roads were generally good and for almost half of the way were limited access free ways with no tolls.

Rochefort is an interesting town. It was founded in 1666 to support a naval yard that was placed here by one of the kings. Unlike any French city we have ever visited it is actually laid out in a grid. The town itself had a kind of Mediterranean/California vibe. Ton thought it was kind of boring, but Ron was comfortable in a town he could navigate in without getting lost!

Even thought the roads were straight there was still a nice old gate in Rochefort.

We made another attempt at getting a French phone. The guy at the Orange store (the biggest French mobile phone company), was really nice, but basically told us that there were no good solutions to our problem. We could either get a standard French mobile plan and pay the monthly cost, or get a sim card that only works in France and nowhere else in Europe. We are going to keep trying, there must be a way to make this work.

We went down to the old naval yard. It was a major producer of vessels for the French Navy from 1660 to the 1920’s. In addition to building French Ships of the Line (really big sailing battle ships) and Frigates like the USS Constitution, it also built France’s first submarine (named the Plunger). Unfortunately the location was not good for larger modern ships and it was abandoned.

The French Frigate Hermione reconstructed.

Today they have a replica of the French Frigate Hermione. This ship is famous here for being the ship that took Lafayette to the US during the revolution. It is really well done.

After that we took a look around the ropery which was a large factory used to make all of the ropes used in the French Navy. By the end of the walk we headed to an aire for the night and relaxed.

The ropery building at the French Maritime Museum.

September 28, 2018 Dinan FR

Today we enjoyed Brittany. We had to make a decision, who said there is no stress on these trips. We are really enjoying Brittany and the weather is great. But to really explore Brittany is going to take another 3 or 4 days, and we will still be 3 or 4 days from Spain. We are now on the 11th day of the trip, and we are no closer to Spain than when we arrived. France is addictive. So we had to decide whether we spend time here in Brittany, or head south towards Spain. After much talk and discussion we decided today was going to be the only day in Brittany and we were going to head to Spain.

The next trick was getting diesel. Suddenly our credit cards have stopped working at gas stations. We have had no problems with our cards until now. A quick call to one of our credit cards confirmed we were good, and they did not even see the attempt to charge that was rejected. After a couple of attempts today we found a fuel station that would take one of our cards, we were under a quarter tank so it was expensive to fill up.

Leaving our campground we saw a nice windmill near the road so we swung in.

While we were there the French Army decided to stage a paradrop for us, Ron was thrilled. These guys landed right next to Mont St. Michel.

Having made the decision, Brittany is making it hard to leave. We started the day at St. Malo which is a port town. St. Malo was pretty much leveled during WWII as the German garrison would not surrender. After a substantial siege the Allies finally took it. So except for the city walls the city has pretty much been rebuilt since WWII. But they did a great job of rebuilding the old city within the walls of the fort.

We spent most of our time in St. Malo walking the battlements of the fort. St. Malo was a fortified port for 500 years. Some of the forts were built by the man who is considered by many to be the greatest fort builder in the western world, Vauban. They are indeed impressive, and were even able to pretty much withstand 20th century weapons during WWII. In addition the natural setting on the Bay of St. Malo is really beautiful. We really enjoyed St. Malo.

One of the forts designed by Vaubin. The bird in the foreground seemed very happy to have his photo taken.

Brittany was originally settled by Celts, and St. Malo has a strong connection to Wales. Ron believes his family name is originally Breton so it is a special place for him. They are famous for a cake called Kouign Amann. That is a good celtic word and we could not master how to pronounce it, but it tasted good. It tasted a little like an apple fritter.

We had the smallest Kouign Amann. A prize for anyone who can pronounce this.

Our last stop for the day was Dinan which unlike St. Malo was bypassed during WWII and has a lot of its original buildings. It is also a fortified town, but here we focused on the town and enjoyed walking down the narrow streets within the fort and enjoying the timbered buildings.