Madrid to France (part 3)

Week 25 – 19th to 25th November

With the last 2 weeks in the villa having quickly passed by, we now have just 2 weeks left of our European Adventure. We have a fair distance to cover so will be moving pretty quickly, but we wanted it this way so we could spend as long as possible in the warmth of the South!


Madrid

We left the villa on Monday and made the 500km drive to Madrid; we also left the good weather behind and it was now cold and chucking it down with rain! It didn’t manage to rain itself out over night so our day in Madrid was a wet one. It was a shame and meant we didn’t really get to appreciate the city so it will be on the list to come back to some other time.

What we did see seemed pretty nice; some elegant architecture, wide streets, grand art galleries (according to the travel guide; we didn’t partake of course!) but they say it is the vibe and atmosphere of Madrid that is its main draw so perhaps a party weekend here would be the best way to go.

Plaza de la Cibeles (home to Madrids main Post Office!)




The Cathedral (Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Almudena)




France – Part 3!

Another long drive the following day took us just back over the border into France. The rain had cleared up, the days clear and the nights cold. At this time of year there are very few campsites open so we are using the Aires; if you are not familiar, these are free (or a couple of Euro charge) stops for motor homes and there are many across France. Often located in small villages, they provide the Aires so you are encouraged to spend in their shops etc. We did a week of this before we left France previously and so feel a little more comfortable with it providing there are one or two others about; however during winter there are far fewer people touring so we shall see how it goes.


St-Jean-Pied-de-Port

We actually stayed at the Aire in this small town on our way into Spain, only this time we managed to take a look into the town itself! It was the eve of England’s football match to qualify for Euro 2008 but this place is too small to house and Irish bar showing the occasion; perhaps that was a blessing given the debacle in the end!

Just a convenient stopping point really, but a pretty little town in the Pyrenees all the same; at the foot of a pass into Spain, enclosed by walls, with a cobbled street forming the old town and the River Nive running through.

The Bordeaux Wine Region

The wine producing area forms a semi circle to the North, East and South of Bordeaux; there are 195 châteaux/vineyards in the area East alone, so if you want to sample local wines a plenty then this is the place to be! Some of the Châteaux’s are very grand and in warmer weather I’m sure a meander to a couple would be a pleasant way to spend a day or two.

St-Emilion

We headed to St-Emilion in the East; a pretty medieval town. Châteaux Gerbaud is kind enough to provide a free Aire, so we spent the night right in the middle of the vineyard. We were the only ones here but it felt safe and the owner didn’t mind giving us a little tour and insight into his winemaking, including a taste of course. We bought several bottles so everyone was happy.

La Rochelle

Having given Bordeaux itself a miss (it was too complicated trying to find a park for the Lunar) we headed to La Rochelle; said in the guidebook to be the most attractive and unspoilt seaside town in France!

Bizarrely, I recall I had a school trip here, though I have absolutely no recollection of the place; even after walking around it, it rang no bells, lord knows what we were doing on that educational experience! As such, I kind of expected it to be nothing special but it turned out to be a lovely town: an unexpected surprise.

It’s an Atlantic port town with the focus very much around the Vieux Port; many boats and yachts were moored, even at this time of year, and the surrounds full of cafes and restaurants. The main shopping street is lovely; the shops set back under the archways and the street lined with 18th century houses.

Actually, if it were located in slightly warmer climate, around here would be a nice place to live.

The Loire

By Saturday we have moved into the next region. This region is home to a huge number of châteaux’s; we wanted to only look at a couple!

Azay-le-Rideau

The village is hyped in the guidebooks and said to have one of the loveliest châteaux in the Loire so we thought this would be a good place to start. In truth we were a little disappointed; the village itself was nice enough but nothing special and although the châteaux looked very nice, there was a 7.50Euro charge to even gain access to its grounds so we declined. That may seem a little tight but if all of them charge similar amounts then it would end up an expensive excursion! So we had to peek through the hedges…

There was an Aire here but just in a car park, so we decided to travel further on to the very small village of Ange. Turned out there was a fair here; quite possibly the smallest one we have ever seen, comprising of a kids merry go round, dodgems, hook a duck and that cuddly toy grabbing machine. Spending just one Euro, Andrew did manage to grab me a ‘quality’ teddy in a dressing gown on his first go! This was actually quite special since he has been trying to win me such a gift since the first day I met him.

Portugal (and Spain part 2)

We enjoyed the Picos de Europa but didn’t feel there was much else to keep us in Northern Spain so decided to head straight across to Portugal; it was over 700km which is a long drive in the Lunar but we made an early start and got there in about 7 hours.


Porto

Our first stop was Porto; a lovely town, though the good area is very much isolated to that around the waterfront; once you venture from there it is pretty run down and not a very attractive place to be.

We partly went to Porto as we wanted to be in a decent city for the England vs South Africa rugby world cup final that was on the evening we arrived. We expected Porto to be bigger than it was actually, but they did have one Irish bar with a good crowd and we had a great night (despite the result!). In the photo is David (Australian) and Petra (South African)




Week 21 – 22nd to 28th October

Lisbon

From Porto, we moved about half way down the country to Lisbon; it being the capital we figured a visit was in order but it didn’t really do a lot for us, perhaps partly because we have done a lot of cities and were keen to get to the beaches of the Algarve, but we didn’t feel inspired as we wandered around.

It wasn’t enhanced as we had to spend several hours on a wild goose chase around the city looking for somewhere to pay our road toll; a word of warning…have plenty of cash on you whilst driving as the tolls in Portugal are pricey and do not take credit cards - in all other countries we have been able to pay on card!

On this occasion we were 70 cents short of the 33 Euro toll (rather embarrassing) and after some time and horn tooting from the drivers behind us later, we established we could pay later at a multibank. We figured this would be ok, especially since we were in the capital, but we later discovered that multibanks are ATM machines which have many uses for the Portugese such as paying bills, but no such facilities are available for foreign cash cards, only cash withdrawal.

We couldn’t pay at the bank itself and after being sent to several other places across the city looking for this one shop where we could apparently pay, we found it only to be told they couldn’t take payment and we had to go some place out of town! Perhaps Andrew wouldn’t have minded so much if they had taken my passport details rather than his!


Sagres

Petra and David had told us how lovely Sagres was and that’s where we headed next; it is right at the Western tip of the Algarve with small beach coves. The weather was lovely and we had several easy days on the beach.

Once we braved the initial cold of the sea – it took a while – we could still swim; the water was beautifully clear and invigorating. You could be forgiven for thinking I found Daniel Craig (aka James Bond) coming out of the water but it is non other than Andrew himself…

Week 22 – 29th October to 4th November

Quartiera

Reluctantly, after 4 days we left Sagres and made our way further along the Algarve. We stayed a couple of days at Quartiera; this was a long stretch of beach and a typical England abroad place…fry ups and Sunday roasts abound…however, after a night in a camp site we noticed a free park which was right on the beach and plenty of motor homes were present so we spent a night right here…

Spain – Part 2

Sierra Nevada

Crossing the border from Portugal back into Spain we made towards Murcia on the East coast. We were planning a stop in Seville but unfortunately the only camp site anywhere near had closed down so we just kept on driving all the way to Granada and stayed a couple of nights up in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada.

Week 23 – 5th to 11th November & week 24 – 12th to 18th November

Murcia

Andrews’s cousin, Ian, has a villa in Murcia and this is where we are staying for a couple of weeks. There is little to write since we are treating this as our holiday and doing very little other than playing a few rounds of golf and making the most of the sun; the weather is still lovely, its been sunny every day and probably around 22 degrees and so still warm enough to catch some rays. It has been great to relax and stay put for a while.

Spain - Part 1

Week 20 – 15th to 21st October

San Sebastián

We cross the border from Southern France and into Northern Spain. First stop is San Sebastián, which actually is only about 20km from France. It is a seaside town and a nice one at that; there isn’t a great deal to it but it’s pleasant to wander its pretty streets, saunter along its good city beach and take in some of the many tapas bars.




The Northern Coastline

The plan was to drive along the coast taking into the pretty little bays we had read about. However, this turned out to be rather disappointing and we moved through very quickly; the beaches were ok but the villages/towns behind them were unattractive and not places we would want to stop at, and with perhaps one exception, the coast drive itself was non eventful and uninteresting.


Picos de Europa

Being unimpressed with the coast we decide to head inland; in fact you only have to travel about 20km to find the Picos de Europa and some absolutely beautiful countryside. The Picos are a mountain range, with a highest summit of more than 2600 metres, some decent villages and some fantastic scenery with gorges and valleys in abundance.

The view from our campsite in Potes.

Fuente Dé

Part of the central Picos, Fuente Dé sits at 1078m and, 4 minutes later in a cable car, you are part of the Macizo Central a further 762m up. Not usually ones for taking these sorts of tourist options, we aren’t in the mood for hiking and wanted the views without the effort; it was worth it. It was a glorious day and, in my humble opinion, there is little that beats the immense feeling of being high up in the mountains; admittedly it is somewhat more rewarding if you have hiked there but nevertheless…

Lagos de Covadonga

Within the western Picos is Covadonga, from which a 12km (very hairy, especially in the Lunar) drives takes you to 2 very beautiful lakes. In our experience, lakes quite often disappoint, but I have to say these are most certainly worth the trip. (As with everything throughout this blog, Im sure that if this was ventured in the peak traffic of summer there may be a slight haze on the opinion.)

Lago de Enol

Lago de la Ercina

The Pyrenees

It is the day of the rugby world cup semi final as we cross the border into the Pyrenees region. We head to a place called Bagneres-de-Bigorre, which we figure looks a sizeable enough town to have a decent place to watch the match. It’s certainly good to get back into a mountainous area with great views



There is a bar showing the match, but the town doesn’t really have a great ‘feel’. We head to the campsite where it turns out they have a tv room; now its surprising the situations you find yourself in sometimes, but Andrew and I were both getting over colds and didn’t feel great so decided to stay at the campsite to watch the rugby. This meant it was just the two of us with our bottles of beer, crisps and nuts trying to emulate a crowded, buzzing pub. Andrew, to be fair, gets just as excited on his own as in company (when watching sport) so there was still the jumping up, shouting, anxious pacing and (pretend) elbowing to the bar. Bless…


Luz-St-Sauveur

Heading further into the region, we have a lovely drive through the mountains to Luz-St-Sauveur, where we camp for the night and have the most fantastic views. The weather too is still great with beautiful blue skies and warm days; gets pretty cold once the sun goes down though!