From The Sublime To The Ridiculous!

They don’t like you washing your motorhome on the Aires sites, but as we were on a marina and they were water blasting yacht hulls I thought I would give the bus a good wash. She scrubbed up rather well.  I was amazed how much brake dust come off the front wheels and doors  .. after today there would be a lot more!
 
Whilst I was hard at work, Elaine was bonding with a very old stray dog, the poor old boy was on his last legs.  (A dutch lady in the van behind us had taken him in as a Rescue ‘to give him some happiness in his last days’).

We left Seville on our way to Puerto Banus near Marbella, with a stop on the way at Ronda which is located in the Sierra something mountains.

We stopped for fuel, and noticed there was also a motorhome service point there as well, all free!  They certainly cater for the motorhomes in Europe …


The scenery was quite stunning as we headed towards Ronda …


And, as per usual, very little road traffic …


The roads are superb for motorbikes, long sweeping bends with very good visibility on most of the bends. I love this road sign …


We were going up and down mountain roads like no-one’s business.  Even though I go very easy on the brakes and use a lower gear on the long descents, there was still a good smell of burning brakes!

T
his lake was the most fascinating shade of blue but there were only rough dirt tracks leading down to it ..


We arrived at Ronda, and it looked the most fascinating place, but we just couldn’t find a spot to park the bus …


This is the only shot we got of the famous bridge. T he parking problem is going to happen every now and and again, as it is a bit of a big bugger to find a spot for especially in some historic town with very narrow streets …


We stopped for lunch in the van just out side Ronda, then carried on along the mountain passes towards the Mediterranean coast.
Concentrate man!  There were even some goats on the road to contend with!


At least they had crash barriers to stop you plummeting to certain death!


Our first views of the Med …


There were some incredibly nice houses as we came down the mountains and got closer to the coast …

We arrived at Puerto Banus and tried to find a parking spot amongst the beautiful people’s Bentleys, Porches and Aston Martins.  We nearly gave up but managed to find a spot in a dead end street, I thought we fitted in rather well …


Off we went on walkabout to check out the opulence ….
 

It is a an amazing place, full of designer shops and so different from anything else we have seen in Spain or Portugal.  There were a lot of beautiful strutting their stuff but what really made us laugh was when we saw some 12 year old girls, rolling along on their segways, whilst chatting on their mobile phones!  Ridiculous, really!


This was going to be my new outfit, but the shorts alone were over 200 quid!


There were some serious super yachts moored up in the harbour …


I liked this little ship …


It’s a place well worth visiting.  We were invited into some very exclusive and expensive restaurants along our walk, to which we said, “sorry, we can’t, we have the dogs with us”!  “No problem” they replied, “the doggies can dine with you”. 



Super models sandwiched between super yachts …
 
We left Puerto Banus and drove through a very busy Marbella and then we decided to stop at a campsite for the night, just out side of Marbella at a place called Cabopino.
As I went to take a photo of our location, Geoffrey walked across the hi tech mapping device …
 
Hmmmm, try again. That's better …

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Where we stayed …
Cabopina Campsite – Marbella, Andalucia
Coordinates:  N 36o  29’ 21”     W4o  44’  35”
(o = degrees … I can’t find a superscript in live writer !)
In ACSI book so it was 16 Euros a night.  Wifi is extra at 3 Euros an hour or 7 Euros a day !!
Nice campsite .. loads of space for motorhomes, very efficient, clean, good services etc.  Italian restaurant on site (very expensive) and Indian restaurant close by.  Bar on site too but stunk too much because everyone was smoking under the shade.
Beach is a little walk away … not too far.

Stunning Seville

We left Portugal this morning on yet another lovely, blue-sky day!  We were heading for Seville in Spain, it was a short hop of just under 2 hours.

Good bye Portugal!  We loved the west coast and northern Portugal, but weren't too taken by the coastal part of the Algarve, which is where all the holiday makers flock to!

One of our reasons for our Euro trip is to look at potential places to live for a while ... we can honestly say it won't be Portugal.

Once over the bridge we were in Spain ...

The little red arrow is us crossing the bridge into Spain, nice little gadget autoroute ...

Once into Spain we filled with diesel as its cheaper than Portugal.  I hit the wrong key for my pin number in the service station and the attendant went spare because he had to redo the transaction!  He chucked my card and receipt at me going off in Spanish ... I don't think he understood English because I called him a 'kin rude pig and he didn't chase after me,!  Good job really as he was a bit of a Guerilla.

We eventually* found our overnight mooring at a marina in Seville about 7 ks outside of the centre.

We really were parked up on a marina!

There was a nice ketch sat in the travel lift waiting to be launched, which was from Plymouth,.  I tried to engage the owners in conversation as to what they were doing here etc. She was a snotty rude, English bitch that just brushed me aside ... so one rude Spaniard balanced up by one rude pom, we were going well.

 Off the miserable buggers went. perhaps they had just got the bill!

We left the doggies in the van as it was going to be too hot for them in downtown Seville.  The temp had got up to 31 degrees, but inside the van with all the blinds shut and the roof vents all open it was a nice 23 degrees ... they are well insulated these new motorhomes.

We caught the 143 bus downtown.  The bus stop is right outside the marina and we had a really super helpful bus driver.....yay things were looking up!s

I have thrown away my map so now I don't know what all the buildings are, I will just say it is such a beautiful city with such superb architecture.

I will let the pics tell the story, well I  might just add a few words here and there! 

I remember this one, its The Alfonso Hotel ...

The stunning Cathederal ...

I'm pretty sure that this is the cathedral bell tower ...

We found a lovely little square where we sat and had a couple of drinks and dinner.  It was a great place to people watch and guess the nationality of the tourist.  Americans are the easiest to spot. 

I had the beer Elaine went for the home made Sangria, as recommended by our multi-lingual waitress !

The Cathedral ...

There was an absolutely huge queue going all the way around the cathedral.  They had been queueing for hours, there was some sort of religious blessing going on - for this week only, so they were on a deadline!

Christopher Columbus is buried in the cathedral.

Early evening and there were a lot of people about all of a sudden!

So many cafes and restaurants, it really is a fabulous city ...

Every corner you turn there is a stunning view ...

We headed back to our bus stop taking in a few more sights along the way ...

 Oh look there is Elaine standing at the bottom of the building!

It is a lovely river, which enters the sea by Cadiz ...

So that was it!  We sat at the bus stop for our bus, ready to practice our best Spanish "Dos (to) Puerto Gelves Por Favor"  ... but it was the same, helpful bus driver and he remembered where we were going to anyway!

When we got back we took the dogs for a walk along the hard standing area of the marina.  We spotted this little beauty, stick a bit of filler in it and she'll be right mate! 

 Its now nearly 1.00am and Elaine is well into her beauty sleep so no editing tonight, sorry in advance for carp spilling and garmmer!  (Done !  El)

This is where we are at ...

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Aire Location:

Gelves (Sevilla, Andalucia)
*It was quite hard to find the Aire here with the coordinates we were given (N 37º 20' 37" W 06º 01' 38"), although I think this site is in the current Aires book, which we don't have!  From the main road you have to take a service road, which takes you down the back of a block of flats to the marina.

Here are the coordinates from our Tom Tom (where we punched in the 'where am I' status ... just in case anyone ever needs them ...

N 37o  20.421'     W   6o  01.402'

Nice spot ... easy access to City via bus that stops outside marina.  Has electricity hook up and water - plus wifi I think, which may be extra - but we found a 'cheeky' one when we were here!  Cost us 14.50 Euros with electricity, but I think you can choose not to have electric hook up if you don't want it.

Elaine Gets Guru’ed

I had a great night last night I went down the local bar to watch ‘The Champions League’ final and sat with a bunch of Portugeezers.  We didn't understand each other apart from…”GOOOAAAAALLLLL”!!
While we were at the Motorhome park we made good use of the wifi.  It was lightning fast, which was just super.
We did our stuff at the service point this morning.  It was also super and clean …

Elaine took a stork shot while I was filling the van with water.  He was way off in the distance ..
You had to hold your hand on the tap in the service area - it was a very slow filler …

The site manager was a nice Dutchman .  He and Elaine got talking and it turned out he was ‘a healer’ – or so El tells me – and they had a lot to talk about in a short time!   So, I left them to have a quick woo woo session  and I sat in the van for my last, fast internet fix before we left …

So, it was bye bye Silves, which was a really nice place, with no crappy Irish pubs and pissed up poms wearing football shirts.  Not that there is anything wrong with wearing a football shirt if you are watching your team play at a game of on the TV in a bar, but to have it as your main holiday dress code I  find a bit strange.  I will wear my Aussie shirt when Spain play Australia in the world cup in a couple of weeks, that could be fun!
 
We motored off to the Portuguese coast once again and once again there was no traffic.
We turned off to Faro, with Espanha (Spain) straight ahead.  We will hit the Spanish border tomorrow …

First stop was Fuzeta, and for the first time we spotted signs saying ‘No Autocaravanas’ (Motorhomes) along the sea front.


We parked up anyway but decided to go for a look around then move on to a motorhome-friendly place later in the arvo.
Not a bad little place, with mostly Portuguese tourists, but like everywhere else it was very quiet.
They had a great outdoor gym.  We have seen a lot of these in little towns and villages - they are great, everything works and nothing has been vandalised.
We had a mini workout … we don’t want to lose too much weight!
 
Push you fat bastard!

We particularly liked these, they were bicycle pedals at the foot of normal park benches, so you could sit, have a chat and peddle away.

I was trying to work up a sweat so I would appreciate a beer even more …

We left Fuzeta and drove 20 mins up the coast to Santa Luzia.  It is a  lovely little fishing village with very narrow streets that we drove down … thank you Madam Tom Tom!!

Check out the mirror, a fag paper each side….plenty of room!

We soon found a gaggle of motorhomes parked up on some waste ground on the ocean front - great spot right on the front …

We went for a walk along the packed prom!

Check out the roof of these houses…..

Neat eh?

We had a drink at one of the bars along the front.  We were the only English speakers – it’s quite strange when they are all jabbering away and you can’t understand a thing – we have decided it is like being deaf.
 
Elaine said there is a crossing in London just like this where some famous band walked across it for a equally famous album cover.

A colourful little fishing boat …

Whilst in the bar Elaine was playing with the camera taking arty shots …

Spot the blackhead!

The tide was out.  It reminded us of the Norfolk coast except it wasn't foggy, raining, blowing a gale and freezing cold!  Apart from that it was very similar …

We like Santa Luzia, it’s lovely.

This old boy was doing a nice timber repair job on his wooden boat …

A very famous family live here…..

We knocked on the door to check him out but some woman with curlers in her hair answered the door and said….”He’s not the Messiah, he is just a very naughty boy”!

With that we took our leave and went looking for an Albatross sandwich.

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Location today was: 

Santa Luzia Aire - it is really a bit of waste ground next to some apartments, but there is a water tap there. The coordinates we had were 37.10111, -7.66167 but they seemed to take you to the middle of town.  You will see the waste ground when you go into Santa Luzia (where the smiley is on the pic below) - probably with motorhomes already parked up on it!   Lovely spot - and free !