Peñíscola, Spain - 40.39803N 0.41302E

Note: Published February 4, 2008, backdated to stay in order chronologically.

Leaving Montserrat, we were in search of power. Our coach batteries are not working properly and it's a challenge to get through 1-night of wild camping/boondocking. We agreed to try a spot listed in the Bode Atlas guide that would be 8 Euro/night and on the map, there were plenty of "bail-out" options (campgrounds) if we needed them. Off we headed to Peñíscola.

Easy drive until we reached the exit. We'll just send out a "thank you" to the several drivers of oncoming traffic who had to find a shoulder or pull out, where there were none, so we could get by.

As we're struggling with streets that are narrowing and an impossible zig-zag, I saw a sign for "Parking La Mercera" with a motorhome on it. We followed the main road, voila! There's a rather large parking lot with motorhomes - as well as a main road to/from town. Not our original destination, but it works and is still only 8 Euro/24-hours. All 8 power outlets were in use - but someone was kind enough to let us daisy chain off their connection for the night. They left the next morning - and we were set!

Parking La Mercera:

Lots of folks around us were from Great Britain; others from Germany and Netherlands spoke really good English. All were friendly, inquisitive and helpful.

The parking lot is a block off the beach and it's a beautiful, groomed beach. Condos and villas line the beach and there is a large boardwalk for walking and biking. We spent a fair amount of time wandering, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere, birds singing and gorgeous weather. Grocery stores were readily accessible however most shops and restuarants were closed up - it is "winter" after all. Days are warm, evenings are cool (47-degrees F).

Winter picnic:

Sunset:

Looking down the beach at Peñíscola:

We spent one day biking - first out to the main road to see if we could find propane (no), then out to the motorhome shop we had seen on the main road, to see if they could change our oil (no) or if they knew where we could get propane. I was directed to "Butano" - just past the overpass, on the right. Fortunately, we didn't bike any further as we were on a really busy highway.

Giving up for the day, we biked down toward Peñíscola, in search of a McDonalds for Internet connectivity and lunch (there were WiFi options available at the parking lot, but we felt they were too expensive). We spent a lot of time biking around and never found the McDonalds (turns out it was the "other" direction). Finally gave up and stopped at a pizzaria for lunch around 2. Friendly service but not terribly inspired food. We really need to start getting recommendations for where to eat before we start looking for food.

I think part of the issue is we are typically looking for lunch around 12 or 1pm. Many shops and restuarants close for mid-day and don't open again until 4 or 5pm. Regardless, we biked about 20km in all that day (that's a lot for me, folks, even on flat terrain). Felt good to get the exercise and you can't beat the scenery!

PS: Parking La Mercera was actually quite nice however a little noisy. I'm not whining here, just will point out some lessons learned:

• Garbage/recycling pick up seems to happen around 1am (you hear the truck picking up and banging the dumpsters).
• Dogs bark non-stop - both from other campers and from local farms. 1-block off the beach is farmland and most seem guarded by huge German Shephards.
• When there's another parking lot immediately next door, try not to park along side it. We did so, trying to stay out of the way and not take up too much space. To our surprise, around midnight a tour bus pulled up parallel to us (but on the other side of the fence) and continued to idle his engines, opening and closin compartments on the bus for about 15-minutes directly behind our bedroom window. He did the same again at 5am. We moved to a new parking spot the next day - so were at least protected from the tour bus annoyance. =)

Next entry: Refilling propane in Spain