Seville, Spain

Posted 19.March, back dated to be in chronological order.


Several stops back, we had been told that we could stay in Dos Hermanas and easily manage a day trip to Seville. My camping book lists two campgrounds and the larger of the two turned us away. (We could have parked alongside their reception office just fine and there was still ample room for parking but they wouldn't hear of it.)

We rerouted to nearby Alcala de Guadaira which on first look was close by, but we wouldn’t fit down the streets of Dos Hermanas so had to go back up the freeway and around. After 50 km, we arrived and there was no signage. Directions in the camping book are vague but say to follow the signs to the Hotel Oromana. I found the hotel in AutoRoute and mistakenly routed us directly there. The access road to the campground lies just before the entrance to the hotel – big rigs have no business driving up the hotel driveway. We had to back down. Rough road doesn’t begin to describe the next segment of driving.




Alas, we finally get to the campground. They speak no English. I speak virtually no Spanish. After some deliberation, they agree to let us stay and Dan walked the site to find the best route in. The site is on a hill and the access roads are being eroded by water! It was a bit of a rolling ride to the pitch – but there are 4 pitches that are almost suitable for pull through spots! Water is not potable and the drainage is nowhere to be found. The kids made quick friends with two Spanish children…who abruptly made us a flower garden in an old wooden box. Very sweet!


The next morning we were awoken by roosters. Actually, the crowing started around midnight and just didn’t stop until around 9am. Jumped on the bikes and headed to the bus stop – which I had been able to get directions to with much pointing at the map. No matter how many times you say the name of the street, if the person listening can’t understand it, you won’t get far. Regardless, the reception desk was helpful and we did find the way!



Bus to Seville was full – it took about 30 minutes to get there. We wound up stopped outside the Captania General building and should have gotten off one stop earlier. Wandering on, we quickly found our way to the tram – which for 1.20 EURO per person takes you from the central bus station to the Cathedral and Plaza Neuva. We wound up getting off at the Cathedral – there was a Starbucks, Post Office and hey – a really cool cathedral!







Dan had to get manager’s approval for two venti drip coffees! They just don’t do drip coffee here. The kids grooved on their hot chocolates and we all basked in the very warm sun. Only thing is, virtually everyone round us is dressed up to the hilt! Fancy suits, funny hats on the women… we have no idea what’s going on but I was starting to feel out of place in my shorts. After a bit of hemming and hahhing, we finally decided to join the line for the Cathedral. Loved the sign at the entrance… fee is 7.50 per person unless you are a native to Seville or unemployed. We were wondering if we could make our case as unemployed. In the end, we paid our 7.50 per person (kids are free) and for the first time, I bought in to the audio guide gimmick. Megan promptly took my audioguide receiver and I virtually didn’t get to use it again during our visit (I’m not really complaining…it was fun to see her getting excited about the history of the Cathedral). The Cathedral is built on the site of an old mosque. It is one of the longest and the central altar took 80 years to build. We were awed by the rich designs and intricate detailing. Loved the walk up the bell tower too with little glimpses of the city below. 38 flights of ramps later, we were at the top, admiring a fantastic blick of the city, including the bull ring. Then, back down again to the orange courtyard, where we decided to call the Cathedral visit to an end. I think we really only saw half of it!












View of Cathedral from Starbucks











Inside the Cathedral.






Descending from the tower.




View from the tower.



Megan swiped my audioguide!




This is where you exit the Cathedral.




Random pictures of Seville.








Onward to Madrid... our moms are coming to Paris to meet us on 12.March and we have over 1,000 km to go.



Ciao for now!

Somewhere in Southern Spain

GPS coordinates for our campground (Camping Buganvilla): 36.50384N 4.80338W

We're near Marbella, Spain and are being treated to our first rain squalls in weeks. Yes, it's raining. Bummer.

Most recently we spent a day in Granada, primarily at AlHambra. Very beautiful town and fantastic carvings in the palace at AlHambra. The only disappointment is that they have moved the lions, from the famous fountain of lions, indoors to help protect them. We had skipped the museum tour and the museum closes at 2:30.

We are hoping to get out next to Malaga and then to the Rock of Gibraltar. Just trying to figure out how best to wander about in the rain ... yuck. Forecast is for rain through Thursday/Friday. We were hoping to be in Portugal at the end of this week.

Will get the prior posts (LaManga, Cartenga, Granada and various stories & pictures) updated soon - just a quick note to let our readers know where we are and our family & friends know that all is well.

Ciao for now!

Winter - Mediterranean Style

GPS of our campground: 38.90737N 0.06657W

Feeling a little worn out after a busy few days, we started making our way to Kiko Camping in Oliva, knowing others who have camped there in 35' units. Finding Oliva was not difficult, but finding Kiko Camping proved to be beyond our abilities for the day.

A little further up the N332, we found signs for EuroCamping and were able to follow signposts to the destination. Again, the infrastructure is being greatly developed and there are new streets, new condos, etc. which do not appear on our map.

We agreed to settle in for a week and are enjoying a week of "winter" weather, Mediterranean style. This morning found me, camp chair on the sand dune in front of the RV, enjoying a cup of coffee in 60+ degree (F) weather while the kids happily played at the playground.

Here's Megan's journal entry for the site (in her own words, own spelling):

"Me and mi little sistr run and play. It is so fun. I can scoot. Me and Sofeu play."

Pretty good work for a kid who was a reluctant reader just 6-months ago, eh? Needless to say, I'm quite proud of the progress she's made.

View from our RV:

RV parked on the "Dunes" section:

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

Montserrat, Spain - GPS: 41.59673N 1.83843E

Note: Published Feb. 4, 2008 but back dated to be in chronological order with our travels.

After a few very busy days in Barcelona, we decided to head to Montserrat. Monastery, culture, nature - all to be enjoyed in a spot that is theoretically best reached by a combination of train from Barcelona, followed by rack railway or cable car up the mountain.

Folks along the way were dubious as to whether our motorhome would make it. No one seemed to know whether or not staying in the motorhome would be allowed. A call to the parking office assured us there was room to park our 35' beast. The person I spoke with indicated that while unsure of the "official policy" he knew others stayed in their motorhomes while visiting.

We found Montserrat easily enough and surprisingly, the route up was quite nice. Roads were wide and well banked and as it was a Monday, there was no tourist traffic for us to deal with. (I believe we took the BP-1103 off the A-2 on the way up.) We found three other motorhomes in the parking lot and parked near two in the mid-section of the lot. (we eventually moved a bit so we weren't sleeping "downhill.")

The views are striking and the landscape phenomenal. Here you see the view from our door...don't jump! Being the off-season, it felt like we largely had the place to ourselves. Tourist traffic was very low and while that also meant the main cafeteria was closed, it allowed us to selfishly enjoy the surroundings without competition.

Monday afternoon, we explored the grounds and the Basilica. Inside, it's silent and extremely ornate. When you exit and enter the side door to the right, you are led through the side corridor, up steps, and to pass directly in front of the statue of the La Moreneta (The Dark One) which is the patron saint of Catalonia. After touring the Basilica, the doors exit to the cave of candles. There are so many candles burning you can feel the increase in air temperature! Very beautiful and serene.

Approaching:

Top of the landing, outside the Basilica courtyard:

Basilica facade:

Cave of candles:

After a quick dinner, I coerced the family back up to the Basilica at 6:15 to hear the Boys Choir. However, I had not memorized the timetable well enough. 6:15 is Rosary (no singing) and 6:45 is Vespers (singing at the end)-we should have arrived at 6:45. Not knowing, we sat quietly in the back, listening to the Rosary (in Latin, I believe) with the Monks responding in the background. At 6:45 the bells started ringing and the monks entered the Basilica for Vespers.

At the end of Vespers, the monks sing and the Boys Choir enters to join in. Attendees are presented with the contrast of the deep resonating adult voices against the high, almost angelic boy's voices. The monks departed and the Boys Choir sang two additional hymns. Beautiful and yet ghostly. Sophia and Megan thought the voices of the Boys Choir hurt their ears. Hurrah! They finally understand how their own screeches and squeals sound to us!!

Personally, seeing the boys enter almost brought me to tears. I couldn't help but think of kids barely older than Megan being sent off to live at a monastery. The boys are educated on site and sing five times daily. I'm sure there is a process in place to accomodate familial association. Just was a little disturbing to see the group of mostly young boys, away from home, arms tucked inside their white tunics as they entered and exited. My mommy heart couldn't help but break just a little and think these kids are somehow being deprived of their childhood and family bonds.

By the time we returned from Vespers, the two motorhomes near us had left. So, here we were, in a deserted section of the parking lot, by ourselves. On one hand it was kind of cool. On the other, a little eery. Needless to say, we had a fairly restless night. Wanting to be unobtrusive, we left the sliders in. The parking lot is attended and there was no reason to feel uncomfortable - other than we were waiting for someone to knock at any moment and ask us to leave. Believe it or not, we could hear the echo of dogs barking from the valley below. I know I should be able to tune it out by now, but something about feeling alone and isolated on the side of a mountain made it all the more irritating at 1am.

Tuesday morning I headed out for chocolate croissants as a treat - nothing like a bit of buttered chocolate with coffee to cure the effects of a restless night. The road construction near the top was already in process, but I was the only "tourist" and there were several times that the machinery stopped. In awe, I enjoyed several minutes of complete silence intermingled with the gorgeous landscape during my walk (~1/2 km each way). For me, that alone was worth the trip. After breakfast and lots of coffee, we headed out our separate ways. Dan and Megan were off to hike the St. Jeroni trail; Sophia and I were intent on visiting the museum.

Turns out, the trail was entirely inappropriate for Sophia. Dan and Megan made it in about 2.5 hours RT. Megan was simply beaming when they met up with us. Her face aglow, her spirits lifted at accomplishing such a feat. She's turning into quite the little hiker. They passed other Americans struggling on the trail and Dan threw out, "If she (Megan) can make it, so can you." Ouch. After summitting, someone else they had passed made it up and pointing at Megan, said to Dan, "muy rapido." That's our girl.

Trail perspective:

View from the top:


Rapido niña: (OK - hope this isn't Spanish slang for something other than my intention - I'm so proud of Megan that she completed the hike with Dan and in such great time - couldn't resist trying to use the quote from the hiker they encountered on the trail.)

Sophia sat contentedly in her stroller while I wandered the museum, listening to the audio guide. We were virtually the only visitors and I couldn't help but think that off-season traveling is the way to go.

We greatly admired the work of Caravaggio (Repentant Saint Jerone), Picasso, Dali, Monet, and many others. I particularly enjoyed the Catalan collection and being introduced, specifically work by Fortuny and Nonell. I don't know how much of it Sophia really enjoyed - but there were certainly paintings and sculptures that struck her fancy and elicited a comment. One, of a little girl sitting at the piano but turned to look at the painter looked so much like Sophia that she actually asked, "Is that me?" Another sculpture, of a mother holding a child, brought forth an "aww. Look. It's a mommy holding a baby. Is that you, mommy?" Very sweet.

By the time we finished with the paintings, I was overwhelmed to the point of not being able to take in any more artwork and Sophia was ready to get out of the stroller. One funny note, the audio guide mentions a quote about the area - "A man is not truly married until he visits Montserrat." Not entirely sure how that is supposed to be interpreted, but hey, Dan, I guess you are now "truly" married.

No stopping point is complete without a playground. =)

We headed out almost precisely 24-hours after we first arrived. The only surprise to the whole trip was that we were charged the "bus" rate for parking. 24 Euro for 24 hours! The car rate is only 5 Euro. Kind of a bummer, but at least the money goes to the ongoing support of the Monastery.

Some of the best days are free

GPS location of our campground: 42.04235N 3.18449E
Camping Les Medes - a very nice, very friendly campground.

We came to l'Estartit for a day or two and have stayed a week. In part, it's the beautiful weather; in part, we have Internet access and have been updating the blog (now if only I wasn't so wordy...).

But, to get back to the title. Some of the best days are free and we've found that here. The town is a tourist destination and is completely boarded up right now. On the outskirts, there are a couple of grocery stores that are open. On weekends, the Harvey's in town (British fast food) opens, but are hard pressed to serve food. The boats that take tourists around the Medes Islands are operating only on Sundays, and we missed the boat, so to speak, due to a misunderstanding of the prices posted outside the vendor's office.

So, why stay? Let the pictures do the justice on this one, keeping in mind that it's January.

Sunsets:




Playing:
There are playgrounds everywhere along the beach.




The beach:
Sometimes, you've just gotta roll up your pants, kick off your shoes and go with the flow.

Hiking:

Outing 1 (1/21) - we didn't really have a goal - there's a street, running up the side of the hill to the villas and we followed it. At the top is a nature preserve as well as two view points / hiking destinations. We called it good though, to reach the entrance to the nature reserve - we weren't provisioned for a long stroll. Looking at the map later, we were on track for Cala Calella and just didn't know it.

Outing 2 (1/22)- Castell del Montigrí

A fortress built to protect Torroella de Montigrí in 1294, but never completed, this was a fun, somewhat spontaneous activity for the day. The summit is at 302m (992ft) and it took us about 1 1/2 hours to make it (keep in mind we had two little ones along for the "walk"). Megan was a trooper and handled the ascent and descent with no complaints. Sophia too, but parts of the trail were too rocky and steep - so Dan carried her most of the way up. You can climb up one of the towers and walk the perimeter of the fortress (another 13m in height)! We made it down the mountain as the winds were starting to pick up and arrived at the bus stop just in time for the (late) bus. Happy bunch tonight!

Go up this:

Pass 3 chapels:

The cross is about the mid-point (or, as Dan says, "You've done 90% of the verticle, don't stop now.)

Summit + 13m - the perimeter of the fortress.

Swimming:

This campground has three pools, one of which is indoors and open in the off-season. The kids have never slept so well!

We've been fortunate that the winds have not been present until today. The winds have a special name here, La Tramuntana. According to the climate tab on the tourist site, the area is generally mild, but the NNW Tramuntana winds can be as high as 100km/h! The wind has been gusting through, starting this afternoon. At certain parts of our bike ride home, there was no need to pedal as the wind provided plenty of push! For that, the climate write up also mentions the area has an average of 2,600 hours of sunshine every year... we're not missing the rain in Seattle.

Ciao for now.

Update: L'Estartit, Spain

¡Hola! We just arrived in Spain and are loving the feeling of thawing out. It reached 60-degrees today (15.5C for any European readers). I found myself peeling off my sweater to bask in the sunshine coming in the front window. Ahhh... nice!

Apologies for the delay in blog posts. It's been a while since we've had affordable access to the Internet and our time spent with friends and family over the holidays was not the appropriate time to be spending copious amounts of time online. Internet prices can run in the range of 8-15 EUR per HOUR! Many places didn't offer a discount for multiple hours, makine a long run online impossible.

Everyone is doing well. We have tons of fun pictures and memories to share - will try to spend some time tonight updating the blog with the back-dated posts.

Some of the memorable stops:

• Christmas markets in Switzerland and Germany
• Beautiful extended Christmas with my host-family
• New Year's in Munich with friends (you think 4th of July fireworks at our house are bad, you haven't seen anything compared to this!) and celebrating Sophia's 3rd birthday at the permanent circus in Munich.
• Lugano, Switzerland - beautiful!
• Driving along the Italian Riviera - though I didn't take any pictures due to being overwhelmed with the beauty while at the same time scared to death of the narrow roads, cliffs, cyclists and sheer number of people out enjoying the sunshine!
• Visiting Stes Maria De La Mer, France, whose church is dedicated to the two St. Mary's and Sara, the Patron Saint of Gypsies.

On the personal front, the kids are growing at an alarming rate. Megan has started reading and tries to read sign posts and graffiti along the way. She doesn't care that it's all foreign languages - she's just happily putting sounds together. Sophia is working on going through her "Terrible Two's" at age 3... fortunately it's not a daily experience. Dan and I are healthy - Dan's learned the secrets to a mean fried rice and yummy pancakes. =) Life is good.

Tactical planning is over rated...

Headed out to Genova in search of the ferry to Barcelona, Spain. Given lack of Internet access and the sketchy situation in Rapallo, we just "went for it." We found the ferry terminal with no problems. Only, we arrived around 11 am and the gates to the docks don't open until 1pm/13:00. There is not adequate parking outside the gate for us. Reassured that as long as someone stayed with the motorhome, we were fine, I took off to secure tickets.

Good news: The cost was slightly under the 500 Euro we had guessed and we saved the cabin fare as we can camp onboard.
Bad news: The ferry departs at 9pm

Ticket in hand, I return to the motorhome and take the girls upstairs for lunch and to get some energy out. We had a very leisurely lunch at McDonalds, played on the few automated rides they had and did some shopping at the terminal grocery store. Cool. We're stocked up and ready to go!

Finally around 8:30 or so, we board the ferry, but are told to check in at "reception." Reception informs us that the seas are too rough to allow on-board camping. They have comped a cabin for us. We need to pack a few things and once we leave port, will not be allowed back in the vehicle until we arrive in Barcelona. The word cabin is probably overrated in this instance - it's a single room with a triangle shaped bathroom and a closet by the door and just enough room to walk between the beds. At first, we were fearful that we had been given a room with only two twin beds, but bunks fold out to make 4. The kids had a hard time going to sleep with the novelty of being on a ship and both on top bunks... and mom and dad had reading lights on below. Around 11pm, I realize that I felt a little queasy - maybe it's from reading / angle of the light mixed with the movement of the boat. Not thinking anything of it, I turned out the light and went to sleep.

Needless to say, I awoke feeling really sick. I fumbled through a shower, but then had to lay back down while Dan got the girls dressed and went off to breakfast. I was begging for an anti-naseua remedy. He came back with the tiniest roll of bread I've ever seen and said the crew indicated "it's a condition. bring her down to the common area where she can see the horizon." Right. There is no horizon on this ferry ... a tiny bit of bread and coffee didn't help. The girls, over running with energy and wanting to play and cuddle with me simply didn't understand.

Enough about me. I get sea-sick - now we all know. We arrived in Barcelona fine and found our next destination (mostly) without incident (warning to RV drivers ... some overpasses are angled in meaning while you clear on height, you may scrape your side mirrors). This "campground" is a parking lot with an area set aside for motorhomes. We are really quite oversized for their standards - but with overhang, were able to mostly fit into a spot. There was one electrical box which had 38 connectors (!). Water and dump facilities were located in a separate area, which had been fenced off for some reason, making entry for us a bit of a challenge.

• Day 1: Barcelona - we felt happy to find the parking spot and get settled. Dan starts reading up on the Schengen Treaty online.
• Day 2: Barcelona - it's a National holiday - we start out to explore - but head the wrong direction. We're surrounded by high-density (and appears to be lower-income) housing. Everything is closed. We head back to the parking place... start wandering the other direction, toward the hotel district. We find a huge (5-stories) shopping mall. Upon entry, it answers the question of "where is everyone?"
• Day 3: We depart. After more research and consideration, we decide we shouldn't tempt the regulations of the Schengen Treaty (allowing us to stay in the Schengen territories for a maximum of 90-days in any 180-day period). We're within a week or so of our 90-day limit - the primary issues that made the decision for us were:
• a) if caught, we have no idea what the prosecution / exportation process is like. Would we be jailed or do we just post enough money for airfare and leave? Would we be separated from the kids? We weren't able to find any process-related information, other than those who have been caught recently have been steeply fined (in the 1'000's of dollars per person).
• b) Dan found an article notating that most insurance policies are cancelled if the insured is doing something illegal. Definitely don't want our health, auto or life insurance invalidated IF something were to happen just because we selfishly want a warm winter.

This in mind and knowing we need to be good stewards of tourists, especially American tourists, we decided to burn a path to Switzerland. A tactical error. We could have saved a lot of money (ferry, gas) and time had we headed to Switzerland after visiting Milan. However, our initial plan had been to take the risk and winter over in Southern Spain, getting nice tans.

That's the story of how we came to be in Switzerland, by way of Italy, Spain and France... having not enjoyed any risotto, paella and only one crummy croissant. =)

Not all is lost - the drive is quite beautiful (though the toll roads will kill you - we spent about 200Euro in tolls through France alone). We had an interesting laundry day in France... a single washing machine (5 Euro per load) and no dryer. It was 3pm before we arrived and we had 3 loads of laundry. Well, almost everything was dry before we left at noon the next day.