Blogs from Andalusia, Spain, Europe - page 298

Wow, so much to write about. First Asia... what a tragedy. The kind of suffering they´re experiencing there is foreign to us in America, we have nothing with which to compare a disaster like that. I can´t remember anything in my lifetime that has left 60,000 dead and a million people homeless in one short day, it will undoubtedly take several generations for most of those places to recover. Its especially scary for me because my original travel plans for this trip had me placed square on the Indonsian coastline at this time. Only after I started studying French did I decided to change my plan and go to French West Africa. Anyway, I´m in Grenada, Spain. I spent Christmas in Fez with my Moroccan friends. It was a complete non-event since their were no other ... read more

I've finally left Blighty! I caught the Easyjet flight this morning at 7am, after spending the night at the Stansted Hilton. The Hotel cost more than the flight, although I did get a cheap deal by booking over the net. The plane arrived in Malaga at 10.50am. I've spent the day looking around Malaga, and got my dose of culture by visiting the Museo Picasso Malaga. Tomorrow, I´ll be catching the ferry to Tangier - so I´ll be saying goodbye to Europe and hello to Africa. This is my last day in Europe for some time! The centre of Malaga has some interesting things to see - its been a city since the Phoenicians founded it. It also looked very stunning from the plane when we were coming in to land; framed by mountains and the ... read more

Motorhome News from Europe 10. Spain November 2004 Return to British soil: Fascinating Gibraltar, Estepona, delightful Ronda, breathtaking Grazalema Natural Park, Zahara de la Sierra, Alora, Antequera and Laguna de Fuente de Pietra. Our journey this week has taken us from Tarifa, the southernmost point of mainland Europe, eastwards to Gibraltar - fast (in an hour or so) along the Costa del Sol beyond Estepona and then northwards to Ronda in the mountains. We then headed east and north through Alora with Antequera in our sights. A week of walking, stunning scenery, wildlife, and just a small pinch of culture. Well, you can only take so much culture, can’t you? We left Jimena, 30km north of Algeciras, heading for Gibraltar in the hope of seeing it in sunshine after yesterday’s rain delayed our trip. I guess ... read more

Motorhome News from Europe 8. Spain 30th October 2004 Heading south from Extremadura into Andalucia. Yesterday’s rain provided a welcome boost to the many local reservoirs, quenching for a brief moment the unstoppable thirst of the Costas to the south. The blue skies of morning were peppered with fluffy clouds as we left Merida and the Monfrague National Park. Our road rose from the cork and holm oak slopes of the river valley to fertile groves on top hat hillsides and beyond to the open plains. A wide panorama of Fenland proportions, rolling like the swell of a heavy sea in a chequered display of olives, vines, fruit trees and maize stubble grazed by black pigs; vast fields stretching seemingly a hundred miles to the mountains, a misty purple in the autumn sunshine. A stop at ... read more

One of the nicest tapas bars in town, Bodega Santa Cruz!... read more