Blogs from Andalusia, Spain, Europe - page 9

A leisurely start to the day. We walk up to the local cafe to get breakfast - they are offering bacon and eggs, lovely. The bacon has a very strong flavour. We think it might be the speciality bacon cured up here because of the mountain climate. Now to the electronic dashboard. I manage to find my way into settings and hey presto, I can change the language to English - Ian is much happier and as impressed as I could ever expect him to be. We set off for our tour of Sierra Nevada. It’s a mountainous region with white painted buildings dotted throughout. There are fabulous views and terrifying hairpin bend roads. A massive thud on the car indicates a large pine cone falling from above. I’ve also noticed something that looks like rain ... read more

This morning we had planned to go out early because I want to be back in time to see the Queens funeral. The black out curtains put paid to this as we don’t wake up till 8am (that would be 7am back in the UK). I can’t believe it’s so late, Ian says I fell asleep around 6pm last night - I must have been exhausted. We decide to skip breakfast and go straight to the cathedral. The tourist office assured us it would open at 9am today although our guide book said 10. Out of date guidebook? It’s a half hour walk to the historic centre so we won’t be there at opening time…but near enough. We arrive at the cathedral. It doesn’t open till 10! We walk around the outside taking photos. It’s much ... read more

So here we are, off to the airport again. To be honest it doesn’t feel long since our last trip and I’m almost wishing I hadn’t booked this trip. But book it I did and everything has been paid for so here we are. I suppose we were lucky that the trains were running as there was due to be a strike today. Our train is on time and it chugs us in to Redhill, one change and we are at Gatwick. It’s all pretty smooth. We are early but check in is open. For once we don’t break the machines doing the self check in of our suitcase…yes just the one, we’re travelling light. Security is the usual nightmare. The lady in charge of the queue is funny…she’s calling out all the things we have ... read more

Today we bid a sad adios to the Costa Del Sol. Our beach resort day, and the relaxed start this morning gave us time to recharge our batteries and we were ready to hit the road! My cold is going away, and I should be fine in another day or so. Jody’s problems are probably more allergy related, Europe is old and there’s all kinds of new stuff to be allergic to. We left this morning for Alfarnatejo, a small village in the mountains of about 400 people. This is not a tourist town, there are no souvenir shops. It’s just and actual farming town where people make their living from growing olives and making olive oil. There is also a little wheat farming, and they are experimenting with pistachio and almond trees, but mainly ... read more

After last night’s Flamenco exhibition, it would be difficult to find anything more fun in Sevilla, so it’s time to move on again. This time we’re leaving Spain again, even if it’s just for a few hours, to visit Gibraltar, which is actually part of Britain. We can't actually bring the bus into Gibraltar, both because it’s too big to get very far, but more because the bus and our luggage inside are subject to search by British Customs and this could cause a long delay. There has always been animosity between the Spanish and British Governments, but it has really been flaring up lately due to Brexit, and this has been causing customs delays. The story goes that back in the 18th century, when Spanish king didn’t have any children, the children or grandchildren, of ... read more