16 – 19 April – Aquetera
Left Gib at 10:30 and headed back up the coast past Marbella and then inland to Aquetera. Another site which is pretty much part of a car park, but with a few dedicated motorhome places and with water charge and dump, all free so can’t be bad.
First impression of Aquetera – quite modern, quite nice, lovely views and countryside .. but then …. We discovered the old part of the town – beautiful, traditional, clinging to the hillside and with a very well preserved Moorish castle to literally cap it off – amazing.
On Wednesday – a lovely sunny day – we decided to take some lunch and go for a longer bike ride out across the plain to a reservoir we had seen on the map which looked quite pretty. So then we had a few issues:
- Sat Nav kept trying to send us up private driveways which meant the original estimated times and distances went all to pot
- Whichever way we went the wind blew the opposite way
- Some of the plain was less flat than anticipated with some shallow but VERY long hills
- (Summary) we got knackered and didn’t reach the damn, dammit
Thursday (happy birthday me) we decided on a quiet day with a last walk around the old town and a birthday meal at a little restaurant we had seen before, which was off the main tourist area and only five minutes walk from the van. We haven’t eaten out much as we are watching pennies but generally there has been very limited choice of vegetarian food anyway. This restaurant was the exception which proves the rule though – we had local olives with warm bread, a fantastic warm avocado salad and a bowl of roasted veggies in olive oil – aubergine, caramelised onion, tomato, green and red peppers – all superb. Two course meal, two rounds of drinks and two coffees – 32 euros.
20 – 22 April – The Road to Portugal
Friday 20th we took a gentle drive to the outskirts of Cordoba where we pitched up on a car park attached to a bakery called Peter Pan (!) for E6 – nothing special but clean, safe and quiet and a nice cycle from the city. The cycle paths were great which helped as the main roads were busy and fast (for Spain) so it made for a relaxing ride in.
The old city is gorgeous with the now-familiar narrow cobbled streets, beautiful balconies and hidden piazas. We were on a mission to find the medieval(?) Mosque, which we did – huge, magnificent, fortified and quite breathtaking – I’m sure the huge, thick walls could tell enough stories to last several lifetimes if only they could talk. Behind the Mosque is the river, majestic, green and wide with a lovely old bridge spanning the gentle eddies and swirls of the current as it finds its way amongst little islets and mud banks.
Saturday 21 April we drove to Gabraleon – pretty enough little town but we have been a bit spoiled. The site just a car park behind the police station – uninspiring but we did encounter Bessie II! This is our last stopover in Spain – we are suffering from ‘Wow’ fatigue and have decided to bypass Cadiz and Seville this time and head for Portugal, the Argave and some R ad R by the beach.
Finding the Elephant 