Spain and Portugal – Oct/Nov 2024

We will ditch the bikes after 3 weeks in the saddle in France and hire a car in Barcelona and spend 6 weeks on a road trip.

Our plan is to cruise down the coast to Granada and Seville, then spend a couple of weeks in Portugal before heading back into the interior of Spain, up to San Sebastian and then back across to Barcelona.

Barcelona

*We stayed near the Sagrada Familia –*
*an impressive building*

*Loved strolling the narrow streets of Barcelona*

Costa Brava – October 1st – 4th

We hit the road and ventured North of Barcelona to Costa Brava. We found some lovely beach towns.

*Tossa de Mar – lovely seaside village and fort*

We hit the jewel in the crown where we stayed 2 nights – Cadaques

*View from the patio above our apartment*

*Charming white washed buildings and narrow lanes*

*Waterfront – for sale for 15 million euros. We put an offer in!*

We drove to another cool little town – Begur.

Costa del Azahar – October 4th – 7th

We drive about 200 kms south of Barcelona to Peniscola.

*The castle – the build started in 1194*

Benicassim

We reconnected with Frank and Veronica who were great friends when we lived in Denmark 30 years ago! What a fabulous couple of days. They live in Andorra but have a wonderful pad in Veronica’s old stomping ground.

*Frank and Veronica have an awesome spot overlooking Benicassim*

After a fantastic weekend with Frank and Veronica we headed South.

Valencia

Costa Blanca – October 7th

*Altea – a quaint whitewashed village south of Valencia*

*View from our apartment balcony – with a wine of course*

Costa de Almeria – October 8th – 10th

We headed South to a lovely seaside resort Mojacar.

*Whitewashed buildings with blue combo was the colour scheme*

Costa del Sol – October 10th

We traveled south to Malaga. This was not on our travel plans however we organized for Lars and Derya to meet us for a week from Bath.

*Frigiliana – a very cute village enroute to Malaga*

Malaga

Certainly not really us – high rise apartments with little character!

Ronda and Seville – October 10th – 12th

We picked up Lars and Derya and quickly headed away from Malaga inland.Ronda and Seville are both amazing places. The landscape and buildings in Ronda to the magnificent architecture in Seville.

*I just cannot get enough of the small streets*

Seville – wow what a place!

*Place de Sevilla – built for an exhibition*

*There is a mosiac of each region in Spain*

*Orange trees line some streets – unfortunately they weren’t ripe*

*We took a horse and cart – very touristy*

*A fancy hotel we didn’t stay in! We used their loos.*

Granada

We continued our road trip with Lars and Derya to Granada – another absolute gem!Dominating the sky line is the Alhambra. A magnificent setting, buildings and gardens.

*A wonderful environment was created around 1100*

Granada is certainly more than just Alhambra – it is a wonderful city to walk and enjoy the old town.

*When in Spain you must go to a Flamenco show – great fun and energy*

Cominito del Rey

A must visit in the region is this walk around the cliffs that was developed back in the early 20th century for the workers who were building a hydro dam. It is an awesome walk not for the faint hearted!

*Stunning scenery as you cross the swingbridge*

*Great feat of engineering building the walkway*

*Our last night together overlooking Alora*

Sadly we had to say goodbye to Lars and Derya who headed back home to Bath. Lars scored some fancy Ray Ban Meta Smart glasses in Spain – complete with camera and his new friend Meta who can tell Lars all sorts of useful information! We actually thought Lars looked like Superman!

PORTUGAL – October 17th

We dropped Lars and Derya at Malaga Airport then headed for Tavira in Portugal. First time in Portugal for Helle and I so super excited! I got to the border of Portugal in 1986 but was turned away as I had no visa. This time there is no border! You just keep driving and suddenly you are in Portugal.

The Algarve

We stayed in the small coastal fishing village of Cabanas – only a short drive from Tavira.

*Top village with a cool boardwalk along the estuary*

*Helle hugging the wall – a long drop down*

*Stalks making their home in an unused industrial site*

Carvoeiro – Oct 19th – 21st

*Magic coastline of limestone and shell fossils*

*The secret beach – a few others had discovered it*

Luz October 21st – 23rd

We are loving the Algarve. Temperatures are around 27 C – and summer is long gone!

*Ferraguda – a cute fishing village near Lagos*

*Sunset from our balcony apartment in Luz*

We took a drive out to where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean. We discovered our quaintest village in Portugal so far.

We left the Algarve and headed North to hit the big smoke Lisbon. Enroute we stopped on the Atlantic coast and Evora.

*Roman temple in Evora – built 1st Century*

Lisbon October 24th – 26th

First impression of Lisbon is that it is somewhat rundown – let’s be kind and call it rustic charm!

*Views across Lisbon from the Cathedral*

*Our street in Alfama district Lisbon – right in the thick of it*

*We climbed the hill in Sintra to get to the Palace of Pena*

Sintra is a lovely area about an hour from Lisbon.

*Quinta da Regaliera – I wouldn’t want to visit this place at night*

*The old town of Sintra – you don’t see many telephone boxes anymore*

Azenhas do Mar – Oct 26th – 28th

We stayed two nights in Azenhas do Mar on the Atantic coast west of Lisbon. Great spot.

*We stayed on the hill – in the white house!*

Obidos Oct 28

What a wonderful old fortified town to wander through – built in 12th Century

*You can walk the entire way around the walls – Helle stayed below.*

From Obidos we drove up the Atlantic coast.

*Many of the beaches are like the wild NZ west coast*

Aviera Oct 29th

We stayed in Costa Nova just over the water from Aviera. A top little holiday destination with houses painted mainly red and blue stripes.

Aviera was a disappointment.It was touted as the ” Venice of Portugal ” – yeah right!

*Perhaps the only vague resemblance of Venice?*

Porto Oct 30th – Nov 2nd

Our favourite city in Portugal. Set around the Duoro River it has wonderful buildings, colour and a top vibe.

*Our apartment in the heart of the city*

*We had a day cycling up the river to the Atlantic coast*

Viana do Costello – Nov 2nd

This town was a surprise package – on the coast around 1 1/2 hours drive north of Porto

*Some stunning buildings and cool streets* to explore

*Every town has an old town square where people just hang out*

Saojo – Nov 3rd – 5th

We headed inland to the Peneda Geres National Park. Very few tourists visit and Saojo is a charming hillside village full of tiny streets and granite houses.

*We stayed in a traditional granite house*

*Off on a 3 hour walk with Saojo in the background*

*We took the old paths built hundreds of years ago*

*Helle was a bit weary of the big horns*

*Espigueios – granite granaries built to store grain in the 18th century*

Duoro Valley – Nov 5th

We headed South to the beautiful Duoro Valley – our last night in Portugal.

*En route through Guimaraes. Xmas decorations were out.*

*View from our AirBnB in Duoro Valley – the River house*

*The drive out of the valley was spectacular*

Saint Martin del Castañar- Nov 6th

We left Portugal and drove back into Spain to a lovely little village – Saint Martin del Castañar.

*Our rental car – a bit of a squeeze on through the streets*

Madrid – Nov 7th – 10th

We headed to the Spanish capital via Salamanca- a very impressive University and cathedral.

Madrid – what a wonderful city! We have walked 30 kms in 2 days exploring all the hot spots. This has to be my favourite big city in Spain.

The architecture, the scale and grandness of the buildings, plazas and parks is just awe-inspiring.

*The buildings were super grand in Madrid*

*All the buildings seem to make a statement*

We visited the Royal Palace. Inside was unbelievable. Frescoes, tapestries, paintings and furniture adorned every room.

*Every room was exquisitely adorned with tapestries*

We hit a superb Sat morning market.

*We purchased a couple of grater plates*

*Another fine structure in the middle of an intersection*

Toledo Nov 10th

1 hour south of Madrid is the famed ” holy Toledo” – no idea why or if there is a connection. But it’s a fortified town from centuries ago.

Back to Barcelona Nov 12th

We stayed enroute in Zaragoza.Not much going for it except an exceptional Cathedral.

Our last stop before getting back to Barcelona was Zaragoza.

On our way back we visited Montserrat Monastery.

So after 6000 kms and 6 weeks on the road we finally got back to where we started – Barcelona.

*The famous Gaudi creation – Park Guell*

*Another Gaudi building – they are certainly different*

*Green is in! It is time to leave to head back home*

After 3 1/2 months away it’s time to head home to a NZ summer. We are looking forward to seeing family, friends, heading to the beach, seeing Frankie and organizing our next 3 months away in 2025! ADIOS for now.

Spain and Portugal – Oct/Nov 2024

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