More Spain (it´s a big country)

We made a lovely campsite by a river near Viana du Bolo to spend our night with the others. Just a lot of catching up a few vinos and swapping travel stories. Sounds like we may meet up with Mish and Hannah again in Italy, but Markus and Anna are on there way to Amsterdam to work. Great night.

Next stop for us was Avila on the way to Madrid. Avila is home to the most intact city walls of all of Europe. They were very impressive especially by night when they were all lit up. There is a lookout point where you can get a really good view of them.

From Avila we stopped for the afternoon in Madrid. While it is a massive city, only a small part of it is of any interest to people like us and it didn´t take long to look around. We found a really upmarket looking food market where we bought SanGrias, olives, cured ham and "homemade" potato chips. Delicious. We also went to the main park (where I think everyone in Madrid was out running and rollerblading) to see the `fallen angel´statue. Supposedly the first statue 'dedicated to the devil´.

From Madrid we headed to Torledo, the most disappointing but also interesting part of our trip. We knew a part of the exhaust of the van needed fixed but we were waiting until it really needed fixed, which was today when it fell off. We happened apon a mechanic who gave us directions to an exhaust place. Trying to understand the directions was a huge task as again there was no English. In the end we left with a map on the back of a business card (surely they could have found a bigger piece of paper?) Anyway we made it (it was 15km away in another village) The guy told us what needed done, using a english/spanish dictionary and a lot of drawing pictures. But we had to leave the van with him overnight so he could work on it when the exhuast was cold. Luckily he had a friend bringing a car to be checked out and this guy was a teacher who spoke English. We explained we had no where to stay if we left the van with the mechanic. The machanic then rang and organised a hotel room for us for a good price. The teacher then gave us a ride to it! So we ended up stuck in the smallest village in Spain (Bargas) with 24 hours to kill. We went for 3 walks around the town and then sat on our balcony and drank Sangris we bought from the supermarket. With no cooking facilities we thought we best have tea in the hotel restaurant. With very little English, the scary looking owner turned out to be lovely and we managed to get a "menu of the day" a typical thing over here where you get bread, wine, and fixed entree, main and dessert for a low price. Delicious.

So now with the van fixed (and sounding amazing) we are on our way again. Just in Cuenca and next will be heading to Valencia. All I can say is thank goodess we built in a contingency for the likes of van repairs.

Portugal

Our first stop in Portugal was a place called Ricobayo, hadn´t planned to stop there but it had a lovely looking lake we could see from the motorway so we did a bit of offroad driving down to it and had a lovely lunch and a swim. There were a lot of fish in the lake, Justin now wants a fishing rod for the van.

Next was Braganca. Really liked this town. Walked around the historic area of town and to the city walls. Massive well intact stone walls that surround the historic part of the city. We walked around those for a while and Justin even went in a scary dungeon looking bit! The state of some of the houses people were living in was pretty interesting, would love to get a look inside some of those houses. Also had a look round a really inpressive cemetary, so much marble and beautiful headstones. Stayed in a free parking area for campers that was right by the walls which were nicely lit up at night.

The next town we stopped in was Braga, it had been raining all day but we thought we had outrun it in Braga. We headed up the hill to find the Bom Jesus church. Built in the late 1800s it has a massive amount of steps leading up through some forest and beautifully kept gardens. It was starting to rain so we headed back down. Not long after we were back at the van a thunderstorm hit. I have never seen rain like it in my life. The roads turned into rivers. On the way back down to the town we found a car in front of us that kept driving forward and back, forward and back. We thought they were nutters until the lady got out and explained what they were doing. The hill you drive down is really steep, but when you get to one part of it it is actually uphill but doesn´t look like it. You can prove it by putting the car in neutral and rolling "up" the hill. So then we looked like nutters doing it! When we got to the bottom of the hill there was a massive traffic jam. We pulled over and walked to see what was happening. The drains on a major tunnel road had blocked and it had filled up with water in the rain. People were tooting till the cows come home (not sure what they were trying to achieve) So we stayed parked up and cooked tea and waited it out. (Sometimes its great living in your vehicle).

From Braga we headed to Porto which we had really been looking forward to. It lived up to all our expectations and more.....wish we were still there.

Really cheap shopping and a lively shopping area. Awesome 2 storey open air market where old ladies are selling fruit and veges, flowers, baking, seafood and live poultry. I got some flowers from a lovely old lady, we talked for a while (me in English and her in Portugese) great fun.

Found a great park on the riverside to stay, could open the back doors and look over the river. Loads of men out fishing along the river, and hundreds of fish! The river looked like it was swimming there was so many! Needless to say they were catching a lot of fish.
Also went to the port wine museum and to a fancy bar that only sells port wine by the glass. They have couches and a lovely garden area for you to sit in and enjoy your port. The ones we tried were delicious. We bought some bottles from the supermarket later on that day which are also yum. Also had a lovely lunch in a really busy bar which had exceptionally good service I might add. From Porto we headed back to Spain (rather reluctantly) but we were going to meet up with Mish and Hannah and Markus and Anna who were near the Portugese border.

Spain continued

Here in Santander, have finally seemed to get into the swing of things with the Spanish lifestyle. Don´t do anything between the hours of 2pm and 5pm as it is too hot and all the shops close for a Siesta, and don´t try and buy food from a restaurant until after 9pm. Had a lengthy session in the supermarket trying to figure out what all the foods were and then read preparation instructions. Ended up with a lot of fresh fruit and veges and bread. The freezer section is a laugh, all the frozen veges and seafood in compartments for you to scoop your own into a bag. Great fun. Did also manage to get a delicious Sangria from a bar near where we are staying. And cheap too! Not many people in Spain speak English which is proving a great challenge. Then you find random people that can and I´m sure they are scared at how long you try and talk to them, the butcher at the supermarket, the man at the booth in the parking building, the homeless man you give your jar of olives to that you didn´t like......(didn´t stay to talk to him).

Next stop was Santillana Del Mar, a small old looking town which gets a lot of tourists due to some caves nearby. Justin bought a sweet sweet walking stick as every person here seemed to be carrying one. The caves have some paintings in them which are 18,500 years old. (Impressive I know) The actual caves have evidence of people living in them up to 22,000 years ago. You can´t visit the actual caves as the hoards of tourists that were let free to roam them in the 1970s and 1980s nearly destroyed them, but they have used some pretty wicked technology to make a replica cave that you go inside. There is also a really interesting museum which tells you all about cave paintings and cave people from all around Europe.

Went for a whirlwind tour through Leon, where we found some sweet markets and really awesome looking Gothic church.

We were keen to get into Portugal so spent another half day in a place called Zamora in Spain. Went for a walk and saw loads massive ants making tracks across our path. Fasinating but really quite scary!

More France/Spain

Next stop was Arcachon, a very lovely seaside resort. Had lots of nice shops and a good food market. Also home to the 'Dune de Pilat' a gigantic sand dune. It is over 100 metres tall and really long. We walked up it and after a break to take in the view at the top, ran back down it! (Great fun) It is right beside a forest which is random, you are walking through trees and next minute you look up and there is this massive pile of sand towering in front of you. Apparently it is slowly getting blown backward by the wind and taking over the forest.

After Arcachon we headed to Bayonne, which was nice by nothing to write home about. It was raining so we spent a few hours in the laundromat and did a bit of walking around the town when the rain slowed.

Next stop was Biarritz another nice seaside town. This one was big with surfers rather than sunbathers so much and did have really impressive waves. We watched for hours when the tide came in and there where massive waves crashing up the cliffs and onto the road. Very senic and relaxing place, we ended up staying two days.

Our last stop before Spain was St Jean Pied de Porte, a beautiful old looking town in the base of the Pyrenees. It was very beautiful, took lots of photos and had a picnic lunch there.

Our first stop in Spain was St Sabastien, another coastal stop. It had some pretty nice beaches and people for miles sunbathing and swimming (I would hate to see what it was like a month ago in peak season). We spent a day on the beach and a day looking around the town.

Headed toward Santander and ended up stopping a night in Zarautz and got stuck in the rest area we were in as the road was closed for a bike race! It was fun to watch though and I walked into town for our daily baguette. Didn´t last all day so we were off again shortly after lunch.

From there it was onto Santander which is where we are now. Another coastal city which many beaches and loads of restaurants. Planning to go to a restaurant tonight (might have to have some snacks as they don´t serve dinner here until 9pm) and hoping they serve Sangrias.
Planning to head inland from here shortly in the direction of Portugal (specifically Porto)

France

Next we headed in the direction of Paris, making it as far as a small town called Senlis. We found a bunch of other camper vans so stopped with them for the night. In the morning Justin went for a walk and came back with a baguette, so proud that he had had the whole conversation with the bakery lady in French. We then moved onto Paris and quickly learned that you have to have your head on a swivel at all times when driving!! People will fit them selves into any gap and there is a centre line on the road but otherwise there are not lanes on roads wide enough to be about 8 lanes so its a big free for all! We visited all the main sites, the Eiffel Tower, the Arch de Triomph (in the middle of a roundabout where the cars on the roundabout have to give way to those entering, again massively wide with no lanes) The Louvre and walked around the main areas where the likes of the Louis Vitton store is. We also stayed one night in a camping ground which was fun. We had a platter of all things French (including wine of course). We also saw the tunnel where Lady Di died and happened to be there on the anniversary we realised as we were standing there.
Paris was a wonderful city and the weather was grand. We ended up there for 3 days and could have stayed longer.

We then headed in the direction of Bordeaux, but as it was 500km away stopped a few days along the way. One stop was in Blois, a lovely river side town with a nice Chateaux. Here we also discovered Auchan a very large department store/supermarket. They had 3 double sided isles of wine and 3 sides just of cheese!!!!!! We spent the day lounging around on the river side in the sun and parked up with some other campers for the night. We happened to park with a couple from NZ/Aus. It was nice to speak English for one and discuss the issues of European life including the fact it is impossible to buy ice for the chillibin!

The next day we stopped in at Tours where Leonardo Di Vinci's remains supposedly are and found a lovely riverside spot where we spent a few hours resting in the shade (it was sooo hot) but I must say I am now also looking rather brown. (I love the European sun)

We finally made it to Bordeaux. The surrounding area grew a lot of corn and sunflowers which I find surprising as it is a big wine area and I am yet to see any grapes!

It was Justins birthday and the day we found out about the earthquake. We went out for lunch and ordered the 'menu of the day' a traditional french thing where you get a set menu of entree, bread, a main, wine, a dessert and coffee. We ate a delicious white meat in a creamy mustard sauce which I assumed was poultry until I found a spine, on translating the name of the dish we realised it was rabbit! Well there is a first time for everything and it was delicious!
We spent a couple of days walking around Bordeaux and its beautiful riverside Esplanade. We also did a lot of resting as it was so hot! One thermometer we saw (in the sun) said it was 43C!

Will leave it there for now will being heading down to Spain in the next day or two.

The Netherlands

Our first stop in Holland was Rotterdam. It is home to a really old shipping industry and one of the largest ports in the world. We watched lots of barges going down the canal while we ate tea. The was alo a crazy barge on the side of the canal which was now a floating chinese restaurant / Asian supermarket / party zone!!!!! We went for a walk through the gardens, there were lots of 'Jed' parrots flying around. Here we also discovered FEBO a fast food place where all the food is already cooked and waiting behind tiny oven doors for you to put you money in the vendor and open them! The little chicken burgers are delicious! The eat a lot of croquettes here.We also tried some more frites (fries) but they were no where near as good as Belgium and the mayo tasted funny :(

From there we drove on to The Hague (Den Haag). It rained all night and all day, like serious rain where I considered the possibility we could find ourselves in a flood zone. Also found out the rain can come in the van through the heater when its on and we needed it on to keep the windows clear! Here we are on the motorway and I am pouring bowls of water and squeezing my teatowel out the window!

We then moved on to Amsterdam hoping to leave the rain behind. The rain on the way was so heavy they lowered the speed limit on the motorway to 50km/hr and had to close a lane because of flooding. By the time we got to Amsterdam however the rain had stopped. The next day we farewelled Ted for the day on the outskirts of Amsterdam and had our first day using public transport. It turned out to be quite easy and great to get around. Made a rather spread out city a lot easier to get around. We had 24hr tickets so could just jump on and off trams willy nilly whenever we wanted. We had a good look around and went to the red light district that night for a look before heading back to the van.

From Amsterdam we drove all the way back to the bottom of Belgium to Ypres. Ypres had intense fighting during WW1 and there is now a lot of war cemetaries and the 'In flanders fields' museum. We spent nearly 3 hours at the museum and then had a look around some of the 150 cemetaries including Tyne Cot, the largest which has a lot of NZers and a special NZ memorial area for 'the missing'. To this day farmers are still finding unexploded ammunition and other remnants of the war in their fields.

NOTE

Sorry to everyone that it has been so long since we updated. Once we finally got to use internet again we have spent the time contacting people about the earthquake and trying to find out if everyone and our house was ok!

Belgium Continued

We stayed two nights in Brussels, a lovely city very different from the other Belgian places. It had lots of nice old buildings but the whole town wasn't concentrated on it and there were lots of modern skyscrpers as well. We had a really good tourist map so were able to see the good sights. We ate lots of Frites (fries) waffles and beer. We went to a celtic bar where the beer is only $2 each! We saw the Manneken Pis (pissing boy)s tatue and got up at a ridiculous hour of the morning to go to a market that starts at 4:30am! We also went to a free concert in the park. All the Belgians seemed to think the music was great but I beg to differ. I`m sure there was a lot more we did as well but I don`t have the diary with me and it is hard to remember exactly what we did 8 days ago!