Our last night at Turiscampo in Portugal was spent with our neighbours Mick and Sue. They are both Caravan Park Wardens and are on a 3 month holiday with their caravan before returning back to the UK to start a new job on a new park in Wales for next season. They used to live near Benidorm and ran a bar for 7 years so they had some tales to tell. The bill at the bar was also a shocker!
4th December 2015
We used the A22 toll road back to the Spanish border, the road is an easy exit out of Southern Portugal but it is not cheap if you do get charged it is one of the few toll roads that has registration readers instead of toll points and nowhere apart from the Spanish border to register your vehicle so we will wait and see if we get a bill on the doorstep when we arrive home!
We headed south of Seville and just below Cadiz to our next site called La Rosaleda Camping at Conil De La Frontera. A tiered site which was pleasant enough but lacked and sort of atmosphere, a bit bland if you know what I mean. The showers although clean are on a timer of 7 mins of hot water which is fine for Neil but not so good if you have long thick hair! The hookup is 10 amp so I can't blow too much in Bessie this time! Wifi is included in the price of €21 a night.
 |
| La Rosaleda Camping |
A Tapas food fair opened in Conil, the local town which we could walk into and Neil enjoyed his tasters until we got to the last Tapa which turned out to be Rabbit Stew!!
The following day we caught a bus into oldest city in Europe, Cadiz. The city is virtually surrounded by the sea sitting out on a Penisular. The old city is steeped in history and hundreds of long very narrow streets centre Cadiz Cathedral. For €5 each you can tour the inside, go down into the Crypt and climb the 150ft bell tower. There you can see Cadiz in its glory!
 |
| The beautiful streets of the Old City |
 |
| Cadiz Fish Market |
 |
| The Bell Tower and Cadiz Port |
The Port of Cadiz is very popular with the large cruise liners and you can see them close up as you walk along the Port side.
 |
| Cadiz Port |
 |
| Very tempted to board! |
Working our way down the coast towards Tarifa we had a 2 night stopover at Pinar San Jose to meet up again with our friends Charley and Michelle we had met at Turiscampo. They are staying here for 3 months. It was so nice to see them again. Charley had reserved a pitch next to them and the moment we arrived we were invited to a gathering of their friends with music, food and lots to drink!
We had a wonderful welcome and a great afternoon!
Our Pitch at Pinar San Jose
A Welcome Party!
The following day we explored the surroundings of the site which is set within a national park with lots of walks on offer and within walking distance to a huge beach.
The area is unspoilt and peaceful, the site is spacious and set amongst the pine forest. The facilities are modern and very clean with a bar/restaurant and large shop, there is an outdoor pool and tennis courts. The price including hook up was €20.50 a night. We enjoyed our stay here catching up with Charley and Michelle and hope to see them again in the New year.
The site Torre De La Pena is situated on the side of a hill and the pitches are tiered all the way up. Bessies pitch had a view of Tarifa and North Africa. The site facilities are clean and basic with a nice outdoor pool with views. Electric is only 5Amp @ €4 extra a night! Not the best value but the best views! Our neighbour was a German chap and was obviously staying longterm on his pitch as he tended to all the plants on our level and had made a garden around his motorhome! Neil fancied a piece of wood that was lying next to our pitch to level up our table next thing we know there was a knock on our door from the German man asking if we had seen his wooden border for his plants on our Pitch! Neil said he had chopped it up!!! not realising we had stashed it away in Bessies bathroom! Luckily he didn't understand what Neil was saying and we made a quick departure!
10th December 2015 Our Site for Christmas!
Ariel view of La Duquesa with Bellavista is over to the left side.
A View of the Sea from most pitches
Bessie has a new furry friend, the sites cat!
A night out with Val and Ray!
Mosiac Seats line the promenade from the campsite down to the Marina at La Duquesa
La Duquesa Marina
Marbella is only 16km from the site so we drove and parked in one of many underground carparks which is not the cheapest option but driving into a bigger resort on a weekend, parking is always hard to find. The beachfront promenade is full of tapas bars and restaurants and a great place to people watch with your favourite drink and tapas. Val and I had our first Paella, Neil won't eat it so had to wait for a partner as usually restaurants will only make it for a minimum of 2 people. It was worth the wait!
A Day in Ronda.
We hired 2 cars for the week before Christmas to explore the surrounding area and our first trip was to Ronda, a Roman city in the province of Malaga, 750 metres above sea level. The Puerto Nuevo bridge is one of the tallest bridges and towers 120 metres above the canyon floor.
A Day in Gibraltar.
Our campsite is only 16km from Gib so whilst we had the car we had a day trip back home with Val Ray and Sky.
We parked the car at La Linea just outside the border and walked into Gib, we were glad we did as the traffic is just like the centre of London around the border. You walk in and through customs and then walk across the runway which seems very strange to get to the centre. I have flown into Gib before and the decsent in is scary!
Gibraltars Runway!
We took a tour of the Rock instead of the cable car as it seemed better value and we had our own guide who was full of knowledge that we would never have known had we made our own way up.
The tour took us to the top of the rock, to the caves, and the World War Tunnels and of course to see the famous monkeys!
Tangiers in the distance
The Caves inside the Rock
The outlook post at the end of the Tunnel!
After a great tour we had our fix of home with a visit to Morrisons!
A visit to old ground in Estepona.
I have good memories of a family holiday in Estepona when I was only about 10yrs old, the only things I remember is a big white villa on a small complex overlooking the beach just outside the resort. The villa had an upstairs balcony and steps onto the beach and I remember a roundabout with a fountain in the middle. 38 years later I wanted to go back and try to find the villa. So whilst we had the hire car we scoured the beachfront of Estepona and on the very outskirts I saw the fountain and a little further on I noticed the complex,the villas had angled roof tops so you could spot them quite easily, I was so pleased to find them, the beach is much smaller now and the villas are very tired looking but the memories of me and my sister playing here came flooding back, happy times.
A Day in Puerto Banus
We spent a day mingling with the rich and famous and came away feeling very jealous, the cars the boats and stores make you very envious, but we did splash out and have a coffee on the harbour front.
How the other half live!
My favourite Boat!
Puerto Banus Marina
Christmas Eve I did miss home family and friends. The run up to Christmas here isn't the same as at home with all the preperations that go on with decorating the tree putting all the decorations up and setting the table for Christmas dinner etc. But the sun has kept on shining and walking on the beach on new years day in our shorts definitely made up for it!
We spent New Years Eve at the same venue along with friends from the site, we had a great night!
The View from the restaurant
Happy New Year Everyone!
Merry Christmas!
No comments:
Post a Comment