Carboneras, Garrucha, Vera, Mojacar Peublo and Aguilas

Carboneras, Garrucha, Vera, Mojacar Peublo and Aguilas

All gorgeous coastal towns, with stunning beaches, which were no more than an hours drive from us.  Quite a common theme running through them all and certainly seeing them during the peak of summer meant they were mostly heaving with tourists.  The golden sand beaches were always packed with colorful umbrellas and skimply clad bodies of varying shapes and sizes.  All as close to the water as they could get,  as there was usually a lovely sea breeze about two metres from the waters edge and everyone was doing their best to enjoy it.

Carboneras is the furthest south and lays claim to being the setting for the "Laurence of Arabia" film, among others.  As you enter the city from the northern side you are greeted by this huge "white elephant" of a hotel. The partially built Algarrobico Hotel was deemed illegal, because it was being built too close to the shoreline and has nothing done to it since 2007. The massive 20 floor structure with its 400 rooms was 90% complete when construct stopped and the wrangle as to whether to demolish or finish still continues.

Along the beachfront we found the Pensioners Gym - the aim is to encourage the oldies to get up and get off it.  So various pieces of gym equipment are placed underneath the palm trees, free for anybody to use any time of the day or night.  Not sure if it's working but seems a fabulous idea. Spent a fun afternoon strolling and telling stories with Francis and Janet, while David tried out the equipment.

Next up the coast is Mojacar Playa, a thriving tourist beach resort which is very popular with the Brits and local Spaniards for music and night life.

Then behind this is the magical Mojacar Peublo -a striking sight of small white houses wrapped around a harsh outcrop of rock.  We parked down on the beach and wandered the couple of kilometers up the hill.  Probably not the best bet in forty degrees heat but we surely sweated out any lingering alcohol or foreign bodies we'd taken in over last few days.

Scooters are the way to go as you get the easy ride up, enjoy some air and wonderful view  

It's a classic picture postcard town, an ancient hill village, which seems to just rise up out of the flat plains and is really more about atmosphere than sights.

Wandering the narrow streets and enjoying the balconies overflowing with flowers and the cascading bougainvillea was a treat.

Just around the corner are another couple of lovely spots, Garrucha  and Vera Playa, the later being responsible for one of the worlds best naturists resorts, not that managed to find it.   

Garrucha is a charming, character filled fishing town, a full marina but not too many tourists.  Renowned for its lively fish markets and fabulous seafood restaurants.  Also a super efficient post office!!

Then about thirty minutes up the coast is one of our most favorite places, Aguilas,  a delightful city, originally a Roman fishing port.  Although a classic tourist spot because of its glorious beaches it has more of a city feel to it, based on its principal business of exporting locally grown fruit and vegetables. 

The central town Plaza is lined with lined bars and restaurants, in the middle palm trees, pigeons and statues.  One of those glorious spots you could kick back enjoy either a long coffee or few glasses of the local wine, at a very reasonable price, and enjoy watching the people.

The local Churreria served up Churros and delicious Hot Chocolate, almost thick enough you could stand your spoon up in, just like I'd read about.  We had to try that - Churros is deep fried dough, not unlike a donut, that certainly improves when accompanied by the hot chocolate.  But in 40oC heat it probably wasn't at its best

Market Day in Lubrin

Market Day in Lubrin

Lovely to have time to try different foods and enjoy the whole process of shopping from the markets.  The Spanish aren't a nation of fast-food eaters, they prefer to buy fresh every day.  You won't find a fridge packed full of food, instead they consume what they have.    

Its Wednesday morning, eight o'clock and from our place we can hear the stall holders erecting their shelters and preparing for a morning of business.  It's the one morning of the week that Lubrin seems to come alive and I love the sounds of all the action happening below us. 

About 9.30am we wander down to the Plaza, armed with carry bags, sun hat and money in the pocket and ready to do business.  Its a social time for all and you don't want to hurry this process, nobody seems desperate to sell you anything, infact you often have to wait while they catch up with friends and finish their chatter.  It will happen but you just have to relax and take time, they're not going anywhere and if they happen to be serving you while a friend comes along just be prepared to stand and wait till he comes back to you.

The stall holders come from all around the region, and with the vast selection of wares provided some of the locals never venture any further.  There's fresh fruit, vegetables, eggs,  fish, cheeses, breads, meats, dried fruits, nuts, sweets, shoes, kitchen and  household utensils, women's clothes, men's clothes, socks, underwear, jewelry, handbags, sunglasses, an unbelievably sweaty man cooking roastisere chicken ( sometimes in 40oC)  and an enthusiastic young chap deep frying Churros.  This smells delicious and I notice people purchase then enjoy it with their coffee at the bar.  I'm told that it should really be eaten with a rich hot chocolate, one that you can almost stand your spoon up in, but for now coffee with do.

After filling the shopping the bag, a coffee in the Plaza bar is a must.  Nice to feel we are almost locals as they see us coming and offer us our "usual". Market day is the time to sit, enjoy the company of others, catch up on all the gossip, and generally watch the world go by.  Looks good to me - we're converted, just need a little more practise. 

Saturday morning we head to the market in Vera.  It's huge,  probably ten times the size of our Wednesday market with stalls galore but not quite the intimate, relaxed feel that Lubrin has.  Coffee at a local bar compares well and we manage to come away with only a pair of sunglasses!!!

Discovering Lubrin

First priority off to find some wifi, will get organized at home later but for now great excuse to check out who offers great coffee in Lubrin.  Found six bars all providing strong, smooth Spanish espresso -  Dave's smiling now and even wifi in one of them.

Picked up essentials like water, can't drink or even cook in the local water, so  better keep the mouth shut while showering or goodness knows what we might catch!

A little warmer than our last place of residence, time to put away the jeans and kiss them goodbye for the next couple of months.

Charley

Lola

  We have a menagerie right next door with two lovely big boxer dogs, a goat, about ten chooks and a couple of unbelievably loud roosters!!!  Rural spain right in the middle of the town.Our real reason for being here is of course Charly and Lola, two delightful rogues - ready for action and prepared to create it if they cant't find any, especially just outside the door where the neighbours cats snooze.

We ventured up to the swimming pool just after midday, for just one Euro we can wallow for as long as we like - perhaps the young chap there taking our money will get used to these faces.  Its a wonderful complex , two fabulous all weather football fields/tennis courts,  equipped with lights for the late night games, this great 25metre swimming pool, paddling pool, fives court and the all important pool bar open all hours of the day serving great coffee.

Enjoyed our first balmy night in Lubrin with glass of wine and nibbles on the terrace, then as the sun goes down we ventured up the 'rambla' with Charly and Lola to see some of the countryside.

Santander to Hellim

Santander to Lubrin

Grabbed a shower on the ferry then we found some breakfast.  Nothing to exciting but at least some yogurt and fresh fruit salad.

Chatted to some nice English travellers and practiced some Spanish before arriving in at Santander by 12.15 Spanish time.  City looks far bigger and nicer than I had imagined, pity we didn't have time to wander around and explore.

Got out pretty smoothly, passports stamped and hit the road.  

First Spanish gentleman who spoke to us was the friendly policeman offering his assistance as to the strange place I was parked.

 Anyway good old Tom Tom got us out of the city and on to the motorway heading south.

Had a great drive, stopped a couple of times but over all pretty easy.  Amazing countryside, didn't expect it to be so big and expansive.  Parts of it really reminded me of the Mackenzie basin and Omarama.  Very dry and hotter as the day worn on.

Arrived in a  little village just outside Sergovia. 

Turned out to be a wonderful family style hotel run by Pilar our very gracious hostess. We had a lovely room with ensuite etc and then the use of an expansive siting room and veranda area.

We took our computers and books and sat outside, enjoyed a glass of wine, for the large price of €3 for two!!  What a perfect evening, it was warm but not too hot and we had a lovely stroll around the village at about 9pm.  

The smell of dry grass reminded me so much of a hot Blenheim summers day, grass dry as tinder.  Just like those summers down at Glenbrook. They make hay out of every area possible.

A lot of the houses look shut up and it turns out there are only a out 75 people living in the village, the rest are holiday houses belonging to people in Madrid.  A perfect spot as its close to the mountains so not too   

hot and only one and a half hours drive from Madrid.

Wow we really are in Spain proper now.  Breakfast served between 9am and 11am - so civilized!"

Breakfast was a real carbo loading of sweet biscuits, like Griffens round or super wine, lemon cake, toast with butter and jams, jamon and cheese and deep fried dough.  All washed down with a cup of tea or coffee.  This was all part of the B&B package.  Meet a really lovely family from Holland and chap from Germany who is really Italian!

A kiss goodbye from Pilar and we were on the road by 10.30.

We strolled around Segovia, a gorgeous old city with amazing aqueduct and cathedral.

On the road by 12.30 and a good drive.  About 4.30 hours today and bit stressful getting through Madrid but other than that pretty easy. Did get hotter and hotter as day wore on,reaching 36oC by 4.30 and the poor old Ipad, our TomTom, seized up.  Dave cooled her down by dangling out the window and we continued on the road.  

Scenery not as good today, but lots of vineyards.  In fact as you drive through this centre of Spain everything  is big.  Cropping farms, vineyards, olive groves, orange groves and other fruit orchards.

Made it to Hellim, pronounced Egim by spot on 6pm although it was a rather interesting drive around the town, very very small winding streets with numerous being one way!!

Had a nice Apartment upstairs - great value at only €25 but very hot being on third floor.

Wandered out to a supermarket found some bread, meats, delicious nectarines just like tree ripened, and bottle of red wine€1.55.  Then afterwards strolled the streets.   A lovely safe family orientated type of town.

Kraków, Poland

Constitution Day, flags fly, they are very proud of this being the 2nd nation to write a constitution to be celebrated on 3rd May every year.

Being a freedom day we of course chose to visit the most deadly concentration camp, being responsible for the deaths of one and a half million people, mostly Jews who travelled up to 10 days non-stop from around Europe to meet their fate in gas chambers. They were made to pay some of them for the journey.

Up to 100 were packed into railway carriage standing room only, no toilet,no food and no water and hardly any air, sometimes travelling up to 10 days.

This is the picture of the last piece of the remaining wall from the ghetto. It was made to look like Tombstone signifying the only way out was death via Auschwitz.

After the ghetto was emptied the furniture was taken out into the square where the roll calls were normally held. The furniture was then pulled apart to make sure there were no hidden stashes of gold or valuables in the frames. These chairs are a memorial.

Some survived , there was a list you could get on and work at the Schindler factory. Because of Oskar Schindler and his factory, 1500 people lived.

Most were not so lucky, and by walking through these gates sealed their fate
This is the view that awaited them

Or this, Birkenau and its size and its 4 gas ovens were responsible their extermination. we were amazed at the size of the complex, and the whole thing was designed destroy people, mind and body, every day a living hell.

Everyone was feeling a little off, so it was back into town, for an evening in Kraków. We were left behind by the youngsters  who shot away to the bars etc. Could be an age thing, so we had a beer, kebab,and strolled the street to people watch and finish in a lovely ice-cream shop.

There is the other side of a visit to Krakow but the emotional drain of the visit to the death camps had to be mentioned so no one is ever subjected to such cruelty.

Dorset The Real West Country.

Six glorious weeks in Dorset, the real West Country of England -

Based in Greenham, a gorgeous spot just out of Crewkerne with lots of delightful villages within a few minutes drive.
Bridport a coastal town, once a busy port due to the thriving Flax industry of the local area, is now known for its wonderful Saturday morning market.  Lots of regular fruit and vege stalls and home made goodies but down the side street you can find masses of dealers with antiques, silver ware, a massive mixture of houseware bits and peices and even antique farm tools.  Fun to take the time to potter and you could take home a trailer load of goodies.
 Beaminster is a thriving little village just down the road, fabulous charity shops and even better home of great coffee thanks to a New Zealander who came over here as  IT specialist but found his true calling - won the UK Chef of the Year a few years ago and now runs a fabulous restaurant Wild Garlic.  Its become a popular spot to live these days as a lot of trendy young Londoners having weekend places.

This is a truly beautiful area and we enjoyed some wonderful walks, often through peoples farms and back yards or down narrow  lethal country lanes, that really test your agility when you have to spring up a six-foot hedge to avoid a milk tanker.  Other  lovely walks through the woods and along creeks and you never know when you're going to be surprised by pheasant or a deer dancing around through the undergrowth.

A wonderful concept with some of the villages having their own local store owned and operated by the villagers themselves. When the owners couldn't afford to operate them any more the whole village got together and purchased and now run to support the local community.  You never know who may serve you, even had the local MP  making coffee one morning.

Lionel, a delightful neighbour joined us at Forde Abbey, an elegant Cistercian monastery with over 30 acres of spectacular gardens.  Built in the mid 1100's, it flourished as a monastery for over 400 years,until it was quietly handed over to the crown. Over the next 300 years it had many colourful owners, not all positive, until the Roper family bought it in the mid 1800's and have devoted their lives to this magnificent elegant building and fascinating garden.

Had a lovely afternoon walking with David and Judy from Beer to Seaton and managed to fit in a coffee of course!!  We have some coffee lovers - soul mates!!

Nick and Judy had a lot of fun at the aptly named Bog Sale auction in Crewkerne - and found a couple of little gems.

 Had a lovely walk with Lionel up and around  Pilsden Pen, one of the highest points in Dorset. The hill, 277 metres high, is topped with an Iron Age Fort and the view is simply spectacular.  Also stopped in at St Andrews Church in Burstock to which he is the warden.  A relatively small  but enchanting church that was built in the early 1200's, part of it including the font are original dating back to the mid 900's.  The mind bogles at thought of how many babies have been christened here over the last 1000 years!!!  The beautiful pew cushions have been lovingly made by all the local parishioners over the years.

Headed over to Bristol with David and Judy who had an interview for a new house sit.  So while they were busy we joined lots of other couples and families out and about strolling,  enjoying the lovely waterfront development area on the river.

The foreshore has really been developed over the last 10 years to make and very picturesque port. Nick found this crusty old guy, John Cabot, outside and our favourite coffee shop, the statue commemorates his departure  in 1497 when they discovered America.